How it started?
Two years ago, I completed a project that remains the work I'm most proud of in my design career. It was created during one of the darkest periods of my life, when my home was destroyed, and my loved ones were in danger. During this time, life connected me with Anat—a talented painter who traveled to Poland to volunteer with refugee children. While volunteering, she painted their portraits. Together with Michal, a social activist and my host mom in Israel, and Anat, we decided to create postcards featuring these drawings, along with messages in Ukrainian and Hebrew, to help bridge the gap between the new residents and Israelis and to collect donations. I contributed to the design and translation, and after two months of hard work, we successfully launched the project. We sold postcards and donated thousands of shekels to Ukrainian families to help them meet their needs. This initiative even brought us to the morning show with Paula and Leon, allowing us to reach even more people and spread awareness about our mission.
How it went?
While creating this project, I also began volunteering to help refugees during my military service. Knowing Ukrainian allowed me to assist with translations for newly arrived citizens, bridging the language gap during a challenging time. Through my volunteering, I met countless individuals who had fled the war and shared the story of our project with them. Many of them joined by participating in photographs with the postcards, helping to spread the message of our initiative to others in need. This experience gave me a way to cope with my overwhelming sense of helplessness. At a time when I couldn’t help my own family, it became incredibly important to me to support those I could. This project was not only about helping others—it was also a way for me to regain strength and purpose during one of the hardest periods of my life.
Who took part?
Every aspect of this project held deep and special meaning. As someone who immigrated to Israel through the Naale program, I felt it was important to involve other children in this initiative. These were students who had recently arrived from Ukraine to pursue their education in Israel, while their families were still facing the hardships of the war back home. They helped us pack each postcard, adding a powerful, personal connection to the project.
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Is there a happy end?
As I returned to Israel and approached the end of my military service, I decided to share my journey with the people I served alongside at the Israeli Air Force Flight School. I told them about everything I had been through that year and how I navigated that challenging path. I shared how art and my love for design became my lifeline, allowing me to help so many others while also, finally, being able to support my own family. Even though the war continues, both in Ukraine and in Israel, I have found strength in my dual identity. Sometimes, when we don’t know how to handle a situation, the best thing we can do is act from the heart. For me, it was art and my love for design that saved me, because it allowed me to help others through the thing I love most.
