Noga's Bat Mitzvah challenge

For my Bat Mitzvah I have chosen to support CROSSROADS, a charity that helps troubled English speaking kids and teens in Jerusalem. These are young people who may have lost their way on their gap year, kids who have suffered abuse or who are no longer accepted by their community. They come from across the religious and political spectrum including Jews and Arabs, religious and secular and straight and queer. The Crossroads Centre is a heaven of safety and positivity where teens receive counselling, partake in art therapy or where they can study for a school degree.

My goal is to raise funding for 12 kids to have counselling and therapy for three months. This will for example allow Miles, an American art therapist, to get kids like the young girl he told me about, who have suffered abuse, to express their trauma through painting to overcome their terrible experiences and to cross the bridge from despair to a new happier life.

Funding for three months therapy for 12 teens costs £3,000. I will be donating £1,200 to Crossroads which leaves a further £1,800 to be raised with the help of your sponsorship. I really want to exceed this target because there is so much more that Crossroad needs help with!

My Challenge: “The world is a narrow bridge; the main thing is not to be afraid”. I want to help Crossroads kids to cross the bridge from despair back into life. Crossing this bridge is no easy stroll; it’s more like cartwheeling: you progress but it’s really easy to get disoriented and lose one’s bearings without help. I will cross 12 of London’s bridges over the Thames, one for each kid, in one go cartwheeling the entire length of each bridge and walking in between the bridges. I will cover roughly 14 Km and will do something like 1,500 cartwheels. I have started training but it’s going to be tough.

I am planning to do this on Sunday 18th November starting at the South side of Battersea Bridge working my way up the Thames finishing on the North side of Tower Bridge. Please do come along if you want to support me or cartwheel with me for a little stretch (if you do, bring gloves!)