Young people from around the world who are currently in Israel as part of the MDA Overseas Program, and who work to save lives on MDA ambulances, arrived yesterday (Sun) for a volunteer day at the MDA Headquarters in Ramla. During the day, they assisted in packing medical kits and carried out additional tasks in the Logistics Division, expanded their knowledge about MDA’s activities during the current operation and about the organization’s work since the beginning of the "Swords of Iron" war. At the end of the volunteer day, they also donated blood.
The "MDA Overseas Program" began in 1991 during the Gulf War, when the Jewish Agency emissary in Montreal, Avner Bar-Hama, approached Magen David Adom and proposed an initiative to send young people from McGill University to assist during the war. These young volunteers underwent first aid training in Canada and then arrived in Israel to volunteer with Magen David Adom, Israel’s national emergency medical service. That delegation became the pioneer of the project, which later became known as the "MDA Overseas Program" and has since become a tradition that has trained about 17,000 young people from the Jewish diaspora.
In 2002, it was decided to dedicate the program to the memory of Yohai Porat z"l, who served as the program coordinator in Israel and was killed on 03.03.2002 during an operational activity in the Wadi al-Haramiya area in the Binyamin region.
The MDA program operates in cooperation with "The Israeli Experience", "Talalim", "Destination Israel", and the "Masa" program, and each year enables about 500 young men and women, Jewish and non-Jewish, aged 18–28 from around the world to volunteer with Magen David Adom. The volunteers arrive in Israel for approximately two months, during which they complete a first aid provider course. Afterward, they serve as volunteers on MDA ambulances for about five weeks. Some return to Israel and complete the MDA EMT course, and many of them eventually make Aliyah and settle in Israel.
Photo credit MDA Spokesperson
