David (his name is changed here to protect his privacy) is a 16-year-old youth who over the past year has made extraordinary strides, emerging from his own protective shell and on his way to becoming a positive and inspiring youth leader in his own right.

Yuval Adana, the Coordinator of the ENP Yalma Youth Outreach Center and himself a member of the Ethiopian-Israeli community, singled out David as an example of the power of the Center to affect positive change on the lives of troubled community youth. David comes from a large family, and after a year of working with him intensively, Yuval is convinced that few people have really had the time or inclination to listen to him. At the beginning of last year, David was barely functioning, living completely outside the framework of a normal school day, having been asked to leave a number of school programs due to antisocial behavior.

Yuval started as Coordinator at the Youth Center a year ago. When he first met David, he was struck by his defensiveness. “The very first time I called David by name”, Yuval describes, “David responded with suspicion, and yelled at me, expecting I would punish him for shouting at one of the other children at the Center. The first thing I did was to ask David to stop yelling. I then requested that he leave the Center for five minutes, and I told him to return as soon as he had calmed down. When David returned, I invited him to my office for a cup of coffee and a chance to chat. He was surprised that instead of punishing him, I wanted just to listen to what he had to say.”

Yuval’s sensitivity and quiet persistence paid off. Already after their first meeting, David’s attitude changed dramatically. Seeing that he had someone who would listen to him without being judgmental, David took an interest in the activities of the Center. Yuval responded by asking David to join a special group of the youth who were responsible for planning and implementing activities for the Center’s younger children.

It wasn’t long before David became known as one of the youth who arrived before the center opened at 4:00 PM, and stayed on until after it closed at 10:00 PM at night. The more responsibility David requested, the more Yuval gave him. Soon, David became one of Yuval’s most trusted assistants, ready to help the younger children with their activities and taking an active part in encouraging other similarly disaffected youths to join in the Center’s activities.

Yuval himself expresses quiet pride as he explains: “David demonstrates more responsibility than practically any other of the youths who regularly attend the activities at the Center. In fact, just this past Friday, David took the lead in helping me print and distribute forms to each of the participants in this week’s upcoming multi-day trip to the north of Israel. He personally brought the forms to the children’s homes and made sure they filled them in. When he was done, he brought all the completed forms to me. Without his help, I would have had a difficult time getting the forms completed on time.”