An innovative program brings senior citizens and preschoolers together to the mutual benefit of young and old.
by Simon Griver
When Eliyahu Givon, a lifelong educator, retired from teaching, he found that time weighed heavily on him. So he devised a program that not only filled the void for him and thousands of other senior citizens in Israel, but has also been adopted worldwide.
"I was strolling by a kindergarten one day," recalls Givon, whose boyish grin, energy and enthusiasm belie the fact that he is 78, "watching a nursery teacher and her assistant struggling to control 35 preschoolers. It suddenly struck me how useful an extra pair of hands would be."
Thus the Savgan program was born (from the Hebrew sav, meaning "grandfather" and gan meaning "kindergarten"). The project was launched in 1982 in Upper Nazareth, where Givon lives, and within a few years it was operating in virtually every municipality in Israel, in coordination with the Ministry of Education, social and welfare services, organizations for the elderly, national insurance and health authorities.
In the program, senior citizens volunteer in kindergartens for four hours a day, four mornings a week. The program is flexible, so volunteers can work longer or shorter hours. The volunteer pensioners tend the garden, lend a general hand with maintenance and help the kindergarten teacher with the children. The participation of grandfathers is particularly valued as they provide a male role model in an educational environment usually dominated by female teachers.
Givon estimates that over the years he has met with delegations from more than 70 countries wishing to adopt similar programs. "I dont know how many of these countries subsequently implemented it," he observes. "But I do get some feedback from the people who have visited me." Givon thumbs through a wad of press cuttings, including articles from as far afield as the Philippines and Costa Rica, which relate how the Savgan program has been successfully introduced there.
Givon emphasizes that implementing the program is not just a matter of simply placing a grandparent in a kindergarten. "We reject more than fifty percent of the people who apply," he claims. "Good senior citizen kindergarten volunteers must have an aptitude for the task. They must not only be able to tend the garden and do odd jobs around the kindergarten, but they must also be sensitive to the childrens needs and defer to the kindergarten teachers requests."
"It is very important to filter out inappropriate candidates," Givon continues. "If, for example, volunteers persistently disagree with the kindergarten teachers views on discipline, this can harm the entire program."
"Much of the work," says Boris Averbuch, 80, a volunteer grandfather in Upper Nazareth, "involves tying up childrens shoelaces and washing their hands. Its wonderful to be in daily contact with the vibrancy of these four year-olds." Averbuch, who first started working in kindergartens 15 years ago, immigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union in 1973. Now many of the four year-olds in his nursery are Russian-speaking new immigrants.
Yael Rabinowitz, a kindergarten teacher in Upper Nazareth, has only praise for the senior citizen helpers. "It lightens our work load," she says, "and enriches the lives of both the children and the elderly helpers. The very old and the very young always seem to have a very special bond."
The children themselves clearly enjoy the indulgent attention given them by the senior citizen volunteers. "Boris is just like my grandfather," says four year-old Motti. "Older people have more patience."
Givon notes that there are often some unexpected bonuses for those who participate in the Savgan program. "Many of the senior citizens in the program," he adds, "have told me that all their aches and pains clear up once they start working in the kindergartens. Unfortunately many elderly people sit around the house and do nothing. Thats an unhealthy situation which Savgan remedies."