Interview with Participant Noa Rodriguez Oria

Name: Noa Rodriguez Oria - EG
Age: 18
Volunteering in commune next year
Lives in Modi’in

Why are you called EG?

Well, I’m just tough and I needed a cool nickname. (Big laugh) No seriously, two weeks ago I attended the summer camp of Sadaka Reut. On one the first nights I was taking out my contacts. At that point Omri, who was also in the seminar, started shouting that I was taking my eyes out. One of the other participants who was half asleep overheard it. He thought I was actually doing it. He felt sorry for her because they were laughing with the Eyeless Girl, with EG. The rest of the camp they kept on calling me that. EG was born.

So two weeks ago you were in a camp and now you are in exchange. What s your motivation to be here?

First of all it’s Sadaka seminar. But more important the subject of Indymedia is interesting for me. I, in fact, want to start using it at Sadaka next year. On the other hand I’m also very interested in why youth from Belgium is coming to here and meet up with them. In the meantime one of the reasons I also discovered that activism is about getting to know other activists in their community and learn from them.

What do you think of the Belgian group?

First of all I was really impressed by their political awareness, even though they don’t have a real conflict. I was amazed how they cared about the conflict in Israel. They are also very nice people and up until now it was interesting to talk to everybody. A lot of the participants do interesting work back home in social work and other areas. I hope to learn more about the work they do as volunteers as workers. Through these talks I also get new perspectives on my own conflict.

How long is are member of Sadaka?

In the beginning of the year in, the summer seminar was my first activity.

What brought u into activism?

I always cared about social subjects. In the 11^th grade our school went to Poland. Seeing what ignorance can cause, it affected me to the fact that I got more aware about what’s happening around me, also I started to think about not going to the army, doing something helpful instead. I have a newer motivation now, doing activism has a lot of satisfaction in it. Something I discovered recently.

What do you think of Jaffa?

I love it, my parents came from Bat Yam, and I grew up there. They didn’t want to raise their kids here, so I came back here to make a change in that area. Coming from a rich bubble place, shielded from the conflict, but you see the conflict in the streets here (jaffa) every day.

What naughty activity do u want to do?

Swimming naked in the sea