We were a young couple with one child at the time, and we returned to the north after living in Jerusalem due to my undergraduate studies. I was about to start my studies at Oranim College, looking for a part-time job. David began a new job as a catering worker in a nursing home in Tiberias. You could say that we started with almost minus NIS 300,000. How? Apart from our expenses, which were almost double our income – paying rent, living, school, and repaying loans we couldn’t afford – two cases were opened against us in the Execution Office for alimony payments my husband undertook to pay to his ex-wife and two children from his previous marriage (a case we carry with us to this day).
When we felt that the burden was unbearable, we contacted paamonim. The accompaniment we underwent was intense, personal and very complex, and included order in expenses and income, as well as increasing income and reducing expenses. The complexity stemmed from the fact that there was nowhere to cut expenses anymore, because despite all the effort and change in economic behavior, we were unable to repay the debts and loans, which at the time amounted to more than NIS 100,000. We tried in every possible way to allow ourselves a normal life without knocking on anyone’s door, asking for scholarships, minimal assistance from Amidar in paying rent, working overtime and more.
At the end of a complex recovery process, during the previous Shmita year, as stated, we received an interest-free grant and loan from the Nedivi Eretz Fund, and we managed to repay some of the debts to the bank, the Execution Office, the National Insurance Institute and friends from whom we borrowed several thousand shekels.
Today we know that the process of paamonim is a way of life and not a recommendation. We are still in the process, and hope to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is clear to us that without the accompaniment of Paamonim, the grant and the loan from Nedivei Eretz – we would not have been able to return to the tracks of growth.
Moriah Haziza
