ArkLaTex woman shares her experience living in Israel

By BRITTANY BREEDING

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    SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (KTBS) — A Florien woman is now living in Israel. She moved there just two months before the war started.

“The whole country is the size of New Jersey, so it was really scary. I was really scared,” said Candice Richardson.

Richardson moved to Israel in August, less than a year after visiting the country for the first time on her birthright trip.

“I just fell in love with the country and I knew that I needed to at least try to live here,” said Richardson. “I came here initially to complete a program where I would teach English to Hebrew speakers in middle schools.”

But that program stopped for a while after the attacks started in October.

“And I woke up to a million text messages, people, friends, asking me if I was okay. And I didn’t know what was going on,” said Richardson.

For about a month while schools were closed she volunteered.

“I would go to centers and play with them, do activities with them, teach them English, things like that. And on top of that, we also did a lot of volunteering through the IDF to prepare boxes for soldiers,” said Richardson.

Now that class is back in session, she’s teaching even more students that have taken refuge closer to the center of the country.

“I knew in my heart that I needed to be here, that I was supposed to be here when this happened,” said Richardson.

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