Ninja mom jets solo to Moldova to help Ukrainian refugees

Tami Jeffay, an English teacher, Acro Ninja expert and mother of 4, takes funds raised by family and friends, sets up toy centers, helps a leukemia sufferer get to Israel

By Sue Surkes

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20 March 2022, 11:30 pm

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Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter

Ukrainian refugee children enjoy toys bought by Tami Jeffay and friends at the Kedem Jewish Community Center in Chisinau, Moldova, March 12, 2022. (courtesy)

CHISINAU, Moldova — As soon as the Russians invaded Ukraine, English teacher Tami Jeffay, from the northern city of Zichron Yaakov, teamed up with friends to raise funds for Jewish refugees.

When it came to deciding where to send the funds — some NIS 10,000 ($3,000) — the friends decided that someone should go to Moldova. Jeffay volunteered.

She jumped on a flight to Bucharest, and a connection to Iasi in eastern Romania, then hired a car and drove over the border into Moldova and on to the Moldovan capital, Chisinau.

“I arrived alone, with the money, to find something meaningful and make a difference,” said Jeffay.

“I worked out what was happening and where, and I found that while lots of people had come to do activities with the children, the children didn’t have toys.”

Tami Jeffay (center) offers a toy to two girls at the refugee center set up at the Kedem Jewish Community Center in Chisinau, Moldova, March 12, 2022. Helping her get organized (to the left) is ‘Shemesh’ (Smadar Harpak), a medical clown from Israel’s Dream Doctors organization. (courtesy, Tami Jeffay)

Jeffay found her way to Chisinau market and bought enough toys to set up a children’s area, first at the hub to where the buses from the border come, and then at three other refugee locales.

“I started to play with the kids and the parents just fell asleep, they were so exhausted,” she said.

She also bought pet food, dog treats, and a few dog beds for some of the many furry family members that the refugees have brought with them. She also purchased insulin for a diabetic.

A bed purchased by Tami Jeffay and friends for one of the many dogs accompanying Ukrainian refugees to Israel, at a refugee center in Chisinau, Moldova, on March 13, 2022. (courtesy, Tami Jeffay)

Jeffay, who is married to The Times of Israel’s health correspondent, Nathan Jeffay, then started to organize activities in the various centers, among them a pizza night, a Purim party, a disco, sessions to bake hamantaschen (triangular cookies eaten on Purim), make slime, and do arts and crafts.

Jeffay, a teacher for 20 years who coordinates English teaching at a school in Haifa, in northern Israel, also runs Mighty Pack, which she describes as a “feminist summer camp,” for 4- to 8-year-old girls. The camp teaches participants empowerment through female role models, team sports, and learning what is under the hood of a car.

Tami Jeffay (right) and medical clown ‘Shemesh’ (Smadar Harpak). (courtesy, Tami Jeffay)

While in Moldova, she took the contact details of the little girls she met to invite them to be part of Mighty Pack for free.

She also helped arrange to get 55-year-old Alexander Postal out of Odessa and into Moldova, where he could join his wife, Anna, and daughter, Lisa. Although Postal suffers from leukemia, he was forbidden from leaving Ukraine because of a rule that all males aged 18 to 60 are eligible to fight and must stay in the country. The family is now in Israel, where Postal is receiving treatment at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan and is on the list for a bone marrow transfer.

Jeffay, 40, a British-born mother of four (one adopted), is also an Acro Ninja trainer and an official tester for the “Ninja Israel” reality show.