Michael Plomonov

17 years old, a trainee at the Extreme Sports Center.

Volunteers at MADA (Magen David Adom)

Amongst the local teenagers who met with the visitors from the "Solomon Shechter" school in NY.

"The children of Sderot are not heroes, nor are they to be taken pity on. We are the same as every one else. The only difference between us and kids from other parts of the country is that when we want to play soccer, we need to make sure that there's a shelter nearby, incase the Color Red alert goes off. Instead of taking a short way to school and getting there in 5 minutes, we need to make a detour and take the sheltered and much longer way every day.

When the Red Color alert goes off, we run to a sheltered bus stop. If there are small children amongst us, they'll cry and call for their mommies.

When a Kassam rocket hit our neighborhood, one of the girls passed out. I opened up her airway and stayed with her until the paramedics arrived.

I was also there when a little boy lost his arm, it was awful.   

I was walking to Mada today, as the alarm went off. I had no place to hide, so I just lay down on the ground, with my head between my hands and prayed. I've been praying for seven years.

I just want to be able to sleep quietly, play quietly and I want my parents to not look so worried, every time I leave the house".