During the summer months, Highway 90 becomes one of Israel’s busiest roads, with tens of thousands of families traveling south each day.
As the number of vacationers grows, so does the number of drivers who get stranded in the middle of the desert highway because of car trouble, an empty fuel tank and other problems. Some of those drivers call the police, while others dial *2120 to request assistance from Netivei Israel, the Israel National Roads Company.
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Oksana Dvorkin: 'I wanted to do something with a real sense of mission, to help people exactly at the moment they need us'
(Photo: Courtesy)
Netivei Israel service vehicles reach stranded motorists, with crews securing the scene, providing initial assistance with the problem, supplying fuel when necessary, helping change a tire and escorting drivers to a safe place until a tow truck arrives, if needed.
When the breakdown occurs on the Arava roads, there is a good chance the person arriving to help will be Oksana Dvorkin, the first woman to serve in the role.
Until a few years ago, Oksana lived in Moshav Ein HaBesor in the Gaza border area. On October 7, while six months pregnant, she was trapped in her home in the community, which was saved thanks to its local security squad.
After the massacre in the Gaza border communities, residents were evacuated to several locations, and a year and a half ago they arrived at Moshav Hatzeva in the central Arava.
There was one family that said I ‘came to them like an angel from heaven,’ and there were people who tried to give me money because they were so grateful
Oksana, who previously worked in motorcycle sales and riding instruction, was looking for meaningful and fulfilling work suited to her skills and decided to join Netivei Israel’s service patrols.
“I wanted to do something with a real sense of mission, to help people exactly at the moment they need us,” she said. “A lot of people don’t really understand what we do. They think it just comes down to towing vehicles, but that’s not the service we provide. We deal with a wide range of incidents and breakdowns, from helping with car problems to supplying fuel or water for the radiator.
“You have to make decisions quickly, keep the drivers safe and keep ourselves safe, and above all calm people who are under stress.”
'it’s simply my job' says Oksana Dvorkin
(Photo: Matan Tovul)
What has she already encountered on the job? “In one case, when the vehicle was completely disabled in unbearable heat, we drove the family members to their hotel so they could at least begin their vacation,” she said.
“We also had a case of a driver who got stuck on the way back from Eilat with numerous problems in his car. We gave it a full service and brought the car back to life,” Oksana said. “If it hadn’t been for us, he would have been stranded with his wife and three children in the car, without air conditioning, with not a bit of shade on the road. Thanks to the assistance, he managed to reach Jerusalem, a three-hour drive away.”
What kind of reactions do you get from the people you help?
“There was one family that said I ‘came to them like an angel from heaven,’ and there were people who tried to give me money because they were so grateful. But as far as I’m concerned, it’s simply my job. If I managed to make someone feel safer and continue on their way with a smile, that’s worth everything.”