In Ethiopia, the Jewish community struggled just to survive. During the 1980s, with war, famine and disease rampant in Ethiopia, the North American Conference on Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ) sent 18 missions to Jewish villages, bringing in doctors, medicine, clothing, and school supplies and hope. NACOEJ played a key role in the quiet rescue of many Ethiopian Jews before and between Operations Moses and Solomon, helping them to reach Israel.
Following Operation Solomon, NACOEJ provided food, education, employment, and religious facilities to Ethiopian Jews waiting to make aliyah. Programs included a Jewish day school with a daily school lunch program, Feeding Centers for children under age 6 and for pregnant and nursing mothers, adult education, and employment for adults. NACOEJ also continued to play a significant role in enabling Ethiopian Jews to make the longed-for journey to Israel.
In Israel today, the Ethiopian-Jewish community (currently about 130,000) is an important part of society. However, their struggles are not yet over. Many Ethiopian-Israeli families live below the poverty line and cannot give their children the tools they need to do well in school. They strive to build a future, despite the obstacles, and with a little help from their friends they can succeed.
NACOEJ programs in Israel help Ethiopian children, teens and college students build a bright future by providing them with educational and financial support.
NACOEJ believes that a strong education today opens the door to success tomorrow, and the results verify it. Ethiopian Israelis now include doctors, lawyers, scientists, artists and Knesset members, often with NACOEJ assistance along the way.
The Ethiopian community in Israel faces challenges at every turn: language barriers, cultural gaps, unemployment, poverty and most of all public education that does not meet the needs of their children.
Nationally, half of all Ethiopian-Israeli elementary school students reach fail to reach class level.
But in the NACOEJ Limudiah Program, close to 80% of the students are at class level or higher.
After School Program in Kiryat Ekron, Israel
Since 1992, the NACOEJ Limudiah programs have offered needed assistance for thousands of Ethiopian boys and girls in grades one through six. The programs enable Ethiopian students whose parents cannot help them with school work to attain and maintain grade level and often surpass their non-Ethiopian classmates.
Hundreds of Ethiopian children participate during the school year, during which they receive 10-12 weekly hours of intensive after -school learning. The focus is on reading, writing and arithmetic, but also includes national culture, English, art and music.
The children excel in part because of the small teacher-to-student ratio of one to eight (or less), enabling the students to receive much-needed individualized attention and materials.
Nutritious hot lunches are always provided, a necessity, as the children often come to school without breakfast or a bagged lunch. For many of them, the NACOEJ lunch is the only truly nourishing meal of the day.
The programs are so successful that they are regarded as models throughout Israel, and there is a waiting list of communities and schools asking NACOEJ to provide a Limudiah for their children.
"Where Would the Girls Be?"
Odelia Ben-David is a long-time teacher in the NACOEJ Limudiah after-school program at the Ben-Zvi School in Rehovot. Here is a note she sent us during the last school year:
"On January 12, the sixth-grade girls in Limudiah asked me to help them study for their mid-term math exam by reviewing all the material they had covered since the start of the year. That day, we spent the entire time in the Limudiah reviewing it, but there was not enough time. The girls left Limudiah disappointed, feeling as if they hadn't reviewed everything.
"We agreed that when they got home, they would ask their parents' permission to continue preparing at my house. And that's what happened. After the parents agreed, I picked the girls up and brought them to my house. We reviewed and practiced the material until 8:00 pm. When we finished, the girls felt confident and ready for the exam.
After School Program in Israel, Photo by Win Robin
"On January 15, 2012, their [homeroom] teacher called me and told me how happy she was. The girls had all passed, scoring between 78 and 93 on their math exam. I was overjoyed and so proud of the students. They of course felt wonderful. Their teacher praised them in their homeroom class, contributing to their self-confidence and their desire to continue to strive for success.
"I wondered to myself, where would the girls be if it weren't for Limudiah?"
