Stories and Pathways

ENP recently hosted the Flint Jewish Federation Civic Leadership Interfaith Mission at the Gedera Youth Outreach Center (funded by the UJA Federation of New York) and I had an opportunity to participate in this visit. The ENP Mission visits brings groups from Canada, the US, the United Kingdom and abroad to get a first hand look at the work of ENP for the Ethiopian Israeli community. During the visit to the youth center the Flint Interfaith Mission heard from Dr. Negist Mengesha, Director General of ENP and Micha Feldman about the need for youth centers and other social services for Ethiopian Israelis throughout Israel. Micha played a major role in the miraculous rescue of Ethiopian Jews and aliyah to Israel through Operation Moses and Solomon and the group were fascinated by his stories of Ethiopian Jewry's struggles. The group also had the opportunity to learn a traditional Ethiopian dance and meet with the kids from youth center. Many of the Ethiopian teenagers use The Gede...

Hey Everyone, It's Diane again reporting live from ENP! Today, I'll be talking about my first time volunteering at the Youth Center in Gedera as well as a "mission" at the Rehovot Youth Center (I will explain "mission" in a bit...). On Tuesday May 11, I made my way from Jerusalem to the city of Gedera to volunteer with the Ethiopian-Israeli youth. It was my first time coming in to volunteer at Gedera and I was pretty excited. All in all, I had a great time at Gedera. When I arrived, I met four soldiers who were also volunteering at the youth center. They introduced themselves to me and gave me a grand tour of the center. There was a room where one soldier was giving math lessons to a group of students. In another room, there were kids watching TV and playing pool. Then, there was the computer room! (my favorite room). This was a popular room for the kids. They were listening to music videos, playing online computer games, and chatting online w...