Getting to Know You

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By: Rachel Kraus
ENP Volunteer
Career Israel
Student at Brandeis University
It has been a very exciting and eventful first week of my internship with the Ethiopian National Project! I was really looking forward to my involvement with ENP because of my background with the Ethiopian population in Israel. I volunteered at a school in Kiryat Malachi with Ethiopian children. I also worked in a daycare in Arad, Israel and one of the teachers was born in Ethiopia and walked the long journey to Israel when she was 16. I loved sitting and talking with her when the kids were napping and hearing about her story and her life, and it sparked an interest in me to find out more about this growing population in Israel. 
Fast forward to now, and I already feel like I have a better idea of the Ethiopian Israeli story. I have the opportunity to go to ENP’s center in Lod a few days a week to plan activities for a group of local Ethiopian Israeli teenagers, as well as just to hang out with them. I am still new to their center, but the kids have been incredibly welcoming and warm to me, creating a very comfortable environment in a new place. This week, I went to the boys’ soccer tournament in Holon and cheered them as on as they won their games and had a blast. I also went to the center in Lod twice this past week and planned a get-to-know-you sort of activity, where I wrote questions on different sections of a giant soccer ball. We would throw the ball around and whichever section the catchers’ thumb landed on, they had to answer that question. It was a great way to start getting to know the kids. But I felt like I really got to know them just sitting and talking with them. They are so open and friendly, and love to ask questions about American music and TV shows. I as well am interested in learning about their culture and can’t wait for my opportunity to learn more about it.

It is just an overall great atmosphere at the center in Lod; great kids, caring and enthusiastic staff and amazing speakers and elective type classes for the kids to enjoy, such as soccer, debate and music, as well as all the amenities they have available, such as a computer room, foosball table, ping pong table and plenty of board games. I can’t wait to continue my work with ENP and continue getting to know more about Ethiopian culture. 

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