“Independence” – Supporting Sderot’s Ethiopian immigrants
Sderot is home to a community of about 500 immigrants from Ethiopia. They face the challenge of nurturing their village traditions while integrating into Israel’s modern and competitive society. The intense and rapid changes they must undergo have, in many cases, been beyond their capabilities and today they live in poverty and social isolation.
The Independence program has gathered 40 such families and is coaching them to improve their family lives, education and occupations. The families, together with the program’s staff, identify their strong points and needs, and implement solutions. The program is staffed by professionals (such as social workers); all staff are Ethiopian immigrants who have successfully integrated into Israeli society and who act as role models for success.
Family coaching covers managing a budget, introduction to appropriate municipal services and functional homemaking skills. In the field of education, the program subsidizes payments for daycare centers, helps parents communicate with kindergartens and schools and provides after-school tutoring for students. The program offers occupational training for adults (to acquire a first job or to advance in a chosen profession), help finding work, Hebrew studies and more. This network of support gives families a blanket of coping mechanisms and improvements which will eventually enable them to leave the spiral of poverty and immigration crisis that they have been caught in since they moved to Israel.
The Independence program was developed by JDC-Israel and is operative in many Israeli cities. Gvanim Association is honored to take responsibility for the program in Sderot.
Independence is run from a structure in the heart of the Ethiopian community of Sderot, where two children were killed in a Kasam rocket attack. Gvanim has raised funds to protect the program’s building from rocket attacks and in 2008, after the city approves the construction plans, the modification is expected to be made.
Gvanim thanks its Program Partners: JDC-Israel and the Jewish Federation of San Francisco |
