Sderot’s Immigrants – Overview

Last update: 05.09.2010

Sderot was founded in the 1950’s as a tent city for new immigrants from Morocco, Kurdistan and Iran.  The tent city eventually gave way to a small town, with local leadership and community pride.  Sderot was small enough so that everyone felt they knew each other and this empowered the community.

In the 1990’s Sderot more than doubled it size when it absorbed a huge wave of immigrants – 9,000 new residents from Ethiopia and the Former Soviet Union settled in the Sderot.  Suddenly, Sderot was a city, with a different cultural weave and new needs.  Sderot’s growth hurt its intimate atmosphere and strong families began to leave.  Local services had been defined for a much smaller population and could not keep up with new demands.

In spite of the many years that have passed, much of the current population is still suffering from immigration crisis, expressed in disintegration of traditional family structures, poverty and unemployment.  Many of them can not yet speak Hebrew well.

Gvanim’s program for new immigrants focus on strengthening the family and community as way to ease integration into Israel’s society.

• Independence Center – Mercaz Atzma’ut – supports immigrants from Ethiopia.  The Center is staffed by professionals who are members of the Ethiopian community but have successfully integrated into society.  The Center is located in the heart of the Ethiopian neighborhood.
• Mitzad – young adults from the Kavkaz community volunteer and lead initiatives within the Kavkaz community. They also operate the Dorot Center.

The security crisis Sderot has suffered since 2001 is often particularly difficult for new immigrants, who do not know where to turn for help. With this in mind, Gvanim is taking action to increase emergency help to new immigrants.  Two Ethiopian children were killed by enemy rocket fire in September 2004 next to Independence Center, traumatizing the entire community.  Gvanim has collected funds to add protection from rocket attacks to the Center and is now attempting to collect donations to provide similar protection to the Dorot Center.

Gvanim thanks its Program Partners: The Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, Magbit Canada-UIAC, JDC-Israel, IDB Foundation, Elbit, The Municipality of Sderot, The National Academic Committee of Students of Kavkaz Origin, Sapir College.