Ethiopian Youth-at-Risk Get Help – and Give It

November 8, 2008

At Gedera High School, Ethiopian Israeli youngsters participating in SHATIL's Back from the Edge program to help youth-at-risk get back on track, are gaining strength by giving. This approach comes out of NIF grantee Friends by Nature's belief in strengthening rather than helping the Ethiopian community. Friends by Nature is one of six immigrant groups throughout the country that are implementing Back from the Edge in their communities. Each attended a special SHATIL course on immigrant youth in the education system and are part of a forum of organization directors involved in the project.

While children who need it get Homework at Home help – in itself an innovation in Israel -- a group of them are giving back as well. Called Maratziot, a widely used acronym that stands for Young Teachers, this group of eight motivated youngsters spend four hours weekly tutoring seventh graders in the subjects in which they themselves are strong. In preparation, they participated in a week-long training with high school students from other communities. The group meets weekly with Shachar, one of two young Ethiopian counselors employed by the high school, for supervision.

Shoshana

Shoshana, 15, gets tutoring at home in English (she is striving for a five unit matriculation in English – the highest possible) and in turn tutors a seventh grader in biology. Asked why she is wearing a red string around her wrist, Shoshana (whose Amharic name, Antegvush, means "the best") says, "To bring me luck."

"For what?"

"To realize my dream. I want to become a doctor."

Shoshana has six siblings. Her father is unemployed and her mother works as a cleaner.

When asked what she likes to do in her free time, Shoshana laughs shyly and says, "I don’t have any free time." In addition to carrying a heavy load at school and being a Young Teacher, Shoshana is a leader in the Sheba Scouts and participates in a special science program at the Weitzman Institute.

The Young Teachers don’t just teach. "I also help the seventh graders get used to being in a new school," says Shoshana. "I remember what it was like for me: There were higher expectations and I felt pressured. And their parents – like mine – don’t know how to help them. So it's like being a big sister. And I know these kids from the neighborhood so it's fun for me to teach them.

As Shoshana speaks, a teacher who taught her for three years walks by. "You can see who she is," she says. "She will go far. She is motivated and she achieves. But she needs constant support."

That "constant support" is what Shoshana and the Ethiopian pupils at Gedera High get from Friends by Nature – both in school and out. In the harsh reality faced by many Ethiopian youngsters, the sensitive work of Friends by Nature, which comes out of a deep and personal understanding of Ethiopian culture and issues, is a ray of hope.