Social Change Profile: Amen Renawi Inspired by Everett Fellowship

February 25, 2008

Twenty-seven-year-old Amen Renawi, a native of the Arab village Renhi, north of Nazareth, wants to change the world. He didn't know this, exactly, when he applied to be a fellow in last year's Everett Fellows for Social Justice program. He knew only that social issues were close to his heart. But after a year of exposure to people who put all their energies into social change, Amen is a changed person himself.

"The Everett experience changed my consciousness," he told NIF News. "It showed me that there are people – and not a few – who are unhappy with the management of society and take pains to change it. I knew this in general, but when you see people investing a lot of energy in these issues day and night, you feel encouraged, inspired."

Amen was a social work student at the University of Haifa when he saw an ad for the Everett scholarship – a SHATIL-run program that annually places 50 university students as interns in social change organizations and provides them with guidance and enrichment activities. The program was established eight years ago together with Edith and the late Henry Everett, and is modeled on a similar program they founded in the US.

Amen chose to do his internship in Hamidrasha: Educational Center for the Renewal of Jewish Life in Israel. His job there was to judge the readiness of the Arab sector in Israel to adopt the social seal of approval for businesses that meet certain criteria. The social seal (tav chevrati) was initiated by a group of young, socially active, religious Jewish Israelis who formed Bema'aglei Tzedek (Circles of Justice) to address Israel's social ills from a Jewish perspective. Businesses that qualify for the seal meet criteria such as paying minimum wage, having an eight-hour work day, paying salaries without delay and ensuring accessibility for the handicapped.

"I surveyed 35 business owners in the Arab sector and found that about 30 percent were prepared to do it," says Amen. "In order for more businesses to become involved, field work needs to be done to raise consciousness. This requires a big investment of time and energy.

"The Arab sector really needs the social seal," he added. "Especially with the growing economic gaps of recent years."

The Midrasha is currently seeking funding to continue the project. Meanwhile, Amen earned his BA, is working on an MA in gerontology, became a new father, works as a social worker in a local authority and dreams about doing more.

“I would like to start a non-profit organization that will help poor women by encouraging them to start small businesses,” he says. “Many women in the Arab sector don’t work and want to. The ground has to be prepared for them. When you want to change something, you have to prepare the population for that change. Everett gave me the push to want to do this – and the skills to be able to."

“Everett is a very special scholarship,” he adds. “You not only get money, you also give back, and by doing so, get more in return.”