"You must learn to lead yourself, before you lead others"

I officially have completed 2/3rds of my hours at the ENP that I need to graduate with my Masters in Social Work.

The month of July has gone by very fast, fast enough that I realized today I hadn't written an entry about my work in a month. At the same time, for about a week I actually took a chofesh (a vacation in hebrew) from my work in order to travel the country and explore. The vacation was nice and now I am back to my work and to doing different types of projects.

More of my time this months has been spent in the office, which is nice but at the same time it was really great to go around the country to see the different youth centers and speak with the youth and the staff. At the beginning of the month of July, I was brainstorming other vehicles of funding that I could assist ENP in obtaining. One thing that does not change for any non-profit, whether it be in the United States, or even Israel is the importance of different sources of funding. When an organization relies too heavily on the same sources of funding, without variety, it often effects their programs and services. Due to the economic situation abroad, similar to many non-profits, ENP is seeing the effect on the number of Ethiopian-Israeli teenagers that can be integrated into their programs.

Remembering the significance of creating partnerships in the community, I contacted the Director of an organization called "The Nu Campaign." I had heard of it through a couple of contacts and friend who is the Director of Young Leadership for Save a Child's Heart. The NU campaign spreads the story of global causes in Israel and abroad through a T-shirt. While a young business it has already seen much success. Where I saw the benefit of creating a connection between ENP and the NU Campaign was having a business that could successfully spread the story of Ethiopian Jewry on a global scale. After meeting with the Director of the NU campaign and the Director of International Relations of ENP, it was decided that the partnership could be a worthwhile one. The idea to have this meeting for the most part came to me randomly, but I really believe that word of mouth is one of the most effective tools of marketing. Although the partnership only brings in a minimal amount of additional funds, spreading the story through t-shirts I think is a very innovative idea. The front of the shirt is a graphic created by one of their shirt designers and inside the shirt near the heart is the story of the organization your representing by wearing the t-shirt.

Along with this I have also taken the initiative to do research on different foundations that potentially could be sources of funding. The research is a slow process but I have already found a handful that I am writing Letters of Inquiry to today. One thing that seems to be across the board, is that even foundations are suffering form the current state of the economy. The effect is seen in funds closing or not taking on new projects.

The skills I am gaining from dipping into the world of fundraising and marketing are definately beneficial. At the same time it is interacting with the youth, the center supervisors, and mission groups that has given me more insight into where my strengths lye. I don't think many people will argue that beyond my creative abilities to think big and outside the box, I also have a special talent in talking to people. Creating connections. Most importantly interacting with individuals and groups.

Wednesday I got the opportunity to travel about an hour and a half to the Kefar Silver Youth village near Ashkelon. This last week was the conclusion of a five-day Leadership seminar for teenagers from different cities and backgrounds across the state of Israel. Although the youth who interviewed for my report gave me a lot to write about, they also provided me with a perspective that I didn't expect to gain. I interviewed three different girls that were all participants in the Scholastic Assistance programs through the Ethiopian National Project from different cities in Israel (Ashkelon, Kirat Gat and Hedera). These three girls specifically come from backgrounds that are quite different from many of their peers. Parents that traveled from Ethiopia, through Sudan in order to finally reach Jerusalem. Families that have faced many economic and social struggles trying to integrate into Israeli society.

What really stood out to me were a few key things. The first was hearing about where their families came from and for all three girls, their mothers were their inspiration. A mother that were married at age 12, in order to avoid kidnapping and rape. Another mother that came pregnant to Israel and with perseverance and determination was able to finally complete her nursing degree.

The second was hearing about what an impact it had on them to be exposed to people that were different them, whether it be from a different city or even a different religion.

One girl said to me, "This week was the first time I ever really interacted with someone that was Muslim. At first I didn't want to speak to him, but then when I did I realized that he was really nice. I realized that actually we were a lot a like." To me, this was a powerful thing to hear. Studying Social and Economic Development, I think a key component is learning how diversity can make the most significant impact. People learning to see their commonalities.

Lastly, these girls gave me a perspective on the impact of being a part of the Scholastic Assistance program. Youth that have struggled academically in the past that today because of the program are succeeding and have goals that involve doing important things in their lives. Here what I am learning is what kind of impact it makes on a youths life if they are taught the tools and skills they need to reach their full potential. While I see this being effective in Israel, I know in the United States youth face similar issues and they too need organizations like ENP giving them the opportunities they need in order to reach their full potential.

Ethiopian Culture

When I said I wanted a different experience, I some how got lucky enough to stumble upon an organization that is teaching me more than I would have thought. I have spent almost the equivalent of two years in Israel, and the Ethiopian Jewry is a community that I never got the opportunity to engage with and understand on a deeper level. While I am here in Israel, learning and sometimes stumbling through marketing, I am getting this unique opportunity to understand this fascinating population, along with learn about Ethiopian culture.

Solomon's Mosaic is slowly moving along as we try to narrow in to the best strategies to get the word out about not just this resource but the Mosaic itself. Collaborating with the other intern and staff, we have brainstormed different vehicles to market and publicize the site. What I realize though from past internships, is the advantage there is to having a development department that solely is responsible for the fundraising and the marketing. In turn, this organization has less man power to accomplish everything they'd like. The advantage to a smaller non-profit I find is that the barriers to communication are less and people are easier to reach. I have worked to come up with several strategies to market the mosaic to different communities, including through Facebook, email, phone follow-up, mission visits and through media. Each of these methods though I've discovered takes time and often I can't always finish what I want in the time frame I have set for myself. We have determined that it needs to be marketed to youth groups and classes as an educational tool to teach about Ethiopian Jewry and Operation Solomon. It is this strategy that will bring them to the site and expose them to the Mosaic itself.

This week I found I had less time to focus my attention on Facebook and deciding how I'd do phone follow-up. In turn, the focus was on mission visits which has been and I believe will continue to be a large driving force to marketing the mosaic. It is through these visits, that I know and have seen people make the deepest connections with the community, with the teens that attend the youth centers, and with the work that ENP does to benefit the Ethiopian Community and Israeli Society.

I had several opportunities this week to visit different centers throughout Israel and after each visit, I really began to see the impact that the programs have, and feel even more motivated with the work that I do in the more traditional office setting. Along with this I was given the opportunity to attend a youth centers dedication ceremony where I finally got to learn more about Ethiopian culture.

The beginning of this week I attended a mission visit in a city called Gedera, where they have a very large youth center and a very dedicated supervisor. This center is unique because its a place for not just Ethiopian teenagers go but also their non-Ethiopian peers. This was more of a observation opportunity for me to see another center and see more programs that ENP implements. It was a family mission from all over the United States and they came to Gedera to have a "hands-on" experience while in Israel and learn more about the program. Here is apparently where I learned what a not so successful mission visit looks like. Each visit is complex, involving communication with ENP and the mission leader but ENP and the site supervisor. It also takes the dedication of the supervisor to find youth that will come to the center that day in order to meet the group and interact with them. Language is a barrier and inevitably many of the youth there that day became shy and tried to escape the visit. What I find though is that beyond the language barrier, most of the youth at the visits I've been to have been happy that they showed up that day.

Later this week we had a large visit in a city called Afula up in the north of Israel. The youth center is only a year old and was not there when I lived in Afula a few years ago. I was really amazed to learn that there is actually a really large Ethiopian population living in Afula. The center is very inviting, with murals all over the walls and the youths art work hanging up. While the first center I ever visited in Beit Shemesh was a bomb shelter, this was an actual building. The group visiting was a Young Leadership trip of people from all over the United States that are in some way or another involved in the Jewish community. The group consisted of people from their 20's up until their 40's.

I was really impressed by this center and the mission visit was a success in several ways. We used a Ethiopian photographer named Avi who goes around and does photo workshops with youth. Again the language was difficult, at least for my small group but the youth really enjoyed the visit and I could see that it left a significant impact on everyone that was there that day. One girl even invited her group while they walked around to photograph into her home for a traditional coffee ceremony and to meet her family. We left that day with eight titles bought for Solomon's Mosaic and a significant amount of interest in our marketing initiative that I hope will continue to grow.

Lastly, on Thursday I went with my task manager to a building dedication in Ashkelon. Ashkelon is a city farther south, not far from Sderot and Gaza and with a large population of Ethiopian Jews. I was not entirely sure what I was getting myself into and although at first I felt unsure of what I was supposed to do, at the end I was really happy I attended. Two families had donated signficant amount of funds to renovate the Ashkelon youth center and a ceremony was held to honor the family. The mayor of Ashkelon attended and a really amazing choir of Ethiopian girls performed. While this was a great opportunity to learn more about the youth centers, this opportunity also taught me a lot more about Ethiopian culture.

I have found that although I know a lot about Ethiopian Jewry, that there is still a lot I don't know about their customs and their life before they left Ethiopia. This opportunity has allowed me to really enhance my knowledge on a really unique population that has gone through a very unusual transformation from a agrarian society to modern society. This particular visit to Ashkelon exposed me to Ethiopian foods, a very cool coffee ceremony and even their traditional dance. The best part though was the conversation I had with one of the women their. There were several of the mothers and community members there to help out but this particular woman was sitting alone. Its difficult sometimes with the language barrier to make the connections I'd like to make. More so this is testing my ability to overcome the barrier.

Her name is Tova, and while she told me her name in Amharic I can't recall it. Tova was born in Ethiopia and traveled to Israel on Operation Solomon 20 years ago with her children. Due the language barrier she gave me the impression that two of her children didn't make it to Israel. During the journey through Sudan I know many people didn't survive, many as in 1000's of people. Tova showed me her grandchildren and she was very proud of them. She grew up in Ethiopia and she told me she learned English in the school in her village. In order to go to University in Ethiopia she says that you have to know English. While in Ethiopia she said she worked in importing and exporting from different markets and she lived in the city where there were not many Ethiopian Jews. Tova told me Ethiopia is beautiful and that she really misses it and would like to see it again.

The conversation was difficult because of my Hebrew and I realize that if my Hebrew were better I could make better connections with many of the people I meet. At the same time, the Hebrew I do know is very helpful in beginning to make connections and I think this will only improve as time goes on. Tova's story though fascinated me and I am really motivated to learn more about the culture and what life was like before they came to Israel in Ethiopia. I think that it is key to this internship, to understand the culture of the people I am working to help.

I am finding with the Ethiopian National Project that the issues they are working to address are very similar to many of the community problems that I see in the United States. While the issues of the inner city can't be completely compared to the barriers faced by the Ethiopian community, there is much to learn about community development. While this internship is an opportunity to learn more about marketing and fundraising, its through my work and visits to youth centers that I am beginning to really see the theory I learned in the classroom come alive in the work that ENP does.

I am also being exposed to some of the visions that the new director has for the organization. I hope that while I'm here this summer I will maybe see their strategy to unite the efforts of the Ethiopian community together, start to work itself out.

Short Films from Ashkelon Dedication: