Israel is more than the conflict seen in the media! Israel is home to immigrants of all races from around the globe, confronting similar challenges faced by immigrants in the U.S.
This program exposes students to a variety of services that help Ethiopian immigrants adjust to their new country, including:
Absorption Centers,
youth Villages,
artists’ workshops for elderly immigrants,
high-tech training programs, and
university initiatives to increase acceptance of Ethiopian-Israeli students.
The best way for this generation of college students to understand Israel is to go there. As a faculty member at UMD, I have been taking students to Israel since 2012. When they return, this is what they say:
“This trip enhanced my interest in teaching students from diverse backgrounds.”
"The media reduces and mischaracterizes Israel into something that it is not, that bears little truth to the society I have come to know...vibrant and multicultural."
“Israel is a country of collaboration.”
“The coexistence of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim people in one of the smallest and fought over countries is in itself something to admire and elicits strong comparisons to how different and how unaccepting other nations can be."
“Not only am I learning a lot about Israel, I am also learning about my Ethiopian culture and identity. I did not know that Ethiopian Jews even existed. It makes me emotional to learn about the hardships and struggle they had to go through to get to this point. I feel a deep connection with them.”
While student sometimes receive some funding from the university, those funds contribute to the cost of the program but not the airfare, which many first generation college students are unable to afford.
This campaign will help cover airfare for up to 6 students.
Any amount will be appreciated, and helping us to spread the word helps a lot, also!
Thank you!