Publication date: 01/02/2018
Dear Friends, Alumni and Supporters, KHA, along with leaders in the Israeli Ethiopian community, has enabled many to pursue a higher and professional education. For the past 24 years, Keren Hanan Aynor has provided over 3400 grants to bright and highly motivated students to successfully acquire an academic and professional degree. For our graduates, their degree is not merely a personal achievement; these talented individuals serve as role models for their own home communities and within general Israeli society as well. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our generous donors, caring individuals, families and foundations whose partnership and dedication help make dreams come true each and every day.
2017-8 Scholarship Awards Ceremony Keren Aynor is proud to share we recently celebrated our 24th Annual Scholarship Distribution Ceremony at Yad Ben Tzvi in Jerusalem’s pastoral Rehavia neighbourhood where we awarded scholarships to 138 talented and motivated Ethiopian Israeli students in over 52 fields of study, several of which are new areas of study this year. The evening was a huge success, complete with traditional Ethiopian delicacies, jazz musicians, Chanukah candle lighting, inspirational speeches from Dr Shalom Sharon, as well as from our Chairperson Tsega Melaku along with several awards and honourary designations.
The winter weather did not prevent us from savouring a warm and intimate environment filled with hope for the future.
This, our 24th ceremony, was the second we celebrated without our matriarch and visionary leader Sarah Aynor (of blessed memory). We will be sure that her legacy at that of her husband’s, Hanan Aynor (of blessed memory) will live on within the light of each and every one of our incredibly optimistic and capable students and they strive towards future endeavours.
Some interesting facts about our students this year:
*49 men
*89 women
*43 single
*85 married
*10 single parents
*7 are studying vocational training
*6 certification studies
*87 Bachelors degrees
*32 Masters degrees
*3 PHD, post doc or other advanced degrees such as: Dentistry, Health Sciences Education, Law and Philosophy
“Our life stories form who we become in this world”
An Interview with Adi Harrari
Adi speaks quickly, enthusiastically and with a great deal of passion as she describes the intensity of her work and studies. It is evident that she loves what she learns and is a driven and vibrant woman who lives her life to the fullest.
Adi is not particularly interested in discussing her early childhood. She jumps right into present day and proudly proclaims she has begun her Master’s degree and is a wife and mother to three wonderful young daughters. She pauses to give credit to her supportive husband and family for the ability to pursue her dreams and continue her studies. She refers to Keren Aynor as the other significant support system, encouraging her and making certain she begins this second degree.
Adi’s social work career began in what she refers to as “a natural way”, as several of her siblings studied social work and she describes a yearning to have helped her ailing brother who she felt, did not have a supportive social worker on his case. As such, her strong desire to be the kind of social worker she had wanted for her brother in his time of pain becomes a clear life goal. Fueled by this passion and the guilt of her brother’s passing, Adi feels her brother’s death is a huge loss in her life. She finishes her Bachelors of social work, but he has already passed.
She completed her practical studies at the Family Violence Alliance and there, is confronted with several challenging situations. It is through her courage and intelligence that she is able to be “more than just a student” and really takes this role to a more mature and professional place. Her work with battered women is both life changing and rewarding and becomes the basis for her research in the future when she begins writing her thesis as part of her Master’s degree at the Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
She describes the importance of bringing these issues and narratives to the public agenda and breaking down barriers for Ethiopian Israeli women in particular who face many challenges.
Adi mentions her Aliyah from Ethiopia briefly. She was eight years old and recalls the living conditions in Mevaseret Zion just outside of Jerusalem where she and her family lived for five years before moving to Yavne.
Her strongest memory is of her youth counsellor from that period named Adi, who unfortunately passes away and as such, Adi as a young woman takes on her name in memory of their close and bonded friendship. “Our life stories form who we become in this world” she tells me. It is clear from the shaking in her voice that she refers to her brother, as well as this wonderful friendship she shared with Adi as she shares that eloquent and poignant notion with me.
“I have an Amharic name as well”, she explains. It’s Adanech, meaning ‘she has rescued them’. As she explains the significance of her Amharic name, my mind wanders and it is so clear that this strong and intelligent woman is a beacon of light, of love and a rescuer of hurt souls.
We, at Keren Aynor, are proud to support such a unique and charismatic woman and wish her luck in her research and the completion of her Master’s Degree in social work.
