Project Spotlight: Scholarships for Minority Students in Israel

The Fellowship  |  December 8, 2022

Many sectors of Israeli society are often overlooked or neglected, the Bedouin community being one of them. Sadly, the Bedouin community is ranked one of the poorest in Israel, and many in the community are unemployed. Because this is a minority group in Israel, they are easily overlooked. But not by The Fellowship or our faithful donors, who continue to reach out to all those in need in Israel.

Recently, we provided Ayat, a young adult from the community, a scholarship for higher education to help break this cycle of poverty and neglect. Ayat tells us that without the scholarship, she wouldn’t have made it through medical school:

“When I was in high school I thought I would be a teacher. Then my mother and sister became seriously ill and I devoted myself to helping them. At this point, I realized that I wanted to help as many sick people as possible. And a thought crossed my mind to study medicine.

“It was clear to me that this was a very serious challenge. And I wanted to make sure that this was indeed the right direction for me, so I volunteered for national service at the MDA as a medic. After I was accepted for studies, I realized that I had to work at the same time.

“The Fellowship scholarship allowed me to concentrate on my medical studies, to be present in classes and to meet all the assignments. It brought me a significant step closer to fulfilling my dream and today I am one of the only Bedouin women studying medicine in Israel.”

Congrats, Ayat!