Assia: Fulfilling a Centuries-Old Dream
"I will never forget my mother waking me in the middle of the night to tell me we were leaving for Jerusalem," Assia Nathanel Avera, now 30, recalls. "I was only seven, but I knew that Jews were not allowed to leave Ethiopia. From that night on we were always in danger."
Assia, his parents, and his 12 brothers and sisters walked for weeks across the scorching Ethiopian desert, where they were robbed by bandits and shot at by rebels. They ended up in a disease-infested refugee camp from which they finally secured a flight to Israel. "When we finally arrived at our homeland, we knew that we were fulfilling the centuries-old dream of our people," says Assia. "It was a miracle that we made it to Israel, our homeland."
His family's first home in Israel was at an absorption center in northern Israel run by the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), one of The Fellowship's partners. "Adjusting to Israel was very difficult for my parents, but for me it was much easier," recalls Assia.
After his army service, Assia moved to Tel Aviv and began studying graphic design and art. He worked as a security guard to pay his rent and expenses, but says that if it had not been for the Fellowship-funded scholarship he received, he never would have been able to complete his studies. "It is not only me that the The Fellowship helped, but a lot of young people in the Ethiopian community," explains Assia.
Today, Assia works as a policeman to support himself, but he aspires to be a full-time artist. His drawings, which have been featured in art exhibitions, reflect his deep pride in both his Ethiopian and Jewish culture. "My mother always told us stories about life in Ethiopia, and I am very connected to my roots, to Judaism, and to Israel. This is the only homeland for the Jewish people." Donate now
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