Immigration presents great opportunities to Ethiopian immigrants, and immense challenges:
• They find themselves living in temporary absorption centers with minimal (if any) preparation
• Ethiopian immigrants suffer from culture shock
• Economically, most do not have relevant vocational skills
• They find retraining difficult, and therefore find themselves on social benefits
• Inactivity results in previously unknown diseases in Ethiopian men and women, such as diabetes, heart disease and more
• Socially debilitated, Ethiopian men have become some of the worst perpetrators of family violence
• Ethiopian youth are handicapped by the isolation and hardships of their communities, and alienated from mainstream Israeli youth. The latter results in academic underperformance and frustration due to their parent’s absorption difficulties and inability to assist them. This results in inter family conflict and increased failure to integrate.
In 2007 IAIC piloted First Place in Israel to provide counseling for parents and children. IAIC worked with over 2,000 immigrants in southern Israel, to assure equal integration of Ethiopian children into Israeli schools, and to provide parents with knowledge and skills to cope with life in Israel. A group of Amharic-speaking veteran immigrants were trained to work as their facilitators.
In our work with parents, objectives are to:
• Educate about the differences between Ethiopian and Israeli cultural norms
• Improve communication skills within the family, enabling them to better cope with the strains of immigration
• Develop parenting skills needed to cope with the challenges ahead
In our work with children, objectives are to:
• Educate about the differences between Ethiopian and Israeli cultural norms
• Improve Hebrew literacy
• Prepare children emotionally for life in Israel
One could describe a major component of this project as “Emotional Intelligence,” one of the most valuable forms of knowledge one can achieve in life. Feedback from the project has been extremely positive. IAIC seeks to expand the program to additional immigrant absorption centers.