April 19, 2012
By Rochelle Maruch Miller
From a young age, Moshe Tezazo was active in his community in the Tigrai region of Ethiopia. In 1981, Moshe left his wife and children in the village and, together with other activists, started to make his way towards Sudan in order to check aliyah routes to Israel. Moshe was caught and imprisoned for eight months and was subject to investigation under torture. During this time he was not in touch with his family and they did not know what had happened to him. Upon his release Moshe encountered many difficulties while making his way back to his village. After reuniting with his family and recovering from his long ordeal, he and his family made their way to Sudan, and from there to Israel.
Malke Yallo fled from Ethiopia in 1981 after illegally assisting his uncle who was imprisoned for Zionist activity. Malke was caught by Sudanese soldiers at the Ethiopian-Sudanese border. He was thrown in jail and was severely tortured; his left arm was amputated as a result. After being released from prison he collaborated with Mossad agents in Sudan, helping them identify Jewish families and distribute money and medicine. Malke arrived in Israel in 1982 on an IDF ship, sailing from the Sudanese coast to Israel through the Red Sea.
As a young married couple, Degan and Etakelt Mula left their village in Northern Ethiopia with the goal of coming to Israel. After arriving in Djibouti they connected with Mossad agents and operated towards finding ways to come to Israel. The two were caught, tortured, and sent to jail in Ethiopia. While in jail, Etakelt gave birth to their oldest child. After being released, Degan continued his Zionist activity in Ethiopia and Kenya. The two reached Israel separately in 1988 and later reunited, first having to bridge the gaps that came between them.
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“Project Abrah,” ATZUM’s innovative oral-history film project for high-school students, seeks to bridge the generation gap in Israel’s Ethiopian community—to shed light on the heroic struggles of many Ethiopian “prisoners of Zion” (Jews who were imprisoned and even tortured prior to making aliyah due to their Zionist or Jewish activities) to reach Israel, and empower students while helping them discover their rich Ethiopian heritage.
Project Abrah (“illuminate” in Amharic) pairs groups of Ethiopian 11th- and 12th-grade students and their classmates with Ethiopian prisoners of Zion, introducing the students to this compelling element of their cultural legacy, helping them develop an emotional and lasting connection with the subject matter, and involving them in the process of creating a permanent record of their subject’s heroism. At the same time, the prisoners of Zion are presented with a rare opportunity to share their stories with the younger generation and receive the recognition and respect they richly deserve from the communities and Israeli society at large.
For the participating students, Project Abrah is an extraordinary learning experience of which lifetime memories are made. “It was important for me to learn these things about my community,” said S. “I have so much greater appreciation for those who did so much to be able to come to Israel and live here.”
“I learned that I can do whatever I want, if I have the will,” declared 17-year-old I. “I see that the prisoner of war we met with had that will and strength. I believe that I am capable too. His activity encourages me to progress in life.”
Eighteen-year-old O. acquired a deep sense of appreciation for the beauty of his rich heritage. “The prisoner of Zion that we interviewed helped Jewish families get to Israel through Sudan. My parents also came through Sudan. This gave me greater meaning to the story of my family. I am proud of my community and it gives me hope for the future.”
Further, ATZUM provides a framework that helps the students develop basic grassroots community organization skills and encourages the students to become agents of change in their communities.
Abrah also employs the help of videographers and producers from the Ethiopian communities in which it operates. These young professionals guide the technical process, serving as role models for the students while advancing their own careers.
At the end of each project cycle, the students’ raw interview footage is edited into short professional films that are screened in various communal and educational settings, allowing the message to be spread far and wide. The first rounds of the project were regarded as very successful.
ATZUM’s pilot program took place in Beer-Sheva, bringing together eighteen 11th–12th graders and prisoners of Zion in southern Israel. The group of students was composed of 12 Ethiopians and 6 non-Ethiopians from four different schools in the city, including students from both religious and unaffiliated backgrounds. Many of the participants came from broken homes and live in low socio-economic neighborhoods. The students met regularly for group meetings in Beer-Sheva’s Kaye Academic College. During these meetings the students had sessions focusing on the historical background, interview training, preparation for the visits, the importance of teamwork, and processing the experience.
Alongside the group meetings, the participants were divided into five teams of three to four students. Each team then met numerous times with a prisoner of Zion and took part in filming their story. David Gavro, a charismatic young Ethiopian filmmaker, was in charge of the filming process with the students. David edited the footage into films of 10 to 15 minutes each, focusing on the story of the prisoner ofZion and the students’ meeting with them. The films were screened in an evening in the Kaye College, in front of students, parents, prisoners of Zion and their families, educators, and community workers. They have since been shown in schools, workshops, and various communal settings. The Beer-Sheva municipality and education department have expressed their high regard for the project and would like to see it expand and reach out to include more of the city’s youth.
Unique in concept, Project Abrah is mutually empowering both the youth and the prisoners of Zion—the youth with stories, pride in their heritage, new skills, and a formative experience in strengthening their identity, and the prisoners of Zion with a chance to share and record their stories with the younger generation and get a deeper sense of honor from Israel society which they have rightfully earned.
