JUNE 25 • 2020 | 19
learn worship’
— and you
witness them trying that —
we have an obligation to sup-
port them and to serve them.
That is the core value driving
this project.
”
The Friends already sent
Moges for three months to
study Hebrew and Torah with
a rabbi in Uganda. They plan
to help him attain rabbinical
training to become Ethiopia’
s
first ordained rabbi.
This month, the Friends
have arranged for Moges and
Tazebku to virtually attend
the Fuchsberg Jerusalem
Center for Conservative
Judaism’
s summer program in
Hebrew and Torah studies.
Progress has been made
on religious and humanitar-
ian fronts, from delivery of
prayer books in Hebrew and
Amharic to installation of a
pepper mill at the Jambaria
gedam. (See sidebar on com-
munity needs.) Now, most
projects are on hold because
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moges told the JN families
in Kechene are sheltering at
home in crowded houses with
insufficient food and water,
and little support from the
government. With markets
closed, he says, they have no
place to sell their wares and
earn money.
In mid-June, Moges report-
ed the first coronavirus deaths
in Kechene. “People are suf-
fering,
” he said. The Friends
group, with CultivAid and
LOZA, is helping them.
“In Kechene, we helped
develop a face mask-mak-
ing factory,
” said CultivAid’
s
Malchi, who acts as the
group’
s coordinator in
Ethiopia. Six sewing machines
have been delivered to the
LOZA synagogue, with
$7,500 in funding from the
Friends. “We are using their
abilities to make what the
market is really asking for.
Some masks will be donated
to frontline workers, some
sold, with revenue given to
families — a community
business that really helps in
this time of need.
”
They now produce 300
masks a day;
next up are
plans to make hand sanitizer.
The pivot to give aid during
the pandemic allows the
Friends team to see if LOZA
leaders can truly make things
happen.
“They have an opportunity
now,
” Rabbi Bennett said.
“This is a test balloon to
decide whether they can orga-
nize themselves enough to be
worthy of ongoing support.
“We are hopeful, in the
short term, they will get some
of that by having to do so.
But, in the long term, we see
our role as putting people on
the ground who can intern
and teach them what it means
to build a community.
”
The Friends leaders speak
with Moges and Tazebku
about twice a month to assess
needs and make sure things
are on track.
“We’
ve had visitors from
all over the world, but I can
say none of them have a ded-
icated heart with a passion
to help this community like
Suzi and her group,
” Moges
told the JN. “They are making
a grand difference we can
actually physically see. Not
only on paper or words, but
through action and change in
our lives.
“We did not get help
from anybody until now.
Together, we build a bridge
between our customs, beliefs
and religion with the wider
Jewish community of the
world. We are making his-
tory.”