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.”