Ziggy Marley Meets ENP Youth

What do Ziggy Marley, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and Ethiopian-Israelis have in common? The answer came at Ziggy’s performance at the Shuni Amphitheater, where he wowed not only the audience, but also inspired a small group of teenagers, invited backstage by Marley as participants in the Ethiopian National Project. Marley’s words, to “work hard and focus on education,” resonated with The ENP SPACE participants, as they all agreed in unison that the interaction with Marley “changed the way they thought about school,” and echoed his sentiment that ‘education is of the utmost importance, and has the power to ensure a brighter future.” Roni Akale, the Director General of ENP, complimented Marley on the work of his One Love Foundation, and also described Marley’s interactions with the teens as “powerful.” “The children looked very happy to speak with Marley,” said Akale, and “they were very proud that he came to speak with them.” The teenagers also had the opportunity to hear from David Mashasha, a 7th-year medical student at Hebrew University in Jerusalem who is also Ethiopian-Israeli. Mashasha reminded the teenagers that they all have tremendous potential to succeed, despite any adversities they may face. 

This connection was forged by Ben & Jerry’s Israel, which selected ENP SPACE as its community project, with ENP receiving a portion of the proceeds from Ben and Jerry’s One Love flavor sales in Israel. The One Love flavor was created to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Bob Marley’s (Ziggy’s father) “Legend” album. In countries other than Israel, proceeds from the flavor’s sales support Jamaican youth.