Yossi Looks Back: An Interview After ENP
Community
City: Ashkelon
YOSSI
(23 years old, born in Ethiopia, came to Israel at age 2, a participant with ENP in Ashkelon)
What is the story behind your name?
My name in Amharic is Nagato. It means Sunrise because I was born in the morning.
ENP Questions
What Ethiopian National Project programs did you participate in?
I had help with homework at ENP’s SPACE Program in Ashkelon. I was in the program for six years.
What is the funniest memory you have of participating in an ENP program?
Every summer there was a seminar trip with the ENP where we would learn and play. We went to Haifa for three days and learned how to work with each other through team-building exercises. We would make campfires together and make jokes -- it was a lot of fun.
What challenges did you experience in working with ENP?
It was hard to stay at school after school and be mature. Staying motivated to participate in a program after school let out was challenging, but I stayed because I needed to learn and it became fun. The madrichim (counselors) inspired me to have fun while learning.
Do you remember a scholastic success?
I was in 10th grade and I needed to leave a class because it was very difficult for me. They wanted me to move to a different class, but I didn’t want to switch. ENP talked to the school and helped me stay in the class and not move -- it was a success.
What is the most important thing you learned or received from your participation with ENP?
I think it’s not the lessons, but the summer programs. I went on three trips in three years. I learned how to be what I am now, how to be good with people and work with people in groups. Now I am a commander in the army.
How has ENP affected your experience in Israel?
It’s taught me how to be focused. It’s also taught me to be active and proud about my Ethiopian background, to not sit in the back of the classroom and let the others talk instead of me.
Did you participate in the Army?
I’ve finished my three years and I’m in my 4th year now. After I finish I want to go home to Ashkelon, but that could change. Now I have 30 soldiers in my command. Most are younger, the fresh soldiers. I do basic training for pilots. I’m not a pilot, but I do their basic training because they need to be foot soldiers before they become pilots.
In what ways did participating in ENP programs help you reach the point you’re at today?
ENP opened to me a lot of doors. The first door, I think, is to do sherut, to do a year of service -- I volunteered in Beit Shemesh for a year. This taught me how to give to other people after other people did things for me.
What is your dream job? If you could do anything with your life, what would you like to do?
I’m not sure, maybe business or design. I would like to be in high tech. I have plans for college eventually, but not right now. I want to travel -- start with Ethiopia.
Personal Questions
Where and when were you born?
I don’t remember, but in Ethiopia.
Do you have siblings? What was it like growing up in your household?
I have a lot of brothers. 4 brothers from my mother and 9 from my father, but I don’t live with all of them. I live with just my mother.
How would you describe yourself as a child? Were you happy?
I was the kid who always got in trouble. I was in the hospital a lot because I used to get injured a lot -- I was an active child.
How has your life been different than what you’d imagined?
Not a lot, because from the beginning I want to do something for others. I go with it.
What is a favorite family story you grew up listening to?
Asterlight -- it’s the name of a bird, but it’s also the title of a story about a wedding in Ethiopia. It’s beautiful, and I used to ask my family all the time about weddings in Ethiopia -- because here in Israel weddings are different than in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, a wedding is happy for five days and all the family come. Here, it’s smaller. The story is a book told about one child who tells about her Aliya.
What is something you love about living in Israel?
To be Israeli means that no matter what you’re doing, if you need help or anything, you can just ask or say something and get the help you need no matter what. I don’t know how it is in other countries, but here everyone knows that if not me, someone can help me. The most thing is that when you’re on the road and you need a hand, someone will stop and call to you: “you need some help?” Here drivers cut you off too, but it’s different. They want to kill you and then help you. Haha.
What is something that you find difficult about living in Israel?
To be Ethiopian here in Israel is difficult because our personality is to be the good guy, the silent, quiet guy. Here in Israel is not like that. It’s be louder and not care what anyone else thinks about you. It’s difficult, but we are learning -- we are Israeli.
What are you proudest of in your life?
My family, my grandmother to come from Ethiopia to Israel to get all of the things. We are children, we learn quickly. They are not, so it’s more difficult for them. All of my family came to Israel -- both of my parents, my grandfather, grandmother, aunts, uncles, my whole village is here. Everyone is in Israel, but not everyone is in Ashkelon.
We speak Amharic at home -- some families don’t speak Amharic. They want to immerse in Hebrew, so they lose the Amharic. My family is not like that -- I don’t know how to read and write in Amharic, but I want to pass the language to my children in the future.
24 July 2013