Recipients

Funds raised by SFEJ are channeled to Keren Hanan Aynor (KHA), an Israeli non-governmental organization that makes scholarship grants to eligible Ethiopian Israelis. KHA is named for Hanan Aynor, who was the Israeli ambassador to Ethiopia in the 1970s.

SFEJ/KHA grants have been awarded to scholars in the following categories:

• Ph.D. candidates needing help to complete their studies;
• men and women, over age 29 or parents, who do not qualify for educational assistance from the Israeli government; and
• students working toward specialized diplomas to advance their employment levels.

The career-choices of past and current SFEJ/KHA scholars are:

• aeronautical engineering;
• biotechnology;
• business administration;
• communications;
• computer science;
• criminology;
• education and educational counseling;
• English;
• laboratory technology;
• law;
• mechanical engineering;
• medicine;
• performing arts;
• nursing;
• physical education;
• political science;
• public administration;
• social work; and
• sociology.

SFEJ/KHA scholars have studied at all of the Israeli universities and colleges.

Pictured here are some of our Ethiopian Israeli graduates, whose university studies were enabled in part by funds furnished by SFEJ. We are proud of the fact that they have “given back” to their community, and to the entire community of Israel.  

	Shlomo Mula, who was recently elected a member of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, is currently the only Ethiopian serving in this capacity. He is only the second member of Israel's Ethiopian community so honored.
	Tsega Melaku, a journalist by education, has been the official in the Israel Broadcasting Authority responsible for programming and broadcasting in Amharic and Tigrean, the native languages of the Ethiopian immigrants to Israel. Much of her programming was designed to explain Israeli society and culture to the Ethiopian immigrants to Israel, and to assist them in their integration into their adopted country. Very recently, Tsega was named to head Channel One of Israel Radio.
	Shmuel Yilma, a former paratroop officer, was the second Ethiopian to serve as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces. After completing his military service, he earned an M.A. in educational counseling. He is now in charge of the section dealing with integration of immigrants (not only Ethiopian) of the Joint Distribution Committee (JDC-Israel), an Israeli non-governmental organization. He described his “aliyah” (immigration to Israel) in a book, From Falasha to freedom: an Ethiopian Jew’s journey to Jerusalem, published by Geffen in 1996.
	Asher Elias was born to Ethiopian parents who had arrived earlier in Israel. After graduating from secondary school and completing his obligatory service in the Israel Defense Forces, he studied marketing and computer science at the Jerusalem College of Management. After working for a number of years in Israeli hi-tech, Asher, together with an American-Israeli colleague, established "Tech-Career", which offers a year-long program in computer programming and a three-month program in quality assurance to selected Ethiopian-Israelis who have completed their military service. Now in its fifth year, Tech-Career has produced approximately 100 graduates, all of whom have found employment in the flourishing Israeli hi-tech industry.
	Shai Ferdu was born in Ethiopia. As a young boy, he immigrated to Israel with his family in Operation Moses in the early 1980s, a journey involving many days of walking through inhospitable, mountainous and desert terrain infested with bandits to the desperate conditions of a Sudanese refugee camp. Those who survived the journey were spirited to Israel, a few at a time, by way of Europe. After completing his secondary education and obligatory military service, Shai studied performing arts. While pursuing his acting career and volunteering as a youth worker, Shai wrote and performed a play describing his exodus from Ethiopia and his reception in Israel. During the second Lebanon war, in the summer of 2006, Shai left his employment and, together with other volunteers from the Ethiopian community, performed in many bomb-shelters for the children of northern Israel.