Operation Ethiopia

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03/09/2026

A special tradition at Operation Ethiopia is inviting our Volunteer team (and their families!) to our home for a post-mission Friday - first day of the "weekend" in Israel - brunch a few weeks after each trip!

After working so intensely together in Ethiopia and becoming close friends, we love getting together back home to share reflections, stories, photos, Ethiopian coffee ☕️ 🇪🇹 (thanks Abel Gashaw) and also to seek feedback from those who have worked the closest with us!

We also premiere our "highlight" video from the trip (link in first comment below!)

One thing we love about our organization is that it brings together so many good people from all over - different ages, religions, cities - and once we spend 5 days working together in the field in Ethiopia the bonds are strong and long-lasting!

Here are some photos from our meet-up last week, we missed you Abel Gashaw, Masresha Fentahun, Avraham, Eyerusalem, Gech, and the rest of our Ethiopian 🇪🇹 team!

02/09/2026

5 days. 1,728 patients treated. People who would not have gotten the medications or eyeglasses they needed. We bring our Operation Ethiopia Mobile Eyecare clinics to areas where people lack eyecare and treat hundreds a day with volunteers from Israel.

26/08/2026

A pair of glasses can change a person’s life!

07/08/2026

We first met Amos in February during our Mobile Eyecare clinic at the Mekedonia Home for the Elderly and Mentally Disabled in Addis Ababa.

I was wearing a blue bracelet with Hebrew letters on it. A patient ran over to me, rolled up his sleeve, and proudly showed me Hebrew lettering and a Jewish star tattooed onto his arm!

He told me his name was Amos, he has family in Israel, and he asked if he could have my blue rubber bracelet.

I had a strong emotional attachment to that bracelet, but felt sure I wanted him to have it. I told him I’d be honored to give it him – but only after I explained the significance of it.

I shared with him a story of former Israeli hostage Bar Kupershtein* taken captive from the Nova Oct sev*enth.

At one point Bar’s mom received a phone call from his sadistic CAPTOR. He made demands of her. She refused (!), but not only that:

When the captor responded “do you understand that I am holding your son [and can do to him as I wish] ” she responded to him:

“No, my son is NOT in your hands, he is in the hands of the Creator of the universe. AND you should know that you TOO are in the hands of Gd, and he is watching everything you are doing.”

WOW. No words.

The bracelet I had worn daily after getting it from Bar’s family at hostage square in Tel aviv, bore the inscription:

אני תמיד בידיים של בורא העולם"”
In English: “I am always in the hands of the creator of the universe.”

I handed Amos my bracelet.

A few weeks ago we arrived at Meckedonia, and as soon as we got off the bus, Amos ran over to greet me!

He rolled up his sleeve again, this time showing me his bracelet and telling me he has worn it everyday.

During our clinic that day he asked if I could do another favor for him:

Deliver a note that he would write, to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

I told him I’d be happy to, and gave him some paper from my notebook.

Honestly I had not been to the Western Wall / Kotel in quite a long time. But when I returned to Israel I had to complete Amos’ mission. I went to Jerusalem, to the Western Wall, folded his note up small, and wedged it in the the ancient stones, which were once a section of the retaining wall of the Ancient Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.

How incredible that it was Amos, from Meckedonia in Addis Ababa, who had brought me back to this holy Jewish site that day.

*Bar Kupershtein was brutally abducted from the Nova music festival on Oct seventh 2023 and held captive for 738 unimaginable days. At the Nova he risked his life REPEATEDLY to evacuate and treat wounded, until he was horrifically taken h*stage himself. He somehow survived 738 brutal days of captivity, and was "released" 10 months ago in exchange for hundreds of prisoners.

05/08/2026

How do we communicate with patients in our clinics in Ethiopia 🇪🇹 🤔 ?

We work side-by-side with wonderful local translators! They are INVALUABLE to our work – enabling us to diagnose and treat hundreds of people a day with accuracy, and efficiently. Our clinics could not function without them!

A BONUS are the bonds and friendships we form, working long hard days together with amazing people we’d otherwise never have the pleasure to meet.

At the end of the week, we hold an appreciation ceremony, and thank each of our translators and present them with a certificate and a gift from Israel, and say goodbye until the next mission.

It's important to us not to just swoop in with our foreign team, do our work and leave - but to work TOGETHER with the people in the communities that we serve - building bridges and gaining deeper understanding of the culture we're working in.

Liat Schwalb Nayrouz Bdeer Marc Lustig Yossi Nadel Ellie Schwartz Rona Michelson Sima Medow Oberlander Morris Hartstein Sosi Yonas

29/07/2026

We were so happy to treat over 850 people with no access to Eyecare at the Weynshet IDP refugee camp in Debre Birhan.

24/07/2026

Operation Ethiopia Israeli volunteers together with local translator teams provide Eyecare to over 1,700 people in Ethiopia last week.

20/07/2026

It’s not only important to us WHAT we do, but HOW we do it 💙 .

We spent Day 5, the final day of our mission, back at the Weynshet refugee camp.

Before starting our clinic, our coordinator Susan walked us through a residence housing more than 200 people to show us how families live. It’s a huge hangar-like structure - actually one of the better housing options because it offers more protection from the rain.

Inside, each family’s “home” is a space of less than 4x4 meters, sectioned off by tarps or in some cases just cardboard boxes. In that tight space, they cook, sleep, care for their kids and keep all their belongings. Most have been living this way for 3-4 years.

After examining and treating more than *900 people* in the camp over two days, we wanted to play with the kids before heading back to Israel. We had brought soccer balls and frisbees, but there were SO many children that pulling out toys would have created chaos.

INSTEAD:

One of our volunteers bluetoothed his phone to their speaker, and blasted Ethiopian music through the camp – and we all started DANCING with the kids!

Everyone ran over to join and we must have been there for 25 minutes, over 100 of us dancing together in the Weynshet camp – Israelis, Ethiopians, Jews, Christians, Muslim – ages two to 80+ - everyone just lost in the music and feeling the JOY.

Later, before our return flight to Israel 🇮🇱, one of our Ethiopian team told us that as he was walking around the crowd during the dancing, he heard adults saying how HAPPY they were that we stayed and brought joy to their kids 💚 - we didn't just finish our work and leave.

Thanks to our AMAZING volunteers, aged 17-80, including one 3-generation family, who worked SO HARD this past week, gave so much of themselves, and not only in treated over 1700 (!!) patients who would not otherwise have gotten care, but really SAW each person, and showed how much they, and we care.

Sosi Yonas Efrat Slonim Sima Medow Oberlander Morris Hartstein Elisa Minsk Hartstein Yossi Nadel Rona Michelson Liat Schwalb

17/07/2026

A privilege to provide Eyecare to internal refugees in the Weynshet camp at our Mobile Eyecare Clinic in Debre Birhan.

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Ra`anana

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https://www.operationethiopia.com/, https://operationethiopia.com/donate/

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