Operation Ethiopia

11/06/2026

Proud to be back in Debre Birhan [where we've brought 2 Israeli cohorts this past year to run Mobile Eyecare clinics in the China IDP refugee camp] to bring life-changing eye surgeries to HUNDREDS of people!

Dr. Morris and Dr. Shirin from Israel, and Dr. Social who just TRAINED with us in Israel 🇮🇱 and Dr. Asrat will be performing FREE oculoplastic surgeries on patients over the coming days!

In parallel, thanks to generous donors we're restoring eyesight to hundreds of patients with FREE cataract surgeries thru early next week!

We're grateful to Dr. Mulluken [who trained with us in Israel in 2024] and Meseret Fantahun for working so hard leading up and for the smooth running of this large campaign at the Debre Birhan Comprehensive Specialized hospital - and for our partners at Cure Blindness Project for this incredible, impactful joint initiative. Thanks to The DEAR Foundation Switzerland and a private donor for making this possible through their generous support!

10/06/2026

Although it’s been continued challenging times for all of us in Israel – living with wars on several fronts and all that comes with that - tonite we head to Debre Birhan, a 3-hour drive from Addis Ababa, to restore eyesight to over 500 people blinded by untreated cataracts 🙏🏻.

In past medical missions we’ve worked in the China IDP refugee camp, we’ve become very connected to the people there - it houses over 10k who live in indescribably harsh conditions.

While running our mobile eyecare clinic there we’ve identified many people who cannot see due to untreated cataracts. This week our local team started screenings in the camp to identify anyone who needs surgery, so we can reverse their blindness at our campaign next week.

Friday we will perform more screenings ourselves – and it brings us great JOY to be able to change many people’s lives in such a meaningful way as enabling them to see the beautiful world, and their loved ones, once again.

01/06/2026

Last week was a rare opportunity to "Zoom out" from our intense focus on Eyecare - and it was incredibly inspiring to sit in a room with HUNDREDS of Israelis 🇮🇱 working in the developing world in fields ranging from health and water, agriculture, tech, education and more.

Hosted by SID [Society for International Development] Israel and Mashav, the event brought together Israeli NGOs and foreign ambassadors serving in Israel, to explore how we can do even MORE to improve lives outside Israel's borders.

At the Global Health roundtable for us - the Ambassador from Zambia shared the simple but powerful fact that without HEALTHY citizens, a country cannot develop. The El Salvador Ambassador talked about how Israeli assistance contributed to his country's progress - and that 10 years ago his country was listed as one of the "most dangerous" and now it's one of the safest in the region.

It was an energizing day, an opportunity to learn from other NGOs, exchange ideas, build new partnerships - and how incredible it was that with a war happening on THREE fronts, HUNDREDS of Israelis took time to gather in Tel Aviv to figure out how we help more people in NEED, all around the world.

27/05/2026

Imagine fleeing your village, living for years in a crowded camp, and then slowly losing your eyesight too.

The China IDP [Internally Displaced Persons'] camp in Debre Birhan is home to 10,000+ diplaced people who live in harsh conditions - housed in tents or metal shelters, using shared public showers, with no flushable toilets - that are hard to even describe.

Operation Ethiopia brings our volunteer teams and ophthalmologists to provide direct eyecare thru our Mobile Eyecare Clinics there several times a year. We treat hundreds a day, providing on-the-spot eye exams, medication and eyeglasses.

*NOW* thanks to a generous donation from one of our mission volunteers, we’ll be restoring eyesight there too!

In early June we begin screening people in the camp for cataracts, and anyone who needs will receive SIGHT-RESTORING CATARACT SURGERY during our June cataract campaign, as part of a wider campaign we are sponsoring in Debre Birhan.

We're delighted to provide such LIFE-CHANGING operations!

If you love what we do, please support our work!

25/05/2026

We're proud to be featured in Britain's largest online Jewish newspaper.

"There’s a deep connection between Ethiopia and Israel, an overlap in identity. When we go there, people are so excited to hear that we come from Israel, we’re welcomed so warmly. We're so proud to be part of that two way relationship and to provide eye care for both the Jewish and non-Jewish communities in Ethiopia.”

Prof. Morris Hartstein

'Israeli humanitarian and medical organisations are increasingly bringing not only aid but professional expertise, innovation and long-term public health to developing countries'

11/05/2026

A huge thank you to our valued partner RestoringVision for helping make moments like these possible 💙👓!

The amazing NGO RestoringVision generously provides us with eyeglasses for patients in our Mobile Eyecare Clinics - enabling us to bring CLEAR eyesight - immediately to hundreds! The people we treat live in extreme poverty without access to ophthalmologists, and certainly to eyeglasses.

It’s incredible to place a pair of eyeglasses on a patient and watch their face light up! Instant clear vision! Immediate joy!

Something that many of us take for granted can completely change a person’s daily life - allowing them to work, care for their family, regain independence.

These photos are from our February mission, where we brought our Mobile Eyecare Clinics to:

* the Jewish community of Addis Ababa
* Mother Teresa Mission of Charity
* Meckedonia home for destitute elderly
* China IDP Camp in Debre Birhan - home to more than 15,000 internally displaced people

We're glad to be able to bring smiles, dignity, hope, and clear vision to so many!

Photo credit: Abel Gashaw

01/05/2026

Longer post to come next week: But yesterday we said goodbye to Dr. Sociål Beyecha after an amazing and intense 3-month Oculoplastic fellowship training with us at Shamir Medical Center in Israel 🇮🇱.

He is en route back to home to his wife and daughter in Hawassa where he will be the only Oculoplastic trained surgeon for over 10 million people 🇪🇹!

Our doctor training program empowers local ophthalmologists with the skills to care for patients in their own communities 💪, Dr. Social is the 22nd doctor we have brought to train with Operation Ethiopia here in Israel.

We WILL MISS HIM and his ever-present smile, and look forward to seeing him next time in Ethiopia!

27/04/2026

See our work in action and hear about the impact and experience from one of our Israeli volunteers.

12/03/2026

What a week it’s been for us – in ETHIOPIA! Read on…

Each year we bring one Ethiopian ophthalmologist to Israel for advanced surgical subspecialty training as part of our doctor training program.

The goal is simple: give local doctors the skills to care for patients in their own communities.

The impact is exponential. Training one doctor means decades of care for thousands of patients.

This week we saw the power of this program in action!

Our Israeli surgical team was supposed to travel to Dessie, Ethiopia for an Oculoplastic Surgery campaign at Boru Meda Hospital, where we’d scheduled 150 surgeries for patients suffering from severe dacryocystitis.

But then - the Iran war began - and Israel’s airport shut down and our team couldn’t fly in.

SO, we pivoted, and instead brought together graduates of our doctor training program from across Ethiopia to lead the campaign 💪, and sent in all the funding 💰.

Then more challenges began!

• Two of the Ethiopian surgeons who were supposed to fly in had their flights cancelled for two days straight due to weather 😯 - and in the end could not get there at all.

• Some of the surgical materials were supposed to arrive from Israel. So the local doctors sourced them from Addis Ababa. But then flights to Dessie were cancelled (!). They found someone to get the supplies via airplane to Semera which is 225k from Dessie – and had a driver 🚙 bring them from there- whew.

We are SO PROUD OF AND AMAZED BY our Ethiopian colleagues who pushed forward with so many last minute changes, and found creative solutions!

They worked with such dedication and skill – completing 182 complex surgeries on long-suffering patients!

THANK YOU 🙏🏻 to Drs. Tolossa, Mulluken, Amare, Sayid, and also to Dr. Betty and Dr. Asrat who went to the airport two days in a row and made such an effort to get the campaign but could not.

Great thanks to the pediatric anesthesia team at Boru Meda hospital, and to all the medical and other staff who worked hard to make this impactful outreach possible. Thanks to Endalk Yeregal for all the work coordinating leading up, and throughout the campaign 🙏🏻.

This is JUST ONE example of the power of training local doctors and building PARTNERSHIPS.

🇪🇹🇮🇱💙

05/03/2026

There are added complications to working in a conflict-ridden country, and to being from one yourself. Last month we had to rework our Ethiopian mission only days prior, due to unexpected uprising in Tigray.

This week our Israeli team was supposed to be in Dessie Ethiopia performing 120+ FREE SURGERIES at our Oculoplastic surgery campaign to people suffering for years from dacryocystitis, and needing tear-duct bypass operations.

Instead, we are in Israel - staying close to our bomb shelters due to incoming missiles from Iran.

Not wanting to disappoint patients who have already waited so long and were looking forward to relief, we worked intensely over the past few days to rearrange plans so the campaign could still take place, even in our absence.

And it speaks volumes about the SUCCESS OF OUR DOCTOR TRAINING PROGRAM that the FIRST PATIENTS are being operated on now at Boru Meda Hospital in Dessie.

We wired the funds and brought together ✈️ graduates of our training program from Jimma, Debre Birhan, Addis Ababa, and Gondar.

Right now — and through early next week — Drs. Asrat, Mulluken, Amare, Tolossa, and Betty, together with local Dr. Sayed, are performing these life-changing surgeries 🙏🏻.

We miss being there with them! But we are incredibly proud.

Nothing demonstrates the impact of our doctor training program more than seeing our graduates take the lead - caring for patients in their own communities, with the support of Operation Ethiopia.