Project Kechene: Help Jews of Addis Ababa

Team fundraiser

Sen'ka Lebed and 2 others are organizing this fundraiser to benefit Temple Israel of Detroit.

Tax deductible

If you knew that $5 could save a life what would you do? Well in Ethiopia, $5 can save two lives by giving masks to elders and Rabbis of Kechene Ethiopia. We invite you to join us to save their lives and the thousands of years of oral history that each one carries with them.

My name is Sam Litvin and I have traveled the world photographing disappearing Jewish communities. Some disappearing due to emigration, some due to the holocaust. But I have never seen what we see today. The novel Coronavirus COVID 19 is a worldwide tragedy. It claims up to 80% of those who are over 80 years old in advanced economies. There are over 1000 elderly people in the Jewish village of Kechene on the outskirts of Addis Ababa where there is poor sanitation, cramped living, and no medical access. We are seeking caring people to join to help avert a disaster by contributing a few dollars to help cover the cost of materials of masks and sanitizer and thermometers to be produced by the strong and resilient Kechene people, to save the vulnerable population of Kechene.

This is a tax-deductible contribution. Every contribution over $5 will also give a mask to the funder and provide two free masks for the community-saving lives. The people for whom we seek your help may live far away, but the impact is no smaller than if they lived next door.

Jews of Ethiopia
Many know of the Jews from North Ethiopia who walked from Gondar to Sudan to be brought to Israel in the operation Solomon. But few know that Jews have lived in Addis Ababa for hundreds of years. Unlike the Jewish people of Gondar, Jews of Addis Ababa could not walk to Sudan to be rescued, and so they remain in Ethiopia to this very day.

Jewish people in Ethiopia as often is the case, are a repressed and underprivileged community. Although they have been prized for their weaving, pottery, and blacksmith skills for hundreds of years, due to their ethnicity and religion, have been barred from owning land or economic and educational opportunities.

The community lives at the doorstep of one of Africa’s biggest cities, but the Jews there are relegated to living in large numbers in small shacks, with dirt floors and poor sanitation. Now, with COVID at the door, this is a disaster waiting to happen. But you can help stop this.

Thank you gifts:
As a thank you for your contribution we have created some thank-you gifts. While this is a fundraiser and everything is a donation and contribution, it is also an investment and a new business model applied to masks. When you buy a mask, you also give a mask to a Kechene elder. This way you encourage financial independence and strengthen the economy, especially the women in Kechene who have been hard hit by the downturn in the economy.

$5: When you donate $5, you will receive your very own mask from Ethiopia created by the LOZA weavers. Your donation will pay for the mask but also for two masks that will reach the elderly and vulnerable in Kechene.
$50 A family pack of masks and a print of your choice from Sam Litvin's travel's
$250 a family pack of masks and a copy of a Your Story Our Sipur coffee table book.
$500 family pack/print/signed-book/name on ENSZO/LOZA donor board, be a part of a Zoom with Sint, Sam and US representatives of Kechene village,
$1000 family pack/print/signed-book/name on ENSZO/LOZA donor board and intimate Zoom with founders and those who live in Kechene.

*One mask will qualify as a gift, additional gifts will have a fair market value associated with them and will have to be deducted from the total tax contribution.

Project Goals
          1) Protect and save lives of the most vulnerable people in the Jewish North Shewa region and Kechene village.
          2) Help raise the political and economic status of Jewish people in North Shewa
          3) Create awareness of the culture and history of Jewish people of North Shewa.
          4) Create meaningful connections between the Ethiopian Jewish people and the greater world Jewry.

Who We Are
Balanie Tazebku and the Ethiopian Lovers of Zion Association (LOZA) in Kechene.
Mr. Sahle Mengitsu and Mr. Abebe Debay of Kechene Village
Suzi Colman and David Goldman of Friends of Beta Israel and Rabbi Bennet of Temple Israel
Sint Garedew of North Shewa Zionist Organization and Sam Litvin of Our Jewish Story

Funds are administered via services of CultivAID in Israel.

The Plan
To meet the first two goals, we are partnering with local Ethiopian Jewish organizers, Jewish organizations in Ethiopia, Kechene ex-pats living in America and experienced American and Israeli aid organizations: Friends of Beta Israel and CultivAID to help Kechene raising funds to produce soap, create masks and bring PPE and relief to Kechene and surrounding Jewish communities..

The Jewish community already has workshops with sewing machines provided by Friends of Beta Israel and Temple Israel, expert weavers, and distribution volunteers that can sew and distribute 400 masks a week. With your donation, we can secure the most vulnerable in the community, the elderly who are the keepers of ancient traditions. At the same time, we will help the community fight the economic downturn now and by creating the workshops with the sewing machines, ensure future economic security.

To meet the last two goals we will create a series of meaningful ways to have you, the donor and the community members interact and learn about each other. We have meaningful differences but also, so many similarities.

How will the donations save lives:
The LOZA sewing shop funded by Friends of Beta Israel and set up with help of Israeli organization CultivAid in Kechene has local Jewish master weavers sew and provide masks to the elderly in the secret Synagogues across the North Shewa region. They are the keepers of oral history and vulnerable and must be protected. Over thirty volunteers organized by Kechene ex-pats in US and local leaders of ENSZO are ready to go and hand-deliver the masks and soap to protect the most vulnerable.

To protect the workers and the vulnerable, we will provide every distribution center with thermometers to make sure that volunteers do not go out with any symptoms and that they are quarantined should they exhibit symptoms.

The volunteers will be trained on COVID, and ways to protect and prevent outbreaks. They will go out to the Gedem (monasteries) outside of Kechene and teach the elders of how to protect themselves from a COVID outbreak.

How Will the Funds Be Used
The goal is to raise $10,000 which will pay for the materials, for thermometers, sanitizers, and the fees associated with shipping, the gifts, and the fundraising fees.

The money will be deposited to Temple Israel, Friends of Beta Israel. They will work with CultivAid to purchase the materials and pay for the materials, supplies, and the weavers and tailors.

Are You Ready??
With our connections and your help, we can avert a humanitarian disaster. We hope that you join us, and with a small contribution, help my people save our village elders, the keepers of our customs and traditions for thousands of years.

Jewish community always pulls together to do the right thing in times of crisis. We know we can count on you to come through and help our least advantaged Jewish community.

Join us. Jews of Kechene need your help.

Music in video by Temesgen and singing by Demeke Angida, performed in Kechene by Bete Avraham community.

To learn more about this little known community: