David Harris
How You Help: Muguleta: From Crisis To Confidence
“Why are we leaving? Where are we going? Why is everything changing?”
Muguleta was terrified to board the mysterious plane—even more so when it arrived on what seemed to be a new planet. And just as this strange place was starting to feel a little bit like home, a new twist: his parents got divorced.
That’s what escaping Ethiopia for Israel was like for Muguleta.
After the divorce, he moved with his mother north to Kiryat Bialik. He didn’t know anyone there, forcing him to start over, once again.
The stress left him falling behind in school. Thankfully, Muguleta was soon given the gift of SPACE. A project of Federation partner the Ethiopian National Project SPACE is an afterschool program that provides at-risk Ethiopian-Israeli kids the support they need to overcome obstacles and thrive in school.
While helping him cope with his difficult personal life, his SPACE teachers have assigned him to a small learning group. They study each topic in depth, and they don’t move on until each student has mastered the material.
The results have been profound. In just a short time, he’s gone from low grades to consistently earning scores in the high 80s and 90s.
Muguleta now knows he has strength. He survived the journey. The divorce. And today he’s thriving in school. With the confidence SPACE has instilled in him, he’s ready for yet another change: his transformation into a successful engineer.
The Ethiopian National Project and its program SPACE Scholastic Assistance are just a few of over fifty programs and agencies funded in part by the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati.
The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati: We look at the whole picture, taking into account the diverse needs of the entire community. Together we can do almost anything.
Thanks to you and the help of our partner agency, Muguleta is thriving in school and set to become a successful engineeer.
