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A day in the life of one Ethiopian immigrant / From welfare to work, disabled to breadwinner By Ruth Sinai Tags: Ethiopian immigration, Israel  Atshe Brahna, a new immigrant from Ethiopia, was angry when he was told that he and his wife had to report to the welfare-to-work project dubbed the "Wisconsin program" in Jerusalem. Six months later, he got a job at Intel. Today both he and his wife hold full-time positions and are very happy. Brahna, a farmer in Ethiopia, waited for nine years before he was allowed to join his parents in Israel with his wife Marey and their four children. They arrived in July 2003 and lived in an absorption center for two years. Then they moved to a small apartment they bought in Jerusalem's Katamonim neighborhood. He took two buses every day to get to his job cleaning a yeshiva in the Ramot neighborhood. One day, on his way back from work, he was run over by a taxi. He broke his leg and couldn't work for a year. A social worker referred him to the National Insurance Institute (NII) to ask for a work accident stipend, but he was refused. He was also refused a disability allowance. Advertisement Every day he would arrive, leaning on his stick, at the NII branch. Had his Hebrew been better, perhaps he would have been able to capitalize on his rights. Meanwhile electricity, phone and municipal bills piled up. When his money ran out, he could no longer afford to take the bus to the NII. He sat at home and waited. One day Brahna received a letter telling him that he owed the NII thousands of shekels because during the time he worked, his wife also worked as a cleaner. The family received a NIS 800 monthly income supplement at the time - an excessive sum for their income. "I was so angry," he says quietly. "For a year and a half I asked for help, they gave nothing. Instead of giving, they demanded money." When he went to NII to find out what the letter meant, he was told he must report to the Wisconsin program. Brahna knew nothing of the employment program but had heard from friends and neighbors that it was a bad thing. Lacking any other option, he went to the employment center run by Amin in the capital. "I came and told them they were bad people that the state sent to take our money," he says. His wife was furious for being obliged to spend several hours a week in the center, in addition to her cleaning work. Neither of them understood what the authorities wanted from them. Six months later, Brahna was sent to a job interview in Intel as a cleaner. Uri Zelekha, an Amin official who worked with the family, took him to the plant in a taxi and after a short conversation with the cleaning contractor, Brahna got the job. He was asked to come to work the next day at 8 A.M. At 7:30 A.M. the next morning, Zelekha called Brahna to make sure he was on his way. Brahna was already in the plant. Two days later he called again. "Do you know what kind of people I'm with?" a deliriously happy Brahna told him. Do you know who I have lunch with? Engineers." A month later, Brahna called Zelekha and told him he had to throw away his clothes, he had put on so much weight. Amin gave him vouchers to buy new clothes and his children went to summer school free of charge for the entire season. Brahna leaves home at 5:30 A.M. and arrives at work an hour later, after a two-bus trip. He eats lunch in the plant, leaves at 2 P.M. and arrives at 3 P.M. at his second job - a security guard at a shopping mall. He returns home after 11 P.M. He does this five days a week. His wife has also found a full time position cleaning NII's main office nine to 10 hours a day. Together their income reaches NIS 9,000-10000 a month. Brahna hopes that after one year, in about five months, he will be taken on as a full time Intel employee and may then reduce his second job or even give it up. "I want to work as long as I can, so I don't have to tell my children I have no money when they ask," says Brahna, 43. Perhaps in a few years he may buy a larger apartment, he says. The Brahnas send Marey Brahna's family $100-$200 dollars a month. Brahna now champions the program among his neighbors and acquaintances. "Go to work, I tell them. I tell them how much we make and they want the same," he says. But the hard times in which all the doors were closed to him have left their mark. Recently he was called to Intel's office to receive a bonus. At first he hesitated. "I thought they might give me money and later ask for it back," he says. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Gore wins TAU prize Al Gore and Amos OZ are among the recipients of the 2008 Dan David Prize. Spring roll strike Asian eateries across Israel cut menu over plans to rid kitchens of foreign chefs.   1.   Mazal tov 20:35  |  5th generation 12/02/08

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