But I don’t share just any story, I tell the mystical story of a people returning home, a story of struggle and perseverance. I tell the story of my family and the story of the Jewish people. And I tell this story from the very special, unique and often less-known Ethiopian Jewish perspective.

I believe in the power of stories. I’ve seen first hand how a story can make a difference.

This year, together with my family, I founded Battea, an Interactive first-of-its-kind Ethiopian Israeli Heritage Center. The center serves as a place for guests to explore and appreciate the story of Ethiopian Jews in Israel. Visitors learn about traditional Ethiopian heritage through food, photography, art, music, dancing, and most importantly from hearing our stories.

Up until today, I have prided myself on the fact that this has been a self-funded and family-owned business that we build from scratch. our work was a huge success - we received phenomenal feedback from our guests and the center was overbooked through the end of this summer. But unfortunately, like so many other family businesses around the world, ours too has closed down due to the global pandemic. But we are not giving up on our dream.

This is where you come in, we need your help to ensure that our center will still be around for people to visit once we come out on the other side of this pandemic.

We want to continue to do this work, we want to be a positive force in this world, and we need your help to keep doing it. Any amount that you’re able to contribute really counts. We appreciate it more than you know. And we hope to host you at the Betta Ethiopian-Israeli Heritage Center as soon as possible. Stay safe. Stay healthy. Thank you.