Shlomo Berinhun

You always have to dream. You have to dare to dream. By dreaming, we can achieve our goals and our objectives.

Shlomo Berinhun

I am Shlomo Berinhun. I was born in a village called Kaheh in the Gondar province of northern Ethiopia. Most of the people in my village were Jewish.

Because my parents were Jewish, they wanted to immigrate to Israel, but the Communist Government of Ethiopia made this impossible. At the age of twelve I left my parents and along with other relatives, tried to escape to The Sudan where we could then immigrate to Israel.

We traveled through the desert for twenty-eight days and suffered many hardships. On the twenty-fifth day we were attacked by bandits and were left with nothing.

When we finally made it to the refugee camp, we found life to be very difficult. Many children and elders died from a lack of basic necessities. At this time many of us felt hopeless.

After a year in the refugee camp, we were rescued by Israeli agents, and taken to the desert, in the middle of the night, where we were picked up by the Israeli Air Force and flown to Israel.

Upon my arrival in Israel, I was sent to boarding school where life was still very hard. When I graduated from high school, I joined the Israeli Army. After four years I was released. It was during this time that I was reunited with my parents for the first time in seven years.

After my release from the army, I went to Haifa University in the north of Israel to complete my academic studies. In Haifa, I studied psychology and human services for my BA degree and public management for my MA degree.

Haifa University is where I met my wife, Riki. We have three children, Pele, Shiraz, and Reut.