By PAUL LUNGEN | CJNews
TORONTO — Rick Hodes’s, left, first contract with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (the Joint) was to last only six weeks. That was more than 20 years ago but the American-born doctor is still at his post, ministering to the sick and frail in Ethiopia.
For years, Hodes’ patient base consisted of Beta Israel and in more recent times, the Falash Mora, descendents of Beta Israel who converted to Christianity generations ago.
The Beta Israel have left Ethiopia, mostly for Israel, and the Jewish state has cut off the Falash Mora immigration.
Nevertheless, the Joint, which closed its clinic in Addis Ababa serving the Falash Mora, will continue to operate in Ethiopia, though it will shift its focus to the wider population, Hodes said.
Hodes was in Toronto last week to meet select groups of UJA supporters and Birthright alumni, update them on the Falash Mora immigration and raise money to support the Joint’s works. He also visited Jewish communities in Washington, D.C., Columbus, Ohio, Memphis, Tenn., Houston, Tex. and Cleveland, Ohio.
Hodes said he’ll continue to minister to the sick and frail in Ethiopia despite the Joint’s shift in emphasis. The Joint still operates a clinic for the Falash Mora in Gondar, in northern Ethiopia, where the Beta Israel lived for centuries. The Joint clinic there is staffed by a local doctor and nurses and provides medical services for a few thousand Falash Mora. “It’s not clear whether all will end up in Israel or not,” said Hodes, who travels to Gondar every few weeks.
In the meantime, Hodes will focus on providing medical services to Ethiopians of all religions – whether Christian or Muslim. While that has been part of Hodes’ mandate for years, with the end of aliyah, it has become the predominant part of his practice.
“The Joint is staying in Ethiopia and working in the non-sectarian development field, as am I,” he said.
Among its projects, the Joint sends Israeli doctors to Ethiopia to teach and brings Ethiopian doctors to Israel for training. It builds schools, educates girls and digs wells.
Hodes works part of the week in the Mother Teresa Mission in Addis Ababa, focusing on spinal conditions, cancer and heart disease. He recently arranged for eight Ethiopian youngsters to travel to Ghana for spinal surgery.
Hodes said “I need at least $250,000 per year just to maintain things as they are.” The Joint, which is funded by Jewish communities around the world, only supports the office and staff in Ethiopia. Hodes is looking for other sources of funds to operate the medical scholarships, the Ghanian operations and other activities.
“We’re funding this from outside the [Jewish] federation system,” he said. Federation supporters would have to designate funds specifically for the Joint’s Ethiopian projects. North American Jewish federations provide the Joint with its core budget, though federation funds do not go to the agency’s non-sectarian programs.
That makes Hodes a part-time fund raiser, applying for grants, soliciting assistance from contacts abroad and by efforts like last week’s meet and greet.
“A lot of Jews are interested in helping more than just the Jewish community,” he said. “A lot are not interested in helping Jews but would help Africans.”
The upside from that approach is that “it can actually bring them into the community and into the Jewish system.”
Jennifer Kraft, director of community relations for the Joint, noted that even in its earliest work in Gondar in the early 1980s, the organization provided benefits not just to Jews but to the wider Ethiopian community. That raised the level of trust from the Ethiopian government, allowed the Joint to become entrenched in local society and helped a wide variety of people.
“The Joint builds bridges, performs mitzvot, fosters good will and helps rescue the Jewish community…Rick Hodes is the epitome of mitzvot,” she said.
For more information on the Joint, please go to their website