Eyal Edry is an acclaimed Israeli businessman who runs several companies in Africa with his brothers, Moshe Edree and Refael aka Rafi Edry. A former paratrooper, he holds a master’s degree in clinical psychology. He has garnered worldwide recognition for his professional pursuits.
But despite these achievements, Eyal Edry, Moshe Edree, and Refael Edry feel a painful longing for their childhood. Having experienced financial hardships early on in life, they understand how difficult circumstances force children to give up on their dreams.
Eyal Edry was only seventeen when he realized his family was under severe financial distress. Standing at the cusp of adulthood, he had dreams of going to college, getting a degree, and building a better life outside his hometown of Safed.
If only there was someone who provided the Edry brothers with better resources and opportunities.
Eyal Edry’s world changed in a jiffy when he decided to work and earn money. He sidelined his aspirations and devoted himself to supporting his family. He even enlisted in the IDF but a near-fatal accident rendered him a quadriplegic.
The Fringes of Israeli Society: A Closer Look
While Eyal Edry, Moshe Edree, and Refael Edry managed to turn their lives around, they know that a large section of the Israeli youth still faces the same predicament. With more than 2.5 million Israelis living in poverty, there’s a drastic socioeconomic disparity between the country’s center and periphery.
As the world continues to perceive Israel as a hub of tech innovation and entrepreneurship, children and adolescents in the periphery are languishing under extreme poverty. From school supplies and textbooks to smartphones and personal computers – children in the Israeli periphery have to struggle for basic resources.
Nearly a third of them don’t even have internet connectivity at home. Nor do they have the funds to afford school trips.
These social disparities prompted Eyal Edry, Moshe Edree, and Refael Edry to launch the Ahinoam Association for the Promotion of Equal Opportunities. Named after their father, the organization runs numerous youth development initiatives in the Israeli periphery.
Overcoming Inequity With Social Work: The Ahinoam Association’s Welfare Programs
The Edry brothers believe that younger generations in the Israeli periphery have immense potential. With the right resources and employment opportunities, they can seamlessly integrate into Israel’s booming job market.
But these individuals often fail to break the glass ceiling due to financial constraints and a lack of proper guidance.
The Ahinoam Association offers long-term mentoring to these people to help them develop proper skills and harness emerging employment opportunities. The organization’s volunteers identify at-risk youth living in the periphery and work with them to outline a customized career plan.
The idea is to support the youth at every step – from high school and graduation to their first job.
Additionally, the Ahinoam Association provides scholarship programs for students from underprivileged backgrounds. It helps ensure that students don’t have to drop out of schools and colleges due to a lack of funds.
Other initiatives of the Ahinoam Association include assistance for Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, as well as several peripheral development projects.
Also, the organization strives to eradicate the digital divide between Israel’s periphery and center. Under the leadership of Eyal Edry, Moshe Edree, and Rafi Edry, it launched a fundraising initiative to facilitate the adoption of online learning in the periphery.
The campaign urged Israeli citizens and businesses to donate more than 400,000 thousand students who didn’t own computers or smartphones. The government neglected the plight of these students when it issued orders for e-learning implementation at the onset of the pandemic.
In the absence of help from the Edry brothers, these students would have likely had to give up their hope of pursuing formal education.
The silver lining is that the Ahinoam Association’s fundraising campaign helped provide computers to more than 30,000 underprivileged students in Israel. It ensured that these children didn’t have to miss their classes simply because they didn’t have a computer at home.
A Lesson in Determination and Empathy
The story of the Edry brothers isn’t that of achieving professional success. Instead, it’s about overcoming the odds despite repeated setbacks. It highlights how resilience and perseverance can empower humans in the most helpless situations.
But above all, Eyal Edry, Moshe Edree, and Refael Edry have shown the world the power of compassion and empathy. Each initiative of the Ahinoam Association is their attempt to reclaim the childhood they never had.
