Egged - - During 1961, at the request of the Ethiopian government, Egged – Israel’s nationwide bus cooperative – sent in its experts to improve bus service in the country. For four years the general manager and the technical manager of the country’s major bus company were Israelis supplied by Egged. Bus operations were completely reorganized and modernized.

By 1964 when experts left, the bus company had pulled itself up from near bankruptcy to a substantial and ever growing profit. Bus service improved substantially, many more routes were put into operation and millions of more passenger – miles were recorded. Even after the two managers returned home, an Israeli advisor was retained for several years thereafter.

During that time, the advisors introduced training courses for local personnel, sent department heads to Israel for special training at Egged headquarters and implemented recommendations for cheap fares for low – income areas.

Academic Assistance

The largest program of Israeli academic assistance in Africa was in Ethiopia. Since 1959, some 200 Israelis – professors, lecturers, vocational education instructors, scientists and others – have served as teachers and administrators in Ethiopian universities and institutes. They have also advised on general educational programs and introduced highly successful innovations such as evening courses. And in the vocational sphere, Israeli teachers have served on the staffs of many local training schools. Not the least important aspect of this project was the consistent Israeli effort to teach and train Ethiopians to replace them in all the spheres.

As early as 1959, a professor from the Haifa Technion (Israel’s Institute of Technology) became Dean of the Imperial College of Engineering at Haile Selassie University. Thereafter, scores of other teachers came from the Technion to the Imperial College for periods of from one to four years. In addition to the Dean of the Engineering College, Israleis held posts of Dean of the Humanities Faculty and lecturers in the engineering, electronics, chemistry and humanities departments.

Hebrew University in Jerusalem officially adopted the Natural Sciences faculty of the Haile Selassie University, supplying with instructors, guidance and material.

Tel Aviv University arranged for an academic exchange program: an Israeli instructor in Semitic languages went to Ethiopia in exchange for an instructor in Amharic from Haile Selassie University.


Medical Assistance

1. Israeli doctors and other medical personnel, working both, individually and in teams, have rendered a wide range of services, and held positions of major responsibility, including those of Director Massawa Hospital, Director of the Asmara Hospital, Chief pharmacists to the Ethiopian Government and Department Heads in the government hospitals.


2. Probably the most dramatic and affecting of Israel’s medical programs in Ethiopia dealt with problems of the blind. Israeli specialists planned and helped administer a campaign for the eradication of trachoma, a disease known to affect anywhere from 30 to 90 per cent of the school children in various provinces. Under the leadership of an Israeli doctor, working in cooperation with the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, a nationwide educational campaign was launched to train school teachers in administering a curative medicine to the afflicted children. The same physician held one – month training courses for the nurses and health officers from all over the country to teach courses for the nurses and health officers from all over the country to teach methods of detection and treatment of the disease.

Israeli specialists also revolutionized programs for the education of the blind, especially blind children. In the early 1960’s, an Israeli physician who surveyed the field found an acute shortage of qualified teachers, particularly those with vocational backgrounds. Nor was there any kind of program for educating the blind and preparing them for some kind of independent life. Upon his recommendation, six Ethiopian teachers were sent to Jerusalem to be trained intensively in the education of the blind, including vocational training. When they returned home, accompanied by an Israeli instructor – guide, they undertook the instruction of other teachers from remote areas.