Sport: Willpower’s the thing

Many people have long lost hope of improving the depressing situation in Rehovot’s Kiryat Moshe neighborhood – but not Abay Zauda.

By ALLON SINAI
Bnei Yeechalal soccer_521 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Bnei Yeechalal soccer_521
(photo credit: Courtesy)
It wasn’t until May 2005 that people outside Rehovot heard or cared about the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood. It had one of the highest teenage-crime rates in Israel long before that, and had already experienced its first teenage murder. But only when 15-year-old Ma’ayan Sapir was horrifically raped and murdered near her home on the night of May 27, 2005, by a 16-year-old convict from Kiryat Moshe, did the country finally turn its attention to what was going on in Kiryat Moshe.
Located on the outskirts of one of Israel’s oldest cities, Kiryat Moshe has been likened to New York City’s Harlem, one of those areas people try to avoid at night.
Many people have long lost hope of improving the difficult and depressing situation in Kiryat Moshe – but not Abay Zauda.
The 36-year-old is the co-founder and chairman of the Yeechalal Community Association of Ethiopian Immigrants for Advancement in Sport, which was set-up in 2000 in the hope of giving the underprivileged youth of Kiryat Moshe a chance for a better life. Yeechalal is an Amharic phrase which roughly translates to “nothing stands in the way of willpower.”
“Sports are a means through which we try and educate the children,” Zauda said. “Any kid who wants to be part of Yeechalal must do well at school. We make sure our kids finish high school with a full bagrut [matriculation].
“A child who doesn’t give his all in school has no place in Yeechalal,” he said.
“Our main goal is for these kids to become complete human beings, to go to the army and to find their place in society.”
CURRENTLY, THERE are over 350 children from the neighborhood participating in Yeechalal’s programs, which include soccer, basketball and athletics teams.
“I tried to find teams in the area for some of the neighborhood’s talented children, but I was told that I would have to pay NIS 300 per child. The parents of these children cannot afford to spend over NIS 3,000 a year,” said Zauda, who earns a living from a DIY store he owns in Kiryat Moshe and volunteers all of his free time to the non-profit organization.
“My friends and I came to the conclusion that these children cannot fulfill their potential because of their economic state, so we decided to set up Yeechalal. We wanted to give these children something to do to keep them off the streets. We set up athletics and volleyball teams and four years ago we opened a soccer side as well.
“We want this team to do as well as possible in local soccer to show Israeli society, and ourselves, that we are just as good as everyone else, and that it is only a matter of resources and will.”
The senior Bnei Yeechalal Rehovot soccer club was set up in 2007. After a couple of seasons in Israel’s lowest amateur league, Liga Gimel, was promoted to Liga Bet, the country’s fourth division, last year.
The side, which is almost entirely made up of players of Ethiopian origin, has already lost all hope of gaining promotion to Liga Alef this season, being currently placed in eighth position out of 16 teams in the standings.
Zauda, however, has lofty goals for the team, in which all the players and staff are volunteers – although he understands that Yeechalal cannot succeed without a bigger budget.
“We were promoted to Liga Bet last season, but the higher the league, the tougher it gets to gain promotion,” said Zauda, a father of one, who made aliya to Israel in December 1990.
“We just about have enough money to pay for our travel and to rent a pitch, so we are always on the lookout for good people in Israel and abroad who will help the team and the children. If we acquire the finances, I am certain we will achieve success and represent Israel proudly.”
Efraim Inbrum, 32, who has one season of Premier League soccer on his resumé as a member of Ironi Kiryat Gat, joined the team last season to help it to promotion and also coaches one of the club’s youth sides twice a week.
“I had heard about this team, and when Abay approached me I was touched by the story of Yeechalal and decided to join,” he said. “This is a team that is connected to the community and it helps create solidarity in the neighborhood.
“It really helps the kids. It gives them a good framework as many of these kids cannot afford to pay to join other clubs. Yeechalal also helps the kids with their schoolwork and does whatever it can to make sure they don’t get drawn by the negative temptations that exist in Kiryat Moshe.”
Zauda believes there is still hope for his neighborhood.
“Kiryat Moshe has a bad stigma, but it also has some good people,” he stressed. “I can’t say that the neighborhood doesn’t have its problems, but we need to change that by showing the positive sides of Kiryat Moshe. People will then see that the reality in the neighborhood isn’t as bad as what they may think.”
Despite all the work they are doing in Kiryat Moshe, Zauda and his team say they have the strength and the will to help many more children across Israel.
“Yeechalal has become a brand name and people want us to come to their neighborhoods. We hope to open a club in Ashdod and one in Rishon Lezion. If we get enough help, we will open branches wherever we are needed,” he said. “We appreciate everyone who has helped us financially, but we have yet to find that one donor who can give Yeechalal the big push it needs to do even more.
“Yeechalal is important not just for Kiryat Moshe, but for the entire Ethiopian community and Israeli society. Yeechalal shows that Ethiopian kids are just as good as children from north Tel Aviv. It is only a matter of the resources and the help the kids receive.”