Genet was born during the war with the Italians. After the Italians were defeated and left the country, Genet\u2019s family and the Jewish community in her village moved to Ambover and established Jewish settlements around it. Genet describes the customs of ritual purity and kashrut observed by the Jewish community and the special vessels designated to be used by Christians. She relates that during the great drought and famine in Wollo, her family donated its monthly salary to the needy people there.<\/p>\n
As a child, Genet\u2019s mother taught her how to weave, sew, grind seeds and spices, and how to prepare tella, a traditional beer. She describes the garden next to their house where they grew vegetables and fruit for domestic consumption. Because she had older brothers, she only needed to work in the house. Between jobs, she played various games with the children in the area.<\/p>\n
Genet was always surrounded by stories about Israel. Her mother\u2019s uncle visited Israel in the pre-State period. When he returned, he taught her mother the Hebrew alphabet. Her mother passed the knowledge on to her daughter, so Genet knew the Hebrew alphabet even before startin g school.<\/p>\n
It was important to her father for Genet to receive an education. He sent her to school from a young age. However, after all her older sisters got married, Genet had to stop her studies to help with the housework. When an opportunity arose to study in the ORT boarding school in Asmara, Genet was accepted, thanks to her good handwriting.<\/p>\n
In Asmara, Genet studied Hebrew, Amharic, math, Bible, and more. She talks at length about the experience and studies in the boarding school. She explains that her teachers were educated in Israel. The top pupils in her class planned to travel to Israel to be educated in Kfar Batya and to return as teachers for the upper grades. Genet was included in a group of 12 top pupils, but the school closed and she returned to Ambover to continue her studies there.<\/p>\n
When she returned to Gondar, she began to study general medicine, under the guidance of Israeli doctors. Later, she began to work as a nurse in the Chelchela hospital, which had been established by Dr. Dan Harel in the city. Genet describes her job and the areas of knowledge and responsibilities it entailed. She knew how to deliver babies, to do tests and interpret their results, to sew wounds, and more. She taught workshops on the topics of motherhood and child care. Genet talks about her work and the various cases she encountered in the hospital and in the ORT clinics in Teda, Wegera, and Ambover. Among other things, she treated many cases of meningitis.<\/p>\n
When she married and had children, she could no longer travel from clinic to clinic. She began to work primarily in the clinic in Ambover. When the Derg party rose to power, ORT\u2019s activity in Ethiopia was ended and the clinics became state clinics. Genet\u2019s work conditions changed and she was forced to work on Saturdays as well.<\/p>\n
At that time, Genet\u2019s husband ran away to Sudan to immigrate to Israel. Genet and her children were left alone. Her husband\u2019s escape was considered treason, and the police used it as a reason to raid Genet\u2019s house. They gave her various governmental jobs to prevent her from escaping. Gradually, Genet began to send her older children to Sudan, and managed to obtain a travel permit to Addis Ababa by trickery. She stayed there until she obtained the necessary permits to fly to Greece and from there to Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","tags":[],"class_list":["post-1528","evidence","type-evidence","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\n