On Wednesday, Oct. 3, students and faculty gathered in upstairs Founders Hall to hear three Ethiopian Israelis tell their stories. Daniel Desta, Daniel Bachta, and Worknesh Raday visited Guilford as part of Israel at Heart and spoke at an event organized by Hillel, the international Jewish campus organization.The Israel at Heart program is a non-profit organization that seeks to “promote a better understanding of Israel and its people,” according to its Web site.

Israel at Heart organizes programs that allow Israeli people to talk about their lives with audiences. The three individuals who spoke at Guilford are university students in Israel who just finished summer internships in the United States. They are now visiting schools and talking about their lives and experiences.

Geoffrey Brown, director of statewide programs for North Carolina Hillel, spoke briefly before the speakers started. He made it clear that the Israel at Heart program is not political, and has no government affiliation.

The three visitors’ families all immigrated from Ethiopia to Israel when they were very young. Bachta was actually born during the journey while his father was in a Sudanese prison as a suspected spy.

None of the three told of an easy journey. Their families had to travel at night with little supplies and endure great hardship in order to reach the holy land they had heard about all their lives.

Raday told of her separation from her parents. Her family intended to travel to Israel in two groups, but efforts by the Ethiopian government to make it even harder to leave for Israel prevented the second group from leaving. Raday’s parents made it to Israel, but she and her siblings remained in Ethiopia for two more years.

Though only a toddler at the time, Desta experienced some trouble adjusting to life in Israel.

“When I first went to school, I had never met any white people before. When I saw the teacher I was so scared of her that I couldn’t stop crying,” Desta said to an amused audience.

As Brown promised, none of the speakers made any political points. The closest they came was addressing the audience’s questions about Israel’s mandatory military service.

“I think the majority of people from Israel and Palestine just want peace,” Bachta said. “I hope one day we no longer have the need for required military service.”

All three speakers made the point that they live normal lives, regardless of what people may expect based on the media. After they shared their stories, the speakers answered questions about topics ranging from their military service to Israeli popular music.

“It’s about education, it’s about sharing experiences,” said first-year Joseph Fox, a member of Guilford Hillel. “The great thing about this is that it’s not about politics or an agenda.”

After the event, the speakers and some of the audience stayed and got to know each other.

“It’s important to be informed,” Brown said after the presentation. “People often get caught up in belief rather than fact. These are regular people – spectacular people but regular people. (Israel at Heart) allows them to share their stories.