6:40am. A minibus pulls up, and twenty-six Hebrew University pile in. Some are ready to go, while others are still half-asleep. Everyone aboard, the minibus heads westward. As the sun rises, the students begin to chat, half Hebrew, half English.
The minibus heads to the Joseph Marguleas Experimental Farm near the Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment. The group is a mix of first year Israeli BSc students and international MSc students. Once a week, they travel to the Experimental Farm to work alongside farmers who immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia.
These farmers, aged 65-92, have been at their plots since dawn. Back in Ethiopia, they lived off the land, but this connection was broken when they moved to Israel. In 2016, Hebrew University Prof. Prof. Alon Samach offered plots to eight farmers, and the project took root. Today, the program has grown to include some forty farmers who tend to a variety of crops.
Once a week, the Hebrew University students work alongside the Ethiopian famers, as part of their degree program. In exchange for their help with the heavy lifting, the students gain hands-on experience. After tending to the crops, everyone comes together for a workshop.