The Ethiopian Who Was Committed Involuntarily and Became a Social Activist: "We Need to Talk About This Phenomenon"

In Ethiopia, he was beaten while his friends called him 'Jew' and felt out of place. He thought that once he arrived in Israel, the nightmare would end - but here, Yayo Avraham faced a completely different kind of surprise.

"A minute ago, you were being beaten, Jew, out of place. After that, you come up here, you're crazy. I had no language, no tools on how to defend myself. Here in the country, they took me for involuntary hospitalization in Nes Tziona, dragged me by force into an isolation room.

"They took my shoes, took my laces, took everything from me and tied me up. I was in the isolation room for about a week or two. There was a very difficult feeling, a feeling of hopelessness. Emptiness, you have nothing... The very place makes you not want to live. I wanted to die. The feeling was 'Why did I even come here? I should have stayed there and died like my parents.' I screamed, I screamed there until my voice went silent. I became hoarse at some point from crying so much. No one came to visit me there. Anxiety, difficult feelings, nightmares."

A Tragic Life Story That Led to Personal Growth

Yayo Avraham was born in a small village in Ethiopia and at the age of seven, he immigrated to Israel with his mother and three sisters. "During the journey, we stopped at a refugee camp, and that's where my mother died, and we were left alone. When we arrived in the country, I was 12. As a child, I thought: 'Jerusalem, wow. Resurrection of the dead, all these things.' Jerusalem was perceived by me as something good, something pure, and I was going to meet my mother there. That's how I saw it as a young child, even though she had died a few years before."

However, here in Israel, instead of reaching Jerusalem, Avraham encountered his first disappointment. "At one thirty after midnight, they took me from Lod, put me in a transit. They took us towards beaches, Akko, and dropped us there. I started asking questions: I said, 'Take me to Jerusalem,' and they didn't want to take me. When they didn't want to take me the first time, I ran to the sea. I told them, 'I'm going to die if you don't take me to Jerusalem.' The second time, I threatened to harm myself if they didn't take me to Jerusalem. From my position, I didn't understand that it was creating chaos; I just wanted attention."

In the summer, some people came and told him, "Come, we're taking you to Jerusalem," they said. "I said, 'No problem.' They put me in a transit - driving, driving, driving, and where do they take me? To an insane asylum in Nes Tziona. I have no language, no parents, but I can see. I have eyes. I feel. They tried to drag me by force from the transit, and I resisted with all my strength and energy. In the end, they managed to get me out."

Today, Yayo Avraham dedicates himself to social activism aimed at raising awareness of the increasing phenomenon of involuntary hospitalization of the Ethiopian community, as well as helping those who have been in his situation. "If you go to psychiatric institutions, they're full of Ethiopians. Every second Ethiopian knows someone who was hospitalized. We need to talk about it because almost everyone ends up there."