Shimon Solomon: from survival to leadership

Ethiopian-Israeli Shimon Solomon was raised at Yemin Orde after arriving in Israel via Sudan with Operation Solomon. He successfully represents the Village Way throughout his professional career.

Shimon Solomon, was recently elected to serve as a member of Israel’s Knesset, which is its legislature. Solomon, 44, immigrated to Israel from Ethiopia in 1980 with his parents and five brothers and sisters. Yemin Orde Youth Village welcomed him shortly after his arrival in Israel.

Solomon’s professional career has focused on Ethiopian and refugee issues in Israel. He has successfully applied Yemin Orde Educational Initiative’s (YOEI) acclaimed Derech Kfar (the Village Way) methodology as Director of Education at the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda, a youth village serving young victims of genocide modeled after Yemin Orde Youth Village. From 2005 to 2007, Solomon worked in the Israeli Embassy in Addis Ababa, and was later director of an immigrant absorption center in Beersheba.

Solomon remains a close partner with Chaim Peri, YOEI founder, and the Educational Initiatives in supporting the Village Way philosophy and rejuvenating more therapeutic residential communities, youth villages and public schools in Israel.

Since its inception in 1953, Yemin Orde has graduated more than 4,000 students. They currently serve as leaders in various professions including: Law, Military, Art, Music, Health Care, Politics, Film, Education and Technology.