Leadership
Investing in people: Israel at Heart and a generation of African students
Since 2010, Israel at Heart has backed a different kind of ambassador: talented young African asylum seekers. What began as scholarships grew into Israel's first nationwide organization for African students in higher education.
Courtesy of the African Students Organization
From its earliest days, Israel at Heart believed that public diplomacy was about more than telling Israel's story. It was about living its values.
The strongest ambassadors are people whose lives embody values, not slogans.
Alongside its international work connecting Israeli students, artists, and entrepreneurs with audiences around the world, the organization invested in another mission much closer to home: expanding educational opportunities for talented young African asylum seekers who had come to Israel seeking safety, stability, and the chance to build a better future.
Guided by the Jewish values of education, human dignity, and responsibility toward the stranger, Israel at Heart became one of the first organizations to champion higher education as a path to leadership and integration. Rather than viewing these young men and women through the lens of displacement, it saw future lawyers, teachers, entrepreneurs, journalists, and community leaders waiting for an opportunity.
A scholarship, and a philosophy
Beginning in 2010, Israel at Heart established scholarships, mentoring, and leadership support for students from Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, and other African countries studying at Israeli universities. Many were the first members of their families ever to attend college.
At a time when public debate focused largely on immigration and legal status, Israel at Heart deliberately focused on education and human potential. The philosophy was simple: investing in people creates leaders who strengthen both their own communities and the societies in which they live. To date, dozens of African asylum seekers have received full scholarships to complete their studies in Israel.
The birth of a movement
One of the most significant outcomes of this long-term investment was the birth of the African Students Organization. Founded by the students themselves, it grew from a small network of scholarship recipients into Israel's first nationwide student organization dedicated to promoting higher education among African asylum seekers.
By the time ASO officially launched, dozens of African students were already enrolled at institutions including Reichman University, Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Ben-Gurion University, the University of Haifa, and Sapir College, studying law, psychology, communications, computer science, business administration, and social work.
Its founders repeatedly emphasized that education was not simply a personal achievement, it was a responsibility. They wanted to become role models for the younger members of their communities, and to show that refugees could become contributors, innovators, and leaders. Israel at Heart's early investment helped provide the foundation on which ASO would later build scholarships, mentoring, leadership training, emergency assistance, and professional development programs that continue to empower hundreds of students today.
The leaders who carried it forward
The initiative's story is best told by the students who built it. Two of the organization's leaders, Mutasim Ali and Monim Haroon, have written their own account of how a handful of scholarship recipients became a nationwide movement.
Another face of Israel
For Israel at Heart, supporting African students was never separate from its broader mission. The organization has always believed that the most convincing case for a country is made by people, not slogans. The African student initiative showed another face of Israel, one rooted in opportunity, education, and shared humanity. Today, the graduates of these programs are educators, entrepreneurs, lawyers, social workers, business leaders, and community organizers.
