Bruck said: “While other organisations focus on treatment... we are doing it the other way around. We are saying that if we focus on preventing those diseases, we will reduce suffering, save resources, and have a much more sustainable impact.
“Usually, within five years of working in a district, we are able to reduce the disease prevalence by almost 90 per cent/
“Take the town of Mizan Amon in Southwestern Ethiopia. The Ministry of Health mapped disease prevalence in 2014, and it was 83 per cent of the children. They had parasites in their stomachs.
Women washing clothes in the river - a task impossible to avoid but that comes with risks for infection (Image: Marcus Perkins)[Missing Credit]
“These parasites would cause anaemia, problems in physical development and cognitive development and would stunt their growth.”
It wasn’t only the health woes that NALA was worried about – it was the effect illness was having on the children’s education.
Citing a major African study, Bruck said: “Getting rid of the parasites would be the most effective [way of keeping] children in schools... so it is not only about health - it is also about education and sustaining it for the future.”
The main parasite infecting the children in Mizan Amon came from the polluted river, but NALA found that the townspeople had no access to any source of clean drinking water. "There is no alternative," she explained.
“Our experts went in and showed them how to use the river in a safer manner, how to reduce exposure to the disease, and at the same time, we tried to come up with alternative ways of collecting [such as digging wells].”
NALA conducting maintenance of water and sanitation facilities (Image: Adi Maoz)[Missing Credit]
“Imagine you are a child and it is a very hot day,” Bruck went on. “You don’t have a shower at home, but by your school, there is this amazing river where you can jump in and feel fresh and play with your friends.”
With NALA’s help, it was discovered that the disease was being spread by snails that lived in the vegetation surrounding the river, and the solution was simple: remove their habitat.
The children who were already infected were given treatment, but NALA said that without the guidance they gave on prevention, the disease would have quickly spread again.
By the time the group left Mizan Amon in 2023, fewer than 10 per cent of children were displaying symptoms of parasitic infection. “Preventing diseases is necessary for sustainability and for the future,” Bruck said.
The group returned one year later and is currently working on reducing that figure to zero. The goal, Bruck added, is to educate everyone enough for the NGO to “not have to exist”.
Also speaking to the JC was head of operations Dorin Brener Turgeman. She explained how securing funding is far from an easy feat, especially as, she said, the BDS movement has made it harder for Israeli organisations to compete for grants.
Health Extension Workers discuss illustrations used in handwashing guides and assess whether changes need to be made to be understood and adopted by community members (Image: Marcus Perkins)[Missing Credit]
NALA gets its funding from a variety of international private humanitarian funds like the Gates Foundation, and, despite priding itself on being apolitical, it still faces challenges thanks to anti-Israel sentiment within the international community.
Speaking about tensions with some potential donors, Turgeman said: “People ask us about the situation in Israel and about the war in Gaza. We have had a [potential] donor who told us that they have a hard time giving to an Israeli entity right now.”
“People within the foundation [told us] they really want to [offer funding because] there was a personal connection that was built [but] they said they are really sorry; the board won't go for it because of your nationality.”
But, funding challenges aside, NALA is still going strong.
Another initiative which the group helped set up by working with community leaders in Ethiopia was “Wash on Wheels” - a plumber travelling from school to school fixing broken water infrastructure, trained by a professional instructor sent in by NALA.
Turgeman said: “90 per cent of the malfunctions were easy fixes... You didn’t need to be an expert in plumbing to fix the problem - they just didn't know what the malfunction was and where to look for it.”
“Almost every health centre that we went to in Ethiopia and every school had no water but almost every one of them had the infrastructure for it - [just broken],” added Bruck.
“We bring our experts in [to help the plumber] from the local water office, then we fix half with them before leaving to let them work on their own.
Michal Bruk and Dorin Brener Turgeman at event at Westminster for World NTD Day (Courtesy of NALA)[Missing Credit]
“On average, it only takes three hours to restore water to a school.
“One school didn't have water for 21 years... that was fixed in two days. That means 1,000 students who did not have water before... [do now].”
Dyonna Ginsburg, the CEO of Jewish and Israeli charities network OLAM, of which NALA is a part, told the JC about how the work carried out by NALA and other NGOs within the organisation illustrates traditional Jewish values.
“When I look back at Jewish text and history,” Ginsburg said, “I think there is very strong [force] that pushed us to contribute towards broader society.
“I think for most of Jewish history, we weren’t able to do so, and it is in more recent times that it became a possibility to give to others beyond our own immediate communities.
“And giving to others is deeply baked into what it means to be Jewish."
