Naama-Sisaynesh Yitzhak will never forget the moment she decided to become a nurse. It happened after she was captured while attempting to smuggle Jews across the border out of Ethiopia, tortured, and then taken to a hospital where she was nursed back to health.
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"I was interrogated relentlessly for months, was beaten, hung from the wall," she recalled. "Then I was transferred to a hospital. Where I stayed for seven days, was given a bed, and food, and treated like a human being. On that day, I promised myself that I would become a nurse."
Yitzhak (53) turned her dream into a reality and today, she is a mother of four and a qualified nurse. But the long journey to the present began when she was just 15 and ran away from home to study in Gondar. "I was recruited by Zachariah Yona, who worked on behalf of the Mossad," she said. "Groups of Jews would come to my apartment before embarking on the journey to Israel. After a long time, and because I was in danger, I was asked to take a group of people and head towards the border with Sudan."
But they were captured at the border and imprisoned and Yitzhak's Zionist activism was exposed, and she was taken for interrogation. "I endured three months of severe torture. My legs were bleeding, and all my nails fell off, and then I was taken to the hospital, she said. After being treated, she was sent to prison for nine monthsת where conditions were very bad. "We were close to a hundred women in one room, some were murderers and thieves. Disease there had spread and I contracted malaria and nearly died."
Meanwhile, in Israel, Zechariah, along with Yitzhak's uncle and his wife, who were government officials, worked to secure her release. "Finally, they succeeded in releasing 31 political prisoners, and I was among them," she said. Still, her story did not end there.
Despite committing to no longer engage in Zionist activity, and running the risk of execution, Yitzhak continued to put her life in danger for the sake of Israel. "Two weeks after my release, I was contacted and asked to come to Addis Ababa to help a group of youth who planned to immigrate to Israel," she said. "I was very afraid, but I understood that it was my destiny." For eight months she worked on behalf of the immigration effort before immigrating herself.
As she had hoped, Itzhak studied nursing and is today the Deputy Director of the Nursing Department at Herzfeld Hospital in Gedera. "I returned to Ethiopia after writing a book about my life, she said."The prison where I was jailed, had been burned down, and I closed the circle. I hold no anger towards the place where I grew up."
Itzhak was honored on Sunday along with many others who had sacrificed for the Zionist dream, in a ceremony in Jerusalem. Over 700 prisoners were jailed for their work on behalf of the Zionist cause, and their families participated, Thus far, around 3,400 have been recognized.
Minister of Immigration and Integration Ophir Sofer said, "I am proud of the dignified ceremony that honors the struggle and determination of those jailed because of being Zionists, from all corners of the globe. We will continue to work to preserve their legacy for future generations."