Washing Machine for Ortal and Yitzchak
Ortal and Yitzchak, both 32 and born in Ethiopia, work full time, but their jobs pay so little that they are always overdrawn at the bank and cannot pay their monthly costs.
They have five children and, unexpectedly, Ortal is pregnant again. Because they could not afford regular dental care, Ortal tried to ignore the growing pain in her teeth, but the situation has gotten so bad that she cannot sleep, cannot eat, and is getting weak. She needs hundreds of shekel-worth of dental care, which their social worker is looking for ways to cover.
In the meantime, they are focused on the new baby. The seven of them, and Yitzchak’s younger sister, live in a two-bedroom apartment, and they don’t know how they will all continue to fit there. They have almost no furniture, and what they have is old and worn. The family does not have a working washing machine, and while doing everyone’s clothing by hand is exhausting and time-consuming, they do not have the money for this important appliance.
