In search of a change, Russian-born economist Vladimir Bodovetz, along with his wife Darya and 2-year-old daughter Liza, made aliyah in March 2016 and began living at The Jewish Agency’s Ye’elim Absorption Center in Be’er Sheva. At the center, Vladimir launched his studies in computer science as part of the Tel Ran program, an initiative that he discovered on The Jewish Agency’s website.
By studying the Java computer programming language and other applications, Vladimir is poised for what he hopes will be a thriving career in his new home country.
“It’s good that we have the Tel Ran program,” Vladimir says. “If we were olim without Tel Ran, it would have been tough to find a profession. I wouldn’t know what to do, how the market operates, how to write a CV. Here, we found people with experience and they can help us look for jobs. The studies are not easy, but I am confident that we will be able to complete them and to find work.”
Many new immigrants—just like the members of the Bodovetz family—come to the Ye’elim Absorption Center for housing and vocational training. They arrive in Israel with high hopes for a fresh start, and the absorption center does not disappoint, setting them up for success in key professions within the Israeli economy. In addition to providing training, the Tel Ran program helps new immigrants identify sources of employment.
“I think that, without The Jewish Agency and its work in helping to train young olim, it would be difficult to continue absorbing people, and creating opportunities for them, for a new life in Israel,” says Morris Cohen, manager of the Ye’elim Absorption Center.
Through his training at Ye’elim, Vladimir hopes to ultimately become a valuable contributor to the high-tech sector of Israel’s “start-up nation.”
“What I am now learning with the Tel Ran program is very interesting,” he says. “I want to live in the center of the country because there are high-tech companies there, and I’ll be able to look for work.”
Vladimir and Darya are raising their young daughter without the help of any relatives, as the rest of their families still live in Russia. But Darya is optimistic about the support system that the couple has found in the Jewish State—starting with the Ye’elim community.
“The people in Israel are good,” she says, “and the people we meet are wonderful, and we are confident they will help us further down the line.”
