Abayudaya

Though the community contracted to only a few hundred Jews during persecution from the Idi Amin regime, today the Abayudaya number approximately 2,500 spread over 29 villages stretching from the southeastern Ugandan city of Mbale to the north and into western Kenya. The community exudes tremendous enthusaism for Judaism and has incredible spirit, but most Abayudaya live in poverty and endure educational, nutritional, and healthcare insecurities.

The community is led by Rabbi Gershom Sizomu, who in 2008 became the first native-born African rabbi ever ordained at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University in Los Angeles.

The FJMC was introduced to the Abayudaya in 2015 when Seaboard Region sponsored Aaron Kintu Moses z”l, the founding director of the Hadassah Primary School and President of the Abayudaya Men’s Club, to attend the Miami Beach convention. 

Since the 2015 convention and through the devastating COVID lockdown, the FJMC has stepped up to support the Abayudaya community through several fundraising efforts and by purchasing kippot made in Mbale. The community’s largest schools, the Semei Kakungulu High School and the Hadassah Primary School, are tools the community uses to build towards a sustainable future, and they need our support to purchase supplies, provide scholarships to the children most in need, and to pay appropriate wages to their teachers. The FJMC has worked with the Abayudaya Men’s Club, the schools in Mbale, and other organizations to provide needed assistance, including for infrastructure and micro-business support, and we are now also partnering with Masorti Olami and Kulanu.