Kenya. A long way from home
Photo: Reuters
IDF soldiers (archive)
Photo: Shaul Golan
Kenyan youth enlists in IDF
Two years after he discovered his late father was Israeli, 22-year-old Arusi Medlia is now Israeli army's first Kenyan soldier
Arusi Medlia's father left Israel in the 1970s for the Kenyan port-city of Mombasa, where he opened a successful restaurant specializing in Yemenite cuisine.
Born and raised a Christian, Arusi never knew his father was Jewish, and an Israeli. Four years ago, both of Arusi's parents died in a car accident in Kenya.
Two years more passed until Arusi discovered his father's religion and nationality and was surprised to find out that upon his birth his father had secured him an Israeli citizenship through the Israeli Embassy.
He came to Israel a year later and settled in Kibbutz Na'an, where he studied Hebrew at a school for new immigrants.
"This is my dream," Arusi said of his desire to enlist in the IDF as is required of all Israeli citizens over the age of 18.
In April he became the country's first Kenyan soldier and has also found an adoptive family through the kibbutz movement's project for lone soldiers who immigrate without their families.
