Nearly a month after arriving in Israel alone for heart surgery, 6-year-old Binyamin Tesfahon was reunited with his mother on Monday after she arrived to accompany him during the life-saving procedure.
Binyamin was born with a life-threatening heart defect in the Gondar transit camp in Ethiopia, where his family is still waiting after years for permission to make aliyah (immigrate to Israel).
After his condition deteriorated, he was flown to Israel despite the closure of Ben-Gurion Airport during the coronavirus pandemic.
Throughout his solitary stay, Binyamin has been living at a children's home operated by the Save a Child's Heart humanitarian organization, which brings children from developing countries who are suffering from heart disease to Israel for urgent treatment.
Binyamin and Shashito are reunited
(Video: Shaul Golan)
And although he had company from the staff, other children and a carer, all Binyamin wanted was to see his mother, Shashito Andbert Tislo, again.
The two were finally back together on Monday in a teary and emotional reunion, after she spent two weeks in mandatory isolation in Israel.
"My son, I am here with you, I am here for you," cried Tislo as she gathered him in an embrace. Binyamin, who throughout his time in Israel had been reserved and introverted, immediately burst into tears and clung to his mother.
"My heart was broken when I had to send him on the plane without me. I was afraid I would not see him again,” says Tislo, who was forced to leave her husband and 5-month-old daughter behind in Gondar as she made the journey to Israel.
During the time she was separated from her only son, Tislo says she spoke with Binyamin every single day.
"I heard about the nurses accompanying him and I was reassured that at least he was not alone. All I want is for him to be healthy. I hope we get through the surgery safely,” says Tislo, holding her son closely.
“I can't describe the happiness that I feel now that we are finally together and that he will soon be healthy,” she says.
But amid the happiness and excitement, there is an inescapable sense sadness mixed with fear, as both Tislo and Binyamin will eventually have to return to Ethiopia to await official approval for immigration.
"I waited all this time to meet him, but now I understand that after the recovery we will have to return [to Gondar] and it hurts. I hope we can immigrate to Israel, my whole family is here,” says Tislo.
"I have been waiting to immigrate to Israel for 16 years. The feeling of being here and being with my son during an operation that will save his life overwhelms me," she says.
"We thought we could all immigrate, and this time it did not happen, but I knew that even if we did not immigrate I would do anything to get Binyamin the medical treatment he needed."
A petition has been set up (in Hebrew) calling for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow the family to stay in Israel.
Binyamin, who was brought to Israel after the efforts of Aliyah and Integration Minister Pnina Tamano-Shata and the Jewish Agency, is expected to undergo a life-saving medical procedure at the Sylvan Adams Children's Hospital in Holon, where he will have a catheterization procedure on Wednesday, before undergoing open heart surgery on Thursday.
This week will see the final flight of Operation Rock of Israel, which aims to reunite Ethiopian Jews and their relatives who have already immigrated to Israel.
The flight will bring some 2,000 immigrants from refugee camps in Addis Ababa and Gondar, leaving another 7,000 people still waiting for permission to immigrate.