Dear Russian Jewish Community Foundation,

My name is Oksana Karimov, I am 23 years old and right now I'm in my second semester of my studies in the Gordon College of Education, which is located in Haifa.

I live in Nahariya with my mother and my sister. My sister now is 19 years old and she is serving in the army. I was born in Soviet Union and my family immigrated to Israel when I was two years old.

I was recruited to the IDF in 2011 and served in the Air Force until 2013. I served as an Armament Systems Technician in a Fighter Squadron called "The Hammers". It’s an F-15i Thunder fighter jet. My job was to take care of everything armament related for this jet: check the plane before the flight, after the flight, and many other things. Those were very busy days but also an interesting two years and I learned a lot from my commanders who became like a family to me. But the most important thing about those years is that they were very satisfying, because in those years we had a few big "mini wars" against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It is very satisfying as well because I got to meet and teach the younger soldiers that came after me. I was released from the army with a sergeant rank.

Right now, I'm at the end of the first year of my degree, out of 4, BA in Education and Teaching B.Ed. After undergoing preparatory academic average of 93. With the financial support that I receive from you via IMPACT it is easier for me to concentrate on my studies.

At the "Aleh" program in which I take part of as part of the IMPACT scholarship, I help two children, Liel 6 years old and David 3 years old, whose mother is blind. I learned to admire her courage and strength as a severely disabled mother who has to deal with prejudiced people on a daily basis. As part of my volunteer work I help Liel with her homework, play with them, read to them, and do my best to keep them happy.
The children are really cute and deal with their mother's disabilities amazingly well.

This is the place where I say thank you very much for all of your help! It makes me optimistic to know that there are people like you, who are willing to help in such a tremendous way. I hope that your family is doing well, and that you are having a good and healthy year so far!

And again thank you very much for this big effort!
Sincerely yours,
Oksana Karimov

That’s me in the army, releasing a plane to fly.