Islands of hope

Abstract

Informal savings associations (known as equb/qubye in the Ethiopian context) are a global phenomenon and a future-oriented practice that is ubiquitous in the diverse Ethiopian-Eritrean community in Israel. The heterogeneity of this commu-nity is reflected in the fact that it is divided into two groups, differentiated primarily by their legal status. On the one hand, there are Ethiopian Israelis, most of whom immigrated to Israel in the early 1990s and were naturalized under the Israeli Law of Return. Since their arrival in their long-awaited religious homeland, they have been an integral part of multicultural Israeli society. With security offered by the Israeli welfare state (e.g., pensions), state mortgages, and the possibility of house own-ership, there is little need to save money urgently for an uncertain future (Kaplan 2010: 73). Yet, the equb practice is quite significant among Ethiopian Israelis. On the other hand, there are Ethiopian and Eritrean migrants who are in Israel as asy-lum seekers. They are temporarily tolerated, and Israel is mostly just a short-term stopover on the way to a future home elsewhere. For these migrants, belonging to an equb group is an important mechanism for maintaining and strengthening connections with the diaspora community and increasing financial security. This paper aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of hope in the context of the equb practice of Ethiopian Israelis as well as within the Ethiopian-Eritrean diaspora community in Israel, exploring its manifestations across various temporal, spatial, and social aspects.