Like many young Israelis planning their post-army trips, Rafi Ryker envisioned exploring the rainforests of Costa Rica or island-hopping in Thailand. Then the pandemic hit and the 25-year-old Jerusalemite ended up in Africa, which was one of the few places in the world open to foreign visitors at the time.

The unexpected trip to Tanzania was a life-changing experience for Ryker, inspiring him to found a nonprofit organization called Afrikan — Working Together that sends volunteer delegations of former Israeli army officers to renovate schools and build clean water infrastructure.

“I got eight ex-military officers and we came here for a month. Our plan was to renovate a school and to see how it goes, how much it costs and how the village will treat us and the whole project,” Ryker says

“It was a huge success – much more than what we expected.”

Photo: The Afrikan – Working Together organization renovated this school in Tanzania. Photo courtesy of Idan Arad and Shahar Vaturi