Arava International Center for Agricultural Training has trained 20,000 students from 16 countries in methods that raise their yield and their income

Kelvin Ombongi, 27, stands in a classroom in southeastern Israel, far from his native Kenya.

He’s been at the Arava International Center for Agricultural Training (AICAT) in Sapir since 2019, learning advanced Israeli farming methods that he hopes to plow into a career in urban agriculture back home.

Graduates of AICAT, he says, are featured in the Kenyan media and sought after by employers.“By the time we go home, we’ve learned the art of starting something small and building it to completion, and not giving up on the way,” says Ombongi.

“It’s not only education; AICAT is also creating leaders.”