Help Us Bring Life-Changing Eyecare to Thousands of Ethiopians

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Mobile eyecare patients treated

Sight-restoring cataract surgeries

Ethiopian eye doctors trained in Israel

Pairs of eyeglasses distributed

Units of medications distributed

About Operation Ethiopia

Our Mission

Operation Ethiopia is a proudly Jewish and Israeli organization whose mission is to provide life-changing eyecare to every Ethiopian in need. We bring direct care to patients through our Mobile Eyecare Clinics, sight-restoring surgery campaigns, and we empower Ethiopian ophthalmologists with hands-on surgical training.

It All Started With a Family Trip…

We’re Dr. Morris Hartstein and Elisa Minsk Hartstein. In 2014, our four kids asked us to take them on a volunteer trip to Ethiopia. We were struck by the immense poverty we encountered—malnourishment, lack of clean water or basic hygiene, and limited (if any) access to healthcare.

One person asked Morris, an ophthalmologist, to check a child’s eye, and before we knew it, hundreds were lining up asking for help.

We knew right away we had to keep going back to provide life-changing eyecare. And with that, Operation Ethiopia was born.

Learn our story

Our Work

Mobile Eyecare Clinics

We bring our eyecare clinics directly to Ethiopian villages, providing routine eye exams, glasses on the spot, medications, and referrals and care plans for surgeries as needed. With our large team of volunteers, we’ve been able to treat thousands of Ethiopians who otherwise would have no access to this basic medical care.

Cataract Surgery Campaigns

1% of Ethiopia’s population is blind, and cataracts are the leading cause. We’ve provided cataract surgeries to thousands of Ethiopians who would otherwise have no access to these sight-restoring procedures. We provide the highest level of care, while maximizing efficiency, often doing up to 3 surgeries at the same time. With our cost-saving measures, your donation of $65 can restore one Ethiopian’s eyesight.

Oculoplastic Surgery Campaigns

In addition to cataract surgeries, we also provide oculoplastic surgeries for cases that are too complex for local physicians to manage. We also provide hands-on training in these techniques so the local medical community is better equipped to treat these types of cases in the future. As of 2023, we’ve operated on over 300 patients at University of Gondar Hospital and Menilik Hospital at Addis Ababa University.

Community First Aid & CPR Training

We are committed to empowering the communities of Ethiopia with the tools they need to have better access to medical care. To that end, we’ve provided community members and medical professionals with CPR and first aid training, so they know what to do in situations that call for it, when they can’t get to a doctor or hospital.

Physician Training Program

We infuse the Ethiopian medical community with the training they need to provide the level of care we provide to their patients—even when we can’t be there. We train Ethiopian eye doctors while we are in Ethiopia, and we also bring doctors to Israel for longer training periods of 3-12 months in subspecialty areas such as pediatric ophthalmology, oculoplastics, and cornea repair.

Learn about our work

What We Stand For

elisa and morris hartstein with two ethiopian children

We're a family organization

This all started with a family trip to Ethiopia where we witnessed unimaginable poverty first-hand. We are still family-run, and love that we bring volunteers with us in our mission to bring eyecare to all those in need.

group of operation ethiopia workers in front of jewish star

We're proudly Israeli and Jewish

We’re proud representatives of Israel, bringing Israeli volunteers to provide eyecare to those in need in Ethiopia. We work closely with the Jewish communities of Ethiopia, but we gladly serve people of all backgrounds and faiths, bringing eyecare to all.

We're an inclusive organization

We are proudly Jewish and Israeli, and we gladly treat anyone in need of help. We bring care directly to the Ethiopian people in the poorest villages with the least access to care.

girl in ethiopian village with an ethiopian boy

We make eyecare accessible for all

Through our Mobile Eyecare Clinics we bring eyecare directly TO our patients, providing everything they need right on the spot – from exams to medications and from eyeglasses to basic treatment.

operation ethiopia volunteers in the field

We're grassroots

We are a primarily volunteer-based organization, and our work is focused first and foremost on providing care directly to our patients — at an efficient cost and with minimal organizational overhead.

elisa hartstein shaking hands with ethiopian doctor

We're proud community partners

We’re true partners working directly with the community to improve their population’s eye health. We hire locals for a wide range of support, working shoulder-to-shoulder, building friendships, and infusing the local economy.

We empower the Ethiopian community

We empower communities to support themselves by providing subspecialty training to their eye doctors in Israel, hands-on training in the field, and first aid training to locals.

dr. morris hartman doing eye exam on smiling ethiopian woman

We bring joy to the Ethiopian community

Nothing is more rewarding than bringing joy to the people we serve. When we restore people’s vision, provide them with relief from their ailment, or just show that we care by being with them, we can see the impact it makes.

“People generally work hard for credit or money, to prove their self worth, to feel good about their generosity. Not here. Your patients are your focus and your decisions are made based on their needs. Operation Ethiopia exemplifies the best of Tikkun Olam [repairing the world] — what began as helping the Jewish people expanded and radiated light out, bringing good to the larger world. It’s a true kiddush hashem and an ideal to which all Jewish chesed [good work] can aspire.”

Jordana Schoor

Volunteered on a trip with her daughter Adielle in Feb 2023