“I was born and raised in Sderot and I love the city. But I never thought that I would be injured. After a rocket fell a few feet from me, it was the Jewish Agency’s Fund for Victims of Terror that gave me the support to pay for my college tuition and rent, and get back on my feet again.”

When Liz Edri, 24, was growing up in Sderot it was a small, pastoral town in which everyone knew each other. Liz and her three brothers and sisters were carefree children who played outside all the time. But everything changed eight years ago when the Kassam rocket attacks began, and never stopped. “People live in fear,” says Liz. “Sderot is a different city now.”

In June 2007, Liz was driving along in her car. "Suddenly I heard a ‘red alert’ siren and normally, I would have kept on driving,” she recalls. “But the car in front of me stopped, and the people ran for cover. I knew I needed to move, so I did the same.”

Unfortunately, Liz and the others did not make it to a protected place on the side of the nearest building in time. The Kassam rocket fell behind them, and the force of the explosion knocked Liz to the ground. “I desperately tried to call my mother so she wouldn’t worry about me, but I couldn’t reach her. A few seconds later, I fainted.”

When Liz woke up she was in the hospital surrounded by her family – the ambulance driver called to inform her family. Liz was treated for shock and has partial hearing loss in one ear.

 “I feel so inadequate when I try to explain what happened to me,” says Liz. “It is impossible to make people understand the hopelessness one feels when you have less than 15 seconds to run for cover, and this could be the difference between life and death.”

Following her hospitalization Liz was visited by a Jewish Agency representative who told her about financial support she is eligible to receive from both its Victims of Terror Fund for Victims of Terror, created by the United Jewish Communities and Keren Hayesod, and the Linda and Stuart Nord Family Fund for Victims of Terror. Liz received tuition assistance and rent subsidies for her sophomore year of law school at the prestigious Center of Law and Business at Ramat Gan College. “Normally, I work two jobs to pay for my education,” explains Liz. “This really helped me get back on my feet.”

Today, Liz is completing her law studies and plans to intern at the Rishon LeZion courthouse. She is an intelligent, confident woman who looks forward to a successful law career and a bright future.