When Ismail Khaldi was growing up, he walked more than four miles to school and back, every day. Until he was 8, he slept in a tent with no electricity or running water.
The third of 11 children, he did his homework with the aid of an oil lamp, jostling with his siblings — "a battalion," he jokes — to get enough light. In whatever spare time he had, he helped his family tend their flock of sheep and goats.
In other words, he was like most other Bedouins in Israel.
"You can't think of a more extreme difference between where I come from and here," said the new vice consul general of Israel in San Francisco.
The first Bedouin to graduate from Israel's Foreign Service course, Khaldi has been given a plum assignment: In October, he will begin his position at the consulate — also labeled deputy consul general — serving communities throughout the Pacific Northwest.
So far, the reaction to his appointment is only positive.
http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/29673/from-shepherd-to-diplomat/
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