I am Aia Mutlak, 28 years old, a mother of four from the Bedouin village of Caabia. I was born into a large family, blessed with many children, in the village of Basmat-Tivon, and my family always pushed me to aspire higher. After graduating from Education and having obtained a teacher certification, I ran into the challenge of finding a suitable job. In the Bedouin society, many women study to become teachers, however there aren’t enough openings for teaching jobs to enable all these women to work in that field. Like others in this position, I found myself jobless and the only work opportunities open to me were temporary sporadic jobs as a replacement teacher.
I gradually came to realize that I have no prospects of finding a stable permanent job in my profession and I began thinking of other options. I was always attracted to the technological world and dreamt of being part of it. However, at first it seemed to me far off and an impossible dream to make true. For me, there were many challenges and obstacles to overcome. On top of acquiring a new profession, I had to overcome cultural traditions and societal norms. But I did hear about women who managed to break through the challenges and made up my mind to be one of these women. Some time after having made up my mind I heard about the Samana initiative – a program aimed at Bedouin women in my region who aspire to integrate into the hi-tech world. I approached Samana with the hope of crossing towards realization of my dreams.
I knew I would have to pass a sorting process and I tried to learn and understand as much as possible about the world I was trying to enter. I passed the first stage and was admitted to the Samana program. After a long intensive training of a few months that pushed me to work hard, I graduated and along with my whole training cohort, passed the interviews of SolarEdge and finally became a QA Automation Engineer, employed by a leading international company. All that, while working from a tech-hub in a village near my home, thus enabling me to pursue my career while maintaining the sensibilities of my community.
It has been a challenging jump, one of the greatest in my life so far. But my struggle and the efforts to perform it are worth it. Integrating via Samana in this quality employment, and having an open horizon of opportunities is demanding but possible. With strong will and motivation I proved to myself that a mother of four can still realize dreams. With the right help and focus, this transition is no longer a dream but my reality.
Aia Mutlak, QA Automation Engineer, SolarEdge.
