Rika Meyerowitz was born in Ficksburg, Orange Free State, South Africa. She was educated at Eunice in Bloemfontein and then at the Teacher’s Training College in Johannesburg. She taught at King David School in Johannesburg prior to leaving South Africa in 1967 and then at Rosh Pina junior school in Edgware in the U.K.

In 1969 Rika came to live in Israel. She went into the Fashion business, promoting the sale of Israeli products to major stores in Europe and the USA.

Rika has a rich volunteer career in Israel, and in ESRA. Her volunteer work started shortly after she arrived in Israel when she volunteered to teach English at the Tchernekovsy School in Netanya. She and her husband Willy Meyerowitz were very involved with helping the Russian immigrants – packing parcels and collecting goods. Rika also volunteered as an English tutor to Bagrut students in Herzliya and started up the Herzliya branch of ESRA which had died down. For nearly ten years she was in charge of the distribution of the ESRA MAGAZINES and was also a member of the ESRA Executive. She was one of the founders of the ESRA Hand in Hand Food Pantry project in Netanya with three other ladies. She also started a music circle where Barbara Blum gives lectures every few months. Rika still collects clothes and other items and schleps them to the ESRA shop in Raanana. And she is also on the committee of ESRA Netanya Lecture Series.