April 2015

Aweke

We first met Aweke when he was about 12, in between school he acted as our translator and would help out arranging visits to new house requests, trips to the clinic etc. When he left school we sponsored him to go to university where he obtained a Marketing degree.  This year it felt strange not having him around as he is now in full time work, working as a marketing and sales executive for a paint company. His rate of pay is excellent with added bonuses for reaching sales targets and the opportunity to travel the country.   We met up with him a couple of times at his place of work and felt proud to see how the support had allowed him a bright future.  

Gashow

We have known Gashow for as long as we have been coming to Ethiopia.  The project sponsored him through his last years at school, he then completed Sister Terfatu’s sewing apprenticeship and then we brought him a sewing machine.  Generally he has been self sufficient despite his limited mobility due to Polio he supports his younger sister and does all this with an ever growing smile on his face. We were a bit concerned as we had not seen Gashow in his usual pitch with his sewing machine and he had not come to visit us at the centre.  We soon learnt however that he had other things too occupy his time those being a wife and a two week old baby.  Gashow had stayed at home to look after them due to his wife’s three day child birth. Great to see how this young man has grown. 

Enkihunche

We met Enkihunche last year selling sugar cane at the side of the road with her son Emmanuel.  She explained that if she could get Emmanuel into Day Care she would be able to look for more lucrative employment.  We agreed to sponsor him at Day Care which he took to straight away.   This year we met up with Enkihunche as she dropped Emmanuel off at the Centre.  She was so pleased to tell us that she had a job in the local hospital; the hospital had a new policy where it employs a certain amount of staff that are HIV positive, she has never let her illness be a barrier but ironically this time it has worked in her favour.   We met up with Enkihunche at her house on her day off and it was great to see that she had been able to purchase many items making her house into a real home.         

Manteybosh

We met Manteybosh last year, an elderly lady that was loosing her sight due to cataracts.  We took her to the eye clinic last year and she had the operation to remove the cataract in her right eye.  We met up with Manteybosh this year and took her back to the clinic for a check up and to see if her left eye needed treatment.  Dr Abdul, always pleased to see us, said that her sight in both eyes was very good and no further treatment was required.  The left eye may require treatment in the future, something we can consider next year.

Horse

Ababu one of the workers in Sister’s house asked us to help her as her husband had his horse stolen.  Theft is uncommon especially horse theft.  The likely event is that the horse wandered off but this meant that Ababu’s husband has now lost his work as he was a cart (Gari) driver.  Ababu asked if we could help towards buying another horse.  We asked about the cost of a horse to be told a strong horse would be about 10,000 birr or £300.00.  Saturday is the day of the livestock market and a horse was purchased for 9,000 birr.  The horse was proudly displayed on the school field Saturday night and we are told it will be kept at a family member’s home in a secure compound when he is not working.   

Sad news

During this year we had two deaths within the community of people we help.  A family of four girls (see newsletter 2014, Green Shoots) who we have become very close to, the second oldest Feleg passed away in the summer.  Feleg, in her early twenties, was one of the teachers at the Day Care Centre and the main bread winner within the family. The girls had previously lost their mother at Christmas time 2013.

We attended the funeral of another young lady the daughter of the Sister’s cow man, Thomasgen.  The funeral was a harrowing experience with extreme displays of grief as is the way In Ethiopia. We estimated that around 3,000 attended the funeral followed by three days of grieving.