This past week, I had the chance to visit a number of local non-governmental organizations/charitable organizations in Addis Ababa working on a range of issues including disability rights, women’s rights, children’s rights and poverty and education issues. Friends in Saskatchewan gave me money to donate to various local Ethiopian charities and organizations that work on certain issues. I wanted to highlight the three organizations I visited, because they do such varied and important work with such limited resources. Truly inspirational!
1) The Wusate Birhan Abera Music Training Center for the Visually Impaired: Wusate Birhan is a local NGO that was established in 2003 in order to provide opportunities for visually impaired or blind high school graduates to receive training in music as a vocation. The only other music college in Ethiopia is government-funded and does not provide opportunities for visually impaired students. The center provides full music education in order to enable students to become professional musicians or to become music teachers. It currently has 12 students and provides them with courses, instruction, use of facilities and musical instruments, teachers/instructors/tutors, and snacks/meals while at school. Wusate means “inner vision” in Amharic and the Center is accredited by the Addis Ababa Education Bureau (through the Ministry of Education) and provides courses and training in the 3 – year diploma program in the following areas:
• Modern music instruments
o Piano, Keyboard, Guitar, Saxophone, Drums
• Traditional music instruments
o Krar, Masinko, and Local Drum
• Foundational Courses
o Computers, Management, Literature and Language, Cultural Policy, Teaching Methodology, Special Needs Education, and Cultural Policy
To date, 15 students have graduated and gone on to teach music in schools across the country and others have gone on to careers as professional, performing musicians. While I was there, the Director gave me a tour of the Center and the students performed 3 traditional musical selections for me. It was such an amazing experience!
2) Zema Setoch Lefitih (ZML): ZML is a “not for profit, indigenous women empowerment non-governmental organization set up in 1997 to serve the urban and rural communities in Ethiopia.” The vision for the organization is to create a society of equal opportunity for both women and men and it accomplishes this vision through a range of projects including advocacy initiatives, education and training for women and girls, providing micro-credit financing for the development of a poverty-free society, and creation of awareness on HIV and AIDS. The organization a) provides financial and non-financial assistance to women to increase their standard of living, develop their local businesses and generate employment, b) improves the food security situation in urban/rural communities, c) supports education and training initiatives, and d) provides water and sanitation services to communities that do not have access to these basic services. The organization has also established a center for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence!
Zema Setoch is a truly one of a kind, fantastic local organization that actively serves the local populace with such grace, commitment, compassion and dedication. Its emphasis on empowerment of women and girls and its consideration of the range of issues and complexities that Ethiopian women face from access to water and sanitation issues to domestic violence is truly impressive! Thank you Zema Setoch for all that you do! (Website: www.zemasetoch.org)
3) Hope Enterprises: I was familiar with Hope Enterprises before even coming to Addis Ababa. You see, the Lonely Planet Travel Guide has a description of the organization and the innovative projects it has undertaken to alleviate child poverty in Ethiopia. Hope Enterprises was established in 1971 as the first local organization devoted to a) helping the needy attain self-sufficiency and b) ending endemic poverty. Hope Enterprises has organized its work according to “the Ladders of Hope” philosophy which organize the basic needs of life along the following continuum: basic care, education, competence, sufficiency, and value-maturity.
In terms of basic care, Hope Enterprises provides breakfast for street children, day care for abandoned children, stipends for students attending college or vocational training and a fully operational soup kitchen which serves thousands of people daily. In terms of education, HOPE runs its own schools in all regions of Ethiopia (encompassing pre-school to high school). HOPE also offers community-based educational support programs that sponsor school expenses in local schools for students who are too far away from Hope Schools. Hope has also organized informal schooling at its center in Addis for children who are simply unable to attend school for a number of reasons. In terms of competence, Hope Enterprises constantly evaluates and upgrades its curriculum in the schools and vocational training centers to encompass a broad range of areas including construction services, hotel management, carpentry, cosmetology, computer literacy and agriculture among others. In terms of sufficiency, Hope Enterprises provides people with job mediation, career counseling and business development services, by helping to place graduates and young people with organizations that can use their skills, knowledge and expertise. Finally, in terms of value-maturity, Hope Enterprises provides peer counseling and group counseling services, peer support networks, leadership and training avenues etc.
One of the most innovative programs designed by Hope Enterprises is their meal voucher program. Cognizant of the reality of the many people beg for money and food in Ethiopia, Hope Enterprises sells meal tickets (8 meal tickets for 4 Ethiopian Birr) which people can buy and give to the street children and beggars who are begging for food/money. These people can then redeem these tickets for a nourishing, hearty meal at the Hope Center. Children are served in the mornings and adults are served at lunch time under this program. To put this in perspective, for the low cost 50 Ethiopian cents (i.e. 5 cents Canadian), you can provide a person with a full and nourishing meal! I had a chance to volunteer with this group during one of their lunch hours recently by folding injera, doling out some Ethiopian stew and stacking plates. The staff is absolutely amazing and really welcoming and the volunteer corps includes young people from all over the world! The Center is truly inspirational and hundreds of people were provided with this hot, nourishing meal.
Hope Enterprises is a pioneer in terms of Ethiopian NGOs working to alleviate poverty and improve the strength, vibrancy and self-sufficiency of Ethiopia’s most marginalized communities!
