Last month I went out as a volunteer to Ethiopia with the charity For-ethiopia where I taught sewing skills. From buttonholes to bunting, we covered a lot of ground in the short time, which wasn’t helped by the language barrier or frequent power cuts.
For-ethiopia works to relieve poverty and sickness, to preserve and protect health and to advance education among the people of Ethiopia who are in need. They aim to do this in a way that is sustainable and helps the people move towards self-sufficiency. They believe that small development projects can change lives. They increase the capacity of local communities by improving health, increasing educational opportunity and creating employment. They bring communities together to create a better quality of life.
I was teaching at a workshop attached to Toby’s House, a hostel that provides accommodation and support to allow girls to attend secondary school. With only one High School in a large district, many girls from outlying areas have to stay away from home in unsupervised rented rooms. Others are walking the equivalent of a half-marathon every day just to get to and from school. Drop-out rates are very high due to the distances, the danger of abduction, early marriage, family demands and the cost of accommodation.
The workshop at Toby’s House employees two people who produce and sell school uniforms and other clothes, with the profits going back into the project. They are currently building a new larger workshop. Once this is complete they will be able to hire a further two people from the local community and have the space to give sewing lesson to any of the girls at the hostel who would like to learn. The current workshop will be converted to another dormitory.
During my trip, I heard that the charity wanted to buy a sofa for the communal area at Toby’s house but with funds currently allocated to the new workshop and also renovating the kitchen, it was a luxury that they were unable to invest in for the moment. Conscious kindly donated a corner sofa, which I had great fun shopping for in the capital city. Here you can see them enjoying their new sofa, unfortunately, we couldn’t get it in Orange!
If you fancy helping raise funds for For-ethiopia they are holding a barn dance in October, where all funds raised will go towards building wells in Ethiopia.
