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The Kindu Trust Newsletter, Issue 9, October 2004 Working in Partnership with Kindu Erdata in Ethiopia
In November 2003 Kindu Erdata was officially registered with the Federal Ministry of Justice in Addis Ababa as an Ethiopian charity, registered number 1329. (Erdata is an Amharic word meaning 'aid'.) The Kindu Trust works in partnership with Kindu Erdata to achieve the Trust's objectives, which this year have been revised (after consultation with the Charity Commission) to read as follows: to relieve poverty, distress and suffering in particular, but not exclusively, by assisting with the provision of food, clothing, accommodation, health care and education for orphaned and abandoned children and other children and young adults who are in need of care and assistance. The inclusion of young adults (aged 18 to 24) is important as many of the poor children we began helping five years ago are now reaching adulthood, but need continuing support so that they can complete their education and be self-sufficient. Kindu Erdata now employs 20 staff. Sponsorship: helping the Poor to help themselves
Tsehay came to Kindu Erdata's office in Gondar to ask for help in late 2002. Her husband, Abebe, had had to go away in search of work, leaving her and their four children living in a tiny mud hut in Gondar's slums. The family had no furniture or beds; they slept on the hard, packed-earth floor. To earn money, Tsehay collected branches and twigs in the countryside to sell in Gondar market as firewood for cooking, but she made very little doing this. The family lived hand-to-mouth, often without enough food to eat. As they were desperate, Kindu Erdata began monthly sponsorship payments immediately and later matched Tsehay's youngest child, Sisay (5), with a UK sponsor, securing his and his family's future. The immediate effect of sponsorship was that Abebe was able to return home to live with his wife and family. They could eat regular nutritious meals and were no longer hungry. Sisay attended Kindu Erdata's pre-school playgroup. The family saved up and bought a small bed. During the school holidays, Sisay's teenage sisters both attended Kindu Erdata's Anti-AIDS Clubs and learnt about HIV and AIDS.
Tsehay participated in Kindu Erdata's Mothers' Group to learn about childcare, childhood diseases, nutrition, food preparation, harmful traditional practices, family planning and HIV/AIDS. Abebe, who now has a low-paid job as a night watchman, took part in Fathers' Group meetings, where these issues - particularly birth control - were also discussed. As a result, Abebe had a vasectomy paid for by Kindu Erdata. "We have four children - it's enough," Abebe said. "If our family stays small we shall enjoy better living conditions." For two years Kindu Erdata has worked in partnership with Sisay's family to help them lift themselves out of poverty. Abebe and Tsehay's decision to limit their family's size was an important contribution towards this objective. In recognition of this, Kindu Erdata gave the family a gift of 500 birr (£32 or 50 euro), which they used to buy a cockerel and a hen, and another bed. "It is pointless to thrust cash at poor people in the expectation of alleviating their poverty unless financial aid is part of a package that includes guidance, education and training (leading to employment), and access to medical care, including contraception," explained Kate Fereday Eshete. "Poverty needs to be tackled from many different directions for it to be successfully eradicated."
All the displaced rural families featured in our last Newsletter have returned to their farms. Some are still dependent on sponsorship because of erratic rainfall and low crop yields, but most are now self-sufficient and so sponsorship has ended.
Towards Independence Alem (16) and her baby daughter are being helped by The Kindu Trust through sponsorship. This year the Trust also paid for Alem to do a six-month spinning and weaving course at Woleka Women's Crafts Training Centre, Gondar. Having teamed up with other young women, Alem is now setting up a co-operative, with guidance from Kindu Erdata's General Manager and Accountant. The co-operative will involve other Kindu beneficiaries and their carers in spinning, weaving and embroidery to make traditional cotton Ethiopian shawls and dresses to sell. One Million Orphans
In May 2004 the Ethiopian AIDS Prevention and Control Office stated: "3 million of Ethiopia's 67 million people are already infected with HIV, giving the country one of the largest caseloads in the world." UNICEF estimates that the AIDS pandemic has orphaned 1 million Ethiopian children under 14. AIDS orphans are referred to Kindu Erdata by local district officials or the Bureau of Social Affairs. Orphans such as Fasil (11), who was a destitute street boy, are placed in local foster homes and supported through child sponsorship. News snippets
Filmed for BBC2 A BBC2 film crew interviewed The Kindu Trust's founder, Mrs Kate Fereday Eshete, in Gondar's slums in January 2004 for a TV documentary to be broadcast in the UK next year. Across Europe The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) filmed Kindu Erdata beneficiaries and Kate in September 2004 for a documentary to be shown on television across Europe before Christmas.
Our Clean Gondar Project for street children continues to run, whenever funds are available. It costs 770 birr (£50 or 77 euro) to run the project for one morning. In return for breakfast and lunch, a shower, and clothing or shoes, 40 street boys clean a part of inner-city Gondar for two hours early on a Friday morning.
Pre-school Playgroup Kindu Erdata's first pre-school playgroup opened in central Gondar last autumn with 20 carers, babies and infants from the slums meeting on a Friday morning. The playgroup now runs full-time, Monday to Friday, providing supervised play for 150 pre-school babies and children. It costs 250 birr (£16 or 25 euro) per week to provide a banana with cinnamon tea for every attendee during the refreshment break of each playgroup session. The playgroup uses books, toys, dolls and games donated by supporters.
Nutrition Survey Early next year Kindu Erdata's two Health Officers (both qualified nurses) will survey Kindu beneficiaries' nutrition, collaborating with Gondar University. Helping Special Needs Children Kindu Erdata sends children with special medical needs to Addis Ababa hospitals for examination, treatment and/or operations, most recently a Gondar boy, Tedi (4), whose club feet are to be corrected when he is older. Anti-AIDS Clubs Throughout the 2004 school holidays Kindu Erdata ran Anti-AIDS Clubs for its teenage beneficiaries in Gondar. The youngsters learnt about HIV and AIDS, and were given a test at the end of their training. The only attendee to achieve 100% in the test was Habtamu (12), a former street boy who now lives with a foster family. He and others with high marks received prizes of books or world maps.
Anthony Hopkins and Abby McLaughlin raised funds in Plymouth to pay for a TV and video-player, which they bought in Gondar in June, to be used for showing HIV/AIDS and other training video tapes for Kindu beneficiaries, carers and staff. Shower Project It costs one Ethiopian birr (6p or 0.10 euro) to use Gondar's public showers, yet poor families in the slums cannot easily spare the money for this. Through our Shower Project, we pay for poor families to have weekly showers to improve personal hygiene and prevent disease.
AIDS orphan, Eleni Amare, died in August 2003, aged 8. She is one of four Kindu-supported children (aged 1-8) who have been victims of AIDS in the past 14 months. Eleni was fostered for some time by Kate Fereday Eshete and her husband in Gondar. "The staff at Gondar Hospital could not save Eleni," Kate said. "But it is good news that life-prolonging, anti-retro-viral drugs are soon to be available free for all who need them in Ethiopia." Eleni is buried at Debre Birhan Selassie Church in Gondar.
Toilets for the Slum Children
In collaboration with the Gondar Municipal Council and Kebele (District) 3 Administration, Kindu Erdata funded the building of a block of four toilets at a cost of 14,800 birr (£950 or 1,480 euro). The toilets, which opened in June 2004, serve 20 local families, including many children, in the poorest district in Gondar. "There are few toilets in Kebele 3, so many of the 10,000 inhabitants urinate and defecate outside their homes or on the roadside, creating a health hazard, particularly for the children who play in these areas," said Mr Mulugeta, Kebele 3 Chairman. "We hope that in future Kindu Erdata can help us build more toilets in the inner-city slums of Gondar." Sponsorship in the Community The numbers of cases currently being helped by the Sponsorship in the Community Project and on our waiting list for a sponsor are as follows:
Cases waiting for a Sponsor: 200 (July 2003) / 170 (October 2004)
Note: a case is usually a family in which a sponsored child is a part. In most cases the sponsorship will not only help the named beneficiary, but also his close relatives or foster carers because shelter, water, electric light, cooking fuel (charcoal and firewood), food and clothes are shared. So the benefits of sponsorship reach many more people than the number of names recorded for administrative purposes. Staff Profile Kindu Erdata's Book-keeper, Mrs Tiringo Fetene (28), is responsible for paying out sponsorship money to 334 beneficiaries every month and for keeping Kindu Erdata's accounts in order.
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