Ethiopia News 17.06.2022

I am still moved by my visit to the Afar region. The work that our friends are doing there is under difficult circumstances and I admire it very much. Currently we have so much to do in Addis that we cannot afford to think about more work outside. But for the perspective you get for Ethiopia, it has been very good.

From time to time we try to find new partners to improve our sustainability and enable greater change for our children with families. We contacted an NGO nearby that has a school - from grade 1 to 12, and they only take children from poor backgrounds to accomplish the same thing we are trying to do at a young age for the children. Holistic change for whole families and communities through access to good education. The NGO is called Hope for Children Australia. The neighborhood school is called The School of St. Yared (a saint in the Orthodox Church, but is not a religious institution).
 
Now we are in discussion with the board in Australia and the director here in Addis, under what circumstances our children will be admitted to their school after KG. There is much conversation needed and much to arrange. I am very grateful for prayers especially for agreements.

Hope for Children is in the process of getting their own land from the government. It is so big (80,000sqm) that we are also talking about moving with a new kindergarten for our children from Begegnung eV (4-6) to their property to be able to impact early childhood development from age 2 until they finish school. This opportunity would be the ultimate chance for our children to be nurtured up to university, then to study, find a good job and thus be able to change the circumstances of their families and community for life.

The country office from our partner Ethiopia Arise (www.ethiopia-arise.org) has quit, and we have been approached as a team in Addis to see if we can find an interim solution for them until they know what to do next. This week I was there with Nunyat and we found that they are well set up but actually need help to keep things going. We agreed as a team (Sam, Senait, Nunyat) to help and make the handover happen with a year of assistance. Then we will see what happens. If you want to know more about this project, feel free to check out his website.

So much has happened in our project plot that I would like to send you some pictures, they are at the end of the newsletter. We have created 6 patches for growing vegetables, one is for children, others just for everyday needs. Food is getting more and more expensive here and we don't know how to keep our budget anymore. So we decided to save money in different directions through different sources of income for the NGO.

Growing our own eggs, vegetables, injera from an employee at a better price and better partnerships with traders should help us. But we also know that we have to continue to work on our sustainability in order not to be dependent on the market.

	Sowing first seeds, lettuce
	First own spinach and chard
	Finally the chickens are here. Now we wait for the eggs
	Vegetable patches for children