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Spring 2008 newsletter

It has been developed to provide you with better information about the work we do and the communities we work with in Ethiopia. We hope that some of the additional information about Ethiopia will be interesting and useful as well.  

Please keep returning to this news page where we will be providing updates from our work in Ethiopia and the U.K.

On behalf of orphan and vulnerable children in Ethiopia.

Thank you for your support!

Ethiopian Child Road Safety Training Programme

JeCCDO is piloting a child road safety programme. Ethiopia has one of the highest rates of child road fatalities in the world. This will be the first such programme in the country and has been very well received by regional and national government departments - download our pdf document to read more.

Tsege Shonde

Tsege Shonde was born in 1977 in the town of Awassa Korem Sub Kebele. He grew up in a family with a low income. Tsege tells his story as follows.

Partial view of Tsege's garden

When I was a child, I used to help my father with taking care of his agricultural plot in our backyard. I recall that we used to consume at home some of the agricultural products. My father was a military man and my mother was a housewife. Unfortunately, I dropped out of school and tried finding a job. However, it was difficult due to the high levels of unemployment in our city. But I never lost hope and kept trying hard to find a job that would provide me with a stable source of income and improve the life of my family.

Yet my dream of getting a job was unsuccessful since I did not finish my education. It was then that I got the idea of considering using my father's backyard to produce agricultural products which I could sell and earn an income from. However, I feared that I might not be able to produce enough to generate an income.

Then, in May 2006, I met Abonesh Negatu who is a Volunteer Community Development Program Facilitator working on Urban Agriculture Program of JeCCDO. She informed me about bio-intensive gardening which is one of JeCCDO's Urban Agriculture Program activities. Accordingly, I took her advice on how I could use our backyard and started to work. I eagerly accepted the training opportunity. After the training, I was provided with all the necessary tools and inputs needed to maximize my backyard agricultural productivity. As a result I became very productive. I still continue to receive the necessary technical advice from Abonesh as well as from other facilitators of JeCCDO's Urban Agriculture Program. Similarly, I too have opened my door to share my new-found knowledge and skill about bio-intensive gardening with others who are interested.

Today, I think of the past times when I kept looking for sources of income from other places when I actually had the resources right in our own backyard. The knowledge I acquired on effective utilization of local resources has resulted in the improvement of the items of food we consume in our household and the income that we are able to generate.

There were times where I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. Those days are bygones. I now have a lot of work to do in my garden. My success makes me very satisfied and motivated to keep on working.

Shafi Umero

Shafi Umero lives in Dire Dawa Kebele 02, locally known as Goro Butiji area. Although 75 years of age, he is still very strong and courageous. A father of five children, Shafi is known in his community for his eagerness to help those with problems. Shafi tells his story as follows.

I have lived in Dire Dawa City for most of my life. Money from my pension salary is my only source of income. But with some knowledge in cultural medicine, I have been able to assist my community in treating health problems.

Because of the scarcity of water in my locality, I recently dug a hole in the ground looking for water-sources near my house. The hole I dug was 10 meters deep, but I couldn't find any water for my fields. I kept digging deeper but wasn't successful. It was then that I heard from my neighbors about an organization called JeCCDO working on environmental activities in our area. Immediately I went to JeCCDO's Community Development Program Office in Dire Dawa to get help from the experts working there.

I told the community development officers about my effort to find water for my fields and how unsuccessful it was. I informed them as well that this problem of water shortage was also shared by my neighbors. The officers then advised me to collaborate with my neighbors to dig deeper to find water. After discussing the situation with my family, we agreed to make the water well a communal property. Just as the officers had said, we found water after digging 21 meters deep.

Members of my community who had participated in the digging began to share the newly found resource. We then established ourselves in an association called "Aba Shafi Millennium Urban Agriculture and Integrated Developmental Association" and set rules for sharing the water. JeCCDO provided assistance by giving our association a water pump amounting to 10,000 ETB. Because of the pump, we get enough water and are able to produce good harvests. In addition, JeCCDO also gave us chickens for poultry production and modern honey hives to strengthen our effort. Heeding the advice of the program office, we also constructed terraces on the hill near our area and planted different fruits and vegetables to make the land greener and more productive.

Currently, our association has 40 members, composed of 25 men and 15 women. We feel we are responsible to develop our environment to make a difference in our community.

Almaz Tafesse

Almaz Tafesse is 60-year old woman who lives in Debre Berhan City. A mother of eight and grandmother of seven, Almaz had her first child at the age of 14. Currently, she lives with her retired husband and supports her youngest son and three grandchildren. This requires her to keep on working hard to support her family and herself.

Almaz is now a member of one of the Self-Help Groups (SHG) established with the assistance of JeCCDO. She says, "When I first heard about the SHG, I was very skeptical about it, but my neighbor convinced me to join the group. Today, thanks to my group, I have learnt the culture of saving. I was also able to borrow 2,000 birr from the group which I used to engage myself in the preparation and sale of Injera. I also used the money to buy sheep and poultry. This enabled me to apply the knowledge I gained from the agribusiness training provided by the office of JeCCDO in Debre Berhan. Presently, I own 10 sheep and 20 chickens. I am happy with how my life has changed. I am now in a better position to support my family."

Almaz has returnd the money she borrowed from her group.

Ayenachew Mitiku

Twenty-eight-year old Ayenachew Mitiku was born and raised in Dangla town. He attended church schools in his childhood and joined the military in 1997. However, he found it difficult to serve the military due to a recurring illness. He underwent treatment in the army hospital but his health did not get any better. As a result, he left the service in 2001 and went back to his parents in Dangla. He later on left for the Sudan to look for a better job, but was unable to withstand the hot climate and had to return home after four months.

Back in his home country, Ayenachew again fell ill. This time he went to Gondar for a medical check-up. There, he was told that he had tested positive for HIV by Dutch doctors. They offered him help but he refused. He then went to the church to pray and to get sprinkled with holy water.

When feeling much better, Ayenachew left Dangla for Debre Birhan where he started to work as a shoe shiner. However, he suffered from illness again and could not continue working. He had been sleeping on the street for 15 days when he finally managed to get treatment from a government health clinic nearby.

Ayenachew went to JeCCDO's program office in Debre Berhan after his recovery. He asked for advice on how the organization could help him. The program office then recommended that he join an Income Generation Association in his locality. The association, however, hesitated on accepting him as a member due to his HIV status. But due to JeCCDO's intervention, wherein it pointed out that a person's HIV status should not be a reason for him or her to be rejected, Ayenachew was finally accepted into the association. He was given a loan of 1,500 birr in April 2005 and was able to return the money within the set time period. He was also given business-related training by JeCCDO.

Today, Ayenachew is a proud owner of three small plots of irrigated farm lands along the Beressa River. He counts among his achievements his harvests of 1,000 eucalyptus seeds, which he planted for the Ethiopian millennium celebration, and 4,000 cabbages. He has also bought a horse-cart to transport his goods and is currently renting a fully furnished house where he lives with his partner. Ayenachew says he is very optimistic about his future and plans of expanding his business.