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Strong Hearts Ethiopia
So another week is almost over here in Addis. I've spent the week working with Dundee again in Strong Hearts Ethiopia. Dundee met me on Monday to take me to the area of the city where the Strong Hearts project works, quite a way from Bingham. The rest of the week, I took taxis over there, about 4 taxis to get there, and another 4 to get back. This has reminded me of all my frustrations with the taxis around here; waiting until the minibus is crammed full before they go anywhere, stopping all the way to let people off, or try and get yet more people in, and the general slowness involved. All in all, it takes about an hour to get there, after which you feel like you've smoked 10 packets of cigarettes with the amount of smog that you've inhaled.
Anyway, It has been great to catch up with Dundee again, and to experience how Strong Hearts has developed since I last visited. Since leaving the last time, the organisation has really grown. They have added grade 1 to the school as well as the KG which was started. Dundee apparently sold his car to pay for the classroom. I spent some time observing the classes and watching the kids play outside in the school grounds.
Secondly, the have begun a Hospice care ministry. They have around 20 or 30 women in the local area who have HIV or cancer, who they provide hospice care to. Furthermore, they have a church which they have started in the area. They also have another 3 programs on the way. They are about to start a Child Care program, Dundee was finalising the rental agreement for the new building which will accommodate about 40 kids. He has a family coming from the US to work full time in this program. They also are about to start a child sponsorship program, with a number of kids. Some people from CMF international came over from the US to see Dundee and meet with him about advertising the Strong Hearts kids on their site for child sponsorship. He is hoping to add to the sponsorship from the Strong Hearts website too. As well as this, they are setting up some micro-financing programs, enabling local businesses to receive loans, helping to foster and develop them into thriving businesses. I found one example of an opportunity for this walking around with the Hospice team, one woman who we visited cooks injera to feed herself and her children, as well as to make a small income selling it. But as her house is not big enough, she cooks outside. As rainy season is approaching, she is worried that she won't be able to cook any more in the rain. We figured a small loan would help her build a shelter she could cook under, which then she could pay back slowly as she sold the injera. For most of the time, I was observing all of the programs going on, attempting to document it all so that I can create a small video which Dundee can use on the website. It was great to be able to experience it all.
With his organisation growing, there is increased interest from larger organisations in what he is doing. Dundee explained that he spends a long time with lots of discussions before he agrees to work with any organisation, and that they have to agree to respect the Strong Hearts vision, and their principles. As an example of this, he explained that a certain organisation from Canada approached him offering 1 million birr investment, if he would remove the spiritual aspect of his programs. So he refused their investment. He also has quite a number of volunteers coming over to help out at his programs, anywhere from 2 weeks to 5 months. They come mostly through an organisation called Love Volunteers.
Dundee in his office
The Hospice patient chart
Out with some of the volunteers
I've really enjoyed spending the week with Dundee, it has been a really great experience, if a little overwhelming at first. There is a great amount of work that could be done here, I'll have to really think and pray about just how that might work out.
On the way one day, I stopped by my old neighbourhood to visit my old guard. Brian had helped him get set up with a business, so he went to barber school, and started a barber place, and also owns a music store next door. It was really great to see him again, and to see how well he is doing.
On Wednesday night, Brian and Laura came up from Langano to Addis, so we got together with Aaron, our other old roommate and his wife Zide. A really great evening catching up with Aaron, finding out about what he's up to here at the moment. He also had some suggestions for working with him too, which is yet more to think about...
Updated the picture album here.
Niall
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