Dessie – Emergency Aid

Only one in a hundred families can afford three meals a day. Seven out of ten families have to restrict their food for many months of the year. Additionally to Hunger come diseases: only 13 percent of the population has access to wells and therefore safe drinking water. Our diverse measures improve the situation of the population in the long term.

Every year the population grows by three percent. The farms are only 0.25 to a maximum of one hectare in size - that is not enough to feed the growing population. An average family therefore does not have enough food for half the year. The farming families receive help to improve their agriculture and their income.

Many children grow up in extremely poor families. Parents cannot even provide their children with enough food. We provide these poorest children with food and free meals to ensure their health development and school success. Foundlings and other orphans find a safe home and prospects for a happy life in the Abebech Gobena children's home.

Many Ethiopians see only one way out of their material hardship: they travel to the Gulf states, some of them illegally, as guest workers. There they often lead a life as slave labor and are exploited and abused. We offer an alternative to fleeing the homeland: In a six-month course, we train particularly poor women to become housekeepers and turn them into sought-after professionals.

A lack of prospects is easily passed on to the next generation. That's why we're improving the situation of the 1,200 poorest children in the city of Debre Berhan, including through professional support for their parents. We want the children to be able to attend school so that they have a chance to escape poverty.