Giving hope to those in need

Yesterday (16/10/07), we visited the Hope Enterprises Street Children’s Breakfast where every day 630 children receive a nutritious breakfast and informal schooling, funded by Ethiopiaid. As we walked down the steps into the canteen, we were met with cheers, smiles, laughing and curious stares. The aim is to eventually enroll each child into formal education at which time they are given uniforms and their school fees are paid for.

The project also runs a school and vocational training college which we were taken to next before returning to the kitchens for the lunch put on for Addis Ababa’s homeless. We were shown the queues in the street outside where crowds patiently waited for their sitting – the elderly first, then women and children followed by the men. In the afternoon, we were taken to the site of the new Hope University, partially funded by Ethiopiaid. The long rainy season has now ended and work is progressing well.

Today, we visited the House of Angels Hospice for the sick and dying who simply have nowhere else to go - many are brought there by complete strangers having been found in the street. The sheer volume of people at the hospice is striking with patients spilling out of wards crammed full of beds. The nuns who run the hospice work tirelessly to provide treatment where possible or to allow those who pass away to do so peacefully and with dignity.

A short drive took us to the orphanage for children who have lost their parents to HIV – most are HIV positive themselves. The orphanage has a school where everyday the 430 young children who live there are taught and cared for. It is a surprisingly happy place and again we were greeted with smiles and hugs from all the children.

The orphanage has undergone a lot of change in recent years since Anti Retroviral drugs were made available without charge in Ethiopia. Whereas before most of the children weren’t expected to survive until their teens, now they are surviving beyond that and the nuns help the children to learn skills which they can use should they wish to leave the orphanage. Construction of a new clinic has also been completed where the children will receive treatment. It will also act as a research facility using the data collected – this will be invaluable in Ethiopia’s fight against the virus.