SMCF Ethiopia

For Ethiopian children and their communities

The Ethiopian Tufty Club

To help children keep safe on the roads, SMCF continues to support JeCCDO to organise kerb-side road safety training for children. Although road traffic accidents are a problem everywhere, in poorer countries such as Ethiopia, pedestrians and commercial vehicle passengers of are much more at risk, and children are the most vulnerable of road users. When measured in fatalities per 10,000 vehicles Ethiopia has some of the most dangerous roads in the world with death rates 120 times higher than in the UK (World Bank) The Ethiopian Roads Authority estimates that as few as half of all casualties are actually reported to the police and recorded. Last year 114 students, including 66 girls, graduated in child road safety in the northern town of Debre Birhan. JeCCDOs Debre Birhan office, together with the town traffic police gave two weeks theoretical and practical training on child road safety, aimed at reducing the number

Spring 2012

New grant from Comic Relief

SMCF Ethiopia is delighted to announce a new five-year grant from Comic Relief. The grant will enable JeCCDO to begin its community-based work in further communities throughout the country, through its five project offices. In addition funding has been released which will enable completion of the CommunityBased Organisation training centre at Debre Zeit. The centre will provide a base for training for new and existing community organisations.

of accidents. The children were all road safety club members of local schools, including 10 primary schools, 2 high schools and 1 preparatory school. Each of these children will go on to train a further five of their peers. Tufty would be proud.

SMCF Ethiopia is very sorry to report the death of two people who have worked with us and JeCCDO.
Ato Tesserawork Shimelis served as Chair of JeCCDOs trustees for many years until last year, steering the organisation through a period of growth and change. He had an intimate knowledge of the voluntary sector in Ethiopia, having previously served as head of the Ethiopia Red Cross. Angela Cunningham was a more recent friend, who assisted SMCF and JeCCDO with the final evaluation of the Comic Relief strategic grant. Her insight and observations proved extremely valuable to both organisations. Our thoughts are with both families.

Hard lives Tough choices

Yigramachew* is 12 years old and a member of the Negede Woitto community. Both his parents are dead, his mother having died giving birth to him. Yigramachew lived with his aunt for ten years but he wasnt happy there: she was very tough on me and I didnt feel loved, he says. Around two years ago, his aunt could no longer look after him and her sister agreed to take Yigramachew in. He is much happier now and feels more settled. My new aunty is very kind and looks after me, even washes my clothes and makes me food. It is much better for me now, he beams. Yigramachew attends alternative school, provided by JeCCDO, having missed out on a lot of his schooling. He hopes to make up the grades and progress to regular school in the next few years. But life is tough for his aunt who now looks after him. She is a single parent and has children of her own. She is already being supported by the Negede Woitto Community Development Association for one of her children with funds provided through SMCF so is not eligible for additional support for Yigramachew. It seems tough but, given the extent of poverty in the community, the CDA has difficult choices there are other families in similar situations who have not yet received any support. However, his aunt does attend a self-help group which helps her to manage the little money she does have and supports her in her income generating activities. Thank you if you already give to SMCF Ethiopia to support its work with vulnerable children. If you would like SMCF to do even more to support to children like Yigramachew, why not consider joining our Partners for Change initiative. In return for your support you will be linked with the Negede Woitto community, and receive regular updates by email on our ground-breaking work to lift this marginalised community out of poverty. Please let us know if you would like further information on the enclosed reply slip. * names and details have been changed in accordance with our child protection policy.

New Exhibition Together we can

A new exhibition of Frederic Courbets photographs of urban communities in Ethiopia runs from April 1st 21st at Michaelhouse Cambridge. The exhibition includes the incredible life stories of some community members. It will be touring other venues around the country later in the year.

Dead river springs back to life

Twenty years ago, the people of Dire Dawa used to consider the Butuji River to be holy water as it passed by a church. However, as the hills in Dire Dawa began to be cleared of vegetation for firewood and animal fodder, the Butuji began to disappear into the heart of the earth as the water table in the area sank. People who had previously relied on the river now had to hand dig wells for their needs. But the water got deeper and deeper and in the end, residents claimed that they had to dig more than 20 metres down to get water. The rains, when they came, came so fast they washed everything away. Flash floods eroded the soil and minimal rain percolated through the soil due to the scanty vegetation. Five years ago, JeCCDO started working with the community to conserve the surrounding hills by planting trees and shrubs, as well as buildings bunds, check dams, and so on. This protected the hills from erosion by heavy rains, allowed water to drain through the soil and the increased vegetation also enabled the return of wild life. Asnake Shifereaw has been living in the area for about 10 years. The river was all dried up when I first came here, he says. However, following conservation it re-emerged in September 2010 after being dry for over 10 years. People can now easily dig wells for water for their household and to grow fruits. We have tap water from a communal water point for drinking, and if this is short, we can also use the river. Another resident called Adem, says: Now water is easily dug and extracted because the level of water has risen. You used to dig over twenty four metres deep to get some water now it has become less than four metres. To prove the sustainability of the river, the re-emerged Butuji flowed down to the centre of the city even during the dry season in March, 2011.

Partners for Change Ethiopia give us your view

SMCF Ethiopia has done a fantastic job in caring for children since 1985, and together with JeCCDO has developed a succession of innovative and effective ways of working that have transformed the lives of communities. Earlier this year the office in Addis Ababa estimated that around 800,000 of the poorest people in Ethiopia benefit in some way from SMCFs work. We should all be very proud of this achievement. However, as we present the recent work of SMCF Ethiopia and JeCCDO to new supporters we do encounter a difficulty. This is the name. We start by telling them that we are the St Matthews Childrens Fund, although we now have a much broader range of support than just St Matthews Chaplaincy in Addis Ababa, and our work involves whole communities, not just children. Then we say that we work with the Jerusalem Children and Community Development Organisation, although this has nothing to do with the Middle East. It can be terribly confusing. So we have been trying out the name of Partners for Change Ethiopia. We chose it because it describes as simply and accurately as possible what we actually do. Currently this is the title of a programme of which both SMCF and JeCCDO are constituent parts not a new organisation. So we are still sending out the SMCF newsletter, with news about our organisation, and also the Partners for Change newsletter, which is designed to communicate our special way of working together. It seems as though the Partners for Change name is catching on both in the UK and in Ethiopia. We take the view that what counts is the work for the people of Ethiopia and if a new name helps us to do this better, then we should use it. Before we consider how far to take this change, wed be glad to know what you think. After all SMCF Ethiopia and JeCCDO belong to the supporters and beneficiaries. Please let us have your views either by email, letter or telephone.

St Matthews Childrens Fund Ethiopia, 32-36 Loman Street, Southwark, London SE1 0EH Contact: Peter Jones (Director) T: +44 (0) 20 7922 7904/5 E: pete@smcfethiopia.org

Partners for

Change
a new relationship between people in Ethiopia and the UK contact us for details.

web: www.smcfethiopia.org
Registered Charity no. 297391

email: info@smcfethiopia.org