Meskele Kristos School Building
Inside the classroom at Meskele Kristos School
Hole for Pit Latrine Toilets which the community dug
Repairs to this wall of a classroom have been completed
Meskele Kristos Project - Ethiopia
Meskele Kristos is a desperately poor village where the families struggle to provide for the needs of their family members. Children often go hungry, suffer from malnutrition and illness. Many don’t even own a pair of shoes or enough clothes to complete one outfit for them to wear. Often a shirt or a simple dress is all they own to wear, which is passed down from one child to another. These often are ripped or have holes in them. The families live in simple houses of mud and sticks.
Their region is prone to drought, which leads to famines. Families travel during these times to larger towns, far away, where they source food and water. The villages also lack many basic facilities.
In Meskele Kristos there is a very basic school. Education is often a means to help people get out of poverty. Children have left their families to seek education in a larger town, where there is an opportunity for improved education. In order to do this, children are left to fend for themselves often living on the street, begging for food, succumbing to a very desperate life and one where they are very vulnerable. Some children have no choice but to live on the streets in the larger towns and to fight for survival. Often these children are orphaned or from families/extended families who can no longer care for them. There are very limited options for children in these circumstances. With no government assistance like we have in Australia, many children and adults are left to a life of struggle.
It would be so easy to be overwhelmed and to think the problem is too big to make any significant difference. However each of these people have a right to life, hope and opportunity. Let’s empower these people who are in great need- let’s do what we can to help. We all have something we can offer. We can take notice and respond.
Child Sponsorship Program
The first of the two World Families Australia projects in Meskele Kristos is a child sponsorship project, where families are helped and supported to develop the community through improving the facilities at the local school.
Many children are now sponsored through this project, which is wonderful. One of these children is 6 year old Bimerewu, who is finally able to walk upright. Having spent his life crawling on his hands due to having a short femur, he now has the opportunity to walk thanks to a prosthetic leg. A sponsor kindly offered to pay extra to meet his medical needs. Being such a rural community with no health care services, Bimerewu needed to travel to Lalibela, then Bahir Dar where he stayed for a number of days and underwent medical tests and procedures. Here it was determined that he was best to have a prosthetic leg fitted. Thankfully this was available in Bahir Dar and was organized for him during his stay there.
Habtam is 16 yr old teenager who also has spent her life crawling on her hands. A World Families Officer was able to source a $6 pair of crutches to help her to walk upright. Most recent reports on Habtam are that she is having trouble straightening her back, and that she is only able to use the crutches for short periods of time. Without mobility she is expected by the community to have a very limited future. We are seeking donations to assist Habtam to travel to a town or city in the future where she may be able to access a medical review to see if anything else can be done to help her.
A number of children are still awaiting sponsorship if you or anyone you know is interested.
Meskele Kristos School
Our second project in Meskele Kristos is the Meskele Kristos School. This school has a very basic structure and very limited facilities and resources, which are stretched to try and meet the educational needs of over 600 students from the local community. The classrooms are constructed of mud & stone walls, dirt floors and an iron roof. There were 3 class rooms, some had tables and chairs while others contained mud benches for the children to sit on. One class room had a wall falling down, which has been fixed. In order for all the children to be able to attend school classes, they are run in either morning or afternoon sessions. One of the requests from the principal and teachers of the school has been for another class room, Library and books. So far another classroom has been built and this is doubling as use for a library and some books have also been purchased for the school.
We are hoping to buy text books and table and chairs as we gain more sponsors for this project. A huge need for this school is water and toilets, currently there are none. Considering many of the children are very malnourished and often sick, an important aim is to provide these basic facilities as soon as possible. The community has been involved and has dug large holes for the pit latrines toilets.
Quotes are also being obtained to price the building of water catchment tanks. World Families Australia are seeking sponsors and donations of any amount to help assist with this project.
Thank you again for your continued support of these projects,
Dee Hudson.
Both projects have sponsorship available which costs only
$70 a quarter and are Tax Deductable.
Sponsorship funds are pooled so as not to favour any one particular child over another.You can contact Dee Hudson for details regarding sponsorship
Ph: 0404 454 390
Email: bendy98@bigpond.com