Addis Ababa, Ethiopia is a city under constant construction. From my first trip in 2011 to my trip last month the city continues to expand and grow. A new rail system allows for mass transit within the city and stretches to the outlying areas. New luxury hotels and a new headquarters for the African Union dot the skyline. New roads are being built all over and the airport is being expanded and updated. It is filled with the signs of progress, but it also is stricken with poverty and abandoned children. You can find a $40,000 a night hotel suite, but it is also home to thousands of people living on less than $2 a day. It has one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, but as more and more people come to the city from the rural areas Urban poverty has been exacerbated and the city contains more people that the economy can support.
World Orphans has 9 church partners in Addis and the surrounding communities. These churches serve approximately 160 families through our home based care (HBC) program. The families are supported by the church receiving a monthly distribution of a staple foods, cooking oil, and hygiene products. This support enables mothers and grandmothers to keep their families together and makes it possible for them survive the bumps in the road society’s most vulnerable are constantly enduring.
All of the mother’s in our program are widows – either by death or abandonment they have been left to care for their children on their own. 75% of the women served were not members of the church when they entered the program. Not all the families are Christians, some of them believe in nothing, others are Muslim. Many of them were hopeless and alone- contemplating suicide or even attempting to take their own life sometimes precedes entering the program. They have no one working for them and sometimes they even have people actively working against them. Some of the stories just take your breath away. On my most recent trip I sat with a family going through an incredibly heartbreaking situation dealing with the death of a caregiver and an attempted land grab at the same time – it was all I could do to not break into tears as I looked into the faces of those children. This all changes when they enter the HBC program and this article could easily be about the impact that simply being a part of the HBC program has on these women and their families.
How their lives are transformed by the care of the local church…
How the members of the church care for them and love them…
How the members of the groups care for one another in both the ups and downs of life…
How profoundly the tangible assistance provided to them monthly relieves the immense day to day burden of survival they carry…
But that is not what this story is about because of churches and staff in Ethiopia wasn’t satisfied with just helping them survive. They wanted more than that for these women and their children and an economic empowerment program was born in 2015. Each group received business and personal finance training and formed a savings group where they come together to encourage each other to save as much as they can for emergencies or for the long term needs of their families. After the savings groups were formed micro loans began in 2016.
We’ve developed a 4 cycle micro loan program. The caregivers will receive approximately $30, $60, $125 and $250 loans. They use to loan to start or improve a business they use to care for their families. To be eligible for the next loan they must pay back the previous one completely. The goal is that at the end of this 4 year cycle the families will be self-sufficient and not need our assistance anymore. These small loans have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. As I type this we are approaching the end of our 2nd cycle of loans. 20 caregivers have now received two loans, 25 women have received one loan and in May we will make a 3rd set of loans – the first 20 caregivers will receive a 3rd loan, the next 25 will receive their 2nd loan and a new group of 40 women will receive their 1st loan. Several women have been so successful with the loans that they have already voluntarily given up their spot in the HBC program because they no longer need any assistance. Our repayment rates are unbelievable – about 97% of the loans have been repaid fully and the only defaults were due to an advance case of leprosy, death or leaving the program completely.
However, Economic Empowerment isn’t just about numbers and ledgers. It’s about people. It’s about relief. It’s about hope. It’s about opportunity. It’s about dignity. It’s about dreaming. I’m so thankful to have been able to sit with these women twice in the last year and hear their stories. When you look in the faces of these women you can see the harsh realities of life for the poorest of the poor in the developing world, but look closer and you can see joy and you see courage, resilience and determination. The world doesn’t care about these people, but someone does. These women are loved by their creator and his heart breaks over the way his creation has been twisted to create systems where people live in opulence and luxury while others struggle just to survive. We are trying to create new systems – systems where those who have more than enough share just a little to help those who don’t have enough. The dedicated members of our World Orphans Ethiopia staff, the church pastors and the home based care coordinators are training, equipping, and caring for these women and it’s working. They’ve created a community together and within this community these women are being empowered with very small micro loans and the results have been phenomenal. Over the next few weeks I’m going to share some of the individual stories of these women and their experiences with these loans. The results are simply amazing.
These women have turned small loans into life change. They’ve gained hope and confidence and changed the environment in their homes. They are leaving behind brutally demanding jobs as day laborers and striking out of their own. They are sending their kids to school, they are providing more nutritious food to eat, they are purchasing life saving medicines, they are overcoming disasters and surviving lost income due to political unrest. They are caring for each other and dreaming about the future. They are learning lessons from failures and capitalizing on their successes. We are just two cycles into the program and I can’t wait to see what the future holds for the families.
Do you want to be part of this? Consider making a donation to help fund economic empowerment at World Orphans. $30 funds a new loan for a caregiver in Ethiopia. $460 will fund the entire 4 year cycle of loans for a caregiver. $1200 will fund new loans for all 40 women entering the program this year.
Click here to fund micro loans!
***Please scroll down to Select Economic Empowerment Campaign and type Ethiopia Economic Empowerment in Notes on next page****
Want to read a success story from last year? Click here to read Zeritu’s Story
Want to read an overview of World Orphans Economic Empowerment program? Click here.
A Dangerous Question 