Moms On The Move

micro-loans for parents

With help from the Tesfa Foundation, enterprising moms in the neglected Shiro Meda neighborhood of Addis Ababa are taking their first steps toward a better life.

In a pilot program among the moms of children of the Tsegereda Kindergarten, opportunities are being created for women to start independent businesses and earn financial self-sufficiency. In this project, the Tesfa Foundation is working with a local partner of the Grameen Bank, offering micro-loan financing for small-scale entrepreneurialism.

A few of the Tesfa moms participating in micro-loan program

Tirunesh, with her small loan, has started a business selling vegetables in a market stall. Woinshet has opened an enterprise selling clothes out of her home. Genet bakes and sells injera, the bread that is a staple of the Ethiopian diet. Sara sews pillow cases and assembles cushions and pillows to furnish neighbors’ houses.

The micro-loan idea was new to them all, and it took some tough talk from Temusgin, their coach in micro-loan procedures, to convince the women that loans must be repaid, that each must be responsible for the others, and that the concept does work for them. Now no one harbors any doubt. They unanimously agree that the program has helped them and will help others.

First in the Tesfa Foundation’s priorities is always the children and their education. Our philosophy in helping the mothers is that they are the primary care-givers and advocates for their children. The mothers concur. ‘Now we can afford good food and clothes for them,’ says one mom. It isn’t uncommon that children come to school hungry and unable to focus on their studies.

‘For the first time, I was able to buy all my children socks,’ says another mother. She says so with a big smile and a lot of pride.

Team Strides

Track Champions

Team Tesfa continues to make its mark in the Ethiopian running community. At the Addis Ababa Club Track and Field Championships, April 5 to 12 2009, Team Tesfa made a great showing in its debut performance.

Among the club’s achievements are four who placed among the top ten in their competitions. 17 year-old Derartu finished in 6th place in the women’s 1500 meter. 17 year-old Haimenot finished in 7th place in the women’s 400 meter. Altaye finished in 8th place in the men’s 800 meter. And Meja, recently from the southern states of Ethiopia, finished first in the men’s 10km speed walking race.

Other high achievers for the club were several beneficiaries in the Team Tesfa teen program, Amsal and Worke, who placed 6th and 7th in their heat of the women’s 400 meter.

Now the season is over, and the runners go into ‘winter’ training for the rainy season. They will be back for a stronger than ever showing in the ‘2002’ season. (Remember, the Ethiopian calendar lags seven years behind ours!)

Team Spirit
It’s not only among the running community that Team Tesfa makes its mark. On Saturday, May 9, 13 team members, men and women, teens and adults, met at 7am at the Addis Ababa bus station and boarded a bus for Mojo. Within two hours they were hard at work, tools and paintbrushes in hand, making improvements to the Tserah Tsion Kindergarten in Mojo.

Team Tesfa members painting the Mojo school building

The Tserah Tsion school buildings are old and in great need of repair, and the community that the school serves is too poor to afford the improvements. These young athletes were only too glad to volunteer their Saturday to a good cause. By the end of the day, the school buildings had a new coat of paint, inside and out, (making the classrooms much brighter); and floors and walls were patched and whole again.

How about a nice blue house? GREAT idea!

On breaks from work, the athletes played football with some of the little students who had stopped by the school. Hungry and tired at the end of the workday, the athletes were still not willing to quit when a team-mate remarked that the newly-painted walls were lacking art for the children. They picked up the paintbrushes again, and sketched out animals and flowers as best they could, laughing at each other’s attempts at art, but proud to make their personal contributions to the school.

A great time was had by athletes, school staff, and children, all. Afterward, everyone stuffed themselves at local restaurant to celebrate. For hard-working athletes who have often been forced to train on little more nutrition than bread with a little sauce, this was no small reward. But more importantly, they were happy to have been of service. Team Tesfa is a group of young adults who understand what it means to work and to be role models for other young people. That’s the true spirit of this team.

After School Study for Our Grads

Tutorials for Tsegereda’s Alumni

In February, the Tesfa Foundation took its first step toward a long-standing dream to offer substantial academic support to graduates from its kindergarten / early years programs, opening its first after-school tutorial program at the Tsegereda School in Addis Ababa.

Zeleke with Tsegereda graduates, now in 1st and 3rd grade.

Graduates from the Tsegereda School, Tesfa’s first kindergarten, are now in first and third grades at the nearby private Yerusalem School. Though the organization focuses on early childhood education as the strongest foundation for later academic success, the Tesfa Foundation is committed to standing by our children after kindergarten. This project is the pilot for the best method possible: supplementing the education they receive in primary grades.

At present, 20-30 Tsegereda grads participate in the program, attending Monday-Friday sessions for an hour and a half each day. The program focuses on English language and math skills as those skills most necessary in later grades, and those most challenging. Class time is also assigned for support with Yerusalem homework.

Our after-school teacher is Zeleke Zewdie, business student at Addis Ababa University. Zeleke faces many challenges as the first teacher in a trial program: collaborating in new curriculum development and finding creative ways to engage children of several ages and levels. In the future, with more resources, program capacity will be expanded.

Zeleke is up to the challenge. He enjoys the children, and they respond well to his enthusiastic guidance. He keeps a steady enrolment of 20-30 students – even though it’s extra schooling. He believes in them, and wants to make a difference. He says, ‘I want to see improvement in their behavior, in their attitudes, in their achievements.’ He encourages the kids to look ahead and to better themselves. And so far, so good. The children are eager for learning.

Announcements

UK and Minnesota Runners - Here's YOUR chance to participate!

In the autumn, long-distance runners in the UK, the US, and Ethiopia will join forces to raise funds for early years schooling in Ethiopia. On September 27, a team of 20 London fundraisers will run the Run to the Beat Half Marathon. One week later, on October 4, a team of 10 Minnesotans will run the Twin Cities Marathon. On the same day, the Tesfa Foundation will hold its third annual 5K, the Tesfa Mountain Run, along with a short children’s race in the mountains above the Shiro Meda school. There are still places on both overseas teams. Please contact the Tesfa Foundation, either US or UK, if you would like to join any of these races and run for Tesfa!

Team Tesfa

Child Sponsorships Are Key To Keeping Schools Open

Several of the Tesfa Foundation’s schools in Ethiopia are funded solely by child sponsorships. Over 100 children need sponsors in the US and UK. Please consider donating in this rewarding way. Get to know one of our children and his or her family for only $21 or £10 per month.Please consider becoming a recurring sponsor today. Thank you.

The Little Ethiopian who fed 1,000

- by Tesfa UK board member Mark Charman

I have the fortune of knowing a child in Ethiopia. His name is Yigremachew (Yi-grem-AH-cho). I was introduced to him several years ago at the Tsegereda Memorial School in Addis Ababa. Like other children who attend the school, Yigremachew was born into extreme poverty in the slum neighborhood of Shiro Meda in the capital city of Addis Ababa. His parents abandoned him as a baby and he now lives in a small, two roomed home with nine relatives.

I pledged to sponsor Yigremachew through the Tesfa Child Sponsorship Programme several years ago and have since become well acquainted with him and his extended family. He sends me cards and letters through the post and whenever I’m in Ethiopia, I enjoy spending time with him. We read together, I eat with his family, we play football with his friends and I visit his school.

As Yigremachew and I were walking home from school on a mild October day last year, he whispered into my ear, “Mark! Shoes!”

“Yes!” I said, “of course!” and so we searched for a smart pair of black shoes to buy.

We couldn’t find any shoes that fit, although after a short while, Yigremachew whispered into my ear once more. “Mark! Bike!” he urged as we passed a stall with some old bicycles for sale.

I asked Yigremachew if happiness could be gained from buying these things. Giving him the money that I had promised for the new shoes, I challenged him to find an answer.

Following school the next day, Yigremachew revealed that he had decided to spend his new shoe-money.

He led me towards the Ethiopian Meal Centre in Addis Ababa where hungry, homeless people eat; that is, if they have meal tickets. Yigremachew had worked out that with all of his shoe cash, he could buy enough tickets to feed 200 people.

And so he spent all of his money.

As we walked around the corner with 200 new meal tickets, we were stunned by a swollen crowd of over 1000 hungry Ethiopians waiting and hoping for food. Yigremachew paused and then calmly began to give away the meal tickets he had bought.

A passer-by who saw what the little boy was doing bought more meal tickets and gave them all to Yigremachew. Another passer-by bought a further 200 meal tickets and also asked Yigremachew to carry on giving. One inspired, kind lady bought six hundred extra meal tickets and so Yigremachew stood tall handing out ticket after ticket until there were no more people to give tickets to.

And the people began to eat. Not one single person from the crowd of 1000 hungry Ethiopians went without a meal that evening.

“Are you unhappy that you did not buy new shoes with your money?” I asked Yigremachew.

“Happiness for a new pair of shoes lasts as long as the shoes; but the happiness that life can bring, this happiness lasts as long as life is lived!” replied Yigremachew, the little Ethiopian who fed 1,000.