eavo projects

The African Connection (Winter, 2012)

In October and November, eight volunteers travelled to Ethiopia to work on many EAVO projects. To most, this was their first time seeing the country. They worked on such projects as treating the sick, building playgrounds, protecting spring water and so on. There is a saying that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, so we thought we would share some of those activities in pictures. Enjoy!

High School Students:

We met many of our 121 high school students in Tulu Bolo and Harba Chulule. Art and Lesley Huffaker were very much touched by how much these students were willing to sacrifice to get education. They live more than 20 miles away from home in a small room, barely enough to sleep 3 students where they also study and eat their meals.

Art and Lesley with our students. Art’s question: “Is that really where they study and sleep?”

Playing table tennis with some of our high school students with lots of spectators

First college graduate from Acheber

Meet our first college graduate from Acheber village!

In our Summer 2011 newsletter, we profiled the story of Worknesh who is now a preschool teacher. She was pictured with Sintu Girma. We learned in August that Sintu just graduated from a nursing college. Wow! What a joy to see her reach her dreams! What a joy for her parents, for our partners, for us, for you who give generously. Sintu is our first graduate from the batch of the first 43 students that we took in, and began supporting when our high school program began in 2006. Sadly, Sintu’s parents could not make it to her graduation. The bus they were riding broke while travelling to Wolisso town where she attended college. Thank God for our partners! Pictured above, Mr. Tadesse Assefa, Development Director from Guennet Church (left), and Mr. Hailu Ibssa, our college/high school program coordinator (right) rushed to the occasion and were there to celebrate with Sintu. Congratulations Sintu!!!

The African Connection (Fall, 2011)

Seifu Ibssa

Words that ignite a vision

“Kind words are a creative force … a power that builds good… and energy that showers blessings upon the world.” (G. Lavasik, a missionary who reached out to workers in America’s coal and steel regions and wrote many books)

I would like to tell you of a few “kind words” that ignited a vision that had been in my heart. Without those words, EAVO would not have come into existence. They came from Lana Reese, an RN who in February 2005, along with her husband Jim, traveled with me to my birth village in Ethiopia. They were profoundly disturbed with what they saw and experienced in this remote subsistence farming area in the Gurage Highlands. Although I was born and raised there, I too, was stunned as I now saw my home through the eyes of a privileged American adult, not through the eyes of a ten year old shepherd boy who knew nothing else of the world.

The African Connection (Summer, 2011)

Worknesh, left, and her friend Sintu. Both are supported by EAVO

The Story of Worknesh

Worknesh’s story is unique in many ways. She was born with back deformity. She lost her mother when she was about 14 years old. Her life changed for the worst immediately after her father remarried. Worknesh and her step mother could not get along. Fearing that he could be without a wife once again, her father told her to find a place and live with relatives. She began wandering around Acheber town in 2007. That was where she met Hailu Ibssa, coordinator of EAVO’s efforts to send off high school students to Harba Chulule town where there is a high school. (Remember, there isn’t a single high school in Acheber town to this day, though an effort is ongoing). Hailu told us about Worknesh, and soon, we found a family that was willing to support her with food and other essentials at about $300 a year while she attends high school (EAVO only pays for rent, mattresses and school supplies). Her supporters continued to write her encouragements and send her a few hundred dollars to spend as she wishes on “girl stuff” through Seifu when he travelled to Ethiopia. Worknesh sat for the national exam in 2009, but failed to pass. She was very sad, as you can tell from her letter to her supporters below, which we translated from Amharic to English.