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EAVO: A Focus for the Future

“…if all women completed primary education, we could reduce by 70 per cent the number of women dying in childbirth in sub-Saharan Africa – saving over 100,000 lives every year….Some 6.1 million children under 5 die in poor countries every year – we know we could cut this by half if all women had secondary education.”

                        Irina Bokova, United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI), 2016

United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI), 2016

According to the United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI), only 47% of girls in Ethiopia who enter primary school complete that step of their education. If a girl is supported and resourced to attend secondary school, she has a better chance of completing her education.

She belongs in a school

These statistics from the UNGEI are alarming to us, and for this reason EAVO is committing its focus for this year on specific interventions to support girls’ education. Those of you, our friends and companions on this journey to build schools, fund secondary education, provide clean water and build the infrastructure for the Word of Christ to flourish, will not be unfamiliar with this endeavor. For years, as we built and outfitted schools, we have attempted interventions that would help more girls complete primary, secondary and university educations. But the numbers are still not good enough for us—our goal is equality of educational experiences for all the students in our programs.

Some statistics of Acheber Girls:

Many of the girls in our programs face significant physical and cultural challenges to completing high school, and fewer than 25% of the young people EAVO have sent to college and university are women. The girls are the ones in the home who are most responsible for household chores—fetching water and firewood, caring for younger siblings, cooking and cleaning. With the onset of adolescence, many of these girls stay home during their monthly periods; they don’t have access to feminine hygiene products to allow them to attend school with dignity and privacy. Girls often leave school to marry before they can complete their educations.

You may remember that in Acheber and Roben Jirecha, we have provided opportunities for boys and girls to attend high school by renting places for them to stay during the week. We provided a small number of solar lamps to allow girls the light to study at night after their household chores have been completed. We have reached out to the organization Days For Girls to begin providing reusable feminine hygiene kits for use during their menstrual cycles. But these are just the beginnings.

In the coming months, EAVO will explore ways to expand these programs and to seek discernment for how Christ would expand our ministry to girls. We are looking forward to how God will use us, and we invite you to continue on this journey with us.

You are Invited

EAVO invites you to a special event on Saturday, April 7, 2018 at Fremont Presbyterian Church. (5700 Carlson Drive, Sacramento--across J St. from Sac State)  at 5:30 pm.

We would like you to be our guests for dinner and a time of celebrating the accomplishments of EAVO and the future of our ministry. Dinner will be a buffet of Ethiopian and Italian food (remember that Ethiopia was invaded by Italy during WWII, and the influence of the food has endured.). You will hear about recently completed projects and the effects these have had on village life. And we will share our hopes for expanding our influence in supporting female education.

Our special guest will be Dr. Adu, a retired professor from Pacific Union College, who is leading a ministry organization in the northwest of Ethiopia. Dr. Adu will share his life story and how he came to advocate for the education of girls and women in Ethiopia.

We hope you will continue with us on this new adventure. Please let us know if you can join us for dinner on April 7. Note that childcare will be provided for children under 10 years of age.  

One of our graduates

RSVP to Seifu at (916) 202-2444 (or [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]). We look forward to hearing from you!

Board Members

Dr. Olana Aberra, MD (Chairman), Jim Reese (Member), Skip Ohs (Treasurer), Adele Ohs (Secretary), Mary Staples (Member), Jaime Major (Member), Aberra Damessa (Member), Seifu Ibssa (Member and Executive Director).