Displaced or migrant women and men from all over Ethiopia, returnees after emigration, refugees from other countries and vulnerable people, as well as street children are the beneficiaries of the pilot project launched at the end of 2020 in Addis Ababa thanks to the collaboration of several female and male religious congregations and the Global Solidarity Fund (GSF) – a network that encourages collaboration on behalf of the most vulnerable by bringing together Catholic bodies and systemic connections with businesses, investors, philanthropists, international bodies and governments.
Among the displaced from rural areas of Ethiopia or from Tigray, which emerged battered by the civil war that ended only at the end of 2022, many young women between 18 and 25 years old, often with unwanted pregnancies, are taken in by Saint Teresa of Calcutta's Missionaries of Charity, who offer free childbirth assistance. In the House of Charity in Addis Ababa, where they give birth to children, they then stay for 3 months and the Missionaries of Charity give the young women advice on how to take care of them. Some do not want to keep their children, but Mother Teresa's Sisters try to accompany them on a path of awareness and preparation for motherhood that almost always leads young women to accept their unexpected pregnancy. The religious and social workers then try to understand their interests and talents, and send them to centres where they live with their children during the training period.
Based on their interests, they attend courses in fashion design, cooking, home care and computer science at Mary Help College managed by the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA); or leather processing, furniture manufacturing or graphic design by the Salesians at the Don Bosco Children Centre, or clothing production at the Sitam College run by the Ursuline Sisters. Thanks to the training received, they soon find work in small clothing companies in Addis Ababa, and are also helped in finding accommodation and paying rent.
Sememu Hibistu, an internal migrant from Debra Marcos, found accommodation with other workers near the company where she works. Because every move is more difficult for her, having lost a leg to an infection when she was only 11 years old. Derartu Karle, who comes from Metu, in Oromia, a graduate in tourism management, asked the Mother Teresa's Sisters for help after suffering violence and becoming pregnant. This year she obtained a "Cisco" computer certification after a course at the FMA Mary Help College and within a few days she found work as a data coder at a beauty school in Lewi and currently lives at the Nigat Centre with her young daughter. Endashaw Tesfaye, who came to Addis Ababa to look for work from the south of Ethiopia thanks to the Missionaries of Charity and the GSF project, studied welding at the Salesians' Mekkanissa Centre and is now a supervisor in a workshop. He lives alone, struggles to pay the rent, but he looks to the future with confidence.
The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) also takes in the most vulnerable: the Jesuits offer them emergency health care, sustenance, recreational activities, early education and informal training courses in English, computer science and music. Without forgetting that they are always responsible for the final stage in this process, entrepreneurial training and self-employment.
The other Salesian training centre included in the inter-congregational network is the Don Bosco Children Centre which welcomes migrants, internally displaced persons and street children picked up almost every morning in their van by Fr Angelo Regazzo, Economer of the community, and involved in the "Come and see" first contact program. "Migrants and young people do not have money to go to school or be trained" Fr Yohannes Menghistu, Rector of the Salesian community, says. Here they can study from morning until three in the afternoon. Before, however, we could only give them a certificate and help them look for a job, but today, thanks to the GSF project, they have many more employment opportunities in companies and can also be helped to open their own business."
The consortium hopes that this pilot project, which has already done so much good in the lives of so many people, will now be transformed into a definitive and structured project, so that people in need can be systematically assisted.
Alessandro Di Bussolo
Source: Vatican News
