Our Affiliated Project: Kids Hope Ethiopia in Shashamane, Ethiopia

 

facts about Kids Hope Ethiopia:

  • Grade-level served: 5 – 19
  • Facility description: A village-like complex of buildings that includes a medical clinic, a main office building and a dining hall.
  • Education: School-aged children attend local public and private schools. Private schools — though more costly — are preferred, as the public schools are often overcrowded. The community center provides school supplies, tuition assistance and uniforms.
  • Academic schedule: In Ethiopia, the school year typically begins in early September and ends the first week of June, with a two-week break in December.
  • Extracurricular activities: Activities offered at the center include Tae Kwan Do, art, dancing, music, singing, computer literacy, drama and academic tutoring.
  • Medical care: Provided via the onsite clinic and the weekly visitation of a local doctor.

Located in the easternmost portion of Africa, Ethiopia is ecologically diverse, comprising desert steppes, highland plateaus, towering mountains and tropical rainforest. Archeological evidence suggests that people have called this land home for tens of thousands of years. With one of the first known alphabet systems, Ethiopia is truly a cradle of civilization.

Today, it is the world’s most populous landlocked nation. Its wealth of natural resources lends itself to Ethiopia’s primarily agriculture-based economy. Coffee is its primary export. However, in a land already susceptible to earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and droughts, the turmoil brought about by political instability, lack of adequate medical services and a general deficiency in human rights have plunged much of the nation into abject poverty. About 610,000 Ethiopians are living with HIV/AIDS (2017 est.), and diseases such as malaria, typhoid and dengue fever are tragically common. Lack of education is both a result of and contributing factor to the widespread poverty plaguing Ethiopia.

The city of Shashamane, located about 150 miles south of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, is no exception to these maladies. Nearby, Kids Hope Ethiopia serves as a beacon of hope. In this small, rural village, Kids Hope Ethiopia provides impoverished children with nutritious meals, medical care, educational assistance, counseling and even accommodations for those considered at-risk. In a country where government regulations often hamper economic growth, Kids’ Hope offers these deserving children the opportunity to break the cycle of poverty through education and rise above the difficult socioeconomic circumstances from which they come.