Hello to all of you. It is amazing how time goes by so quickly. Let me tell you one thing about the time before I share what has been going on in August here at the Ethiopian NGO. It always seems I am in the month of June or July’s work but I get myself in August and am amazed and wonder how this month or the year passed by so quickly. Well it does mention in the Bible, “One day is as thousand years and a thousand years is as one day.” It quickens me to wake up and to do my assignment that God has put on my shoulders within this time limitation.
We are always very blessed to share with each of you the work of Ethiopian RBW NGO that goes on each month and the many things we are able to accomplish by God’s mighty help and your lovely contributions. We have mentioned before that we have meetings with our orphans and widows every fifteen days. The meetings are very helpful for our work and for the beneficiaries. We teach them academics like English, math etc. in order to upgrade their knowledge and to be good students in their new school year.
In August we also distributed school materials, books, pencils and necessary supplies. In addition to these we purchased uniforms for all our 75 children for the upcoming school year.
Our special needs child, four year old Besufekad, is continuing his physical-therapy exercising program once a week. The therapist told us there is hope for him. When Besufekad exercises, his leg becomes warm and he feels it. So praise God for this!! Please pray for this child; God can do miraculous things for him. Amen.
We are so thankful for our widow’s training. As I mentioned above in the beginning of this report about “TIME”, it has gone by so fast! The widows have already finished two months of their training program. They are showing very nice progress every week. They are learning to make crafts, such as bags or scarfs. They are also learning to sew using different designs, etc. We are blessed by them and their trainer Sister Lemlem. Miss Lemlem is really helping them a lot and the widows have even already prepared some materials to sell. There is a local bazaar that is a popular place for selling such items as the widows are making so we are looking into how and when they can sell theirs.
We thought every one might like us to share portfolios of some of the beneficiaries in the Ethiopian RBW program. In this report we would like to highlight one boy and one girl and their mothers that are in the NGO program.
Sisay Degefaw is seven years old and is a KG 3 student. He says he is very happy with attending our program and joyful by the support. Sisay also said he wants to work hard to study in school. Some of his favorite foods are rice, injera, lentils and macaroni. He said, “Thank you very much for the support of RBW. Thank you to all the sponsors.” His mother, Zebider Tekelue, is a single mother and is attending our widow’s program. She is in the training program with the rest of the widows. Zebider says, “RBW is a very nice organization. When my son Sisay was selected and interviewed for the program, I was in critical living conditions, but after we got the support from the RBW project, I saw big changes in my and my child’s life. He is attending school now and gets food, clothes, shoes and other support. I am very happy now and my child shows a change in his life. I am so happy that now I am in the training program with the widows and I am learning sewing, knitting, crafts and other lessons so it is helping me to be a hard worker and to have my own small business. I am so thankful for the RBW program. Thank you very much for all your support for my child Sisay and me.”
Hiwot Sami is 4 1/2 years old and is a KG 2 student. It was last January that she joined the ETH RBW program. Hiwot says, “I am very happy for by the program and support.” Her favorite food is spaghetti, injera, macaroni and fruits. She likes singing and playing jump rope. She says, “Thank you, sponsors.” Her mother, Harege Shiferaw, is a single mother who lives alone with her daughter. She is 25 years old. This is what she said, “I couldn’t feed or teach my daughter before, but after we got this opportunity from RBW, I see big changes in my life as well as my child’s and in my home.” She rents a small room and pays for it by washing clothes, making injera and selling it. Harege is also in our widow’s training program. I asked her how she likes the training program. Harege said, “I am very happy and it motivates me to work hard because I want to start a small business. Therefore I am learning a lot of important things from the program and training. I have gotten food, clothes, shoes, and school materials for my daughter and now I am getting the widow’s training. I thank God for all the sponsors. This is a great privilege for me and my daughter. God bless You!!”
Finally, we never want to forget one thing and that is the hand of God and all his provisions that has followed this work by using each of you and your great contributions. May our gracious and victorious God bless each of you. We thank God for you and all His help in His kingdom work. Let all glory be to our Almighty God. Amen!!
Brother Jemal and the Ethiopian RBW Staff