The Ethiopian Reaching Beyond Words NGO began a little over a year ago, but has made much progress in this short time. The program began with 12 single mothers, 12 children and 6 widows. Bro. Jemal and Bro. Fikre have faithfully worked to facilitate the program managing all the details of providing food, uniforms, school materials for the children, and working with the mothers and widows.
Early on it was realized the work would need some qualified help to accomplish the various tasks. As part of the guidelines set by the Ethiopian government an Accountant, a Social Worker, and a Cashier/Secretary needed to be hired. Since the program has grown to 75 children, with their respective family members and soon 12 widows, there is much organization that is needed. Bro. Jemal, as the Director, has shown diligence in performing the oversight of the program.
The program has some new faces working with Bro. Jemal and Bro. Fikre. We would like to give you a little overview of the workers presently helping with the Ethiopian RBW NGO.
The new Cashier/Secretary is Meseret Ashenafi. She began working with RBW about two months ago. Meseret is 20 years old and comes from a family of 6 children, two girls and four boys; she is second from the oldest. Before working with RBW, she worked for a short time with a private school as a cashier. Meseret attended Admas university in Addis Ababa learning to be an accountant. Some of her responsibilities are managing the paying of monthly expenses of the program, such as utilities, expenses for items needed for the children, etc. Due to daily expenditures, Meseret must work closely with the Accountant.
Meseret enjoys working with RBW and works to be helpful in anyway she can. When not at work Meseret likes singing and reading. She sings in the choir at her church. We welcome Meseret to the Ethiopian RBW NGO and trust she will find helping the needy of her country as rewarding as we do.
Next, we would like to introduce you to the new Accountant Fekadu Eshetu, a 24 year old accountant graduate from Alpha University.
Before coming to work with RBW Ethiopia he worked at Selam children’s village in their finance department, not only working for them but receiving further training from them. Fekadu was born in Nazarett to an underprivileged family and at a young age contracted polio, which left him somewhat crippled, but that does not daunt him. He walks with crutches and does not allow this handicap to hinder him.
As the Accountant for RBW Ethiopia his responsibilities are balancing the bank statements and making sure the Ethiopian RBW is following all the government guidelines for financing. He fills out monthly reports for RBW as well as for auditing purposes. Fekadu wants to make sure all accounting is done efficiently and in proper order. Fekadu says he likes working with numbers and enjoys very much being with RBW Ethiopia. During Fekadu’s free time he likes to play chess.
The RBW Ethiopian NGO also has a Social Worker. Sewhereg Mekonnen has been with the organization the longest having started with the program shortly after it began. At 36 years of age Sewhereg has had numerous jobs, but her favorite has been working with children. She keeps busy with RBW Ethiopia in doing the children’s profiles, looking for the best prices for the uniforms and shoes and then making sure they are all distributed. Sewhereg helps to maintain contact with the children’s teachers at school as well as with the children making sure they are doing their work at school. If a child is sick, Sewhereg will help to take them to the medical clinic. She also helps distribute food and school materials. One of her favorite things to do is to teach the children Bible stories when they gather on Sunday afternoon with the ladies.
Sewhereg in her free time likes to sing, read and cook. She is happy to help the needy families in the program and is glad to be with RBW Ethiopia.
We are grateful for those that have a burden to help those that are less fortunate.