We plan to be in the city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which means “New Flower”. It’s a city of over 2.5 million people and is becoming quite advanced in terms of infrastructure and technology. The United Nations and African Union both have headquarters there. Coffee is the number one export in Ethiopia – they claim to have “invented” it.
What will you be doing?
We are working with Loving Shepherd Ministries (loving-shepherd.org).
They currently have a Home of Hope for orphans in the city, most of whose parents have died of AIDS. We’ll be working with that home, starting another one that will house young women wanting to leave prostitution, and partnering with another ministry in the city working with the same population. We’ll be overseeing all LSM Ethiopia operations, and working to develop counseling and vocational training / microenterprise programs to help rehabilitate the women and provide them with another means of providing for themselves. The home will have a house mother to care for a girls and a coordinator to help with operations. There are an estimated 40,000 women and girls trapped in prostitution in Addis. What language do they speak?
In Ethiopia, the primary language is Amharic. It’s a Semitic language, which means it belongs to the same family as Arabic – making it difficult to learn. We will begin some preliminary self-study and will go to language school once we arrive. We’ll be working closely with Ethiopian ministry workers who will be translating our training materials and adapting them to Ethiopian culture.
When are you leaving?
We leave for Ethiopia in mid-October. Starting the end of June, we’re going to begin more formal training, including time in Colorado for cultural training and also Haiti to observe LSM’s operations there.
Do you need to raise support?
Our personal needs and travel are taken care of. However, the Home of Hope we’ll be working with needs funding for operating costs and startup. The operating costs are about $1,000 per month and the initial startup cost will depend on whether the home is built, purchased, and rented. There is a link at the left side of this page for more info.
