* Children of single mothers (some of them have had their first child at the age of 13 or 14 years old).
* Orphans who the grandmothers take care of.
* HIV positive children
* The families that live in rented houses.
* The Kebele’s rental houses are reserved for the poorest families.
Children selected for the nursery, plus the new children of two years, have been selected according to their family and health situation.
The majority are children of single mothers, abandoned by their husbands when they were pregnant or at the moment of having the child.
Most of these women, when they can work, cook injera in the houses, wash clothes, or they work as maids just for having a place to live, for themselves and their children.
Here are some of the typical stories about the children who are selected for the nursery and for the class of two year olds.:----------------------
** J’s mother, named F., is 29 years old and her child is 12 months old. Her husband abandoned her when she was eight months pregnant; she lives with a family that gives her accommodation, without pay, in exchange for her to be their maid.
** F’s mother, named E., is 23 years old and her girl is 18 months. Mother and child are HIV+s and her husband abandoned them when he found out (even though he gave her the virus). They are living with her parents in a kebele’s house and pay 15 birrs per month (0.83 euros) rent.
** The mother of B, a 2 years old boy, named Z is 23 years old and lives with her husband. The husband had an accident three years ago, working in construction , and remains paraplegic. The woman keep the family with her work, she cooks injera and washes clothes in several houses.
** The mother of K., a 14 months old girl, named S., is 20 years old. She lives with her father who has a monthly pension of 60 birrs (3.3 euros); K’s father left the mother when she became pregnant; they live in a Kebele’s house.
**S. works when she finds a job.
** The mother of K., a 33 months old child with a major chronic malnutrition (that is why he has been accepted in the class of children two years old ) is named F. and is 25 years old. She works cooking injera and washing clothes; her husband abandoned her when her child was 4 months old.
** The mother of E, a 9 months old girl, named A., is 31 years old; mother and child are HIV+, the husband left them when he learned of their condition and took everything they have in the house, that is: bed, chair and table, and left to marry another woman in Addis.
