At last, Mediterranea Medical teams for Ethiopia!

We have at laaaaaast been authorised to send in medical teams to work as volunteers in Addis Ababa. Our first team is ready to head out in the next two weeks form Barcelona and no doubt this will encourage other teams of volunteers. This has not been easy and is a particularly good piece of news as the help these people can provide is of great importance and of course, greatly needed.

Mothers Lodge

Dr.Philip sent us an update on the evolution of the building of the Mothers Lodge. He feels that the job might be finished by Xmas. This would be great as we could inaugurate it early in the new year along with our physiotherapy department.

Reading and writing lessons for women.

It seems a few men crept in to the classes, I guess we will just have to let them stay on. The students are full of enthusiasm and keen to learn. These classes were stared at the same time we started to include first year primary in to the school.

The classes in the Yeka school started in the third week in September. We have now contracted all the staff for the kitchen, dining hall, and the guardians who will be providing security 24hrs a day. At the same time the new teaching staff who will help the senior teachers have been contracted.
We will have three classrooms for the smaller children (140 of them) and the elder ones will use the dining room as a class room.
The Yeka school is special in that it accepts children of any age who have never had the chance of going to school before. There they will spend two years till they catch up with their contemporaries. Rain slowed down the final phase of the construction of the dining hall. But we are up and running now.

Roland and the staff at the Hotel Gran Vista

Every week Roland (a member of Mediterranea) and his staff carry out an activity to raise funds for our projects. Their support is very important for our projects.

We would like it if other businesses would follow in their generous steps.

Sod cutting ceremony for Mother's Lodge construction.

On the 8/9/08 the Sod Cutting Ceremony was carried out in the Ada Dangme East Hospital. Present were very important members of the community and the two teams set up by Mediterranea NGO to carry out and supervise the building of the Mother's Lodge.



We will keep you infrmed on this site of the evolution of the building.

More re projects in Addis

We have excellent news about the women’s basic literacy classes in Abugida: they’ve already started with 45 enthusiasic scholars. And we think that next course they will be even more women! They are happy to have this chance, and really looking forward to learn.

Thanks to this classes, they’ll feel more dignified and worthy, and they will be able to get jobs that were unthinkable before: knowing how to read and to write radically changes personal status in Ethiopia – for the best.

In spite of the poverty they live in, these women are receiving the kind of training that will enable them to confront their daily lives with new faith in themselves and their capacities, as well as become more active members of their society.

150 children have been registered in Yeka. Theoretically, we should do a selection, as we counted on a smaller number. But… just how can we do that?
The situation in Ethiopia is very, very tough, and these kids come from abject poverty – and that, in Ethiopia is to be very, very, very poor.

We wish we had Unicef’s budget, but as we don’t… we’ll have to look for more members!

So, adding up the 150 Yeka children to the 160 in Abugida we have a total of 310 kids!!! Let’s see if I can sleep tonight… as that means we will be serving 930 meals a day.

And, at least, it looks as if it’s going to be possible to send doctors and nurses to work as volunteers in Addis, let’s hope so!

And we keep on working…

I remember all the people that warned me about Ethiopia: “it’s impossible to do anything there… Africa is very difficult… “ OK, it’s true that it’s not easy, but it’s not impossible either. And the proof is there: with the help of donors and members, with good will and hard work, IT IS POSSIBLE. And it’s very nice to do it in Ethiopia: because all help iss very necessary, because ethiopians are wonderful people… I might be not very objective, but…

Again, thanks to all of you for your help: without it, it would have been indeed impossible.