This past month Delivering Hope Ethiopia was privileged to have a visit from our US Director, her mother, and one of our board members. Their 5 days in country flew by as we kept them busy from dawn until dusk each day. We were sad to see them go! We were encouraged by their visit and able to get a lot accomplished in a short amount of time and iron out some short term and long term goals and vision for our work in Ethiopia.
Here are a few highlights from recent their trip:
Home visits
Visiting new moms in their homes is always a blessing. This one mother is truly exceptional. Although she has been discharged from our doula care program, she continues to stay connected with DHE through our weekly sewing class which she attends with her sweet baby girl. She was so blessed by our program that she wanted to prepare a lunch for us all.
What a privilege it was to be served such a delicious meal and hear not only her birth story but also pieces of her life story. Despite surviving the worst that life can bring, this woman is calm, joyful, peaceful and determined. She wakes at 2 am each morning to begin making injera, which is how she earns an income to support her family. Her three month old baby is happy, alert, beautiful and calm- just like her mom.
Women like this are the everyday heroes whose resiliency and courage inspire and humble us. We feel honored to be able to work with women like these and share our knowledge of maternal health with them, as they are most definitely life teachers for us in so many ways.
New partnerships
We were privileged to spend time getting to see the work of an amazing NGO. This organization – Connected in Hope – works with women, children and families who come from the tradition of wood carrying, a back breaking job assigned to women in the Entoto hills of Addis. For generations these women and children have carried wood down the mountain, making next to nothing for their intense labor. CiH supports these women by providing their children with high quality preschool and kindergarten education, school lunches, after school tutoring, IGA (job training, artisan projects, employment, etc.) for women, and social work services.
CiH also recognizes the importance of quality maternal health care and education and thus connected with us in hopes that we would partner up to develop a maternal health program to serve the women in this poor community. We are excited to see the fruit of this new partnership!
CBE graduation
Our director Ruth’s favorite class this year was one held at a local school for children with disabilities. Here she found the most open, eager and enthusiastic group of moms (and one dad), who all desperately wanted to know more about childbirth, nutrition, and health education. Most of them have never understood why their child was born with a disability, and wondered if there were things they could do to prevent suffering in the future. It was a joy to see these women’s love for Ruth and Medhanet (who had helped Ruth teach the class) and to know how much they valued the education they received.
We at DHI are so very humbled and blessed when we look at the ways God has used and grown this ministry, and we are optimistic and excited at what lies ahead!
Thank you for your support, prayers and encouragement. We would not be celebrating these good works if it weren’t for you!