Co-Founder, Dan Taylor, Reflection on September Visit:
Rainy season is officially over, which means students and staff at Love For The Children Academy in Chacha, Ethiopia are back in school! Many students and their families have endured a difficult past 18 months. This has included the world-wide Covid pandemic, a particularly wet and flooded rainy season, and most importantly, a budding civil war in many areas of the country. The result is that many families are displaced or separated.
Despite all of this, our students, staff, and the community of Chacha could not be more excited to be back in the classroom. Fortunately, I was able to witness this firsthand as I visited our family in Ethiopia for the past week. My trip was long overdue.
Project Heal Foundation and Love for the Children Academy (LFCA) have come a long way over the past 5 years, but to say we have our work cut out for us going forward would be an understatement. Thank you to all of our sponsors and everyone that has helped make this possible. To see the transformation in our students and the community of Chacha is honestly unbelievable.
After spending a night in the capital city of Addis Ababa, Dereje (our school Director) and I made the 2+ hour trip to Chacha early Sunday morning. The plan was to head to the city of Debre Berhan, 25km past Chacha, where we would be staying for the week, then making a brief visit to the school as kids were not in session. As we slowly rolled through Chacha, we noticed a few of our 5th grade students holding hands, walking through the village. We all cried out to each other and those first glimpses of the kids' smiles cemented the purpose of our mission.
We dropped off our luggage at the hotel and immediately turned around and headed back to see the progress of our campus. Little did I expect to see the welcome that awaited us as we pulled into the school. The three girls we had seen just an hour or two earlier had alerted the village and other students of our arrival. I was greeted by more than just all of our staff. Our entire 5th grade class, who have been with us since we first opened more than five years ago, stood ten yards inside the gate. I was welcomed with smiles, happy tears and song and then hugs and kisses thereafter. Next, the children and staff presented me with traditional Ethiopian garb (shirt and scarf) and flowers. Lastly, we spent the next three hours drinking buna (coffee), with a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony and an impromptu dance party. Sunday was a really good day! Monday would prove to be a bit of a reality check.
On this trip, one of the first major goals was to be onboarding up to 30 new students. We were well aware of the need in the community. Ethiopia is facing some serious issues that has left families displaced across the country. Families that just six months ago lived happily and peacefully in cities and villages now faced a very difficult reality. Due to the current civil war and the ethnic and political tensions that have come with it, families have been forced to flee and now live in unfamiliar surroundings. Many left with absolutely nothing. Scared, tired and confused about what the future might hold, families continue to fight for life’s most basic needs. These needs include a safe place to stay, basic food needs, jobs, and the ability for their children to attend school. This stress weighs heavily on the caregivers of these children.
Monday morning when we arrived we were in shock to see over 50 families waiting outside our gates, crying and praying that there would be room for their children to have a safe place to learn and play like our current students have at LFCA. These families are the most vulnerable in the area. Many of them were forced out of the only place they called home. Forced to leave everything they had and make a long (sometimes days and weeks) trip to a new unfamiliar place. We heard stories of hiding in the bush for days, in order to get out safely. Seeing the fear on the children’s faces will never go away but to see the demeanor change over the following days once they’ve been accepted and enrolled at LFCA is inspiring.
The long journey home to the United States gave me plenty of time to digest and process what I had seen and been a part of during my time in Ethiopia. It’s easy to become overwhelmed with the amount of need in Chacha and the amount of work to be done by Project HEAL. However, it has become very clear to me that all we can do is help one child/family at a time, and then the next, and the next. LFCA is primarily funded by our sponsorship program. I am hopeful that anyone reading this reflection will be willing to share it with friends and family, in hopes that it speaks to one or more people. I pray that someone who reads this will be encouraged to help. We can start with just one…
Pictured is my friend and LFCA student, Kuri. Kuri was initially abandoned by her mother and her father did not have the means to raise her. He brought her from Addis Ababa to the countryside in hopes that his mother, Kuri’s grandmother, would care for her and raise her. Sadly, it is obvious that Kuri’s grandmother would rather not have the responsibility of raising her, but continues to do so in hopes that she will later be repaid in Heaven. Kuri’s grandmother is not healthy, nor is Kuri, and they do not have the financial stability to handle the medical issues. Kuri is in desperate need of a sponsor. For only $40/month, you could change Kuri’s life AND help ease the burden weighing heavily on her grandmother. If you aren’t in a position to help, will you consider sharing Kuri’s story and help us advocate for this young girl? For more details, please reach out to contactus@projecthealethiopia.org.
