Project in Ethiopia
We have recorded a video about the project (in German). Click here to watch it.
The NGO in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, has been under the umbrella of Begegnung eV. since 2011. Several projects are being run through this NGO in the Ferensay Legasion district in the north of the city.
Inclusive kindergarten and pre-school program:
The largest project is the inclusive kindergarten with 65 children in 4 age groups. The children of single parents, who come from the street, are brought into our project in close collaboration with the district offices. From the age of 2, the children can attend kindergarten and after 3-4 years, at the age of 5 or 6, they are sent to the official pre-school. In the project, they learn, among other things, English and Amharic, arithmetic, reading, the national anthem, and they do crafts, paint, play and sing together.
Every year, the organization supports 15 pre-school children, who previously attended the project's kindergarten, with their school uniforms, buys school materials and pays the monthly school fees. In addition, 40 children receive a school bag, school materials and a uniform for school enrollment.
All parents of the kindergarten and pre-school come to the project once a month for a meeting and are taught about topics such as hygiene, family, education, micro-loans and much more. In addition, they receive soap, detergent and cream for the next month, as hygiene products are very expensive.
District work
Other small projects enable people of the district to take out small loans (for example to start a grocery store), to pay rent if money is short, or to pay medical bills in emergencies. A school in the area receives new benches and chairs every year.
Project management:
Samuel & Melissa Bode have been part of the organization’s team since the beginning of 2019 and were therefore involved in the search for a potential successor. They also had the idea of taking over the management in Addis themselves in their heads. In the middle of the year, they had their first child and were busy with this new stage of their lives. The thought of taking over the NGO did not let them go the family and so, at the end of September, they decided to take concrete steps. They visited Evi (for Melissa the first time, Samuel already visited the project in 2015) in November 2019 for 3 weeks and then said they would be willing to take it over. Samuel is a missionary child himself and grew up in Italy. Melissa is an occupational therapist, which is not known as a profession in Ethiopia. They have been part of Jesus Gemeinde Dresden for 5 years and were sent out in December.
In 2020 Samuel was appointed as the new Country Director in Addis by the German Board. Family Bode lives in Addis Ababa near the project since 02.01.2020.