10 Families Needing Sponsors - 10 Opportunities to Change Lives!

Are you looking for ways to empower not just one life, but an entire family? Hope for Korah currently has 10 families waiting to be matched with another sponsor! The heart of the HFK Family Empowerment Program is to take action towards breaking the cycle of extreme poverty for families living in Korah. This is done using a holistic approach that acknowledges the biological, psychological, social, spiritual, and environmental factors influencing each individual. 

Meet our new families below:

Senayet is a resilient mother of four. Her family begs on the street and outside a local church in order to be able to eat one or two meals per day. Senayet lives in a small mud home with her four children, elderly mother, and her adult sister who has significant physical disabilities. Senayet worked for several years as a daily laborer, carrying heavy materials for a marginal wage. After the birth of their two children, her first husband passed away. She has since remarried and had two more children. 

Hirut and Addis rent an expensive mud home along with their two children. Sometimes friends or family help them to pay the rent, as both parents struggle with significant health issues and are unable to work. Their 8 year old son is currently in grade 1 and already dreams about becoming a doctor one day. He says that he wants to become a doctor because he watches his mother having to take medicine each day, and does not like seeing his parents sick. He is a very sweet and helpful boy who looks after his 2 year old sister when his mother is busy with chores. Because the family does not always have food to eat, the children are quite malnourished.

Lensa is a single mother of two. She has worked tirelessly to provide for her children, spending time over the past 5 years in different Arab countries, seeking to earn a greater income. After injuring her back, she now makes money to feed her children by washing clothes and selling vegetables. Her 9 year old daughter has never attended school due to their limited income. Lensa's three year old has several health issues, as he was born at 7 months and lacks adequate nutrition. His twin brother tragically passed away at birth.

Meseret and Mekonen live in a very narrow mud room along with their 9 month old twins. Meseret moved to Addis Ababa from the countryside in her young adult years, in search of a better life. After losing the fingers on her left hand in a machine accident while working in a factory, she has not been able to find employment. Meseret's husband Mekonen is a gentle and kind man who is visually impaired. He begs in order to provide for his family, as he is also illiterate and has not had the opportunity to receive education. The twins were born at 7 months, and one child is miraculously quite healthy. The other twin has several health problems that require special attention.

Tekea is a single mother with a two and a half year old son. She immigrated to Ethiopia from Eritrea 20 years ago with her aunt. Tekea does not currently have a home, so she is migrating from place to place, staying with whomever will take her in for a few days at a time. She and her son mostly eat 3 times per day, and will typically eat bread or injera as their meal. Because poverty forced Tekea to drop out of school in grade 5, her options for earning income are quite limited.

Tsehay moved to Addis Ababa from the countryside in 2004. She has three children, ages 12, 7, and 5. She lost her property when her husband passed away, so she moved to the city seeking better financial opportunities. Tsehay has been unable to find employment due to her lack of education. The family is temporarily staying with friends due to being unable to afford their own rented home, and it is a struggle just to provide her family with enough food.

Zeritu lives in a small mud rental home along with her three children, ages 12, 8 and 1. Zeritu grew up in the countryside, but moved to Addis Ababa as a young adult searching for a better life. She married her husband Ahmed in Korah, but after 7 years he abandoned the family without explanation. Because Zeritu is illiterate, it is difficult for her to earn enough money to provide for her family. Through the help of generous neighbors, she is just able to meet her rent payments and feed her children 3 meals per day.

Etenesh rents a home on the edge of the Korah dump with her three children, ages 10, 12, and 16. Her ill health makes it very challenging for her to afford the rising cost of rent, even at the trash dump where the walls of her home are made of cardboard, plastic, and sticks. Etenesh's family typically only eats 1 or 2 meals per day. Etenesh hopes that her children can complete their education, and looks forward to having a business in the future when her health is stabilized.

Birhane is a single mother of three boys. Birhane moved to Korah from the countryside many years ago, but has moved back and forth many times in search of better opportunities for her family. Because Birhane is illiterate, her source of income and means of providing food for her family comes primarily through begging. She and her boys eat twice a day, when food is available. Birhane rents a very small mud home that she shares with her three sons, who are very helpful young men. 

Kelemua lives with her daughters right beside the Addis Ababa trash dump. Her daughters are aged 19, 13, and 9, and they all have very helpful and sociable personalities. They live in a make-shift house that Kelemua built with scraps of plastic and cartons scavenged from the dump. At 10 years of age, Kelemua was already scavenging at the trash dump, finding scraps of metal and plastic to sell for next to nothing. Collecting and selling items from the trash dump is still Kelemua's primary source of income, and the way that she manages to feed her daughters twice per day and pay their school fees.

Family Empowerment Program Information

As food and rent prices in Ethiopia rise, we have adapted the structure of family sponsorship to adapt to these growing costs. We are now matching two sponsors per family. The first $120 per month directly pays for a family's rent, groceries, teff, and firewood, while the second sponsorship helps to provide education, health care, business training, community, and economic empowerment to these same families. Each of the above families needs one more sponsor at $120/month. One sponsorship can also be shared by more than one person, or even a church or small group! 

Please contact Jacqueline Strating at jacqueline@hopeforkorah.com for more information, or to become a sponsor to one of these deserving families!