- Southern HIV/AIDS Forum of NGOs (SHAFON)
- Mary Joy
- Oromia Development Association (ODA)
- Hiwot (which translated into English means Life Ethiopia)
- HIV/AIDS Prevention Care and support Organisation (HAPCSA)
The project will complement and support the realization of the objectives of VSO Ethiopia Health and Education Program Area Goals particularly in the areas of HIV/AIDS, Gender Equality, Environment, and National Volunteering and contribute towards the delivery of the Millennium Development Goals. In addition to the direct impact of project on communities and beneficiaries, the sharing of skills, experience, knowledge and culture between the UK youth volunteers and their peer national volunteers, staff of partner organizations as well as communities will contribute towards mutual learning and capacity building.
Volunteers will get involved in activities such working with partners and the community to establish or strengthen youth clubs, take part in community conversations, promoting gender equality and helping to launch environmental initiatives.
Sophie Hobbs tells us about her life in her first month in Ethiopia new family, new food and new toilet habits! Sophie gives us the full flavour of her experience.
It is no coincidence that Bob Marley called Ethiopia, Zion (heaven on earth), there is a magic here that’s difficult to explain but is literally all around you. Perhaps the most shining jewel in the Ethiopian crown is its people; kindness is as persistent as the mosquitoes, so if you need reminding that the world is full of good people I suggest you visit. Take for instance the ten Habesha volunteers who work with us, they are not just counterparts they are real friends who will be incredibly difficult to leave at the end of the three month placement. Like Marley’s one love, there is a certain sparkle, a specialness that is not easily replicated. In his song the combination of instruments, lyrics and of course that voice makes it something else. It’s the best metaphor I can use to describe our team, we are nineteen in total and something about the combination of individuals, everyone’s passions and ability to laugh has made a really amazing group.
I’ll be brief but from the UK we are Roz, Katherine, Izzy, Naomi, Craig, Ollie, Sophia (thats me)! Emma and Sophie. From Ethiopia there is Yidnek, Elsa, Addis, Sammie, Alef, Dave, Workayehu, Hiwote, Hanna and Hubirt. You’ll come to know us over the coming weeks and hopefully enjoy reading about our experiences as much as we love living them. I could harp on all day about how much I love the team but alas that is only the beginning of the story! We’re here for a purpose and through this blog we aspire to show you exactly why being a GX youth volunteer can and does change the world in a small but significant way. It is difficult to succinctly summarise what nineteen people are doing (especially as this changes every day)! But the issues we’re concentrating on are HIV/AIDS awareness, education, disabilities and gender equality. The scope of these issues are vast and as you’ll see from this blog our activities are wide ranging.
This week was the turn of Katherine, Ollie, Hiwote and Hanna to do a Global Citizenship Day. Their theme was
blindness and what an incredible day it was. They really had us thinking about perceptions of disabilities by the activities they ran. At one stage we were blindfolded and had to walk an assault course, then we played the Ethiopian equivalent of piñata (trying to break a hanging pot with a big stick). The energizers were fun but more importantly were effective in highlighting some of the every day challenges faced by visually impaired people. We then had several blind speakers from the community discuss their different experiences and also entertained us with some incredible talents. We met one young woman who is doing a masters degree in Law and is also an accomplished singer. We also met two men who were amazing musicians and regaled us with an Amharic tune that was both haunting and beautiful. One of the men could also do the most convincing Martin Luther King impression I’ve ever heard!
The day as a whole was really illuminating in showing us that people with disabilities are often able to overcome the daily challenges they face to achieve lots of different acomplishments. The people we met were confident, humorous, independent individuals who had not let their disabilty stand in their way.
