The months of July, August and September 2024 came and went filled with positive outcomes and shaped our plans and goals for the school year 2024-25 (2017 E.C) To start the quarter earlier on in July, we celebrated the ending of the school year 2016 E.C (2023-2024 G.C), where the parents were entertained by their Yawenta Children with drama, dance and poetry. Representatives’ from the Shashamane Women and Children Affairs, and the Shashamane Health Office were invited to make motivational speeches, and also hand out prizes for the top students of 2016 E.C.
Starting July 23rd 2024, we hosted a 6-week long summer program for the beneficiaries, filled with both educational and recreational activities for different age groups. The educational programs focused on teaching essential life skills to the beneficiaries and was delivered with the participation of community volunteers, board members and general assembly members’ all working alongside our staff.
Activities included:
1. Learning how to sew, mend shoes and an introduction to basic carpentry classes.
2. Basic Computer and Spoken English classes.
3. Various arts and craft workshops such as making candles, earrings out of bottle tops, crocheting and knitting.
4. A variety of clubs ranging from Book, music, drama, dance and Yoga clubs.
5. Various group counselling sessions according to their age groups.
6. In sessions with Wzo Berenice Morizeau, (our Board President) our general assembly member Ato. Ebuy Gezu was invited to share his life experiences with the elder beneficiaries.
7. Recreations for all age groups, movie sessions, and a unisex football league that lasted for the full 6 weeks.
8. Gardening activities that gave them an opportunity to learn how to plant and maintain it.
As part of their disclosure sessions, our Health, Hygiene and Nutrition manager took 18 beneficiaries on a field trip to the local Makedonia outreach program in Shashamane, to learn and contribute their time to the elderly and mentally disabled on welfare in Kebele 04. The youth humbly spent the day participating in performing chores such as washing clothes, cleaning duties, making food, baking Injera and bread for the sick and the elderly. The children were happy and dutifully received their blessings from the elders before returning to the Yawenta Children’s center to continue their day.
Under the supervision of volunteers, the elder teenagers were also engaged in renovation, refurbishing and beautification projects around the center. Major accomplishments include maintaining the lunchroom tables, fabricating playground material out of donated used car tyres, renovating a cement water tank that was donated to catch rain water from the roof of our main building.
On August 30th 2024, 2 of our esteemed board members Ato Girma Moges and Ato Wondu Tesfaye, were invited to witness the closing program orchestrated by the children and their summer volunteers. They also watched the final round of the football league and gratefully award the volunteers with certificates for their valuable contributions.
Administratively during the summer, our counsellors effectively interviewed parents and beneficiaries, having them fill questionnaires to mark where we need to improve the following school year. So far, we managed to re-register 79 of our beneficiaries in 14 different schools around Shashamane, near to their homes.
We are quite happy to have Kidist Solomon back as a beneficiary in Yawenta! Her mother passed away a little after she gave birth to her, and her father’s whereabouts remain unknown. She was raised by one of her aunt’s and due to her sickly nature, was tested for HIV, and to their astonishment, was found to be positive. Kidist was referred to Yawenta by the Quyere hospital, and stayed with us from KG until Grade 2. However, as she had started adhering to her medication, her aunt grew confident that she could keep Kidist’s illness a secret, and shortly withdrew her from the center convinced she could care for her by herself. Over the years, her aunt continued to educate her and had her work at a shop she owned, but it was reported that they were not content with each other and would often argue. Eventually, Kidist started showing signs of inconsistency in taking her medication, and lagged behind in her follow up at the hospital. She was visibly getting sicker, and even dropped from 52 kilos to 25 kilos in a short span of time. Earlier this year, Kidist was in a downhill spiral and was prescribed to level 3 ART medication which is hard to find in Shashamane area. She was then referred to Yawenta by Quyere Hospital for a second time, to follow up on her case. Since then, we are happy to report she has shown massive improvement, gained weight, (42 kg), and even became a lively participate in our summer programs. She is currently approximately 19 years old, steadily taking level 3 ART medication, enrolled as a 9th grader at Abiyot Chora High School with other Yawenta beneficiaries, making us very thankful to witness her progress so far.
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On September 9th 2024, we resumed our monthly food and hygiene distribution program for the families of our beneficiaries. The parents and guardians were all elated by this, as the food distribution was timely, and helped them handle expenses associated with bringing in the Ethiopian New Year, (September 11th 2024). We further awarded the outgoing parent committee with certificates, small gifts, and welcomed a new parent committee that was selected by present parents at the program.
The same day, we held a back to school program, where we distributed sufficient school supplies such as exercise books, pens, pencils, erasers, sharpeners along with uniforms to the parents of our beneficiaries that where registered for school. Our counsellors further delivered crucial motivational speeches to encourage the parents to get more involved as the new school year approaches, and further do all that is necessary, to follow up at home to ensure their children commence school with a positive outlook.
To conclude the third quarter, we spent most of September handing out much needed annual leaves to staff followed by a 3 week long intensive staff training program filled with group discussions, one on one trainings and practical assignments to shape the coming year’s annual plan and 3-year plan. Thanks to our board President Wzo Berenice, (who has a vast experience in counselling, along with first-hand experience running the center), we had a lot of fruitful outcomes that we look forward to implementing in the following quarter and approaching new financial year for the project. Once again, we would like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful donors for standing by our side in making a difference in the lives of the Yawenta beneficiaries.
Please note, the Ethiopian birr has gone through major devaluation throughout this quarter which is causing the market to remain unpredictable and alarming at times. This will surely reflect on foodstuffs especially imported items such as oil and rice, thus we remain uneasy to see how the market will be affected.
As always, we look forward to hearing constructive, valued feedback and suggestions. Until we meet again in the next quarter, we give thanks for staying tuned with us and our progress at our beloved center.
Keep up the great work Leila! <3