Religious in Ethiopia offer a future to those in need
By Alessandro Di Bussolo - Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Abebech, an Ethiopian mother who arrived in Addis Ababa from Zwai in search of work, was taken in with her baby, by the Missionaries of Charity. She then studied cutting and sewing at the Mary Help College of the Salesian Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and now works in a clothing company.
Herut, an Eritrean migrant, left the Mai-Aini Refugee Camp in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. After knocking on the door of the Jesuit Refugee Service refugee centre in the Ethiopian capital, Herut now studies hairdressing at the JRS training centre.
Samuel, who grew up on the streets, in the Addis Ababa suburb of Mexico, accepted Father Angelo’s invitation to go to the Don Bosco Children Centre, and thanks to the Salesians' training, he now works at a leather-bag factory, and lives with friends in a home they rent. He can do this due to the 4,000 birr he earns a month, which is about 67 euro, but amounts to a decent salary in Ethiopia.
The Global Solidarity Fund pilot project in Ethiopia
These are some of the 1,500 internally displaced persons, 'returning' migrants, and refugees, from other African countries, whose lives have changed thanks to a pilot project launched in late 2020 in Addis Ababa by the Global Solidarity Fund (GSF).
This GSF initiative has been made possible also through the cooperation with women's and men's religious congregations, that, with GSF, have the aim of working together with private companies and international organisations to strengthen their commitment to improving the lives of vulnerable people.
The Global Solidarity Fund supported the establishment of a consortium that now involves the following five religious congregations, coordinated by the Archdiocesan Socio-pastoral Commission: Salesians and Salesian Sisters (Daughters of Mary Help of Christians), Ursuline Sisters, Missionaries of Charity, and Jesuits (through the Jesuit Refugee Service).
Each congregation, with its own specificities, has its own role in creating a pathway that has enabled many beneficiaries to acquire skills, through vocational training, that have enabled them to enter into the local labour market, either through employment in a company, or by starting their own small business.
Abebech, from Zwai to Addis Ababa, with her child
Abebech Tesfaje tells us that her former boyfriend, when she became pregnant, told her: “This is not my baby, you can kill it.” But, as she explained, thought: “It is a gift from God. I cannot kill him.”
“So, when I heard that Mother Teresa's nuns could help me,” she recalled, “I went to ask for help, and they took me in.”
The Missionaries of Charity, in the inter-congregational network, provide healthcare, especially for the many women displaced from rural Ethiopia or by the recently-ended war in the nation’s Tigray region, but also for those expelled from the Gulf Arab countries where they had emigrated, after traumatic experiences.
Many arrive in Addis Ababa with unwanted pregnancies or after being abandoned by their mates.
The sisters assist them in childbirth free of charge, and often convince the young women who initially did not wish to keep their children, or give birth, to reconsider.
The path from reception, to work, for migrants and the vulnerable
Mothers and their babies are taken in for a few months in facilities, such as the Nigat Centre, and from there, directed, with the help of social workers, for training courses by the Salesian Sisters, in fashion design, domestic help or IT; by the Salesians, in leatherwork, carpentry, graphic design, welding, electrical work and printing; by the Ursuline Sisters, in clothing production; or by the Jesuit Refugee Service, in IT, catering, hairdressing and manicuring.
Some of these congregations, such as the Salesians and Jesuits, are involved in the graduates’ job placement, with JRS, having extensive experience in supporting the start-up of small enterprises.
The Eritrean, Herut, who wanted to go to Europe, but may stay
Migrants and refugees from other African countries, adding to the more than 4 million inhabitants of Ethiopia's ever-expanding capital city, also find a first welcome in the JRS refugee centre in Addis Ababa.
An example of this welcome is Herut Mobai, who said she left Eritrea because she wanted to "change the life" of her family, and for this reason, wished to move to Europe.
However, if, at the end of the hairdressing course at the JRS Beauty training centre, she manages to open her own small business in the sector, with the help of the GSF-supported project, and it were to be successful, she would like to bring her family to Ethiopia, giving up the risky European dream.
Many internally displaced people, migrants, often of Eritrea, in Addis Ababa
There are about 62,000 Eritreans who have arrived in Addis Ababa, says Solomon Brahane, director of the Jesuit Refugee Service in Ethiopia, mainly because of the conflict in Tigray. Another 11,000 are Yemeni, Sudanese, Congolese and other nationalities.
“Since 2017, Saudi Arabia’s government has started a policy of repatriation and expulsion of refugees from Ethiopia,” explained Solomon Dejene, head of the Global Solidarity Fund project in Ethiopia.
"So, every month about 40,000 Ethiopians return from Saudi Arabia. Most of them have nothing left. The government gives them a small amount of money to return home, but many stay in the city. We are taking them in, to offer them new possibilities, training them with the help of the different congregations.”
Jerusalem, expelled from Arabia, and taken in by Mother Teresa's sisters
This is what happened to Jerusalem, who returned to Ethiopia after a painful experience in an Arab country in the Gulf, whom we met at the Nigat centre, a Salesian structure given, in use, to the Missionaries of Charity, and opened in October 2022. It accommodates 38 displaced women with their children.
"The father of my daughter, and my whole family, left me," she told us. "But, now I have a big family, the GSF, which gives me love and affection. I have my own job, I live with my friends, I can support my family with my income, so I am very happy.”
To her friends who are still working in Arabia, and also to those suffering from extreme poverty, even in her own village in Ethiopia, Jerusalem advises them "to return to Ethiopia and start a new life here.”
Tailoring graduates in demand by clothing companies
At Mary Help College, Jerusalem and the other young mothers at the Nigat Centre, have studied or are still studying, cutting and sewing, domestic help, and computers. The Salesian Sisters welcome the little ones of pupils and former pupils in their kindergarten.
Those studying these skills are in great demand by many clothing companies in Addis Ababa, as Lydija Worku, owner of Emmanuel Garment, confirmed. "Those who are trained at Mary Help College, have many excellent skills," she explained, "which is why we joined with the Salesian Sisters in this project.
“We have already hired nine employees trained through the project, but we would need at least forty."
Bethlehem: If I expand the business, I can hire more migrants
Another training centre in the garment sector is the Ursuline Sisters' Sitam boarding school, where we met Bethlehem Samuel, an internal migrant from Bole Subcity, a mother of four, who, once graduated, started her business with the help of the local authority.
"They gave me love, they gave me skills, and knowledge," she told us, "The only words I have are ‘thank you.’ If I had financial support, to buy sewing machines and especially consumable equipment, I could expand my business and give work to others, who are also graduating."
Samuel, from the street to the factory, thanks to the Salesians
At the Don Bosco Children Centre, we were welcomed by Samuel Dejene, a nineteen-year-old who lived on the street, “in a place called Mexico, here in Addis Ababa,” he told us, before Father Angelo Regazzo, the centre's treasurer, “who goes every day to the street children, met me and said: ‘Come with me and see what we are doing. He brought me here and I followed the 'Come and See' programme for a month.’”
After that first contact, Samuel decided to take the leather-cutting course, and has been working in a company for slightly more than a month, thanks to the help of the Salesian employment officer.
Father Berga: working together, congregations are stronger
In the St Michael's Centre, which houses the offices of the Socio-Pastoral Commission of the Archdiocese of Addis Ababa, the heads of the various congregations involved in the project are meeting to consider how to move from an experimental phase to a more stable one.
An agreement has also been signed with a bank and another financial institution to provide micro-credits to migrants who want to start their own businesses. Here, we met the head of the commission, Fr. Petros Berga, who reminded us that in the past “each congregation, with its own training centre, only worked individually.”
But now, “thanks to this Global Solidarity Fund consortium programme, they are working together, and are stronger than before.
“We have been able to train more than 1,500 young people, and more than 70 percent, have found work in this project period.”
A new three-year programme to train 10,000 people
The unitary training hub, the priest noted, has been created: “the job placement hub, and then, the job-creation, and self-employment hub, and also the health hub.”
Father Berga is convinced that it is important to continue this good work for the benefit of young people and women “who need our assistance. It is an important project, because it saves lives.”
“The government and other institutions, along with the companies they have been contacting,” the priest said, “are very supportive of the project because we give solid training to these young people and women.”
“In the next phase, hopefully a three-year programme, with the help of Global Solidarity Fund, we would like to train 10,000 beneficiaries.”
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