Awasho Orphanage School Project

The Imperial Bike Ride July 2024

We are pleased to announce that we are in the 3rd year of the Imperial Bike Ride Fundraiser and this year it will be taking place from 23rd July - Sunday 28th July 2024. It will start this year from Fairfield House in Bath heading North to Dunham Massey in Manchester - stopping in 7 towns and covering over 200 miles! This is a very ambitious project that we are doing for the children.

We again look forward to your kind support.

The Imperial Bike Ride 2023

The Imperial Bike Ride took place from 24th - 27th August 2023. We rode from Dunham Massey in Manchester to Fairfield House in Bath covering up to 200 miles - we raised over £1,000 which is being used for the Awasho Orphanage (please read the update on the front page of this Go Fund Me).

Graduation Day JULY 2023

NOVEMBER 2022 - continuous programme ….,

As was part of our aim to develop partnerships with local schools, businesses etc; children from a local private more affluent school bring their food to share with the poorer children at the Awasho Orphanage.

SEPTEMBER 2022

As planned - the Imperial Sponsored Bike Ride was completed successfully on the 28th of August 2022. The two cyclists, Marcus and Earl rode from Dunham Massey in Manchester to Fairfield House in Bath, through the countryside, along canals and old railways

THE LATEST UPDATE IS August 2022.

The Imperial Sponsored Bike Ride is a fundraiser for the Awasho Orphanage School project in Ethiopia. Cyclists will set off from Dunham Massey in Manchester on the Thursday 25th August and arrive at the destination, Fairfield House in Bath, travelling almost 160 miles on the picturesque National Cycle Route 45 as follows:

25th August – Manchester (Dunham Massey) to Wolverhampton – 77 miles

26th August – Wolverhampton to Gloucester – 50 miles

27th August – Gloucester to Bristol (St Pauls) – 50 miles

28th August – Bristol (St Pauls) to Bath (Fairfield House) - 25 miles

For more information or to discuss business sponsorship

please telephone Marcus on +44 (0)7868 344881

All sponsorship monies will support the following outcomes for a year from September 2022 for the Mealtime Initiative of the Awasho Orphanage School project.:

• The provision of two meals each day for 60 + children

• The provision of water to all pupils throughout the day

• The shipment and provision of classroom furniture

Why have we chosen Dunham Massey and Fairfield House for the start and finish?

Well Emperor Haile Selassie I has a connection with both places. One of the few supporters at the League of Nation in the fight to stop Mussolini invading Ethiopia, was Roger Grey. In 1938 the Emperor made a four-day visit to Roger’s home, Dunham Massey to discuss the situation in Ethiopia.

Following the visit, the two became friends and Roger went on to raise the Lion of Judah flag on Dunham Massey, each year on the Emperor’s birthday (23rd July). The Dunham Massey Trust had stopped raising the flag but with encouragement from two of the cyclists, who are members of the Ethiopian World Federation Inc, the Trust reinstated the practice.

The bike ride ends at Fairfield House, where the Emperor and his family resided during their exile in Bath from 1936 to 1941. High ranking Ethiopians visited the Emperor at Fairfield House to galvanise support for the Ethiopian Patriots who defended Ethiopia from Mussolini’s military forces. One of the visitors was Dr Malaku E Bayen, the Emperor’s cousin, physician, and emissary to North America.

After hearing about the black peoples in the Americas’ support for Ethiopia during the war with Italy, the Emperor empowered Dr Bayen to bring accountability to the efforts, by bringing the pro-Ethiopian groups into one organisation. Dr Bayen immediately travelled to New York to establish the Ethiopian World Federation Inc in 1937. A great coordinator, Dr Bayen started the Voice of Ethiopia newspaper, to highlight the Italian-Ethiopia war and Jim Crow activities in the USA. Today members of the Ethiopian World Federation Inc, continue to support Ethiopia.

LATEST UPDATE JUNE 2022:

The Ethiopian World Federation Incorporated are sending a BIG THANK YOU to all those who have donated to the Aswasho Orphange School Program.

The project started at the end of 2019 and despite the challenges we faced in these unprecedent times, we launched the Orphanage School’s Mealtime Project on August the 31st, 2021. The project aims to provide nutritious meals, twice each day, to all pupils. First, we started providing meals to the disabled children, whose numbers have grown from five to twelve since 2019. Some disabled children are abandoned by parents, while other parents struggle to care for their disabled children. At the Orphanage School, disabled children are welcomed, and the staff take great care to attend to their needs. Providing the disabled children with nutritious meals is the first step to transforming their lives.  

The children shown are also dressed in clothing provided with your generous donations. And the children now have the choice of sitting on a mattress rather than the hard floor. Your donations have also helped us to increase the number of staff at the Orphanage School from two to six and the project is also supported by a team of volunteers. This has reduced the pressure on the school’s unpaid manager and two staff, who now have additional human resources.

 Your donations have really helped the school to grow in popularity in the local community. As a result of the extra staff and volunteers, the pupil numbers have doubled to 160 since the project started. A positive outcome of the school’s Mealtime Project has been the increased level of donations from the local community. Local support is vital to make the project sustainable. We would like to thank Woizero Frehiyiwor, Woizero Hiwot Hayilu and Mr Kibruyisfaw siym and other local donors who have ensured a steady supply of water, milk, bread, and diapers!

Aswasho Orphange School Manager & Volunteer

 The Mealtime Project is co-ordinated by Ethi-care, our development team and the school’s manager. Our ethos is to ensure that children eat traditional Ethiopian foods. A typical meal is Ethiopia’s national dish – Injera Wat – a spongy sourdough flat bread with pulses, vegetables, and salad. Breakfast may consist of a local porridge. Previously there wasn’t enough fluids at the school, but we now ensure there is sufficient water and milk to reduce dehydration and improve cognitive performance.

Outcomes

·   Provided one outfit of clothing, underwear, and shoes to the original 80 pupils (2020)

·   Provided education material such as pens, notebooks, crayons and paints (2020)

·   Increased pupil numbers to 160 (2021)

·   Increased the number of disabled children from 5 to 12 (2021)

·   Increased staff members from 2 to 6 (2021)

·   Signed up 6 volunteers (2021)

·   Six regular local donors

“By doing this we are giving children a home, some people

take disabled children as beggars, instead they

stay here for education and maintain health

and nutrition”

Desta Bukulu Jaro, Former Mayor of Shashamane & EWF IncMember

What do the children eat?

Ethiopia’s national dish – Injera Wat

Injera is a type of fermented (sourdough) flatbread that accompanies meals in Ethiopia. Wats include vegetables, pulses, meats, and salads are scooped up by injera. The school serves vegetarian meals.

 Teff is the smallest grass seed in the world. It has a mild nutty flavour, which is gluten free. Nutritionally, Teff is high in calcium, iron, and protein. Teff is recommended by Coeliac UK for those with coeliac disease or gluten intolerance. 

 Injera wot has been eaten for thousands of years in Ethiopia. It’s often eaten from large basket plates. The meal is eaten with the hands. 

The Feeding Programme fulfils the following United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:

1. ZERO HUNGER

2. GOOD HEALTH AND WELLBEING

3.QUALITY EDUCATION

·   2.37 billion people are without food or unable to eat a health balanced Diet on a regular basis (UN 2020)

·   The global pandemic is exacerbating world hunger. Worldwide, an additional 70-161 million people are likely to have experienced hunger in 2020 (UN 2020)

·   An adequate well-balanced diet is the bedrock of child survival, health and development (unicef 2020)

Challenges:

 We’ve faced some challenges since the Awasho Orphanage School Project began in late 2019:

 1.  Civil unrest in Oromo where the project is located during 2020

2.  Government of Ethiopia involvement in the conflict in Tigray in 2021

3.  Global COVID-19 crisis since the beginning of 2020

Despite these challenges we have maintained contact with the Shashamane Municipality and our staff in the local region. 

What’s next for 2022?

1.  The 'Sponsor a Disabled Child Project'

2.  Family Welfare Programme 

Keep donating so that we can demonstrate the power of nutrition on physical and cognitive performance! 

Picture shows: Children clothing donated by Members in Florida USA and the United Kingdom delivered November 2019, distributed by our Member in Ethiopia Desta Bukulu, International Officer Lloyd Robinson, alongside representatives of Shashemane City Municipality Education Department and the Oromo National media

The Awasho Orphanage School - Shashemane, Ethiopia

The Ethiopian World Federation Incorporated has a long history of working and supporting the local community in the Malcoda District near Shashemane City since 1955.

Following a scoping visit to Ethiopia by our Delegates in November 2018 to meet with the Shashemane Municipality officers and Mayor, the children at the Awasho Orphanage school were identified by the Shashemane City Municipality officers as being in extreme need. The children themselves come from extremely poor local families, who we deem to be vulnerable and suffering from socio-economic deprivation, furthermore the local community is unable to feed and clothe the children adequately.

The initial action of the Organization was to mobilize a collection of clothing and funds in the USA and UK, which were donated to the orphanage in November 2019. As you can see the delightful children queue for their new items of clothing and as usual were really well behaved. 

Our aim is to:

To activate a more sustained effort to support the school. In this endeavour we are seeking to raise £30,000 to acquire and ship high quality new and second hand clothing for children aged 5 to 12 years old. In accordance with the United Nations, SDGs Goal 3, we aim to improve the nutrition of the children by providing breakfast and one plant-based protein meal each day, for each child for the next two years. 

Please donate to this worthy cause and we will keep you up to date with the progress we are making.