Let’s help them see the sun rise


It is not easy for a child to grow up on his own with no food, clothes or home. In our day to day life we see kids on the street – barefooted, clothes torn, drug-addicted. We don’t have to go far to see such tragedy.
Addis’ streets are full of kids who struggle to see a better life for tomorrow - even some of them support their families. In principle, children have the right to proper food, shelter, and education. For kids and grown ups alike there is what we call the right to food, yet so many governments can’t meet those rights, so instead children are abandoned to suffer and forced to work in spite of their rights. They are abused, humiliated even raped, to make it worse.

This distorted world system doesn’t allow kids to be kids – they are considered insignificant and powerless. Most people are not aware of their rights – even parents who are well to do economically alienate them from their childhood.
Especially in poor countries, economic and other factors make the whole problem worse, and children are carrying the burden. There is no institution who takes you if your parents are dead. So it is every citizen’s responsibility to help the kids who live on the street. Some organizations, like Safe House Ethiopia, are helping out the children.
This organization was established by an American businessman named Victor Ozeri. In 2006, before he founded the organization, he used to travel in Ethiopia a lot, and came up with these ideas for creating a better life.

“We stared this project with 30 children are aged from four to eighteen, and within three years the number reached 110. We took kids who use to live in plastic houses from around Jan Meda [an area in the northern part of Addis Ababa]. Now we drive around Addis and pick them up from streets. They don’t have to bring evidence from the kebele (local administration) like some organizations require – you can see the evidence simply by looking at them,” explained Ashenafi Nigussie, the program director.
He continuous, “we are trying to help these kids in every way, so we designed program meals three times a day. Kids who stay with their parents come in the morning and they go to school, while 40 kids stay in our compound. For those who go to school, we pay their school fees, supply educational materials, English language tutoring, computer classes, and an in-house library. On weekends and holidays there are so many programs that are entertaining and educational. At the same time we have a soccer team, and many contests like fashion shows. We are also trying to get them scholarships.
“We also have a program called “community service.” There were kids who used to beg on the streets or who sold tissues and different things to support their parents. They don’t do this anymore – instead we give money to their parents.
“These kids have so many fascinating stories. Some of them are hard to believe – how they struggled each day to see the sun rise. At first it was difficult to bring them together from different backgrounds, but we gave them self-esteem classes to help with their behavior.

“We use our website – www.safehouse.ethiopia.org – which is linked to the stories of the children. Sponsors get to choose children in an online program called “virtual adoption.” The money they donate will cover school fees, books and school uniforms. The kids have relationships with their sponsors by e-mail, and send their pictures and academic results. By this mechanism we are able to get sponsors for almost 80 kids.
“Some organizations, like Guess, donate brand-new clothes every three months. A company that produces Guess watches and GC watches successfully collected 1 million dollars, which is going to help build a new and big educational facility.
“After they reach 18, if they join university – good for them; if not, we pay for different trainings which will help them to work in a garment factory called “Victor Lily,” which is run by the founder of this organization. There was a girl who used to study using the street light, but now she joined Jijiga University – there are many like this.

“People are created with good hearts. But so many bad things and environment cause people to lose what they have and to act savagely. Still, there are some people who use it for good causes. There was a girl who had a very critical heart condition, so the founder of Safe House Ethiopia took her to America and a doctor performed a 500,000 birr surgery for free. Maybe it was a matter of money or time, but for her it was a matter of life and death.”
He concluded saying that “Ethiopians also should step up to help their own people. It’s not only money that matters, but also moral support, time, clothes or things that they don’t use. I saw so many children who were happy to get second-hand clothes, and it brings tears to your eyes.”

(By Tibebeselassie Tigabu)