We started out in October 2005 sponsoring 30 children aged 7 to 16. As early as November, thanks to generous donations, we were able to admit another 20 children aged 9 to 15, and 10 pre-school children aged 3 to 5 in January 2006. More donations and sponsorships admitted 18 additional children aged 4 to 11.

In all, by the beginning of the 2006/2007 school year 78 of our children were attending kindergarten or elementary school. Some children who dropped out were able to be replaced by others so that at the start of 2008 “our” children numbered 100, and even advanced to 116 in 2014. This was all made possible through a continual year-to-year increase in donations.

In 2009, we were asked by our Ethiopian partner organization IHA-UDP to provide for some of the school children who had lost their sponsors. We decided to support an additional 145 children for the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 school years, so that those children could graduate. We paid the extra sum of Euro 34,800 in four instalments.

Our support helped about 80 children complete grade 10. Some of “our” children can now contribute to the livelihood of their families and/or support themselves. Most of “our” children, however, are still in the process of completing school, vocational training or university, and will depend on our donations for several years to come.

We are pleased to report that since 2005 more than 300 children were given an education and a chance for a better life, thanks to our more than 150 regular donors.

In 2008 we learnt that the children were no longer being provided with milk – so, we decided to arrange a special School Milk Fund. We transferred Euro 3,000 on 3 December 2008 into the fund to cover the cost of milk for the children of the project.

In the summer of 2007, the Berlin “Young and Old for One World (YOOW)” association donated 50 refurbished sewing machines to our project in Addis Ababa. We were able to ship them to IHA-UDP in Addis Ababa through the help of the “Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ)” and the German Embassy in Ethiopia.

In the spring of 2008, the sewing machines were presented to different projects during a special ceremony attended by our representative in Addis Ababa, the attorney Getachew Tessema. 25 machines went straight to the sheltered Sewing Workshop for the Disabled, a programme where women manufacture household linens and clothing. The proceeds go to the projects.

Eleven mothers of our children completed a 5-month training course in tailoring and embroidery using these machines. On 16 May 2011 they were presented their qualification certificate – during a special graduation ceremony. Five mothers became members of the project´s own Savings and Credit Cooperative. It became apparent, though, that for most of the women the qualification wasn`t enough. Therefore, in the fall of 2012, another 25 mothers and fathers of our children were selected to take part in a 6-month intensive course in tailoring and embroidery - which included a section dedicated to business planning, purchasing and sales, and bookkeeping.

Each qualification, at Euro 6,300 included a small amount of seed capital for participants to start their own businesses. The families – a total of 125 people – would benefit from these measures. Thanks to a single donation of Euro 5,300 in addition to a number of smaller donations, KA could fully cover these costs. Now, 25 mothers and fathers do commission work from their homes with sewing machines donated by KA.

Many parents cannot afford to buy the eye drops to remedy their children`s eye infections. After appealing to pharmacists and other private donors, we were promised Euro 300 worth of eye medicine in January 2011. It was personally delivered in the spring of the same year.

Following up a suggestion made by the head of our partner organization, Dr. Jember Teferra we transferred Euro 1,100 to IHA-UDP on 8 December 2011 for the purchase of 100 Oxford Learning Dictionaries (at Euro 10.95 each). “Our” children can make use of the dictionaries during the school year, returning them to the library at year end. This will benefit many children more throughout the years.