Help Ethiopia's Street Children

ABIY NEGUSSIE HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATION (ANHO)

Calkinde and I.  Her photo is on the ANHO flyer in my hand. 

UK Rotarians Abiy Negussie, Helen Johnson, Tony Sharma and I with Abiy's mother. 

Abiy Negussie, founder of ANHO that helps Ethiopia's Street Children find their way home.

I have been Swept Away! When I run into the same people several times in a foreign country, I know that we are meant to share something with each other. This is how I met my new friends from the UK. We were all attending the same circuit of Rotary Meetings. We were destined to work together.

Rotarians Tony, Abiy and I near the Rotary Banner 

Posing by the Subway Banner with some of the former Street kids. 

Tony and I with the ANHO Kids

Rotary is an organization of business and professional persons united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all professions, and help build goodwill and peace throughout the world. It is the largest humanitarian organization for professional men and women who want to make a better world, and who are dedicated to providing friendly help to local and international communities. I am proud to be a Rotarian. I have been swept away in someone’s amazing cause, and it has now become my cause too.

Helen, I and Aidy 

As I said, I met UK Rotarians Abiy Negussie, Tony Sharma and Helen Johnson. They were here to see with their own eyes the work of an NGO that helps Ethiopia’s street children find their way home. The Abiy Negussie Humanitarian Organization (ANHO) was founded in 2007 in order to try to make a difference in the lives of Addis Ababa’s street children. They attempt to reunite the street children with their biological families, or relocate them to supportive foster families and provide them with educational, health care and financial support. Abiy, the founder, grew up in a poor Ethiopian family and knows hunger and poverty first hand. His NGO is supporting 95 children and their families and plan, over the next three years to expand the work of ANHO to assist up to 250 children!

Tony Sharma and one of the ANHO Children 

ANHO firmly believes that the plight of street children in Ethiopia cannot be solved without the involvement of the family unit. Children need a stable, caring environment if they are to recover from street life and the abuses and violence that it can involve. ANHO provides the family with financial support to cover the children’s education, health and clothing needs. But even more important, the child has security, sometimes for the first time. Protected and supported, they can forge a better life and will go on to have a happier and healthier family of their own.

We had dinner at Abiy's brother's house. 

Abiy is a SUBWAY franchise owner. SUBWAY UK is a major donor to his organization. ANHO is totally reliant on voluntary funds from individuals and organizations. It takes just $15/month to provide all that a child needs to live a comfortable live in Ethiopia. Visit www.anhoe.org to donate, sponsor or find out more about this organization. I look forward to getting involved with this amazing organization that changes the lives of children. Today I met many of the children in this program. I kissed their cheeks, and held their hand. I saw with my own eyes how happy they are today. Check ANHO out today and sponsor a child!

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony