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2022 annual report available

In the last few days, the detailed and richly illustrated 16-page Annual Report 2022, prepared by Thomas Baumann, has been published. In it you will find a detailed account of what Ethiopian Enterprises has done and achieved in the past difficult year, as well as extensive details about the status of our projects and the general situation in Ethiopia. HERE you can find the complete annual report as pdf-file (only available in German language)!

2021 annual report available

In the last few days, the detailed and richly illustrated 20-page Annual Report 2021, prepared by Thomas Baumann, has been published. In it you will find a detailed account of what Ethiopian Enterprises has done and achieved in the past difficult year, as well as extensive details about the status of our projects and the general situation in Ethiopia. HERE you can find the complete annual report as pdf-file (only available in German language)!

Poor souls

Lesley is back from her working trip to Ethiopia, and the news is anything but good with regard to Tigray and its neighbouring rural regions of Amhara. We do not, however, plan to discuss Ethiopian politics here, even though we have far more accurate facts than most newspapers reporting on the situation in the international press. We are endeavouring to remain ‘neutral’ and to focuss on our efforts to provide humanitarian support. With all the inaccuracy and one-sided reporting in the media, though, this is far from easy.

While Lesley was in Ethiopia, Ethiopian Enterprises managed to make further emergency food relief allocations, this time to a region now crowded with displaced Tigrayans and also to the inhabitants of several villages close to the Tigray border. In many cases, all their food had been stolen by soldiers, and dwellings burnt to the ground. In some cases, entire families in these villages had been massacred. In one town which received our aid, an infant had been found trying to snuggle into his dead mother’s bloody arms. She, his father, and two elder siblings had all been killed. What, you may well ask, was their crime?

The pictures here show the state in which we have found many older people in these villages: too fragile to work, no money, reliant on alms. Soldiers had not only taken their food and any warm bedding, they had robbed them of their dignity. One of our supporters summed it up in two words when she saw these pictures: ‘poor souls’.

As you know by now, we don’t give up. So how can you help us to help so many in need? Well, first of all, please stop believing everything which is said in the press reports in most international media about Ethiopia. While the situation is as bad as it can be, the blame being apportioned to one side of the conflict needs to be seriously reassessed as it is gravely inaccurate. The problem is, many reports are based on effective propaganda from one side of the conflict. The large number of reporters who copy such reports have not been into Tigray for years if ever, and in many cases have never even been in Ethiopia.

Newsletter July 2021

In our newsletter (the first one in a new updated layout) you will find the latest news about the status of our projects and the general current situation in the Tigray region.

Download the full Newsletter here: EE Newsletter July 2021

Millions face starvation in Ethiopian Tigray

There’s an old English expression which suggests that disasters rarely happen one at a time. How true this is for the Ethiopian state of Tigray, which right now is facing a humanitarian catastrophe of proportions which will likely outdo the shocking famine of the 1980s.

An estimate appearing throughout the world’s media this week suggests that a full 91% of the population of Tigray (over 5 million people) have reached starvation level. Covid 19, locust plagues, civil war, and the complete absence of the small rain which should have fallen in March/April means that yet again millions of the world’s most fragile citizens are facing death through starvation. Our hope that the very real emergency aid we have provided over the past year could come to an end when the rain fell in March has been shattered by the unexpected hot and dry weather of the past two months. We are receiving daily calls from our local government and our wonderful manager about the situation which is now far, far worse than anything we have experienced in our 14 years in Tigray.

Can we stop the huge death toll which – without international support – will eventuate, and which is already mounting? No, we can’t. However, we have been asked to do the following and we will try to provide this help. For the next four months until the wet season begins we are asked to ‘adopt’ the families of the students at our school. This will keep those 1500 students and their families alive and in return their parents will ensure that they return to school NOW. Our school will reopen its doors this week under government mandate but due to the problems in the region over the past year the incentives for students to return are understandably low.

Can you help us? Keeping a 5-7 person family alive over the next four months will cost CHF 200. We cannot promise to get photos of all the families but we will at least be able to give you names. And you can rest assured that every cent of that CHF 200 – or whatever you can afford – will go to that family in the form of food and water. We have an excellent and experienced team in place which has been delivering food aid on our behalf for a year now and they are able to manage this.

One of our donors has offered to double the amount we can raise in family sponsorship up to CHF 5’000.- That is 25 of the roughly 900 families which make up our school community. Please help us find sponsors for at least the first 25 families in the coming days so that we can take advantage of this generous offer to support a further 25 families. For further information, you can contact our project leader Lesley (info@ethiopianenterprises.org) who was back in the region in February and is well informed about the current situation.

Donation platform (please specify ’emergency support Lemlem Baro’):    https://ethiopianenterprises.org/english/donations/

Newsletter March 2021

Lesley finally made it to Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray, in February! In our newsletter you will find the latest news about the status of our projects and the general current situation in the Tigray region.

Download the full Newsletter here: EE Newsletter 2021-03 e

2020 Annual Report available

In the last few days, the detailed and richly illustrated 24-page Annual Report 2020, prepared by Thomas Baumann, has been published. In it you will find a detailed description of what Ethiopian Enterprises has done and achieved in the past difficult year in Mehoni, as well as many extensive details about our projects and the situation in Ethiopia. HERE you can find the complete Annual Report as pdf-file (only available in German language)!

Newsletter November 2020

Unfortunately, for various reasons we cannot travel to our project area at the moment. In our newsletter you will find the latest news about the status of our projects and the general current situation in the Tigray region.

Download full Newsletter here: EE Newsletter 2020-11 e

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