Ethiopiaid Canada
484 Gladstone Avenue K1R 5N8 Ottawa, ON, Canada

Today on #SocialJusticeDay and every day, together we are fighting for an Ethiopia free from poverty, in which every person has access to quality healthcare, education and a life of dignity.

Today's featured #InternationalDevelopmentWeek partner is Healing Hands of Joy! Healing Hands of Joy strives to radically reduce new cases of obstetric fistula and ensures that fistula survivors are empowered and successfully reintegrated as self-contributors to their communities. HHOJ provides survivors with education and economic empowerment by way of training and micro-lending so these women can find sustainable employment after their surgery and recover. Their mission is to empower, prevent and educate women and their communities about obstetric fistulaI. In 2021, we will be supporting their centre in Bahir Dar by providing funding for microloans for survivors of fistula as well as providing materials for the women when they become Safe Motherhood Ambassadors in their community..

Today's #InternationalDevelopmentWeek featured local partner is Cheshire Services! Cheshire works for a disability-inclusive society by providing comprehensive rehabilitation services to people with disabilities through affordable technology, quality service, effective partnership, and inclusion of persons with disabilities. This includes providing mobility aids, offering educational subsidies, and creating a more accessible environment. In 2021, our support of Cheshire wil...l be three-fold. We will cover the operating costs of their inclusive kindergarten program, where children with a variety of disabilities will get the chance to get an education that suits their needs. We will also partially fund their prosthetics factory and rehabilitation centre in Dire Dawa. They produce assistive devices for people with disabilities and provide holistic treatment and care. We also will be supporting them through our Global Affairs Canada funded project which will focus on empowering women and girls with disabilities and increasing access to sexual and reproductive health and rights in Harar and Dire Dawa.

While it appears that children have been less vulnerable to COVID-19, the widespread virus has posed other risks for kids in Ethiopia losing the opportunity to be vaccinated against other preventable diseases. That’s why, mid this year, the Ethiopian government and local NGOs took on a huge immunization blitz that resulted in 15 million children vaccinated against measles and 7 million vaccinated against polio. Today as we celebrate World Children’s Day, we pay tribute to the amazing work being done to safeguard children and give them every chance possible for a safe and healthy future. Thank you for being part of this work! Photo below by Joni Kabana

Did you ever think there would be a global observance day called #WorldToiletDay? But, in fact, today’s World Toilet Day is essential in the efforts to alleviate poverty and uphold basic human rights. That’s why health, water and sanitation are core parts of the programs we support in Ethiopia. From funding PPE, soap and hand sanitizer during COVID, to building flexible drought-relief solutions in the nomadic Afar region, to renovating taps and toilets in primary schools for clean drinking water and private bathrooms, you’ve been helping to provide safe, sustainable sanitation for many across Ethiopia.

A beautiful quote from Aesop today on #WorldKindnessDay. Your care and your kindness mean the world to the children, women and marginalized communities in Ethiopia. Thank you for each and every act of kindness.

It’s being called the epicentre of COVID-19 in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. At end of last month, coronavirus cases hit a high of almost 75,000 and it’s believed that over the course of the year, as many as 75% of cases were from Addis Ababa. Today on #WorldCitiesDay let’s have a quick look at why the coronavirus hit Addis so hard 1 Ground zero. Addis Ababa has Ethiopia’s largest international airport. Although quarantines have been in place since March, ...most travelers entering the country come through this airport and create higher risk of the virus taking off. 2 High density dwellings. Almost 5 million people live in the city, many packed together in crowded dwellings, making it frighteningly easy for the virus to spread rapidly. 3 Mass congregations. City-wide protests over ethnic and political tensions earlier this year saw tens of thousands of people come together, creating an open playing field for COVID to spread. 4 Unequal infrastructure. While Addis is a developed, robust city, those on the outskirts lack access to clean water, sanitation and TV/internet, making it difficult to receive information about and put into practice basic preventative measures. #worldcitiesday

Poverty goes hand-in-hand with many other deprivations such as unsafe housing, lack of nutritious food, limited access to healthcare and unequal access to justice that stop people from realising their rights and lock them into a cycle of poverty. When you make a donation for people in need in Ethiopia whether it’s to end FGM, support children with disabilities or train rural midwives you’re helping to break down these deprivations and break down the cycle of poverty. Together we can #endpoverty. Today, on International Day of the Rural Woman, you can help support our work benefiting these women by visiting ethiopiaid.ca/donate

Today is International Day of the Girl Child. At Ethiopiaid Canada, we recognize that the empowerment of women and girls is central to reducing poverty and creating lasting change. That’s why we place an emphasis on interventions that build the health, social, and economic assets of women and girls. Today, and everyday, we are celebrating the power and resilience of girls and young women in Ethiopia and around the world. #internationaldayofthegirl #internationaldayofthegirlchild #dayofthegirl #girlchild

We’ve seen schools shut down in many countries around the world this year due to COVID safety precautions. But, without the option of virtual, online learning in rural Ethiopia, many feared this move would wreak devastation on the fragile education system. That’s why when faced with returning back to their rural communities children in boarding schools across Afar were encouraged to take up the mantle of teachers! Project partner APDA (Afar Pastoralist Development Associa...tion) encouraged all children in grades 5 and up in their boarding schools to return home, lend support to any rural teachers with limited resources, and share their leanings with friends. Not only to help keep young minds active, but also to help reinforce the benefits of learning and education in a region where literacy is low and education is often inaccessible. Here’s to all these young teachers making the best of a challenging situation! #WorldTeachersDay See more