Beneficiaries
Belay
Belay(left) with his mother and sister
Belay, 15, has been working since age 11 repairing tires to support his family after his mom’s health declined and she was unable to work. He was hit by a car while working on the side of the road and is now supported by the Community Rehabilitation Center of Fitche (CBR Fitche). The have helped with his medical operations and his family has survived on relief food aid from a local church since his accident.
After a long battle with the severe leg damage he sustained, he is able to walk using an assistive device now. He also just started to go to school for half days, and works as a shoe shine boy the rest of the day. He earns 20 a month, and pays one third of it for house rent. His mother, Ejigayehu had been applying for a cheaper government rent house for over 12 years in vain.
Belay says, “I dream of our own home where we don’t pay a rent so that I work less and study more”.
Belay is just too young for what he has been through over the years. This build will change their lives, providing housing security and helping him to be able to go to school again.
Konjit
Facing discrimination due to their sons’ disabilities, the Getahun family moved to Fitche. Their mother, Konjit, lives with her husband Getahun, and their three children aged 4 to 15. Kassahun, 4, is plagued by Cerebral Palsy that paralyzed one side of his body, and Bayush, 15, has mobility problems due to Polio.
They currently live in a rent house with no running water, poor communal kitchen and toilet.
Konjit said, “More than the sanitation issues of the rented house, what has always been worrying her is eviction from the rent house and the unlikelihood of finding another due to the dishonoring perception about disability of landlords,” She asks herself with sadness, “Are we moving back to the rural village?”
Amidst all the suffering, Konjit hopes that their new home will bring back their happiness lost long long ago due to inaccessibility, discrimination and housing poverty.
Emamu
Orphaned when she was abandoned by her mother, Emamu is now 15 and works as a day laborer washing clothes in spite of her mobility limiting disability. She is an active client of CBR Fitche, a partner of CBM Ethiopia, who is providing her services to facilitate her rehabilitation for her disability.
Housing conditions for her and her brother were so bad that they have qualified for a new, safe home that will provide them with access to sanitation, a safe place to cook and the housing security they have so desperately needed throughout their lives.
Emamu dreams of a home that looks beautiful, making it something she can be proud of.
Bethlehem
Orphaned at 3 months old and living with Cerebral Palsy, Bethlehem was taken in by a widow named Abunework.
With the help of the Community Based Rehabilitation Center with CBM/CBR in Fitche, she is now ready to go to school. A perfect example of how collaboration between NGOs can meet a person’s holistic needs, she and Abunework were selected for the Fitche Integrated Housing Project with Habitat for Humanity. The combination of these two tiers of support has led to lasting change in their lives.
