It all started with a simple idea: to tie in with existing projects run by foreign aid partners in Ethiopia with our own small projects. We wanted to lend a hand and work with young people on the ground. This resulted in three projects that are still very close to our hearts: 1. “Ein Baum der deine Mangos trägt“, 2. “Jedem Po sein Klo” and 3. “Schule dank CATCHIES“.

Before the big two-week trips, everything revolved around cupcake sales, charity dinners, talent shows, crowdfunding and other fundraising campaigns that we use to finance our projects (as before).

After months of planning and a lot of hard work from us Youth Ambassadors, the trip finally started. In the first few days in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, we got to know our future partner youth ambassadors, developed our planned hygiene projects further and there was also some time for sightseeing! A half-day trip later, further south in Meki, we then started implementing our three projects in the nearby villages of Graba Fila in 2017 and MejaLalu in 2019.

1. In beiden Jahren pflanzten wir über 550 Mangobäume auf dem Land von sehr abgelegenen Familien in ländlichen Gebieten. Mit diesem Aufforstungsprojekt “Mango Tree For Family” konnten wir im Rahmen des GREEN-RE Projekts (https://www.caritas-vorarlberg.at/spenden-helfen/hilfe-weltweit/afrika/unterstuetzung-der-kleinbauern-in-afrika/green-path) zur Existenzsicherung vieler Familien beitragen und gleichzeitig ein Zeichen für den Klimaschutz setzen. Die Bäume wurden gemeinsam mit den Familien gepflanzt und wir konnten einmal mehr die äthiopische Gastfreundschaft genießen und die oft sehr einfachen Lebensbedingungen erleben.

2. The toilets we financed at two schools were built before our arrival and painted with pictures about hygiene and hand washing together with the Ethiopian youth ambassadors. In 2017, we also held hand-washing workshops with children and built water-saving hand-washing facilities, known as tippy-taps, due to the lack of water pipes.

3. Young women from all over the village came together to take part in our CATCHY workshop. CATCHY stands for “Catch-up your school days”. (Many girls lose 3 months of school due to lack of menstrual hygiene products!) We started with a menstrual hygiene workshop, as the majority of girls are not educated by their parents and do not know what happens to their bodies during puberty. We then spent several afternoons together sewing washable & reusable sanitary towels by hand, as well as a nice cloth bag to disguise the sanitary towels for changing while they are at school.

   This way, the girls can help themselves through their periods from now on and no longer lose school time due to their periods.

During the trip in 2017, we youth ambassadors – as mentioned above – were supported by a group of young people from the street children project PROCS (Protection & Respect & Opportunity for Children on the Street) led by Ananas Girmai in Addis Ababa. This led to great friendships that are still going strong today.