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Dear Kayla,
My name is Mekonnen Wasse and I am an evangelist at the Fiche Genet Church that operates the Child Development Center attended by Zenebu. It is located in the town of Fiche, in the north of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
On behalf of the Fiche Genet Church leaders, I extend our great gratitude to you for supporting Zenebu in our community. May God richly bless you. We always pray for you, that God gives you ample grace to sustain you in keeping up with your good works to release her from poverty in Jesus' name. This center is trying as much as possible to reach out to our community's children in the social, physical, economic, and spiritual aspects.
In the town of Fiche, half of the population has access to potable water and the remaining half lacks this. The situation being so, there are times when a great shortage of water appears during the summer time. The population in our community is comprised of civil servants, businessmen, daily workers, small scale traders, women who weave cotton, etc. The majority of the population lives on a very low income. In our town the people follow various beliefs such as Orthodox, atheists, protestants, and Muslims. When we look at the educational status of inhabitants, there are many of them who have not got the opportunity to learn. There are a lot of situations where many children are attacked by various diseases and face malnutrition.
In the past years there was a military camp in the town of Fiche, and due to this there are many fatherless children. These children are exposed to various problems. One of the major problems is that these children face child labor abuse to earn their daily bread, rather than learning. When girls reach their teenage level, they start with the sex trade to earn money and have a great chance of being victims of HIV/AIDS. Though the children try hard to overcome these risks, because there are no people or institutions in their area to become good examples for them, their exposure to the above problems and to others is very high.
For a few now the Fiche Genet Church and the Compassion Ethiopia office have collaborated the engage in solving some of the above problems of the community here. At that time, the center supported 581 children who lacked opportunity of learning and had very great economic constraints. Currently, the center supports 205 children and 347 have completed the program and departed from the center.
Out of the number of children who have departed from here, 229 have got saved in our Lord Jesus Christ. Others got saved later at their work places. This center has given the opportunity for the church to give holistic ministry to this community. The people in this area are benefiting a lot for having their children join the center.
Situations indicate to us that we have to work hard to release children from poverty. They need food so that they can learn at their schools comfortably and they need to get enough medical treatment. We need also to support their parents to increase their economy by engaging them in income-generating works.
I want to tell you that the letters from sponsors and their prayers as well are a great encouragement to the children. When these children receive letters they express very great joy because they realize how much the sponsors love and honor them. Last year we received about 240 letters from sponsors. I encourage you to keep up with your letter communication with the children.
At last, pray that God gives to all of us success and fulfillment. May God richly bless you for the great works you do for Zenebu. Be blessed!
In Christ,
Evangelist Mekonnen Wasse
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