Our General Manager, Tatek, and Sponsorship Manager, Marta, travelled to Lalibela to visit each family in May to deliver the support and check on the wellbeing of the families.
“During our visit to Lalibela we found a very pitiful and heart breaking life in the community, specifically for our beneficiaries. We found that our families, especially those who are living in extreme poverty, had suffered highly during the war. They were forced to walk up to 150 km to reach the bank to take out the money sent from Together We Learn because the banks in Lalibela were closed until the government regained control of the area. Even though they got the money from the far distance, they couldn't use the mill due to lack of electricity so they used traditional stone grinding techniques.” - Tatek
Tatek and Marta brought emergency food supplies for each family, benefitting 96 parents and children overall. Each parcel included 50 kilos of teff grain to make injera, 25 kilos of wheat, 5 kilos of lentils, 2 kilos of red pepper and 5 litres of cooking oil.
They also brought the families together for a day of training on managing their own income generating activity. The meeting was attended by the local social and microfinance office who will continue to support them going forward. The 19 families established a savings group together, registered with the microfinance office. Each family will contribute 100 birr per month so that different members can take loans to further develop and improve their businesses, guaranteeing their continued financial security. Finally, each family received a grant to spend on supporting their long-term security, these will be used by the families to establish or improve small businesses such as making local beer, preparing and selling spices and poultry farming.
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