Partnership Overview

BHW has been involved in Ethiopia since 2005. The main purpose for being there is to see new Christian communities established in the north of the country. This has a number of essential components: it involves training key people and assisting them to move into location, caring for many vulnerable women and young people who roam the streets of the cities and towns, education for children, and assisting people to become self-sustaining. 

History of Partnership

Soon after the development of the original concept, Chase Oaks Church (COC) from Plano, Texas came into the picture. They were very keen on the strategies that were developing and have been fully involved in supporting the work. They have visited a number of times.

Right from the commencement the intention has been to make the ongoing programme economically self-sustaining. A number of projects have been researched and tried ranging from the trading of sesame (moderately successful), cattle rearing (not started), coffee trading (not started), kindergartens (not easy to generate profit) and other small enterprises.

From research it appears that there is a real opportunity to generate significant profit from operating a large secondary school. There is a need for more of these in Gonder as there are many families moving into the city with children. The government is not building more schools but rather is just cramming increasing numbers of students into already cramped classooms.

Many parents want a good education for their children and are willing to pay for it. So, for four years BHW's partner there attempted to obtain an ideal piece of land and in 2012 succeeded in obtaining it. As soon as this became available, building commenced.

The plan is to have the school open in September 2014.

There are a number of directions the ongoing development could take and there will be a need to develop more facilities over time. These will be for the benefit of the school and the local community and will include adult education, evening classes, vocational training, vacation short term courses and agriculture.

Beneficiaries

In the context of the primary purpose, the beneficiaries will be the other programmes running in Ethiopia. This will include the hundreds of widows in the feeding programmes, the blind young people being prepared for mainstream schools, the communities that get trained people coming to them for community development and the children in one kindergarten that will continue to operate.

The secondary beneficiaries will be the students who attend the school. They will receive a high quality education. Also the teachers who are hired as they will get regular, stable employment and wages.

What We Like About The Partnership

The plan has many benefits. The potential for substantial profit is number one. The delivery of quality education is something else of high importance.

Spilling out of this development is the other opportunities it will create for other forms of training. Having the facilities will provide buildings for other sources of income and programming.

Relationship To Other Partnerships

This is related to all our ETH02 partnerships in Ethiopia.

Key People

Leadership Profile

Worku Tafete is the key person in Ethiopia and the developments here came about as a result of his vision. He left Ethiopia as a refugee teenager, fleeing the internal conflicts of the day. On his dangerous journey through three countries he became a follower of Christ before eventually ending up in New Zealand.

After some time in his new country he had a growing sense that he should go back to his people with the faith he had discovered, to meet the many needs of the poor and to contribute to the development of the country of his birth. He is a single man and many of his siblings live in the West but he now spends much of his time in Ethiopia, overseeing the work that has developed and now building and growing the school. His parents still live in Ethiopia, in a village just outside Gonder.

Vision And Annual Strategy

The first phase of the plan is to build the main block of the secondary school. 

Once the first phase of the school is established, further buildings will be added to the site. Much of this development will be funded from profit.

Budget

The funding required is to build the infrastructure, the operations of the school will be funded from school fees. Any vulnerable children will be sponsored and pay full fees so as not to compromise the primary purpose of the school, to generate profit.