Connected Church – An update from our Partner – Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church

As a church we are supporting Tearfund Partner the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church (EKHC), particularly the work of the Self Help Groups (SHG)

Ethiopia is experiencing severe drought and the report below shows how EKHC is responding to this situation. You will see that this work is not all plain sailing, but still a difference is being made to people’s lives as we see the love of God in action.

Please use the prayer pointers and this report for your prayers.

If you would like to write to our partner church in Ethiopia, this can be arranged through obtaining letter heads from Ian Baillie, who will arrange for letters to be forwarded through Tearfund.

Living without a safety net

We often thank God for your compassion and cheerful giving to support the poor and disadvantaged people in Ethiopia. May God bless you and your ministries.

In the past few months we have been focused on two areas: assessing the impact of the drought on SHG members and their livelihoods and finalising our plans for a Church and Community Managed Resource Centre. (CCMRC).

How the drought is impacting the groups

The drought has been catastrophic for many people in Ethiopia who do not have a safety net. We were hoping that those who are part of a SHG would be faring better, as they had their savings to fall back on.

This is proving to be somewhat true but, because of the scale of the drought, it has still had an effect. We did an assessment of 141 members from eight groups and found that they were struggling to save as regularly as before. Those who had taken loans were finding it difficult to pay them back, and the groups had stopped doing projects together that would help them raise income.

We raised these issues as well as the general need for more support for drought stricken communities when the local government came to see our work with SHGs. They are always very impressed with the groups and the whole life transformation of group members, but we feel there are more opportunities for collaboration between us, the churches, and the government. We ask that you pray for this to happen.

A new project for the long term

This CCMRC is the next step in making sure that our SHGs are sustainable and built for the long term.

It involves bringing together churches, church leaders, and SHGs, and encouraging them to support the SHG network locally, rather than relying on funding from us. We are still at the early stages, but we are encouraged by the interest and enthusiasm we are getting from church leaders.

To make sure they are prepared for running these centres we are giving them training on fundraising, and thoroughly briefing them on how the centre will work. Please do pray for all the groups involved as we bring this project to life.

How you can pray for EKHC

• Pray for the development of the CCMRC project, that all involved would be eager to see it come to fruition, and that it would make a big difference to the sustainability of SHGs.
• The drought in Ethiopia is still severely affecting communities, please do pray for God’s intervention and help the church to respond to those who are suffering.
• EKHC and Tearfund are planning to respond to the emergency situation through our SHGs, please pray that God would provide guidance on the best way to handle this process.

Video – Conversation with Nigel Harris (Tearfund’s new CEO) about his first trip to Ethiopia

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