Recently my team and I got an opportunity to visit the ministry Hope for Korah. Like I mentioned early, Hope for Korah is a community near the cities garbage dumb here in Addis Ababa. It is also one of the largest urban slums. We learned so much more about this area last week and we were able to see it in person today. There are stories of people dying from the dozers, people dying from the black toxic water flowing from the waste, and people dying from the illnesses, which come from being malnourished. The pile of trash is probably 20 stories high and everything from plastic bottles to car fluids to body parts and bio hazardous materials from the hospitals are even dumped here. This is one of the most severe places of poverty I have personally witnessed. Not to mention, it’s next to one of the only hospitals that treat leprosy. (Yes, leprosy is still a real thing.)
Here are some photos of our visit. Due to sensitivity concerns, I didn’t take a lot of photos.
Here is a small section of the trash pile. (All trash not dirt) This is the area where they had a landslide of trash, just over a year ago. The trash slide destroyed homes as well as trapped and killed over 300 people.
Now, the Korah area is starting to look a little better, or developed, and taken care of. In the last few years the dirt roads acquired some rocks, which makes it much nicer. Also, within the last week they finally placed streetlights along the main roads in Korah.
Above is how the roads look now.
Even the houses are build in a way that most westerners never really see.
This is what the consider dry wall in parts of Ethiopia. Yes, mud and straw!
Now for a little more on Hope for Korah!
Hope for Korah has a few projects or ministries in which they oversee. They started in 2011 as a NGO to sponsor families. Actually, their main mission is to “Break the cycle of poverty, through family empowerment.” Pretty Rad Right!
They help families get back on their feet, they care for the elderly, who use to have leprosy and can no longer care for themselves.
They bring joy to the community and they feed the kids.
The second big thing they do is provide breakfast for a few hundred kids. This is called the “Burda Project.” They use this “Burda” mix to make pancakes for the kids. It’s important because the powder or mixture is filled with nutrients to help the kids become and stay healthy. The Burda pancakes are mixed the night before in order to set up and then in the morning they are made over fire.
They also make tea for the kids over the fire stove.
Black tea anyone? Hot and fresh!
It seems like a nice drink to accompany the pancakes.
Below is the final Burda pancake product.
Some hearty looking pancakes in my opinion!
We also made a couple friends while visiting. These two girls live in the community and they wonder around, at the age of 4, with out supervision. The reasons why kids do this is because some of the parents are bedridden or don’t have the time to watch them.
It’s important to have a place for these kids to come to and be safe.
This building above also is where they do church services, twice a week, as well as feed all the kids every morning before school. It’s truly amazing what the organization (Hope for Korah) is doing for the community. The people running, helping, and involved in the organization are very strong and inspirational people.
I wish this gives you all a better idea, but if you want more information, then please visit www.hopeforkorah.org or go to the Hope for Korah page on facebook.
Until next time……
