It was a misty morning over the Ethiopian Highlands. The sun was just rising, revealing the lush, rolling hills as our plane descended toward the sprawling city of Addis Ababa. It had been three years since my last visit, and I could not wait to see our Ethiopian friends and join them in celebrating the progress of our work together. The journey to Africa is always long, but the warm welcome and embrace of our partners are always worth it.
We began our time with a traditional coffee welcome ceremony, one that we have grown accustomed to but are also humbled and honored to participate in each time. Our wonderful friend Tigist began roasting the coffee beans on a pan as we walked in, the fragrance immediately filling the room. The joy on her face and in her cadence as she provides the ceremony is always a gift.
We spent the morning introducing our fellow travelers to our Ethiopian team and hearing about the work we have accomplished together over the last twelve years. Hundreds of families empowered through business, children adopted locally, students given education support and aid in their journey toward adulthood. Our work in Ethiopia is focused and proven - communities are transforming, and cycles of poverty are being broken in real time. The seeds that have been sown for more than a decade are now coming to fruition.
We are here in Ethiopia to celebrate some of that transformation, and to be part of taking the next steps toward our partner communities flourishing into the future. We are here to break ground on the new Gunchire Preschool.
On the long drive to Gunchire, our local partner, the great Dr. Aschalew Abebe, describes how this preschool has been a dream and a need for the community for many years, and that dream is now a reality. He told us that “this groundbreaking was not just for a building, but was the planting of seeds of hope, education, possibility, and a bright future for the nation and the next generation.” Up to this point, our programs have met specific needs in the community, aiding families in moving from a place of dependence and extreme poverty to a place of standing on their own and keeping their families together. In a place where child abandonment was once the leading crisis, there are now little to no cases. The one remaining need in Gunchire: a preschool.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, we got to hear from the mayor of Gunchire, local religious leaders, our local partners, and parents of the children who will attend the school. Each shared their hope and excitement at what this school would mean for the community. That their children would have a clear pathway to success and chasing their dreams. That they would now have access to education from pre-K through secondary school, a reality that had never been true before. We celebrated and broke bread together, and joined hands to pray for the land that will one day be the foundation for the many feet that will cross over it and begin their journeys toward a brighter future.
This school was made possible because of you. Friends from the other side of the world who saw and believed in that same dream. That the children of Gunchire, Ethiopia, should have the same access and opportunities as our children here. The space to grow and dream and contribute toward a more beautiful community and world around them. We felt all of you with us as we broke ground and celebrated what the moment meant. It was a reminder that friendship and partnership are the way forward, that this mission of community transformation is possible. That when we link together our unique passions, talents, and resources, the possibilities are endless. As Dr. Aschalew said, this was not just the groundbreaking of a building or school, but truly the sowing of seeds for a better future.
May it be so.
Brennon Bloemendaal
Director of International Partnerships
