Join us as we walk through the inspiring story of enset, also known as the “false banana.” Enset is a remarkable plant that plays a vital role in food resilience in rural Ethiopia. Continue reading “Enset: A Plant that Feeds Families During the Hardest Times”
Continue reading “Meet Beletech and learn how her butter business is thriving!”
Alemewerk really is the woman for the job!
Please meet Amelewerk. She’s a member of a Self-Help Entrepreneur (SHE) group. Her work and her SHE group’s positive momentum has suffered during the pandemic. In Ethiopia, the challenges of escalating inflation made work and success very challenging. During the past year, Roots Ethiopia put your support to work to revitalize SHE members with additional support and training for hard-working and determined women, including Alemewerk and her SHE group.
Alemewerk is so happy to share that she has a new outlook and fresh energy for success. She excitedly said, “I support my family selling fruits and vegetables. The most significant achievement for me is not only selling fruits and vegetables but also thinking like I have a job. I oftentimes do not stay at home, but go out and assess the market to help me do my business better. I feel strong and able to do so much more with the training, the savings program, and my SHE group who are excited about each other’s successes.”
(Alemewerk in blue, preparing her local market space)
Amelewerk’s years of harsh struggles have been healed by working hard every day and having support to make it through so many challenges. She is so happy to be part of the Self-Help Entrepreneur program and she says, “I am ready to do more, just watch me!”
Alemewerk’s hard work and dedication are inspiring. Go and get it, Alemewerk!
(Alemewerk making a sale)
You were ready and so were we! Last week your generous giving fed 390 families. Continue reading “Keeping Families Fed, Together, and Safe”
Wayziro Worke is a mother of two young girls, and she is raising her niece. When we first met her, she was alone, worried, with a lot of responsibility; a rent that was hard to pay, lack of confidence that she would be able to keep her children in school, and not enough money to keep her 3 children well cared for at home. Worke had an overwhelming sense of concern for her future. She wondered, “How can I survive with so little hope?” Worke joined our Roots Ethiopia Self – Help Entrepreneurs (SHE) network in January 2018. SHE members tell us Worke is one of the most ambitious, trustworthy and committed members of her Halaba SHE network.
Continue reading “SHE Leads. Meet Worke”
It takes power to stand up for yourself. And knowledge. How do you self-advocate if you don’t have access to the tools needed to improve your life? How do you reach self-reliance? And, finally, it takes a community having your back. Do like-minded community members see your potential and your struggle? Do they believe in you? Continue reading “Meet Adaneche: Our Latest Self-Help Entrepreneur (SHE) Rock Star”
There are staggering roadblocks to success for a woman like Hanna. Forced to abandon school in the 9th grade. Married at an early age and soon the young mother of two daughters. Her husband’s mental illness and inability to work. Her younger daughter’s neurological disease. Aging parents who move in with her. Hanna. The 24-year-old who’s already lived a half dozen lifetimes is now tasked with supporting her entire family.
It’s the stuff of tragedy, and for a weaker person might well be the end of the line. But Hanna is a survivor. And she is also not alone. Continue reading “SHE Means Business! Meet Hanna”
Dear friends,
The past 12 months have been amazing for Roots Ethiopia. Our team has been hard at work to support local ideas for lasting change. You have made this a year of growth and excellence. As always, we could not have accomplished our work without your support. We have put together a list of ways YOU have made a difference – add a touch of coffee, some very long days on the road to remote villages, and a dedicated team, and 2017 is a year to remember. We are so grateful for your enduring support!
Happy New Year,
Roots Ethiopia
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Highlights from our team:
The Roots Ethiopia Team
Tadelech’s children are headed back to school this week. They attend school regularly because their MOM IS A ROCKSTAR entrepreneur! Tadelech is part of a Roots Ethiopia Self-Help Entrepreneurs (SHE). She sells bananas and eggs in the market – and she even has a secret way of ripening her savory bananas. (You can read all about her on our Instagram account, using the hashtag #Tadu and #LaurensLens)
At Roots Ethiopia, we value family self-reliance. Tadelech is a great example of how a strong business plan and the support of a like-minded group of women means success for everyone in the family.
Do you want to enable the livelihoods of women like Tadelech? Support a woman who is joining SHE for just $27/month!
Meet Almaz, a local businesswoman and leader! She lives in Sodo, Wolayta, Ethiopia. Almaz‘s husband became gravely ill and their family lost their entire livelihood when he died. Like many families in Ethiopia, as a woman headed household she and her family suffered greatly from lack of work and no resources. Roots Ethiopia interviewed Almaz and learned she was well known in her neighborhood for making wonderful injera. Almaz was invited to join our Self-Help Entrepreneurs (SHE).
(Almaz and her son in front of their home)
Her SHE business start-up grant allowed her to start a small injera selling business right in her neighborhood, in front of her home. Almaz has created big change in her life! People come from all over the neighborhood to buy her fresh injera. She built a small outdoor kitchen outside of her home and she cooks and sells injera every day right off the mitad! Almaz and her 5 children feel confident that they can improve their lives with school, hard work, and savings and planning.
(Almaz’s kitchen and her stack of fresh injera – she has hired help to run her busy and thriving injera shop.)
Almaz‘s success is possible because YOU provided start-up resources she needed to unlock her potential and lead the way!
This year’s campaign to fund 30 more women in business is underway. You can be part of our continued work to promote women and small business success. Please consider a gift today. You can give here.
Roots Ethiopia is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization working in Africa, specifically helping Southern Ethiopia. Roots Ethiopia supports community identified solutions for job creation and education.
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