Category: Women and girls

Meet Alemewerk: A woman for the job!

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)

Meet Ruhama!

When the Roots Ethiopia field staff first met Ruhama, she was working for a road construction company lifting heavy materials. With no parents to care for them, Ruhama and her brother and sister were struggling to survive on their own.  Ruhama wanted to attend school, but regular attendance wasn’t possible. Despite her desire to achieve and learn, Ruhama worried whether a difficult childhood and so many demands on her to take care of her family’s needs would assure she would always be poor and without the education.

Today, with the help of Roots Ethiopia’s School Sponsorship program, Ruhama attends 9th grade. She and her older brother still work to support the family, but the support Roots Ethiopia provides means Ruhama attends school daily.  Your support means Ruhama’s school fees are paid, her school supplies and a new set of clothes, shoes, and a uniform are ready for the start of every school year. Ruhama’s family also receives food support 3x a year.

It’s a challenge for a 15-year-old to balance work, taking care of family, and school. Ruhama is tremendously ambitious and driven. She says, “Even though life is difficult for me living in the countryside, Roots Ethiopia’s support helps me to continue my education and move me toward my dreams. No one can stop me from making my dream of education come true.”

You are making such great strides, Ruhama! Keep up the great work!

SHE Leads. Meet Worke

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”

Our Board Chair and Seldom Seen Photos

One of Roots Ethiopia’s core values lies in our belief that the most sustainable and long lasting change comes from Ethiopians helping Ethiopians. We trust in local ‘tibeb'(wisdom). This value also means you won’t often see our US based Board of Directors in images since we focus on local stories told in authentic ways by local women, teachers, children, elders, and neighbors.
Continue reading “Our Board Chair and Seldom Seen Photos”

SHE Means Business! Meet Hanna

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”

School Sponsorship Scholar: Meet Mihret

The Project Officers for Roots Ethiopia are local to the regions where they serve. This has many advantages for both Roots Ethiopia and communities, as it enables us to understand the sometimes unique needs of a community. It also allows our staff to be frequently in different villages (“kebeles”) on a regular basis, developing relationships. Here is a story sent to us by staff who were alerted to a potential School Sponsorship Scholar in Wolayta by a Project Officer…eleven year old Mihret.

When the Project Officer first brought to us meet with Mihret, she was carrying one of her little sisters on her back.  When we get closer to the house, she came to ask us who we were. She looked pale and tired; the look in her eyes clearly touched each of our hearts.

RE team Interviewing Mihret Wondson in Sodo trying to control emotions March 2018

Mihret is eleven years old. She has a twin sister and also has younger twin sisters. Her Mother is a widow who struggles to raise all four girls. Her mother used to work as a laborer. However, now with the younger twins to care for, she couldn’t leave them to go out and find labor work. The family could not afford to rent a house and are living in a small house provided by the local Women and Children’s Aid Society. Mihret was living with her aunt who lives far from her family’s village, and used to attend classes in the local school. Now it has been five days since she left school to return back home to her mother. We asked her why she had to leave school. She explained that “my twin sister got sick and went to Hawassa for medication. My mother wants to find a daily labor work and I am here to help care for the smaller children.”

As we spoke to her, she continued to carry one child on her back while other little ones played. We would have like to find her playing or studying with her friends. Instead, she has left her dream behind to make things better for her family.

Mihret deserves to be supported. She is now included in the Roots Ethiopia School Sponsorship Program. She was happy with tears in her eyes when she received school materials from the team.  She will attend school and there will be help for her mother’s task to care for her sick sister. We know this: we will work together to create a better future for more children who are in need of our help.