Ethiopia: Tsige Tadesse Orpahanage Centre

Introduction

Tsige Tadesse Orphanage Centre was founded in 1986 by Tsige Tadesse and her husband. Together they had 14 children of their own. In the village where they were living, their neighbours passed away, leaving their 2 children with no one to care for them. Tsige and her husband took in these 2 children to their own home. Not long after this, other people began leaving children with Tsige, knowing that she would care for them. They used money they inherited and their savings to start caring for a small number of children in their village. Today, the orphanage centre cares for 106 children, ranging in age from 1 to 16 years. The centre is fully funded on family members contributions, and through selling family belongings.

The organization is non-governmental, non-religious, and non-political. The orphanage centre is located in a small town about an hours bus ride away from the capital city, Addis Ababa. The orphanage has no electricity, and they fetch water from a recently donated community water pump. The climate is variable, ranging from around 10 degrees Celsius in the wet season, to above 30 degrees Celsius in the dry season.

Accomodation & food costs:

All meals are provided. Volunteers may be expected to share a room with one or two other volunteers.

Volunteers would be expected to make a donation of USD$300 on arrival at the project to assist them with development and to cover their food costs.

Accomodation would be in the local guest house which charges $5 / day. The orphanage is currently looking at other options to provide volunteers with suitable accomodation during thier stay. Toilet facilities are very basic.

Founders of the orphanage with international volunteers.

Project Manager

The director and founder of the project is Tsige Tadesse, a local Ethiopian woman. Her husband and her work together to manage the day to day affairs of the organization. Tsige doesn’t speak any English though, so another member of the Board of Directors, Mr Abera, a local businessman, is responsible for all public relations, and will be responsible for contact with the volunteers.

Who do we need?

Tsige Tadesse Orphanage Centre need self-motivated and mature volunteers who want to help our children. We do not require any special skills, except for a dedication to making the lives of our children a little bit better. We ask that volunteers come ready for a challenge and willing to put in hard work.

Please be aware that the level of English spoken is very minimal and volunteers will need to use their initiative in order to integrate themselves into the project. We suggest that initially, only volunteers with previous volunteering experience in a developing country undertake to volunteer at this project, as it will require a level of confidence and ability to adjust to minimal comforts of life.

Your Job

The main role of the volunteers will be to teach supplementary lesson for the children at the orphanage. The ability to speak English gives children a head start in life, increasing their chances of continuing education and eventually finding work. Volunteers are asked to assist with lessons Monday to Friday in the morning and afternoon. These classes are generally only 1 to 2 hours long.

Volunteers can also teach other important skills, such as fine and gross motor skills, sports, computers, music and singing. The children are very eager to learn.
Volunteers can also be a great help by assisting with the daily tasks of the orphanage, such as cooking, washing, cleaning, helping to bathe the children, and farming.

Apart from teaching and general household duties, the organization needs a lot of help. Volunteers could be very useful in helping Tsige Tadesse Orphanage Centreto develop as an organization. The directors are in need of assistance in the following areas:

o Accounting and financial planning and reporting
o Fundraising, publicity and proposal/grant writing
o General administrative assistance

Volunteer washing the dishes

As this is a very new project, we currently do not have any experiences from volunteers. Two international volunteers have visited to check on the project's suitablity and talk with staff about accommodating international volunteers in their programme.