Our NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) is licensed in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.  We are committed to caring for children who have been abandoned, removed from their homes because of neglect or unsafe conditions, or those intentionally relinquished by a family member.

Our parallel focus is on the elderly widow who is destitute.  In each community where we work, our Widows and Orphans Homes reach out to widows who have no one at all to care for them in their twilight years.  In Adama, eight to ten ladies live in the home and we give community care to twenty-five others.  In Nekemte, Gimbie and Dembidollo, we provide food, clothing and some medical care to fifty widows.

 

 

 

Widows and Orphans Home – Adama

The Widows and Orphans Home in Adama is the first home YWAM established and is the largest.  Through a grant from a family foundation, a large and very nice facility has been built to provide excellent care for children and elderly widows.  The atmosphere is a blend of the old and young; the widows delighting in the children and the children benefiting from the hugs and loves from the widows. The Adama Widows and Orphans Home reaches out to the community by providing food and clothing for 25 community widows who have a place to live but are extremely poor.

 

Widows and Orphans Home – Nekemte

The police bring many abandoned babies to the Widows and Orphans Home in Nekemte.  It is a sweet little nursery with a fenced outdoor area where toddlers can play.  The nursery averages about six children at any given time and there are always two nannies carrying for the children (3:1 ratio) with another woman employed as a full time cleaner.  The clothes (diapers, too!) are all washed by hand and hung in the bright sunshine to dry.  The babies are fed formula for the first 12 months with soft foods introduced when they are around seven months old.  It is a happy place where the nannies begin and end their shifts with prayer for each other and the children.

 

Widows and Orphans Home – Gimbie

This home is a busy place!  There are usually about twelve children ranging from newborn to age two in this Widows and Orphans Home.  Three nannies are busy feeding, cleaning and playing with children 24/7 and the children become very bonded to them.  There is a nurse/social worker who oversees the care of the children as well as monitors the needs of twenty community widows who are very poor and receive monthly help with food and some medical care.  With permission from the local government, children are brought by single mothers or fathers who cannot care for them and the police bring babies or older children who have been abandoned or removed from their homes for safety reasons.  All children are covered with prayer and thrive with good food, excellent medical care and lots and lots of hugs and kisses.

 

 

Widows and Orphans Home -  Dembidollo

Dembidollo is the most remote home and is located in western Ethiopia not far from the southern Sudan border.  It is a rustic town with roads made more for walking than vehicle traffic.  The Widows and Orphans Home is a roomy facility with running water and electricity and is staffed by nannies who feel their calling is to minister to the orphans in their town.  There is a fenced play area where the toddlers and babies can enjoy time outdoors and a large playroom indoors as well.  The babies are fed formula and soft foods and the toddlers are cooked traditional Ethiopian food and drink cow’s milk.  The ratio of nannies to children is 3:1 with another woman employed as a full-time cleaner.  The children receive a lot of individual attention and their emotional and physical needs are well met.