Following Through

My first visit to the Medhen Social Center (MSC) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia was in July of 2016. My then 17-year-old daughter Emma decided to work with the charity M.O.R.E. (based in our hometown of Randolph, NJ) for her Girl Scout Gold Award project. M.O.R.E. is a 501c3 organization that provides financial assistance to the Medhen Social Center in Ethiopia. As part of her Girl Scout project, Emma organized fundraisers in NJ and used the proceeds to purchase technology to benefit the children at Medhen Social Center. Emma was eager to hand-deliver the items that she purchased and observe firsthand the work being done at MSC in Addis. My husband Jack and I enthusiastically agreed to accompany our daughter Emma on this journey. Before we knew what happened we found ourselves making the 7,000-mile journey across the globe!

Unlike traditional institutional orphanages, the structure of the Medhen Social Center is very different. The MSC has created a network of home-based care to support the needs of hundreds of orphaned and vulnerable children annually who need parental/caregiver support–somewhat like a foster care system, except that both the orphaned and vulnerable children are placed in homes. As such, the orphaned and vulnerable children supported by M.O.R.E. live with families who can care for them as their own family members. M.O.R.E.--through the MSC--provides financial support to a large, tight-knit group of the caregivers and the children, thus addressing healing an entire community structure and cycle of poverty that is otherwise overlooked. The neighborhood where these children and their caregivers live on the outskirts of Addis is extremely impoverished. 

Our trip to the MSC in Addis in 2016 was life-changing for sure. Sister Sekenesh, the founder and director of MSC, had already become our hero before we embarked on our journey to Addis. We first met her in New Jersey while she was visiting some of the M.O.R.E. board members at a M.O.R.E. fundraiser a few months prior to our trip. We were fascinated by her holistic approach to caring for all aspects of her clients. I was reminded of what the Jesuits who educated me referred to as “cura personalis” or having a concern or care for the entire individual, from the physical to the intellectual to the spiritual. 

She starts with the basics like helping to provide safety, shelter, food, clothing and healthcare support. But she goes beyond that, making sure her clients are provided with educational support, psychosocial and emotional support, and finally economic empowerment, with the goal being of helping all her clients to eventually become self-sufficient. She leverages her wide network of different partners and organizations to fill the various needs of the community that she serves.

After seeing Sister Senkenesh in action in Addis in 2016, my family became lifelong disciples of this amazing humanitarian, whom the locals refer to as “The Mother of the Poor.” We became more involved after our trip and eventually my husband Jack and I both joined the board of M.O.R.E. In the words of Sister Joan Chittister, “Once you have seen it and it has come into your consciousness, you can never unsee it. Do something!” We both felt compelled to help in whatever small way we could with the seemingly insurmountable issues that Sister Senkenesh takes on every day. We were inspired by her outside-the-box ingenuity.

Due to the pandemic, six years passed before we were able to return to Addis in October of 2022. Full circle moments are rare in life, and I am forever grateful to Sister Senkenesh for allowing us to witness this one. During our visit in 2016, we accompanied Sister and her staff of social workers on several home visits to check on some of her most desperate clients. On our return trip in 2022, Sister arranged a meeting for us with all the different MSC staff members who had cared for and supported three of these families. This meeting allowed us to see how the MSC staff works in coordination with each other and with the active participation of the families and the surrounding community to bring about change. It was so fulfilling to see the progress that these three families made over the course of six years. 

The children that M.O.R.E. supports are either orphaned or vulnerable. Vulnerable children (VC) may have surviving parents, but these parents have either abandoned them, or are unable to care for their children due to incapacitating illness or other catastrophic events. MSC matches orphaned and vulnerable children with caregivers. If the children are not able to be cared for by a relative, MSC will match them with a caregiver from the community. A case manager from MSC will be in continuous contact with these families through home visits and the MSC education department. The education department offers a preschool and kindergarten, and tutoring from grade 1-12 five days per week after school.

FAMILY 1:

2016

The situation was dire when we first met this mother and her six-year-old daughter. The mother was psychologically and physically incapacitated. Bedridden with tuberculosis and HIV, she told the MSC social workers that she wanted to run away. The MSC staff sent her daughter to live with a neighbor because she was unable to care for her. This arrangement also prevented the daughter from being exposed to or infected with TB. This saddened the mother because her daughter started to bond with her neighbor who cared for her, and the mother was afraid that she was being replaced. MSC home care workers had to carry the mother on a stretcher to her medical appointments. She was unable to go to the bathroom unattended, dress and bathe herself, or feed herself. Around-the-clock care was arranged by these home care workers, who networked with neighbors (fostering community) and with the mother’s medical team at the nearby ALERT hospital. The team picked up and administered her medications, brought her rent to her landlord, did her laundry, and picked up and prepared her food. The social workers also provided psychosocial support for both the mother and the daughter.

2022

The mother and her daughter (now 12 years old) were reunited and are now living together and thriving. The daughter had some learning difficulties and was promoted at the public school despite not testing at grade level. Her tutors noticed that she was working with her mother after school instead of studying. The MSC educational support staff made sure that she came to the MSC tutoring center five days per week after school. This helped her to jump three grade levels.

After she recovered physically, the mother participated in MSC’s economic empowerment program, specifically small business training. She now has a successful business selling grasses, potatoes, and incense. This family would be entirely self-sufficient if not for COVID causing inflation. Many MSC families saw their rents increase by 75% this year. The only support the family receives now from MSC is the house rent program which covers 2/3 of their rent. They are well on their way to becoming self-sufficient.

FAMILY 2:

2016

The mother in this family is blind and was unable to care for herself, let alone her six-year-old nephew and 11-year-old daughter who lived with her. The daughter had already taken on many of the household chores like fetching the water for the household, cooking, bringing her mother to her appointments at the hospital, and picking up her medications. The MSC workers took on these tasks so that the daughter could focus on her studies. MSC provided the family with 2/3 of their house rent, grain and school supplies. The MSC home care workers acted as her guide if the mother needed to walk anywhere and brought her to the hospital to socialize with people with similar issues. 

2022

Mother, daughter, and nephew are living together in the same house and thriving. The daughter was an excellent student and participated in the MSC tutoring program every day after school. When she graduated high school, she decided to go to a training institution for community workers/social work. Now she is employed at MSC as an assistant to the social workers. She makes her own income, supports her mother and cousin, has a positive attitude, and is a productive member of the staff. This is an excellent manifestation of MSC’s philosophy of developing leadership from within the community. In fact, the majority of the staff members are graduates of the program. Within a year, it is expected that this family will be completely self-sufficient–no longer a client, but an employee!

FAMILY 3: 

2016

Due to a vitamin deficiency, a mother of four was paralyzed and was unable to speak clearly. Her husband abandoned her and their children. She left her oldest child with a relative and set off in search of help with her ten-year-old daughter, six-year-old son, and four-month-old son. She had heard of “The Mother of the Poor” (Sister Senkenesh) in Addis. She used her hands to drag herself for days until she reached Addis with her three younger children in tow, the older children carrying the baby. The baby boy was surrendered to an institutional orphanage when they arrived in Addis. Sister Senkenesh went to visit him there and saw that he was angry and failing to thrive. Sister Senekensh returned the baby to his mother and set the family up with support. This family required rent assistance and a food allowance. Homecare workers fed the baby around the clock, took the mother to the bathroom, prepared all meals for the family, and washed all their clothes. The older children required educational and psychosocial support. MSC homecare workers transported the mother on a stretcher to her medical appointments. Within a few weeks, the infant started to thrive.

2022 

The oldest daughter returned, and all four children are now living with their mother. The infant was enrolled in daycare at eight months old, and MSC workers transported him to and from daycare each day. After two years of medication and extensive treatments, the mother regained the ability to walk (with a cane) and can now speak and be understood. She is now able to come to the center on her own once a month to pick up her grain allowance. Social workers still check in to make sure all family members contribute to the running of the household. The older son participated in the Memory Book program. This is an innovative MSC program that helps children to process trauma. It’s a 17-week program that meets on Saturdays for three hours with approximately 25 children per cycle. Children write letters to their parents or caregivers in a notebook. They ask questions and start a dialogue. Through this program, social workers became aware of this boy’s interest in art and provided him with art supplies. It turns out he is a talented artist and he went on to win first prize in an art competition.

Seeing the progress that these three families made over the course of six years was incredibly heartwarming. The tireless dedication and innovative programs offered by the staff at MSC really do have the power to transform lives. 

BACK TO THE BEGINNING

Sadly, the need now at Medhen is greater than ever. In a true full circle moment, on our recent trip we visited some of the newest, most desperate clients with a team of social workers. Due to the civil war in Ethiopia, there is now a new category of client at MSC – families who have been displaced due to the war. These families are now arriving at the center. They are highly traumatized due to atrocities that they have witnessed as a result of the war. The social workers at MSC are currently undergoing training on how to deal with this trauma and support these families. On top of the war, Ethiopia is experiencing staggeringly high inflation levels (26.8% for 2021). Factors contributing to this inflation are weak domestic supply because of agricultural production constraints and steady devaluation of the birr. Many of MSC’s clients have seen their rents increase by 75% this year. After seeing the progress made over the course of six years, I am hopeful that the staff at MSC will enable these newest arrivals to get back on their feet and not only survive but thrive despite these challenging times. However, they need our financial support more than ever in order to succeed. I have faith that our current and new donors will be generous in helping us to support them.