facts
Travel to Ethiopia and you'll be in the oldest independent nation in Africa
and one of the oldest countries in the world. Ethiopia is among the ten
most leprosy-endemic countries in the world. Life expectancy is 45 years.
This woman (left) is preparing ingerra, a spongy pancake made from fermented teff flour batter. In Ethiopia you can eat ingerra, visit museums with three and four-million-year-old hominid fossils, and enjoy a spetacular array of bird life.
Ethiopia's economy is based on agriculture, which suffers from frequent
periods of drought. As many as 4.6 million people need food assistance
anually.
alm connections
ADDIS ABABA: ALM donors support the work of the Medhen Center, located along the road to one of the world’s largest leprosy villages.
One of the Center’s most exciting projects is its TUTORING PROGRAM. Older kids help younger ones master the basics of primary education.
Approximately 1200 students participate in the tutoring classes. Youngsters attend government schools for half a day and the tutoring program for the other half.
This program has been so successful it is being considered by the Ethiopian government as a model to combat poverty through education.
The leprosy village is home to about 25,000 families who live crushed together in flimsy shanties and mud houses.
The main road through the village is rough and rocky. During the rainy season it is slick with mud. The Leprosy Village is home to drink houses, child prostitution, gangs and turf wars. It is home to the blind, disabled and disfigured. Old men hobble on artificial legs or deformed stumps laced into leprosy boots and shoes.
It’s also home to tutoring program families who require one another to contribute one birr (approximately 15 cents) a month for classroom space – and who also require parents to volunteer as classroom monitors.
Members of the leprosy community have even made a decision linking tutoring to welfare help: No tutoring; No services. Their neighbors can not apply for food or clothing assistance unless they are ready to enroll their children in tutoring and take steps to help young people break out of poverty.
leprosy situation
Ethiopia
has an estimated 7,764 cases of leprosy. Many receive treatment
too late to escape deformities. Ethiopia has one doctor for every 30,560
people.
Protective shoes should be worn to protect leprosy-insensitive feet from crippling damage. Many people cannot afford even one pair of shoes. Gifts to ALM help meet this need. (Your online gifts help provide shoes for leprosy sufferers around the world.)
Many leprosy clinics must close for three months during the rainy season,
making regular treatment even more difficult for people in remote regions.
prayer & praise
Pray
for early case-finding so young people will grow up free from crippiling
and deformities from leprosy.
Praise God the high school graduates who now tutor children of leprosy-affected families. Education is their key to a brighter future. (Your online gifts help these tutoring projects.)
ALM gifts help train healthworkers from all over Africa so they will recognize
the signs and symptoms of leprosy. (Your online
gifts help with this training.)
budget
ALM's 2006 budget is $20,000 to help leprosy sufferers in Ethiopia. Today
leprosy can be cured with MDT (multidrug therapy).
The average cost to cure and rehabilitate one person with leprosy is $300. This amount covers training, transportation, and other activities to locate people with leprosy and enroll them in treatment programs.
ALM gifts help train healthworkers from all over Africa so they will recognize
signs and symptoms of leprosy. (Your online
gifts help with this training.)
video
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