The Orcadian Features - Helping to feed a family

Helping to feed a family for price of a Chinese takeaway
(Story dated March 18, 2004)

The Orcadian reporter Lorraine Shearer was so touched by the plight of a two-year-old African boy that she has gone against everything she believes in and decided to pay for his sponsorship. The money will mean the youngster and his family do not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from...

Tears were streaming down the two-year-old’s face and I was hooked.

Teseme Mulualem’s desperate plight gnawed away at me, until I had to do it.

I contacted Kindu Erdata, an Ethiopian charity, which was set up and is still run by former Orkney woman Kate Fereday Eshete, to request a sponsorship form.

For £15 a month, the little boy, his two siblings and their father can at least be assured they will be able to eat three times a day.

For me and my family that will mean missing out on a takeaway from the Chinese restaurant once a month. Hardly the end of the world.

It was almost against my religion to sponsor children in poor countries. After all there are always needy on our own back doorstep, and who can be sure the money actually goes to the families?

But on this occasion, and knowing Kate and her dedication to her cause, I am certain that Teseme and his family will benefit.

Kate spent her childhood and was educated in Orkney, before settling in Ethiopia and marrying a local man.

After working in an orphanage, she met Kindu, a young boy on the streets, and founded a charity in his honour.

Kate appealed through the columns of The Orcadian last Christmas for people to bring a little cheer into the lives of needy African children this year.

The article prompted six people in Orkney to sponsor children, including yours truly.

Kate explained: “We first heard about Teseme and his siblings in June, 2003, when our social worker, Havard Fikkan, noted the poor conditions in which the family was living.

“We added Teseme to our list of needy children waiting for a sponsor and Teseme’s father, Mulualem Gebayehu, brought us a document from the chairman of the local council, confirming the desperate circumstances of the family.”

Teseme’s mother, Yenealem, died on April 30, 2003, aged about 31. The exact cause of her death is unknown, although she had been treated in hospital before she died.

His father is about 40 and crippled, after breaking both knees when falling from a tree.

He has been left to look after the three children, including his step-daughter Weret, 6, and older son Afewerk, 5, earning a few pennies as a sewing machinist.

The family live in rent-free but dilapidated accommodation provided by a local benefactor.

They have already used some of Teseme’s sponsorship money to make improvements to their home.

Ethiopia is almost five times larger than the UK and has a population of 66 million.

Seventeen years of civil war, drought and famine have almost brought the country to its knees. HIV is rife.

I am now preparing a small shoe box of gifts to send to the family – a little light relief in what must be neverending days.

I also hope the experience will help my four-year-old son, Cavan, appreciate what he has got. He has already asked what we are sending to help the “poor family”. It may not be politically correct, but he understands that we have more than enough.

Kindu recommend that you send little toy cars, dolls, simple board games, crayons, cotton clothes. Treats such as raisins, sultanas, nuts, small chocolate bars.

An umbrella is an essential item in Ethiopia during the rainy season and it can be used as a parasol during the dry season.

The sponsorship scheme aims to promote friendship and provide a means by which people can help disadvantaged children directly.

For more information about sponsoring a child, or if you want to make a donation, contact Mrs Kate Fereday Eshete, Kindu Erdata, PO Box 1000, Gondar, Ethiopia, or e-mail kindu@telecom.net.et or telephone on 00 251 811 6511.