Junior Minister for Food and Horticulture and former leader of The Green Party Trevor Sargent TD visited Self Help's area based project at Sodo, Ethiopia, on a recent fact finding trip.
The Minister was accompanied on his visit by the newly appointed Irish Ambassador to Ethiopia Sile Maguire. Minister Sargent is a supporter of the North-Dublin based Skerries/Sodo community group who have been backing the work of Self Help Africa in Sodo for the past number of years.
The chief executive of Self Help Africa Ray Jordan has paid tribute to Dr. Awole Mela as ‘one of the key architects of Self Help’s successful development model’, following his retirement after more than 20 years as the organisation’s African Director.
Dr. Awole Mela began working with Self Help in its early years in Ethiopia, and alongside Fr. Owen Lambert and Dr. Noel McDonagh, was one of the key players instrumental in developing the Self Help model for integrated rural development in rural Africa.
A group of close to 30 Irish supporters travelled to Ethiopia on Self Help Africa's annual fund-raising field visit to our programme countries.
During the trip the group visited Self Help's programmes in the Sodo, Huruta, and Bora and Butajera areas, and got an opportunity to meet the rural communities with whom the organisation is working.
Scores of fund-raising events and activities were held across the country as part of Self Help Africa's 'Help plant the seeds of change' Autumn fund-raising campaign.
Co-ordinators from Longford to Lisdoonvarna, and from Dublin to Donegal organised and hosted events and activities, including Ireland's first ever National Sandwich Day. The event raised vital funding support for our work, and also did much to raise the public profile of 'Self Help Africa', just months after the newly named organisation was formally launched in the Summer.
To read more about some of the activities that took place, click on the link below.
Self Help Africa was one of the beneficiaries of the 'International Bazaar', organised in Dublin in late November by the country's Diplomatic missions. A school project in Ethiopia will benefit with funding support of €19,000 as a result of the event, which was held at the former Jury's Hotel in Ballsbridge. More than 40 countries were represented at the bazaar, which has been organised by the diplomatic community for the past number of years.
Introduction to Self Help Africa
Above is a short introduction to Self Help Africa and its work.
Family visit Eritrea school
The parents of an Irish teacher who died tragically more than a year ago, visited Eritrea and the school which they have built in her memory.
The events below are amongst activities taking place in Ireland to support Self Help Africa in the coming month. (To find out about any of the events listed below contact Self Help by phone on 1850 75 76 78 or e-mail us. .
DECEMBER
'Portlaoise to Pluto' Balloon Race, Portlaoise : 20th Dec
'Skerries/Sodo' collections for Self Help Africa : 22nd-24th Dec
St. Stephen's Day Walk, Gathabawn, Kilkenny : 26th Dec
Band Aid legacy lives on
The lasting legacy of funding support that Self Help Africa received from Bob Geldof's Band Aid Trust is to be seen at an irrigation scheme beside Lake Ziway in Adami Tulu, Ethiopia, where an irrigation scheme started nearly 20 years ago now has almost 23,000 farmer members.
Read more
News from the field
The support that we get from the general public and our other donors makes our African programmes possible. Read below a sample of just some of the things that have been happening recently with the people with whom we are working in Africa.
