Photo via bethanysponsorship.org

Ministry helps children in destitute region in Ethiopia

"The vision was to go into Ethiopia and make a significant impact across the board in children's services. That means a continuum of services--everything from counseling and helping children stay in their families, to helping with some micro-enterprise or training--so that families can afford to keep children in their homes," reports MNN.

Pam Harrington with Bethany Christian Services says the organization has been doing all this and more through their new project in Kolfe-Keranio, Ethiopia. They are helping children through any means possible, whether it be through parents or directly to the kids.

"We're focusing a lot on children who might not otherwise stay alive or be in a permanent family. We really want to go in with a bottom-line concept and help those kids that nobody else is helping."

Kolfe-Keranio is in dire need of this aid. The region is comprised of about 420,000 people, 15 percent of whom have HIV/AIDS. Over half of this population is made up of women, 90 percent of whom are unemployed, and who are almost exclusively illiterate. As a result to these factors, along with extremely low food supplies, 16,000 children in the region have been orphaned.

Bethany has signed an agreement with the Ethiopian government to provide social services, especially for these suffering children. Besides all of the programs previously mentioned, Bethany also offers a sponsorship program, which allows people to sponsor entire Ethiopian families.

For orphaned children, Bethany has recently begun an inter-country adoption process and plans to continue that for children that really have no other option.

"We can help families adopt who are interested in really going that extra mile and providing a family for a child that would not otherwise have a family. We see this as a real ministry."

Bethany Christian Services helps to spread the love of Jesus Christ by working in local churches and providing tangible care for desperate children.

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TAGS: Ethiopia Bethany Christian Services HIV/AIDS orphans adoption process

[01/30/2009]

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