The past week at The Kindu Trust in numbers:

105 children in the Kindu Klub and Playgroup received hot meals

68 children visited the Kindu Klub library

39 children in Play Group had a shower

15 children played football

13 home visits were carried out by staff

3 school visits were carried out by staff

On top of this 100 children visited the Simien mountains! See our last update for details.

Bakery set to Bring in the Dough for Sponsored Families!

The Kindu Trust has secured funding for our new bakery project! Big thanks go to all those who donated and helped to spread the word during our fundraising through the Big Give Challenge. The challenge aimed to raise all the funds for the project, with every donation given by you matched by our Charity Champion, Ethiopiaid, and we’re pleased to say a grand total of £15,249 was raised, enabling us to go ahead with the bakery. This project is part of our aim to help families in the community become independent through income generating schemes. Parents of sponsored children will receive training from a professional baker and a job at the bakery allowing them to develop new skills and achieve financial independence. Now we move on to picking ovens, checking locations and making sure the bread rises! We’ll keep you updated.

Gondar Volunteers

Our latest Gondar volunteer has returned from her 6 week placement in Ethiopia. Jane Attwooll is a Specialist HIV Worker in the UK and she went over to help us with our work on the Women’s Coffee Morning Project. The Women’s Coffee Morning is a project which brings together women in the community who are infected with HIV. It is part social support group, part income generating project which aims to relieve the stigma of being HIV positive. You can read more about it here. Jane did some wonderful work with the group and you can look out for a full update on her trip later this week!

Teff goes A-List

As anyone who has been to Ethiopia will tell you, you don’t get far from the airport before coming across Injera. Now, Ethiopia’s staple food is gaining global celebrity due to the grain Ethiopians have been using to make injera for centuries: teff. Teff’s gluten-free and nutritious qualities are fast making it one of the most sought-after super foods in the Western world. So, what does this mean for Ethiopia? As the article below points out, this could mean great things for Ethiopia’s economy as teff has the potential to become a highly valued export. However, there is also the danger of ‘quinoa effect’, whereby the demand and prices for teff becomes so high that it is no longer available to ordinary Ethiopians. As a valuable nutritious element of what can otherwise be a depleted diet, teff could equally spell economic growth or risk ahead for Ethiopia. Check out this article from the Guardian for more information.