Last Week in Numbers

56 children received a hot meal at The Kindu Klub

40 children received a hot meal at the Playgroup

17 children used the Kindu library

13 children attended football practice

Our sponsorship team visited 5 families

Resilient Children Inspire at Kindu Playgroup 

Our UK volunteer is spending two weeks in Ethiopia to get a sense of our work in-country. She tells us about one of her first experiences with The Kindu Trust:

“Every morning a handful of children, some with their mothers, some alone, come to the Kindu Trust Playgroup. It is entertaining to see how the children play with each other, read books and exercise their memories learning numbers or the alphabet. After they play for a while they all wash their hands, sit down and wait patiently for their meals. The Kindu Trust serves them rice or pasta with vegetables and every child gets one egg. The egg is always the special treat to which the children are looking forward. As I am visiting The Kindu Trust for 2 weeks it was one of the first things I did the morning after I arrived to sit down and play with the children. It is amazing how these young toddlers count to ten or know some words like apple, elephant and so on in English. When the kids leave after two hours there is quiet for a moment until the afternoon toddlers and babies arrive. In front of the playground two of the bead making artists settle down on a table outside and enjoy the sun while making necklaces and bracelets.

To my astonishment there was a little girl, only 6 years old, who came all the way from home by herself. Her mother is pregnant and therefore cannot walk her to The Kindu Trust but her will to take part was so strong that this brave little girl decided to walk alone. It was amazing and interesting to understand that children are sooner independent and find their own way through the streets. Again, in the afternoon the children washed their hands after playing, sat down patiently and waited for their food and special egg treat.
To sit with the mothers for the afternoon was very exiting even though I was not able to talk with them as I don’t speak Ahamric, the children bound us together. When the two hours in the afternoon were over, a little boy proved the independence of Ethiopian children to me again. He was not older than five years but came to the Playgroup with his grandmother who was nearly blind – the little boy led her by the hand all the way back to their home. It was very impressive to see how much these two hours of playing and food mean to the children and it proved again how important the work of The Kindu Trust is.”

The Playgroup is part of our extra recreational and education initiatives for our sponsored children which also includes the Kindu Klub for children from 6 years old upwards. The Playgroup has a dedicated Youth Worker who takes care of the children and teaches good nutritional and sanitation practice to their parents. Each child’s visit includes a hot meal, there are weekly baths with soap and clean towels and the transport costs for parents to bring their children to the Playgroup are covered by The Kindu Trust. You can read more about the project here and donate today to support the Playgroup here.

The Kindu Klub visit the Blue Nile Falls

This August we went on another wonderful Kindu Klub trip to visit the Blue Nile Falls, known as Tis Isat in Amharic. This trip is part of the The Kindu Trust’s mission to show impoverished children in Ethiopia the many amazing sites of their country they would not otherwise have the opportunity to visit and was funded through the generous donations of our supporters.

The trip took 150 children, along with volunteers and staff to visit the site in two hired buses. The day included food, chanting on the buses, ‘perilous’ suspension bridges and plenty of people people posing for photos by the falls. You can read a full account of how the day went and see some of the photos on our blog Kindu Klub trip to Tis Isat Falls. Thanks goes to everyone who made this trip possible!