Meketa, our project to support Jews in Ethiopia, is planning a fundraising tour to take place on 17-28 November 2013.  The price of £1950 will include visits to various important, historic, and all around neat places in Ethiopia.

There will be a day spend in the capital, Addis Ababa, enjoying the sights and the Museum of Ethnology. Two days will be spent checking out Lalibella, a world heritage site. Axum, the believed home of the biblical table of the covenant, as well as the spectacular countryside of Bahar Dar, will be viewed.  Two days will be spent in the awe-inspiring Simien mountains.  And of course a long weekend in Gondar, visiting the castles and meeting and interacting with the Jewish community.

Anyone who enjoys travel, meeting new people, or with an interest in Judaism or the fate of the Jewish people would enjoy this trip.

As of January, there are a few hundred Jews left to emigrate to Israel  but over 5,000 rejected for aliyah as their Jewish decent follows the paternal and not maternal line. By helping out with Meketa, you can be apart of helping make this world a better place.

For further details to register your interest contact info@meketa.org.uk or call 07562 189 352, and check out the attached Meketa Trip Flyer.

One new volunteer promised to assit us in Play Group, Kindu Klub, and SPC programmes!

Aside form that, the news from the Kindu Klub and the Play Group…

Kindu Klub

• 73 students attended the library
• 64 students attended Kindu Education
• 11 students played football
• 64 students were served hot meals

Play Group

• 40 children attended play group
• 36 children were bathed and served nourishing food
• Chekula taught them basic education
• Children are loving the toys and bicycles

The Kindu Klub had a solid week in mid February.

• 74 students attended the library.
• 65 students attended Kindu Education.
• 28 students played in a football match.
• 65 students served hot meals.

The play group also had a good show.

• 44 children attended the play group.
• 36 children were bathed and served nourished food.
• Additionally, Chekula taught them basic education apart from the bathing and the feeding. Children are playing with toys and bicycles, and very importantly, in great joy and love.

A handful of tourists visited the compound, three of which had a traditional meal at the compound and seemed to enjoy it very much.  They also purchased a few items from our gift shop.

As you may have recently seen on our Twitter or Facebook pages, our compound was just recently set up with a constant source of internet. As such, we hope to start receiving more frequent updates about what is going on so we can pass the information along to you.

Up until now, all information was passed along via USB modem cards, which are not the most reliable.  Our hope is that the new service will consistently work, though only time will tell!

Hannukah in Gondar

Click on the link above to learn out how Meketa celebrated Hannaukah in Gondar.

Do you have an interest in The Kindu Trust? Better yet, do you know a group that might have an interest in The Kindu Trust? If so, we would love to come visit you if you are based in London and give you a short presentation.

The presentation can be as short (5 minutes) or as long as you have time for. Our goal is to spread the word and try to find new audiences to donate, volunteer, and support our cause.

Drop us an email at kindu@kindutrust.org and we will get back to you as soon as possible!

One of our newer projects we are undertaking is the Meketa project – a program that helps supports Jews in Ethiopia.

There are thousands of Jewish Ethiopian citizens living in poverty, and extreme poverty, all over Ethiopia.  In the hopes of finding a better life, families uproot their lives from their towns and move to Gondar to register for emigration to Israel.  However, the Israeli Authorities have rejected thousands of individuals on the grounds that they do not have an unbroken line of matrilineal Jewish descent in their family history.

We want to fix that.

Meketa works with The Kindu Trust to support those in need.  You can read all about it and how to support Meketa on our website under the Child Sponsorship tap or simply by clicking here.

Dear Supporters, Followers, and Friends,

We are going to begin updating all our social mediums beginning today, immediately (well, Tuesday for Twitter and Facebook).  As our community, we want to make you feel involved with The Kindu Trust.  This said, we want to keep you informed with updates, details, and whatever else our community (you!) wants to hear about.

Due to a lack of staff, we have not been able to keep up the past few months. That is all now changing.

Please follow our Facebook and Twitter for more frequent updates including pictures, weekly happenings at the compound, and much more.

Email us with any questions, comments, suggestions, or anything else at kindu@kindutrust.org

Ethiopia continue to climb the medal table after a the distance running events in whichTeam Ethiopia dominated!

Tariku Bekele picked up a bronze medal in the Men’s 10,000m whilst Sofia Assefa also came in third to collect a bronze in the Women’s 3000m Steeple chase. A brilliant performance by two of Ethiopia’s top athletes!

Sofia Assefa – Bronze Medallist: Women’s 3000m Steeple Chase

Then Ethiopia struck gold! Tiki Gelana broke the Olympic marathon record by coming in at 2 hours 23 mins and 7 seconds! A truly staggering feat of endurance, discipline and athleticism.

Following hot on her heals was Tirunesh Dibaba who sealed victory in the Women’s 10,000m in what was hailed as a colossal race!

Gold medal winner Tirunesh Dibaba

There is an Ethiopian day on the 11 August at the African Village in Kensington gardens opposite the Royal Albert Hall where visitors can come and experience the cultural wonders on Ethiopia with the country’s top athletes. There will be dance, music and coffee ceremonies. Doors open 2 -6pm