MARCH 2006

Expressing Solidarity: Global Investors in Ethiopia

The pounding hoofs of hundreds of horses, with their proud riders astride them, accompanied the bus as it reached the remote rural area of Jaldu for an important ceremony — the inauguration of Ethiopia’s first Hunger Project epicenter.

To participate in this historic event, 23 members of The Hunger Project’s Global Investment Group — individuals investing $5,000 or more each year — traveled from four countries to Ethiopia at their own expense. They came to see our work firsthand, express their partnership and solidarity, and empower themselves as spokespeople to expand our investor movement back home.

As Marilyn Graman from New York said, “It’s been an extraordinarily heart-opening experience, connecting with both our partners near the epicenter and the people I’m traveling with. I’m moved by the transformation I’ve noticed in each of us.”

 

People Ending Their Own Hunger

African Woman Food Farmer Initiative (AWFFI) women gather in front of the new Jaldu epicenter building. Members of the food production committee stand in the demonstration farm of the Jaldu epicenter.
A participant in the AWFFI program receives her first loan. Jaldu epicenter committee chair addresses the investors and other dignitaries at the epicenter inauguration.

 

The Jaldu epicenter — like 81 others across Africa — brings together the responsibility, intelligence and hard work of local people, the resources of local government, and the mobilizing leadership of The Hunger Project. Villagers elect committees with equal numbers of women and men to run every aspect of the epicenter: community farm, health center, food bank and other facilities. Investor Kitty Juda from Chicago explained, “After just 18 short months, the Jaldu epicenter is fully functioning . . . women were in line beginning to pay back their loans.”

 

The epicenter represents five small villages and serves over 30,000 people.  Close to 3,000 were there to celebrate the inauguration. Two epicenter leaders proudly read their prepared speeches to the investors. Only later did the investors discover that neither knew how to read before The Hunger Project came to Jaldu.

 

 

Seeing the Work on the Ground
 

“I was born here in Ethiopia and left 34 years ago, so I have the advantage of speaking the language. I spoke with a lady just after she took a loan of about $40. She told me she’d buy a sheep and three chickens. ‘This is a start,’ she said. ‘The care you showed us is most important to me.’ ”

— Geta Asfaw, Highlands Ranch, Colorado

“We’re working to empower people, so that hungry people become the primary actors and authors in ending their own hunger and poverty in its many dimensions. In the epicenters, we saw the people addressing all eight of the Millennium Development Goals.”

— Dorothy Stingley, Scottsdale, Arizona

 
(From left) A representative from the Ministry of Agriculture, with Dr. Fitigu Tadesse and investors Greg Skyles and Nicky Ball, cuts the ribbon to inaugurate the epicenter.

 

Underwriting Ethiopia

Launching The Hunger Project in a new country requires a guarantee of at least $300,000 per year for three years beyond our existing budget. Over the years, either one or a small group of individuals increases its level of investment to underwrite this start-up.

Our six Ethiopia underwriters are

Prudence Ducich
Karen Herman
Kate Lopez
Barbara Mayer
Nancy Sobel
The Santa Monica Zen Center

 

 

The Impact of the Africa Prize

 

2001 Africa Prize laureate Sister Tibebe Maco, with investors, proudly holds her Africa Prize in front of the HIV/AIDS clinic.

The investors also visited Sister Tibebe Maco, an AIDS activist and one of two Ethiopian women who have won The Hunger Project’s prestigious Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger. The investors met with dozens of AIDS orphans who participate in her programs.

Prior to winning the Africa Prize in 2001, Sister Tibebe had no outside funding for her work to prevent HIV/AIDS and care for people who are HIV positive. She told the investors, “After receiving the Africa Prize, I was recognized by the Ethiopian government and international organizations. Funding began to come to me from outside sources.

“My organization, HAPCSO, was recognized at an international conference in Bangkok as the winner among organizations from 100 countries that are fighting HIV/AIDS. Today, the mortality rate is decreasing, because we are now using antiretroviral drugs. You, the investors of The Hunger Project, have been my right arm in making this happen.”

Since 1987, The Hunger Project’s Africa Prize has been the world’s only initiative designed to call forth the committed, effective leadership Africa needs to achieve the end of hunger. It puts an international spotlight on the women and men who have not only made extraordinary contributions to the well-being of Africa’s people, but who also point the way to what can and must be done.

 

Join Us in New York
October 21–22

 

The 2006 Africa Prize for Leadership will be awarded at a gala dinner at the New York Hilton Hotel on Saturday night, October 21, 2006. Make plans and reservations now to join us for a weekend of activities. Watch www.thp.org for details.