HFC-US’s Newest Initiative
HFC-Ethiopia tries to keep orphaned children living within their community with neighbors or family members. In situations where this is not possible, a group home is established within the community where up to seven children live with a housemother in an environment that fosters a real sense of family. There have been nine group homes operating in Addis Ababa and another two in Babile.
In September 2011, thanks to generous donations from our supporters, HFC-US opened a tenth group home in Addis Ababa to meet the emergency needs of the Habatmu and Alemseged children.
Watch the following short video about Elsa Alemseged, our new group home mother, and her life-saving experience at HFC’s House of Hope.
Meet the Habatmu and Alemseged Children
This past summer, a group of HFC volunteers visiting Hope for Children (including Board members Carol Rhees and Ruthann Bates) learned of four children whose mother had died of AIDS a few weeks earlier and whose father had then poisoned himself in front of them.
Woinshet (HFC’s founder & executive director) found the children living alone in a small, poorly thatched hut. Eleven-year-old Tihune Habatmu was grief-stricken and overwhelmed, feeling that she was now totally responsible for her younger siblings, ages 3, 5 and 8.
That same day, we met Elsa Alemseged who explained that several years ago she was infected with HIV. When she realized that she was dying, Elsa left her home and sought help from the church. Her husband told the children she had died. As Elsa’s condition worsened (she became blind and partially paralyzed), someone brought her to House of Hope, the small hospice at Hope for Children, where she was gradually nursed back to health.
Today, Elsa has been reunited with her three children and is now the “mother” for our new group home where she cares for the four Habatmu children, as well as her own children. All of the children have adjusted remarkably quickly and are attending school. For us, this story serves as a good reminder of the incredible work being done by Hope for Children in Ethiopia.
