A new home and a bigger family ✨

In September 2021, 17 of our 20 Betasab children transitioned from our Origins Homes to join our partner community, Hope for the Fatherless in the Gurd Shola - Kotebe area of Addis Ababa. Hope for the Fatherless is a small, local NGO deeply connected with the Ethiopian diaspora community and supported by a home base in Colorado Springs. HFTF’s mission is the same as ours: support and care for orphaned and vulnerable children in group homes.

As part of our partnership, GFI will continue to support these 17 children as well as our 3 older children (now over 18) as they complete their education, transition to independent living, and look ahead to college.

We're Hiring! ✅

Global Family Initiative is looking for a part-time business development associate to join our team. This is a wonderful opportunity to help shape the fundraising efforts of our organization. And you will have a direct impact on improving the lives of women and children in Ethiopia. See below to learn more about this exciting opportunity!

Part-time Business Development Associate

Why your support matters

Firew recently came to GFI looking for help. “all I want to do is stay in school and learn,” He told us.

Here’s his story.

My name is Firew Alemayehu. I was born in a small city called Mojio which is found 65 km away from Addis. My mom’s name is Eyerus. I don’t really know her father’s name. She used to work in a hotel as a bar lady. That’s how she meets my father, Semeneh. Then after a while I was born. Then my father gets mad and starts hitting me and my mother coming home drunk every night. Then my mom gave me for some rich folks when I was three and run away. I never saw her after that.

Firew Alemayehyu

Then I stayed there until I was 7 years old. Then my father starts accusing them that he needs his son back. Then they gave me back to him. He used to live with my stepmom and his kid, where they sell chat* also. I was really suffering living there. I couldn’t stay for too long. I ran away and start living in the street. I started working in a taxi in Nazret. After one year I came to Addis, living in the street. Also, I was working in a taxi by that age. I was a kid. Life was hell for me. I was starved and cold in the street. The taxi driver I was working with felt sad and asked me to go to school and gave me a small room in his house he was using as a store. Then in 2010 when I was 8 years old, I started school in grade 1. By the help of my teachers and the guy I was staying with I got into grade 9. But when I was grade 9 and ½ semester of grade nine, the guy I was staying with wants to rent the room I was in and kicked me out from his house. I don’t have a choice but to go back to the street again. But my teachers agreed to collect money and rent me a house. When I was in 10th grade I heard my mom died in HIV. I couldn’t even be at her funeral, because I don’t have money to go to her city. I also couldn’t pay my rent for 2 months now. Life has been hell for me again. This is what my life looked like for 18 years.

* Chat is a popular mildly hallucinogenic leaf users chew. It’s legal in Ethiopia.

Giving Tuesday 2018

Please donate to GFI this season, and help us spread the word! Our work makes a visible impact on the lives of vulnerable women and children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Here’s what your support does:

• Betasab is fully raising 20 orphaned children in our Origins Homes

• Betasab is assisting 100 high risk children with school support through our Learning Lions Scholarships

• In June 2018, we launched our SHEBA Women’s Empowerment Program with a cohort of 10 local women. The women hit the ground running with ten days of basic business training, after which they developed their own association to build a community of budding entrepreneurs. More great things to come!

We appreciate your support this Giving Tuesday! #GiveJoy 

Universal Children's Day

Tuesday, November 20th is Universal Children's Day, an internationally recognized holiday bringing awareness to children's rights and welfare. Wear something blue and post a photo on social media with #GoBlue and #GlobalFamily to show your support! Go big by going blue and share the message that all children deserve a safe, loving home. If you need a bit of inspiration, check out Blen's style, below:

Ready for action? Next week is Giving Tuesday, a global day of giving - all donations are tax deductible. Help us kick-off the season of giving by donating today! 

Benefit at American Flatbread, Middlebury!

Thanks to all who came out last night for our annual Global Family Initiative benefit at Flatbread. It was a wonderful night filled with good food, good music and good cheer, and we are so grateful for our supporters! ❤️🌍🍕

Giving Tuesday

Giving Tuesday (Nov 28, 2017) is a world-wide day devoted to celebrating philanthropy and the generosity of friends, family and strangers who want to share in bettering the lives of others around the globe.  We hope you can help us continue to create life-changing effects with our Programs with a year-end gift to Betasab.

For every $300 we raise, we can support one child through a year of school. It represents tuition, uniforms, and school supplies. Items we often take for granted, like a pair of shoes (which don’t last long on growing feet in the busy streets of Addis Ababa!) also help makes school a reality. Your contributions will make a long lasting impact; The Global Family Initiative's Betasab Project is able to grow and thrive because of our wonderful donors like you.

Here’s how you can help:

• Consider a donation on #Giving Tuesday
• Help us get the word out on social media by following us and sharing our posts

With your support we can raise our #Giving Tuesday goal of $15,000 for these great children and women!

Sincerely,

The Betasab Team

Fall 2017

In October, the Global Family Initiative celebrated the sixth anniversary of Betasab’s creation, and in July, five years since we got our first children, we are amazed at how far we have come since the program’s conception! Time sure does fly by. As the leaves turn colors and the seasons begin to change, we are reminded of all the positive change happening in the Origins Home, the Learning Lions program, and the SHEBA initiative. Our children are growing up so fast and learning so much, and we have YOU wonderful donors to thank for contributing towards this positive environment for development!

Our Old Director is our New Director! 

We are delighted to announce that Ephrem Gezahegn, our first director, has reassumed his role as (Interim) Country Director for Betasab. Ephrem served as the original Country Director for Betasab when we started in 2008 and was a co-founder of the organization.

In the intervening years, he has consistently volunteered his time, working with the staff and the children and women in our programs. He has been a steady presence and has provided endless support, from leading excursions to helping negotiate the best deals. We welcome his return. We also thank our wonderful previous director, Firewoyne Fransou, for her years of work with Betasab and her continued friendships with our children. We wish her tremendous success as she takes time to explore the next phase in her life.

And in the Promotions Department...

Fikirte Getachew has had a huge summer! You’ve known her as our headmother/cashier/backbone of the organization, so we made it official. Fikirte will now be known as our new Assistant Country Director. We’re very happy that Fikirte accepted our offer and is taking on more responsibilities with Betasab. We are positive she will make great leaps in maintaining the success of Betasab. Keep your eyes open for updates on changes around the office in the months to come! And in more happy news, we’re very happy to announce that Fikirte got married this past summer as well. Congratulations!

Learning Lions Program Reaches 50!

Earlier this year we welcomed ten new children to the Learning Lions program, bringing us to a total of 50 Learning Lions scholars. Who knew the progress we would make in such short years! The happiness is contagious around the future for these children. Speaking of happy news, the Learning Lions scholars and the Origins Home children received new school supplies including notebooks and pencils. The children could not wait to kick off the new school year with their brand new shoes!

Kaleab is Back!

After spending four months in Ghana following his spine surgery, Kaleab has returned to the Origins Home, better than ever. Thanks to Dr. Rick Hodes for undertaking Kaleab’s care, and making the surgery happen, and to the unbelievably generous  Dr. Boache who performed the surgery for Kalaeb. We cannot thank Dr. Hodes and Dr. Boache enough for their help in giving Kaleab the opportunity to leap towards his dreams without being held down by his spine issues. The GoFundMe page is still open and we welcome contributions towards the costs of this life-saving and life changing surgery.

The New Selam House and the Improved Fikir House

August and September brought big changes for our families. The Selam family moved into a new house. Ejegayehu, the mother of the Fikir House, Mimi, their aunty, and the children took to the paint cans for a fresh new year. Green, anyone?

 

 

Origins Home Children Attend the Love and Care Event

The Origins Home Children joined other orphanages for a fun-filled day hosted by Love and Care. The children danced, played games, and even had their faces painted. After all, glitter makes everything better!