Above: AFC will hold its 3rd- annual benefit on Saturday, Dec
5 at the WVSA Gallery in Washington, D.C. This year’s theme:
“A Taste of Ethiopia,” offering silent and live art auctions.

Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff

Published: Tuesday, December 1, 2009

New York (Tadias) – The upcoming holiday season is a time when we look forward to gathering with family and friends to enjoy the festivities. It should also be a season to reflect on how we can help those who are less fortunate. Each of the charities listed below focus on basic environmental and social needs: Access to health care, clean water, education, and shelter for Ethiopians. We encourage you to read more about their work on their respective websites and to contribute to their efforts.

Here are our favorite charities (in no particular order). We welcome additional suggestions.

1.) Dir Biyabir (dirbiyabir.org)
Dir Biyabir works in Ethiopia to reduce extreme poverty by investing in people and building their capacity to help themselves. Their projects include providing vocational training and fostering entrepreneurship, building schools for local children, planting trees and rehabilitating the environment, improving local healthcare.

2.) U.S. Doctors for Africa (usdfa.org)
U.S. Doctors for Africa is a humanitarian organization committed to increasing access to medical care for diseases and conditions affecting the people of Africa. By mobilizing and distributing medical manpower, supplies, and equipment to medical institutions throughout the continent of Africa, U.S.D.F.A is able to provide medical and preventative healthcare and capacity-building to regions of Africa without available medical services. US Doctors for Africa believes that health care is a basic human right, and recognizes that a healthy population is essential for growth, development, and prosperity in every society.

3. Artists for Charity (AFC)
For the past three years a group called Artists for Charity (AFC) has challenged people to think about AIDS related issues in an annual holiday event in conjunction with World AIDS week. The non-profit
organization also runs a group home for HIV positive children in Addis Ababa.

4.) Ethiopia Reads (ethiopiareads.org)
Ethiopia Reads believes that education is the key to improving the lives of the next generation of Ethiopians, a country filled with children, and that book are the key to fostering a genuine love of learning. Ethiopia Reads projects include establishment of the Shola Children’s Library, school library development program, children’s book publishing program, and a librarian training program in Ethiopia.

5.) Gemini Healthcare Group (ghcg.org)
Gemini Healthcare Group is a not-for-profit that provides healthcare to women and children in Ethiopia by revitalizing the health and social service infrastructure. The organization is run by volunteers and pediatricians. Current projects include: building and supporting a children’s hospital in Ethiopia, improving health care infrastructure, promoting health education, providing health screening and mass immunizations, and recruiting and retaining local healthcare workers.

6.) A Glimmer of Hope (aglimmerofhope.org)
A Glimmer of Hope focuses on a comprehensive and entrepreneurial approach to humanitarian assistance. Input from village and community leaders is a vital part of the organization’s working model so that projects may truly reflect the necessities of the communities they are serving. A Glimmer of Hope’s work is exclusively based in Ethiopia and focuses on Water and Sanitation, Education, Health Care, IncomeCreation, Micro-Irrigation, Micro-Finance, and Veterinary Clinics. Stay tuned for our interview with Eric Schmidhauser, Director of Social Investment at A Glimmer of Hope.

7.) Girls Gotta Run Foundation (girlsgottarun.org)
The Girls Gotta Run Foundation (GGRF), is a volunteer organization founded in 2006 to raise money to provide support for impoverished Ethiopian girls who are training to be runners. Training to be athletes allows them to stay in school, avoid early marriage, and gain personal independence. Besides athletic shoes, GGRF provides money for training clothes, extra food (”calorie money”), coach subsidies, and other training-related expenses.

8.) Awassa Peace Dojo (www.aiki-extensions.org/projectsAwassa.asp)
Aiki-Extensions’ Ethiopian dojo offers Aikido training and classes for kids and adults six days a week in Awassa. Aikido activities are part of a youth program that includes One Love Theater’s gymnastics AIDS-awareness show, as well as other learning opportunities in art and music. Aikido work enriches the socially conscious Awasa Youth Theater program’s repertoire and provides hands-on training in
conflict resolution skills for youth.

9.) D.E.S.T.A. for Africa (destaforafrica.org)
D.E.S.T.A for Africa is a non-profit cultural organization to address the lack of adequate photographic training in Ethiopia. Through education and self-sustainable opportunities, Ethiopian photographers
can promote a balanced view of their country. The acronym stands for Developing and Educating Society Through Art, and the organization seeks to promote cultural development through the use of photography by providing workshops, exhibitions and creative exchanges.

10.) Worldwide Orphans Foundation (wwo.org)
Worldwide Orphans Foundation recently opened its WWO-AHF Family HealthCare Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. WWO’s aims to transform the lives of orphaned children by taking them out of anonymity and helping them to become healthy, independent, productive members of their communities and their world. The WWO-AHF Family Center in Addis Ababa is a full-service care facility for treating and monitoring the care of orphans and children in families with HIV/AIDS, and for the treatment of adults with HIV/AIDS. The Center helps to bring orphaned children into the mainstream of community life. In addition to life-saving pediatrics and antiretroviral medications, the Center offers a host of programs, including nutritional cooking and job training. Children have dedicated play areas in the clinic and participate in art and music projects. In collaboration with Right To Play and UNICEF, WWO has developed and facilitates an orphan soccer league in Addis Ababa.