On Friday 28th June, The MRP Group attended a gathering for PFC Ethiopia at the Bel and Dragon in Cookham. We got to meet all the fantastic Junior PFC Ethiopia Ambassadors raising money for Gende Tesfa Breakfast Club. The Junior Ambassadors were shocked to learn that their friends in Gende Tesfa were going to school on an empty stomach, so they decided that they had to do something. Thanks to their amazing fundraising efforts, they have raised enough money for 30 of the poorest and most disadvantaged children to have breakfast before starting classes each day
The Reverend Dr John Binns commented ‘When visiting Gende Tesfa I have felt overwhelmed by the scale of poverty but amazing things have happened with the enthusiasm of Cookham supporters and the determination of Gende Tesfa people. It’s been a transformation.’ John has been a trustee for PFC Ethiopia for over twenty years, and visits the charity’s projects at least once a year.
At the recent PFC Ethiopia gathering, the Junior Ambassadors got the chance to meet Mulugeta Gebru, the director of the partner charity JeCCDO in Ethiopia. They were all presented with certificates to thank them for their innovative fundraising projects and persistence. With a colourful array of ideas from selling lemonade, to collecting pennies and selling almost everything in their houses!
We were really impressed to see the persistence of the Junior Ambassadors, and how enthusiastic they were about helping the charity. All of them got on board because they wanted to do something good for other people, and they have done amazingly well!
The MRP Group decided to support another campaign of PFC Ethiopia’s , the #woman2woman2019 programme. We have funded small business training for ten mums in Gende Tesfa. Last year the charity trained 100 mums in Gende Tesfa and their children now no longer need to attend the Breakfast Club.
This project is very much about self-sustainability and giving people a hand up. Before they receive help from PFC Ethiopia, many of these women earn as little as £1 a day – for example, gathering firewood. Many of the women are scarred from having had leprosy, not only stopping them from working but alienating them as a result of the stigma associated with the disease.
However, the training they receive from PFC Ethiopia changes their lives and their community’s future. This year, PFC Ethiopia want to offer 35 more women with this opportunity and The MRP Group are proud to be able to support 10 women towards this.
For the 2019-20 school year, PFC Ethiopia’s target is to raise £5,290 to keep the Gende Tesfa Breakfast Club for the whole year, and a further £3,300 to finance the mothers’ business training. We have already raised over £1,000 for each of these causes.
This will be the last year in Gende Tesfa, having been there for five years. The community is sustainable enough for the charity to move on to help other communities. It currently supports over 50 projects across Ethiopia. Please help up to change more lives there this year.
If you would like to donate, click here!
Donate to the Woman2Woman campaign
Donate to the Gende Tesfa Breakfast Club