Amhara Refugees From Wellega - Emergency Fundraiser 2023-2024:
Background
Though Dir Biyabir is not focused on emergency relief, the recent tragic situation in Ethiopia has required us to fund several emergency relief efforts. In February 2022 we had raised funds to provide emergency relief for Amhara civilians, mostly from the Wellega region but also parts of Eastern Shewa, fleeing endless rounds of horrific terror attacks by Oromo extremists simply because of their Amhara identity. At the time of our 2022 fundraiser, 30,000 of the internally displaced people (IDP) had moved to the N.Shewa region, and of these about 9,000 were settled in the town of Debre Birhan.
In July 2023, about 4,000 of these IDP were required to move out of the city of Debre Birhan to a camp in a rural area 10 kilometers north of Debre Birhan known as Bakelo. These IDP are facing a dire predicament with no food supply in their camps and no government or aid agency willing to help them. Thus Dir Biyabir had to run yet another emergency fundraiser to save their lives.
In November 2023, the program officer from our local partner Adheno visited the IDP at Bakelo to understand first hand what their critical needs are. Based on this assessment, Dir Biyabir ran an emergency fundraiser from December 2023 to February 2024. The initial target was to provide emergency relief for the entire camp. However once this was completed, it quickly became clear that a more sustainable solution was needed.
The IDP at Bakelo, as is the case with most of the displaced Amhara civilians from the Wellega region, are farmers and artisans and in addition to the physical deprivation of living in these camps with no reliable access to food, it has been very difficult for their psyche to sit around the camp and wait for aid as they are used to working hard and have many skills. Thus Dir Biyabir partnered with Adheno to launch 2 phases of entrepreneurship projects for the displaced folks in the Bakelo camp. The goal is to enable these innocent people to use their skills to produce goods that they can sell and generate income for themselves and their families.
As you can see from the videos this brought much relief and joy to these wonderful folks, as they have the satisfaction of putting themselves to good use and have a means to generate some income. It is so gratifying to see the Bakelo IDP camp abuzz with activity with women spinning cotton, and weaving traditional baskets and men weaving traditional cotton blankets (Gabi). In the videos you can see them all, Christian and Muslim alike, sending Dir Biyabir donors their profuse blessings for remembering them in their time of need.
The activities of Dir Biyabir and Adheno are summarized in the below timeline with links to videos. The full playlist for all videos from Bakelo Emergency Relief efforts in 2024 is available here
TIMELINE
November 17 2023: ADHENO visits Bakelo IDP camp and talks to residents about their needs. Video here
December 2023 - February 2024: Dir Biyabir held an emergency fundraiser to provide emergency relief for IDP in Bakelo camp
January 23 2024: ADHENO delivers Dir Biyabir funded emergency food relief for the entire camp. ADHENO also talks to skilled artisans and assesses their needs to expand their work on handicrafts. Video here and photos here
February - March 2024 (Phase 1 of Entrepreneurship for IDP): ADHENO delivered Dir Biyabir funded Mattresses, Blankets, Books, Stationary, and Toys. Though there is an education center in the camp (with 500+ kids), the center had no books or stationary. Since text books are not available even in Debre Birhan, Dir Biyabir funded the printing and binding of textbooks (from softcopies of the books), as well as stationary. Several balls were also purchased and distributed so the kids who have been heavily traumatized by violence at the hands of Oromo extremists, can get some relief through play time.
In addition, ADHENO delivered Dir Biyabir funded material to support entrepreneurship by IDP. Material was provided to make handicraft that they can then sell for additional revenue:
- 360 women received basket weaving material
- 200 women received sebez (hard dry grass) and sindedo (soft dry grass)
- 160 women received sebez (hard dry grass) and madaberya (colorful plastic material)
- 60 women received cotton and traditional spinning tools
- 20 women received crochet needles and thread
- 15 men received traditional weaving looms
Videos available here and here
June 4 - 6 2024 (Phase 2 of Entrepreneurship for IDP): ADHENO delivers additional Dir Biyabir funded material to support entrepreneurship by IDP.
- 8 men and 1 woman received brand new sewing machines
- 25 women received 15,000 birr (260 USD) startup capital, cash deposited in their bank account for each of 25 women after they completed their training
- 3 day entrepreneurship training given to 26 women and 8 men (34 total) who participated in phase 2 entrepreneurship program
Video available here.