The Oasis Foundation
Grace Village
Ethiopia

Oasis' Splash
April 2008, Volume 1, Issue 2 (pdf - Print Version)

Kelakil

   Our child care coordinator Mulugeta returned from Kelakil after one full month of feeding these children with soya and oatmeal porridge. He said that the children’s faces were shining and plump, they are filling out.

  We did weight them, but that wasn’t too clear as there were some discrepancies regarding methodology for weight and height. This week as I write we are weighting and measuring the children again. The community is pleased, the teachers informed us there are less sick children in school.

  The teachers did say that some of the older ones are going back to their village to help their fathers to plough and sow for next year. As their fathers said that if they stay they die of hunger, if they go back they may die of this ‘unknown disease’.

  The report from Atlanta’s Control for Disease Centre indicates that Schistosomiasis Mansoni may be the cause of illness. This is a parasite found in water which causes bloody stools and eventual blockage of liver. A team who work with Professor Alan Fenwick at Imperial College, arrives end of next week to confirm these findings and help us resolve this problem with the people and the environment as well. The treatment is a single dose of Prazequantil, which must be given with supplemental feeding. So  we could handle this!   It would be grand to be the ones to help these poor marginalized people back on the road to normalcy.

   Thank you for your help to us for these dear people.

Grace Village

  We now have safe electricity and carefully piped water, which was done by a team from Addis Ababa who laid good quality pipes underground. This has helped so much with our water conduit. In addition to this we have had rain, good rains and our reservoir has water, so after six weeks of water brought from the pond by donkey we now have it coming from our taps!

  Yesterday one of the mother’s came to show us  one of the wee girls, Eden who is sero-positive to HIV and is having anti-retroviral treatments , she was covered with spots—chickenpox! Poor wee darling, we felt so sorry for her and asked about her this morning, she had gone to school, ‘because I have exams you know’.  We really do have  so treasures here! She is an excellent student aged eight years old...

Community Child Care

  It was becoming increasing evident that we needed a presence in Shire town, so that sponsored students could access us with greater ease, for them to walk the eight kilometers to Grace Village was not always easy.  A compound has been rented where we have an office and some of our staff are able to rent rooms and live in a safe  area of town and in a locked compound. This office has been a great blessing, the students come and collect their money and are able to chat as well. 

  One youngster who came was dirty and unkempt, she explained her mother had been diagnosed with AIDS and gone away, she did not know what to do. So we debated about having her come to Grace Village when her mother returned quite ill. They found a room but had nothing, so we have bought items for these two vulnerable women who have no one else to help.

  This give you a glimpse of the snowball effect of our work amongst the students leading to the AIDS victims too, allowing us to help in so many ways, in this case both mother and daughter! Wonderful!

Jobs done...

   Proposals for the fistula waiting area, for Women’s Agricultural development, HIV/AIDS support service and rain water harvesting has been sent out. 

  Menlo Park Church has come on board and helped us develop our website! It is quite beautiful and we are so grateful! Check it out! www.oasisfoundationethiopia.org

  Visits from the Netherlands partners brought excitement and wonderful jobs completed, painting jobs done and so much more. Great stuff!

Health Projects

   The team from Netherlands extended the Fistula Waiting Area and made doors, so that our Bethel Centre looks great. Though we have no resident patients yet, Sr. Letish is busy caring for AIDS patients in their homes as well as our own children.

  Berhine is away for one years training as a health extension worker. To help with health education.

Thank you for your help and love to the vulnerable and marginalized in Ethiopia!