The Oasis Foundation
Grace Village
Ethiopia

Projects

• Health Education Proposal - The northwestern zone of Tigray is sadly underserved with regards to health service. The great initiative by the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in training Health Extension Workers has made some inroads into providing rural Ethiopia with Health Education.
  
  The area of Tahtay Koraro includes the local referral hospital but this sadly is unable to meet the demand of the rural population for the basic information provided so well by good health educators. Faced with an enormous load of acute and emergency patients Health Education is often pushed to the background. The Health Extension Workers are involved in simple curative methods that are taking up much of their time. All this means less than ideal health education is being carried out in rural Ethiopia.
  
  
• HIV - AIDS Proposal - The North-Western Zone of Tigray is sadly HIV/ AIDS palliative care underserved; the ongoing needs in the area are reflected in the number of children who are orphans because their parents have died from AIDS. We have five such children in Grace Village, there are others in the community, one child died this year but we do not know the cause of death. In line with our Vision, we believe we should provide a service to people living with AIDS (PLWA).

  There is little or no palliative care for patients who are HIV/ AIDS Positive and for those who have a raised CD count and start on anti-retroviral therapy there is no place they can go to for complementary feeding required during the initial treatment phase.

• Kelakil - Schistosomiasis Eradication Project - One community within the boundaries of the catchment area of Tahtay Koraro was found to be gravely ill, the population had been displaced to what was believed to be a safe location. The National Research Institute had done a study and concluded that the illness was due to an alkaloid poisoning which was causing liver and spleen enlargement leading to illness and even death, on average sixty has died per annum.

• Kelakil Orphans - Year Two - Surrounding families have provided shelter for the orphans but the cost of an extra mouth to feed has caused extra stress to the family providing shelter. It is for these children that during the last six months we have given 100 EB per month. Fifty seven children have benefited from this and we believe that it is in the interest of the children that should continue.

• Proposal Fistula Waiting Area (FWA) - The northwestern zone of Tigray is sadly underserved with regards to maternal health. The Humera Hospital was closed for many years due to the conflict in that zone. The Shire Hospital was to have been the hope for pregnant women. Unfortunately, no obstetrician-gynaecologist has been able to remain there for any length of time. This gap has affected the number of women suffering from the effects of obstructed labour and the resulting sequel of obstetric fistulae.
  
  The women with obstetric fistulae are advised to 'go home and come back after three months'. Many go home and stay home or drift away to the big cities because of the tragic ostracism they face in their own communities leading to a high incidence of depression and even suicide.
  
  

• Teashop Project - Grace Village is situated in Chumay Kuchet a small neighbourhood in the larger government area of Tahtay Koraro as previously outlined. Grace Village is strategically placed eight kilometres from Shire town on the main road to the main town of Gondar so in addition to local people at least another two hundred (200) or more people pass the front gate who would could frequent the tea shop thus creating an enabling environment for training of our female teenagers in catering on a small and closely supervised atmosphere, not far from the main office of the Oasis Foundation / Ethiopia.
  
  The Oasis Foundation has identified various vulnerable and marginalized people groups in Tahtay Koraro. The initial plan of helping abandoned and orphaned children has developed into the need for training young people in skills as some do not have the possibility of going on in school because of poor academic performance. Hence training in small scale tea / coffee shops work here on site is of value.
  
  
• Water Proposal - The country with the lowest percentage of population with access to safe water is Ethiopia, with 22 percent, with rural Ethiopia being the most poorly served in drinking water. Where there is little water sanitation also becomes a problem leading to major causes of illness and even death in the young and those already compromised through illness and malnutrition, in Ethiopia only 6 percent of the population having access to any form of sanitation.

  The Chumay Kuchet within the Tahtay Koraro neighbourhood area has very poor underwater supplies. In the radius of 5 kilometres around Grace Village, the focal centre for drinking water supply, there are two boreholes, which provide 2 litres per second only, because of the low underwater source.

If you are interested in more information, please contact us for the detailed proposal.