PROJECT 2015 ADDIS ABABA ETHIOPIA

ST John Baptist De la Salle School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

In 2009 the Missionary approached the De La Salle Brothers requesting that they take over the school the Sisters built to teach the 216 HIV-positive students housed in the orphanage called The Gift of Love Home, in Asco, Addis Ababa. St. John Baptist de La Salle School has provided free education to 216 HIV-positive children since September 2010 and also has been integrating them with other students enrolled at this school. Children with HIV/AIDS have been stigmatized by society and deprived of educational opportunities. St. John Baptist de La Salle School is opening a future for them by integrating them into society and by giving them better life opportunities through free education.

The school has been expanded since 2009 and has kindergarten, primary and secondary sections. It has currently more than 1200 students, both boys and girls, from kindergarten to grade nine. The school readily welcomes individuals from all races, religions, political, economically poor, and health backgrounds. St John Baptist de la Salle offers education to less fortunate, young Ethiopians who, despite their passion for learning, would not otherwise be able to afford the high entrance fees of other schools around Addis. It is located in the northwest of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in a humble community known as Asko. The school is run by the De La Salle Brothers but shares a compound in which the (Mother Teresa) run a clinic and an orphanage. These two well-known groups joined together in the outskirts of Addis to help sustain and educate the young of Asko.

Last year the Irish Lasallian Volunteers built a multi-purpose area for the children that are HIV positive.

The project for 2015 is the building of eight classrooms that will cater for 450 children from the slums that surround the school and for the children that are HIV positive.

We would hope to have a large group of Irish volunteers. It is hoped that this project will be completed this July/August. This project welcomes people who want to be part of a group of Irish volunteers based in the School in Addis Ababa. Volunteer activities involve physical work in the construction of this new facility for the children that are HIV positive. Opportunities for teaching, caring for children and nursing abound. One can teach any age group up to age fifteen.

Volunteers can use their vast array of talents whether they are in the health care, musical, artistic, sporting or drama areas. This short term volunteer project offers an authentic, cultural and meaningful experience to people with limited time. The project also includes exciting and varied cultural excursions and learning experiences. Volunteers may decide to travel further in Ethiopia or the African continent after the completion of the necessary time on the project.

If you are interested in volunteering in Addis Ababa this summer and you want to find out more about the project contact: Tom O'Neill, De La Salle College, Waterford: email [email protected]

John McDermott, Mount La Salle, Ballyfermot Road, Dublin 10 will also have information on this project [email protected]