Our President, Sharon Daly, is presently in Ethiopia on her annual management visit. During this visit, she was able to participate in the graduation ceremony for some mossy foot patients who have received vocational training.
Shown on the left is the joyful occasion of her attending the graduation of 37 young men and women from barber and hairdresser training where she and Meskele Ashine, our clinic director, are presenting certificates to the vocational training graduates.
In the photo below, the ladies in the red and green dresses are the hairdressing instructors. Nigatuwa, the lady in green, is a mossy foot patient who was treated, received vocational training and is now teaching others. This is a wonderful success story.
These people had suffered terribly from mossy foot disease. Previously they had been outcasts in their communities. Following foot treatment and vocational training, they are returning to their villages as self-supporting business people. Their lives have been transformed. Now they have a future and hope.