For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm, and a shade from the heat…Isaiah 25:4
Just a few days ago my friend Colleen was recollecting an emotionally moving event she experienced when she came to Ethiopia with me to visit the Mossy Foot ministry. We went to see a house being built for a mossy foot widow.
As our van pulled up with materials for building, women came dancing and singing to meet us. Their joy was palpable. The construction of a house is a community project. Mossy Foot Project provides all the materials and a carpenter to supervise the building. The community and local church provide the labor and mudding.
Such joy fills the community when a new sturdy home replaces a broken down one!
Our goal is to build 14 houses before the end of this year. So far we have built seven. Just $900 provides a safe house for a needy widow. If you or you friends could help us it would be a huge blessing.
During that trip, we visited another widow in her hut. Most of the straw was missing from her house so the rain would come in, mix with the dirt floor, and make mud puddles.There was little protection from the elements, hyenas, or thieves. The furniture in her “living room” was a log to sit on. The “bedroom” was a few rags on the floor to keep her warm during the night. The kitchen stove was a circle of rocks with wood on top to cook her food.
On behalf of our Mossy Foot patients, thank you so much for helping to transform their lives!
Here are two stories of recovered patients who received self-help loans so that they can become economically stable and support their families.
Daniel Tadese, from our Tome Mossy Foot clinic, was a patient with advanced stage 5 of mossy foot disease when he first came to our clinic. After regular treatment for about a year and a half his feet were completely recovered. Daniel received a self-help loan of $115 with which he started a very successful carpentry business.
Daniel uses his carpentry skills to create beautiful woodwork.
Haymanot Toma is another recipient of a self-help loan. She received $77 with which she started a business in the market selling agricultural beans for farmers to plant. Haymanot was a Mossy Foot patient since 2013. Now she has recovered well and is healthy. Her business is thriving and she is happy.
Haymanot sorts beans in preparation for selling them in the market.
Contributions from you, our donors, make these self-help loans possible. Being able to establish their own businesses helps patients to be independent and send their children to school. This gives them hope and changes the trajectory of their lives and that of their families.
Every week I am inspired after talking with our Ethiopian Executive Director Mr. Zebdewos Getahun and hearing stories of transformed lives. We are so blessed to have his leadership as we seek to serve the poor and needy in their distress!
With love and gratitude,
Mossy Foot Project President