Mentoring continues
Serving and helping others is one of the ways that we express our gratefulness to God for what he has done for us. Our children from different programs serve their younger brothers, who are now being supported in all centers of Youth Impact. In these pictures below, Behailu, a former resident of Love House and current architecture entrepreneur, is shown providing a lesson for our children at Hope Center on work ethic and discipline. He gave the lesson over several weeks, and the children have benefited greatly from his teachings and experiences. They had a closing ceremony upon completion of the program. In the program, children reflected on what they had learned from the lessons. In the bottom picture, Biruk, a former street boy at Hope Center, spends time with his younger brothers in the Center.
| Girls’ House Transition Joy Center of Youth Impact was opened to house orphan girls soon after the establishment of the ministry. 14 girls in total lived in the center. Nine of the girls were living independently after their years of mental, physical, and spiritual growth and development in the program. Of the remaining five girls, Lidet recently married, and Konjit, Hossana, and Kidist are making their final preparations to leave the center and join the community as productive citizens and role models. The final one, Tizita, is attending boarding school, working on her music education. These girls graduated from various colleges and universities and gained employment immediately after graduation. |
| Abraham Fiseha Honored for Dedicated Service Abraham Fiseha co-founded Youth Impact twenty years ago as he desired to serve God by serving young people in desperate situations. The Youth Impact family organized a thanksgiving night for Abraham on January 5, 2019. Abraham, his wife, Salem, his friends and colleagues, and representatives of children from different programs attended the ceremony. God blessed our time together that night! Guests made heart-touching speeches about what they had learned from Abraham and gave thanks to God for what He is doing in Abraham’s life. The program of the evening was actually organized by former children from Love and Joy Centers. They expressed their interest in saying thank you to Abraham for humbly serving them since the beginning. The entire Youth Impact family took part and organized the program in the Youth Impact coordination office compound. Participants of the ceremony expressed their love and respect for him and presented gifts. Abraham also made a speech and thanked all those who had organized the event. In his speech, he remembered Ermias and ensured his commitment to serve the people in the ministry. |
| Youth Impact Celebrates a Wedding The Youth Impact family celebrated the wedding of Lidet Dereje and Ephrem Shumye on February 24, 2019. Lidet was raised at Joy House as one of the orphan girls. She excelled academically and qualified for the Milagros scholarship, which she received for four years. In June of 2018, Lidet graduated with a degree in nursing, and now she works in a hospital for people with leprosy. Ephrem first came to Youth Impact over eight years ago to be trained at one of our mentor training centers. He joined Youth Impact as full-time staff about five years ago. Ephrem is currently responsible for managing the Shalom House located near a very destitute neighborhood of Addis Ababa, called Yeka District. The wedding also was a reunion as many of the former mentees gathered to witness their friends taking their vows. Please keep these young people in your prayers as they begin their lives together. |
| Ethiopian Impact Board Meets in Kentucky The newly formed Ethiopian Impact Board met in Stanford, Kentucky on February 22-23 to make plans for the coming year. It was a sweet time of fellowship with Abraham, Youth Impact co-founder, discussing ideas for how supporters can be more connected to the work in Ethiopia. Pictured below are (L-R): Abraham Fiseha; Brett Johnson, Treasurer, Louisville, KY; Katherine Forgy, Ethiopian Impact Staff, Lexington, KY; Angela Correll, Chair, Stanford, KY; Terri Richer, Board Member, Sanford, ME; Amy Hines, Secretary, Danville, KY. |
| Join the Ethiopian Impact Facebook Group We are transitioning from a Facebook page to a private Facebook group, so if you would like updates and news via Facebook, please join this group by requesting access at the link below: https://www.facebook.com/groups/296603260885918/ |
