Ethiopia

World Vision is committed to partnering with the people of Ethiopia to transform their lives today and to help enact sustainable solutions for the future of their children, families, and communities. World Vision’s child sponsorship program plays a vital role in this partnership, with donors from the United States sponsoring more than 66,700 girls and boys. In addition to sponsorship, World Vision operates other programs that benefit communities in Ethiopia. Highlights include:

• Increasing food security, access to health facilities, education and clean drinking water, and improved child well-being
• Improving access to healthcare by strengthening health services.
• Providing support for children to enroll and stay in school.
• Combating the spread of HIV and AIDS by partnering with the church, the government, and other organizations.

In 1971, World Vision began its first relief project in Ethiopia to help refugees from the civil war in Sudan. Since then, some of World Vision’s major accomplishments have included:

• Drilling wells for villagers and their livestock and providing food aid for those affected by a severe drought during the 1970s.
• Implementing famine relief operations during the 1980s, saving thousands of lives, and starting recovery programs in the 1980s and 1990s.
• Introducing a program to reduce trachoma, a serious disease that causes blindness, for villagers in the Borkena Valley and raising HIV and AIDS awareness in the 21st century.

Geography and people

Ethiopia is home to more than 80 million people speaking more than 80 languages. Sitting in East Africa, Ethiopia borders Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and Somalia to the east, Kenya to the south, and Sudan to the west.

Varied landscapes fill the land, ranging from rugged highlands to dense forests to hot lowland plains. The slow drying of Africa’s Sahel region has increased droughts in eastern and northeastern Ethiopia.

Although deforestation has hurt crop production, over 80 percent of Ethiopians work in agriculture. Major crops include coffee, potatoes, grain, sorghum, and castor beans. Natural resources consist of small reserves of gold, platinum, copper, natural gas, and hydropower.

The second most populous country in Africa, Ethiopia has over 70 different people groups. In many areas, local dialects have replaced the official language of Amharic in primary school instruction. Guaragigna, Somali, Arabic, and English also are spoken. The capital of Addis Ababa is home to the African Union headquarters.

Most Ethiopians live in rural areas, many with their extended families in a clustered group of thatched huts. They sometimes refer to their cousins as “brother” or “sister” and to their aunts and uncles as “mother” and “father.”

History

Unlike most African nations, Ethiopia was never a European colony. Ethiopia became a socialist state in 1974; in 1994, Ethiopians adopted a constitution and held the first multi-party elections a year later.

Ethiopia suffered from the effects of severe economic troubles, civil war, and millions of displaced persons in the early 1980s. A succession of four devastating famines in that decade killed approximately 2 million people.

A 2.5-year border war with Eritrea ended with a peace treaty in December 2000. Voting irregularities in the 2005 parliamentary elections led to mass protests and more than 100 deaths.

In 2006, Ethiopia sent troops into the neighboring country of Somalia to help restore order after Islamist conflicts. However, tensions between Ethiopia and Somalia continue.

Ethiopians still experience a high level of food insecurity today after droughts in 2008 and 2009 and ongoing flooding.

Please pray for:

The countless Ethiopians and Somali refugees still in need of food assistance.

Rain to water crops and livestock so families can recover from the drought.