Godanaw.

 Godanaw was something we were very privileged to see. It is a small, African devised and run charity that operates in Addis on the front line of the troubles it faces. How we ended up there was the usual checklist of chance meetings with vice-consul's and trips to local football clubs named after large utilities. What we saw there was not. For many African based charity organisations the situations that Godanaw deals with may be all too familiar. To observe it first hand was as saddening to see, as it was uplifting to be in the company of people trying to make some kind of difference.
 Godanaw is a shelter set up in Addis to look after young girls and their babies. The reason they need this help is that they are young girls, street girls, who have found themselves pregnant as a result of rape. Girls as young as 11 years old forced into an extraordinary situation. Ordinarily they would have nowhere to go, no-one to turn to. Crude abortions, back street doctors that would leave permanent harm would be their best option, I couldn't guess at what the worst would be. This is why Mulatu Tafesse set up Godanaw in 1995.
 

Mulatu himself has a remarkable story. A man of faith, he had worked all over the world as an engineer before deciding to start working with charity organisations to put something back into the African continent. I do him a massive disservice to skip too much of his back story but the man is an article in itself. He finally found himself in Addis, helping young girls who were the victims of rape and were now pregnant. He helped them to get proper medically overseen abortions to ensure their health and safety. Eventually Mulatu felt he couldn't reconcile this with his faith. He felt that the best way he could help would be to help these girls to raise the child, to rehabilitate the girls with skills that meant they could work and, ultimately, look after their children.
 He also felt that it was important these children should stay with their mothers and not be adopted, that they would miss their mothers too much and the bond between a mother and child. So he chose to create a place to nurture this, to allow mother to keep child, and to begin the rehabilitation process.
 Mulatu didn't invite us with his hands out, looking for money. Godanaw does need funds, but it also tries to ensure it's survival with self sufficiency.They make their own clothes to sell using machines left over from the Italian occupation of Ethiopia in World War II.

They sew as well, all done with their babies a few feet away in creches. With the help of a Scandinavian gentleman called Olle they are looking at producing and selling a detergent to raise funds. Godanaw needs finance to afford more accommodation, for more girls to find a home there.
 Ideologically, especially to a Western way of thinking, Godanaw raises interesting issues. It raises issues that despite having been discussed and debated for years, are still enough to spark a room to life even now. Political, religious and personal opinions have all had a pretty vocal forum in the UK  ever since I can remember. Everyone who reads about Godanaw will have their opinions on the rights and wrongs of what's involved. What I've learnt of Africa is that it's very much either 'do' or 'don't'. Mulatu feels this is the best way to help, and he is the person who wants to help and throw his life into it. Mulatu is a man who knows what it is like to lose a child, and you can sense his sadness and fears at having to turn girls away due to the lack of funds the organisation has.

It was quite a personal experience for me. When I told Mulatu that I was adopted as a baby he told me I was lucky. And I was. There are arguments back and forth about whether those who are adopted miss out on something. All I know, all I've ever known, is that the parents who I've missed greatly over the past few months, are the same parents who've loved and cared for me my entire life, and are the same parents I'm looking forward to seeing again on my return to share a beer with one, and a nice cup of tea with the other.
 Godanaw is an amazing place. The work that the few are doing to help the unfortunate many is admirable and I would urge people to look at the work they are doing at www.godanaw.org. It made me think a lot about where I came from and how lucky I am to be where I am today, with a wonderful array of friends and family surrounding me. I'm sure it had a similar effect on everyone in the FootballAfrica team.

True to form, I'll probably ruin this heartfelt sentimentality with some kind of joke.

I blame the parents.

Unbelievable amounts of love, especially to all our folks.

JJ FootballAfrica

 

So there I was… staring in the face of a child. A child, holding a child. A beautiful child of fifteen years old that was holding her own baby. A baby that she had conceived through no other reason than a bullish man’s use of power to obtain satisfaction. And now this young girl had to deal with the consequences, by becoming a young single mother, not to finish her studies, certainly never to further them at university to have a chance of making something of herself. However this girl wasn’t dirty, street begging or struggling to feed herself and her baby. She was clean, smiling and content! How your puzzled brain asks? Mulatu Tafesse, Godanaw Rehabilitation Integrated Project or GRIP would be your answer.

On meeting Mulatu you will be awed by his story of being in a car crash, unconscious for 2 months, his struggle over the years to regain the use of his legs and his questioning of the church about what he saw in Addis and how he could serve best in this life, leading to his now, lifetime dedication to helping female rape victims. Starting from one container that he wielded himself, Mulatu has built a safe haven for these victims to turn to. With the moto “Begging hands can work” he teaches the girls that they can use their hands to make money for them by teaching sewing, candle making, tailoring and hairdressing. The girls also have their chance of schooling where there are classes on literacy, writing and computing. This is all while their babies are taken care of in the centre’s nursery and as the girls are rehabilitated and their children grow they attend the school that is also on the compound which in total was around half the size of a football pitch!

Providing sheltering, skills training, school education and health and nutrition care enables Mulatu to show these young girls that although they have to grow up pretty fast, they can be a good parent and follow in his belief that the biological mother is best for the child.

Visiting the project you are stunned by the amount of things going on all at once. The differing teachings and learning that should have been completed by parents are being taught to parents so that they’re children have the correct information. And then you look at the foundations of the project and the fact that if it wasn’t for the pure dedication and determination of less than a handful of people, this magnificent oasis in the centre of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, wouldn’t exist.

Charlotte

For more information visit:

www.godanaw.org or email Mulatu on [email protected]

Comments

[Dave]

Your Mum is on the beers again then? Seriously though, powerful stuff J.J. sounds like our little boy is all growed up.

[Dunks]

wow. wow. i'm loving this blog. i think i'll feel very shallow chatting to you dudes when you get home. xo

[Severia Herrington]

I think it is wonderful what Mulatu is doing for these girls. I saw the program on TV and thought how blessed I am. I would like to visit the organization as well as help out with donations or my personal help if I ever get to Addis.