Your donations have allowed us to send nearly $50,000 to Busajo, including $30,000 in 2017 that was earmarked for a new facility for girls!
In Amharic, Busajo means "the one who sees ahead."
In Soddo alone, there are 2000 children living on the streets. That's 10% of the population in that city. Children leave home for different reasons - inadequate or abusive living conditions are the most common. They sometimes walk for days in search of luck, attracted by the city lights and hoping for a better future. The reality is that many of them end up being used by drug traffickers or become thieves for exploiters. Many of the girls end up in prostitution to survive.
Busajo is a program that serves children living on the streets of Soddo. One of the two directors meets with children on the streets to get to know them, tell them about the program and to assess the child's seriousness to be educated and to have a different life. After three months of getting to know the children on the street, if they are seriously interested, they are invited to start to attend classes every day. If after two months they have come regularly and have demonstrated commitment and a good attitude they are then invited in to the program. The children will go to school, receive clothing, food, school supplies, shelter, love and medical and psychological attention and care. Busajo does their very best to reunify the children with their families and they are successful about 85% of the time. Sometimes the family only needs financial assistance to repair a damaged home or to provide a cow in order to take their child back. The children that cannot be reunified with their families remain in the program and receive education and skills training.
