Main aim of the charity

Zewdithu Masresha Orphanage is a charitable organization that taken in abandoned children from the streets to raise them under the protection and shelter of Miss Zewdithu Masresha. Its been established in 1991 and has fostered 250 Children so far out of which 45 have graduated from higher education. It nurtures children who have been denied love and care of parents in a very genuine setting under the care of the founder and the care takers.

How the employee got involved and why

During the time the city of Addis Ababa decided to reconstruct the roads and build efficient high ways, it was mandatory for the government to move some of the residents that settled in the new planned highway. Zewdithu Masresha Orphanage was, unfortunately, one of the settlements that had to be demolished for the new road to be constructed. But despite the government being willing to provide the orphanage a piece of land in the outskirt of the city to relocate to, it did not compensate the orphanage an amount of money to construct a proper facility for the 70 children the orphanage was sheltering for the last 20 years. A close friend was involved in helping the founder of the orphanage, Mrs. Zewdithu Mesrehsa; to deal with this difficult challenge and with the development of the new land. When I heard about this sad challenge the orphanage was going through, I decided to volunteer to help this orphanage since 2011 (long before I joined DHL Express). Seven years into their new relocation area, this orphanage still doesn't have a proper facility to shelter the 46 children, 18 teenagers, and 6 college students living there. The girl's and boy's dormitory is constructed out of temporary Zink as it's been difficult for the founder to feed, educate, and construct a proper facility for the children she looks after. During winter time, the orphanage is at its most vulnerable due to the cold weather of the rainy season which risks the temporary shelters to not be stable. Due to the ever-growing challenges, I decided to bring this orphanage to my team's attention and they immediately wanted to help. It's been a year and a half since we have been doing quarterly visits to the orphanage and spending time with the children. We raise some money and take some DHL giveaways as part of our CSR. Although the problem is beyond a scope we can be able to help financially, we decided to be an inspiration to the children in the orphanage, guiding them through some personal problems they may be going through, providing certain amenities such as shoes, cloth, food supplies, books, bag backs, water bottles, toys and etc…

What work does the employee do for charity?

1, We raise funds for an urgent assistance to the orphanage for certain amenities such as children attire, shoes, food supplies, books, back packs, urgent maintenance of shelter such as plumbing, roofing etc... 2, Inspiring - we create an ambiance where the children get to dream about what they want in the future, and provide them with guidance of how to get there. So far, during the 27 years the orphanage has been sheltering, it managed to graduate 45 orphans from college. 3, Mentoring - High school students and above, we have assigned each other mentees that we guide out side of our working ours. 4, Providing assistance with administrational issues, although the orphanage has board of directors that over look it budgets and spending's, we sometimes get involved in preparing a remodeling, maintenance budget, or developing (brainstorming) idea of how we can improve the current state of the orphanage.