Action Ethiopia offers 5 different challenges in which you can take on in aid of our charity! Choose from:

•  Great wall of China trek!
• Kilimanjaro summit climb!
•  London to Paris bike ride!
• Trek to Machu Picchu!
•  Thailand jungle adventure!

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To find out more about the Charity, please have a look around our website or a great way to gain an insight is through our Newsletter . Alternatively feel free to drop us an email with anyway questions you may have to info@sunarma.org and we will get back to you within 24 hours.

Lionel Osborn has been voted in as this year’s President of the Methodist Church. He now in turn gets to work with The Methodist Relief and Development Fund ( MRDF ) who are kind supporters of Action Ethiopia/Sunarma and in this year decided to take Leo out to visit our Charities projects.

Not in it alone, Leo had his Wife Charlotte and MRDF representative Simian Mitchell to accompany him in his travels – The Wofwasha Forest.

Action Ethiopia/Sunarma has been working in the forest for a few years now and has seen huge progress and encouraging sustainability in the heart of the forest.  A heart in which is a 10 hour round trip walk from the local town of Debra Sina. The Strong willed mighty Methodists made short work of the trek – taking in the views along the way.

Action Ethiopia's Christmas Run - Sunday 5th December

This is a first for Action Ethiopia in our fundraisng campaign for our projects in the Ethiopian highlands.

Ethiopia ia a nation of great runners so what better way to raise money for the people in Wuchale Jidda, than to run for them.  As a minor consideration also, just think of the pounds weight you will lose before the onslaught of Christmas temptations, as well as the pounds cash you will raise.

Good luck and thank you!

THE DETAILS: If you have ever wanted to get involved in a 5km run, here is your chance.  On Sunday 5th  December at Greenwich Park, London, around 2,000 ‘Santa’s’ are expected to take part, raising over £100,000!  Action Ethiopia are looking for volunteers to take part and you can be part of this fantastic event with just a small registration fee and raising the suggested minimum sponsorship.

No previous experience is required and with a bit of training the 5km distance should easily be within your capabilities. The spirit of the event is ‘taking part’ not ‘winning’ so you can run, jog or walk – you decide!

With places extremely limited you should book early to avoid disappointment!  Visit our website the Action Ethiopia Website for further information, or call us on 01884-253857 for your free information pack.

Addis Ababa suburbs

I have been to Ethiopia on many occasions and it never ceases to strike me how wonderful a place it is. My recent trip to Addis Ababa and other places in Ethiopia was no exception  -  I had the most memorable time there and, as usual, I experienced the rather bizarre emotion of “home sickness” when returning to Ireland from there !

Of course, Ethiopia is a great place to visit because……read more

A farmer shows his belg crop

Rural communities at wuchale jida area had been producing much less production due to fluctuation rainfall during the semi-rainy season (belg)  in Ethiopia. It was in 2008 that the worst time came when all agricultural production failed due to shortage of belg rain.

 At that time Sunarma’s seedbank project responded to the dire situation in the area by providing emergency grain seeds. In 2009 the rain situation improved a little, but the situations of the families remained uncertain as they all depend on rain-fed agriculture.

 This year the belg rain arrived on time and enough amounts. Farmers are producing enough crops for themselves and for local markets. They mainly grow barley during this season.

Fikadu and his daughter selling items at Sriti town

Community-managed rural village level saving and loan scheme introduced by Sunarma among Wuchale Jida community has created self-employments for rural community. Women are the major beneficiary of this scheme that controbuted its part to women economic empowerment and families’ resistance to economic shocks.

 At inception stage, Sunarma field staff sensitized the community members about basic skills of saving, managing loan services, prudent financial management and group dynamics. Following the sensitization trainings, 320 community members organized themselves into 15 groups and started saving. To upgrade the groups’ financial capacity, Sunarma injected some amount of seed money to each group.

 Fikadu is a member of Gemechu (means happiness) group. He received loans of 3,500 Birr (1£=20 Birr) in five rounds over the last three years. He and his family started a small business, selling coffee, salt, sugar and spices to the local community in his village and Sirti town market. ”There is a shortage of farmland in my area. I don’t produce enough from farming to feed my wife and four children. My major income is from this small business. I make good profit and hope to increase my business through the profits I make and more loans from my group,” said Fikadu.

 Gelane is another beneficiary from Bedhasa group member. She bought five sheep with the loan she got from her group. “I am tending to my sheep. I will sell them after five months and hope to make five hundred Birr net profit.” Meanwhile, Gelane is doing a petty trade with some amount of her loan money at Sirti town on market days twice a week. She sells banana and with the profit she buys household consumption items and stationery for her children.

Sunarma’s community-managed rural village saving and loan scheme is making a difference among rural community in breaking the cycle of poverty and improving the lives of the poorest section of rural communities.

A group member showing some produces

Some thirty members of Bedhasa (means rewarding) group members are growing various vegetable types at Wuchale Jida project area. The group leased a quarter of hectare last dry season and planted carrot, cabbage, beetroot, garlic and Swiss Chard using water from a small scale irrigation scheme.

Three-fourth members of the group are mothers with few assets and it helped them to use their produce for eating and making income from sales. Girma Roba is one of the group members and so far managed to earn 300 Birr from the sales of vegetables. “With the money I covered stationery for my children. Hopefully I will earn more money and buy some sheep,” said Girma. The group members expect some 4,000 Birr from all sales of the vegetables by the end of July 2010.

The group members also planted 8,000 eucalyptus tree seedlings. The group members plant out the trees on private plots to use for house construction and firewood.

Generating income from vegetable growing and planting private woodlot contributes to Sunarma’s program to ensure sustainable natural resources management among rural communities.

Zeleka selling her gesho at Sirti market

Zeleka Tebelu is one of the 320 community members supported by Sunarma at Wuchale Jida Project. In 2006, Zeleka and her neighbours formed a group named abdiboru (hope of tomorrow). It was their hopes to develop and prosper by working hard with Sunarma. Before they engaged in life-changing development activities, Zeleka and her group members were given training on managing group capital and livestock.

Following the trainings, they were provided with seed money to start their own loan and saving scheme, and some hybrid heifers. Zeleka was one of the group members who benefited from the loan service and livestock provision. “I received a total of 1600 Birr [i] in four rounds and started a small gesho [ii] business,” said Zeleka. She sells her gesho to the market in Sirti town once a week. In her village there is a weekly open market on Saturdays only. She sells four sacks of gesho every week and makes a net profit of 120 Birr.  “With the money I cover the cost of stationery for my four children attending a primary school,” said Zeleka.

 Her hybrid heifer she received from Sunarma also calved last October 2009

Zeleka sells butter and cheese at sirti market

 and provides her with 8 litres of milk a day. Zeleka makes butter and cheese and sells two cups of butter and a can of cheese up to 100 Birr a week. In the last eight months she sold milk and cheese for 3200 Birr. “I used the money to buy grain seed, cover household consumption items and clothes for my family. I have some savings to buy a heifer and some sheep.”

Zeleka and her group members are building new assets and improving the lives of their families. This time the Wuchale Jida community are managing their pass on the gift system of both village saving and livestock.

[ii] Gesho is a plant with small leaves that is used to make local beer

Jenny recovering from the run

Sunday went REALLY well, had so much fun, the atmosphere as usual was amazing, there were supporters on every inch of the course, with bands, dancers, musicians everything you could possibly imagine, they really got me round! My aim was to beat my previous time of 4.31 and I did, I finished in 4.24 so over the moon about that!

Jenny en route

The first 13miles went really quickly, I ran with the record breaking caterpilla of 34 runners joined together and Richard Branson….the only thing was I didnt realise it was him until I finished and watched the news!! Up to 20miles was ok, then it started to REALLY hurt, but the crowds by then were huge and got me to the line…which much to my horror they had moved back by about 200m from when I did it before! Work on Monday was interesting as moving was an optional extra but nearly fully recovered now