Waves of Change: SUMMER NEWS FLASH! *TEST*

* new name
* new house
* and a new Program Director!

Due to the popularity and some confusion of The Tabitha Foundation name, the non-profit has been renamed Tabitha Reach. Please bear with us as it will take a few months for everything to change to the new name:

Tabitha Reach

With the new name, Tabitha Reach, is pleased to welcome it’s new Program Director, Semeret “Semri” Demeke. She is the oldest of five children born and raised in Addis Ababa. Semeret has a BA in Economics and a Masters in Holistic Child Development. Prior to joining Tabitha Reach, she worked for 5 years as a Communication Officer for Children’s HopeChest Ethiopia.

“I have always been interested in my country’s development and growth. During my two years working for Compassion International, I learned the gap is at the societal and lower level, not in the higher government offices. I had the opportunity to meet with the beneficiaries and saw women/mothers and children were the first and foremost affected part of the community. That’s why I ended up studying Holistic Child Development – which helped me learn more about creating a responsible and equipped citizen in the country. In creating a responsible citizen, parents play a big role and in Ethiopia’s context, women are the sole caregiver and nearer to their child than the father. When the door to join Tabitha Reach was opened, it didn’t take me much to grasp the opportunity because this organization is working for single mothers who are hero’s but don’t have a means to better support their children and themselves. I have joined Tabitha Reach with a full heart and passion to help the organization achieve its goal and to support the women/single mothers. I feel lucky and blessed to be working with Tabitha Reach.”

“Currently we are able to get a new house after a long search which is a very exciting news. My team and I are working in helping arrange the house for the women to start their trainings, meetings and fellowship at the compound. We have two groups of women who have graduated from Tabitha Reach. We are also looking for a means for these women to come back and train/share their stories with our upcoming groups as well as work for us. For example, we have two women who are good at sewing and both will be making the Tabitha Reach house curtains and pillow cases. I am very excited for the future of Tabitha Reach and for the women involved. I am curious for the women what it will look like as they finish and work in the community, ” shared Semeret.

The new home is large enough to train three groups of 20 women at the same time. With the help of generous contributions of Bay Area individuals, Tabitha Reach has acquired 8 sewing machines and 15 laptops that will be used for training purposes. The new kitchen is large enough to adequately train the women in culinary skills. The new home will be a great asset to the women, their children and the community. We are excited for this change and the capacity to help more women learn more skills to improve their futures.

A few things that Tabitha Reach does that maybe you didn’t know. On the first trip last year to Addis Ababa, the group of visiting women washed the feet of the women in the program. This small gesture of serving the Ethiopian women broke the ice between the two groups of women and created a bigger connection. “Washing their feet” is now a part of what Tabitha Reach does on every trip. It is a small way that the women in the program are shown love and compassion. Another way that the Tabitha Reach conducts itself as a non-profit, is by working alongside the local resources. Tabitha Reach respects the local culture and its local leadership, knowing that the local Ethiopian leadership knows their own challenges. Tabitha Reach is there as an extra resource, not an authority on fixing the varied problems. Tabitha Reach is there to help, not hurt.