Members in Ethiopia Assemble Hygiene Kits
Contributed By Sister Robin O’Crowley, Assistant Ethiopia Humanitarian Country Director
Members and missionaries in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, help assemble 5,000 hygiene kits to be delivered to fellow Ethiopians affected by the Horn of Africa drought.
Article Highlights
- 70 members of the Church in Ethiopia recently assembled 5,000 hygiene kits.
- The kits will go to their fellow Ethiopians affected by the Horn of Africa drought.
- Through donations to the humanitarian aid fund, the Church is pursuing other projects that will provide food, water, and sanitation supplies to people affected by the drought.
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More than 70 young adults, youth, and full-time missionaries gathered at the Meganagna meetinghouse in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 1, 2011, to assemble 5,000 hygiene kits for their fellow Ethiopians affected by the drought.
“It is so great for the youth to come together and serve their fellow Ethiopians,” said Elder Dana O’Crowley, who, with his wife, Robin, serves as Ethiopian humanitarian country director for LDS Charities. “We are so pleased to see them work so hard and with such happy faces.”
The members worked together for approximately five hours to assemble the kits.
The project is part of the Church’s effort to help the people living within the Ethiopian borders affected by the Horn of Africa drought.
LDS Charities is trucking water to drought-affected areas and filling 10,000-liter tanks in 15 villages on the Somalia border. Many Somalians are coming across the border to fill water cans at such tanks. “We planned to bring water to 22,000 beneficiaries, but when the trucks started delivering the water, 31,000 people came,” Elder O’Crowley said. “We are helping many more people than we imagined.”
LDS Charities is also providing materials for eight community nutrition centers and 200 latrines in the Kobe and Melka Dida refugee camps. In the nutrition centers, women who are pregnant or nursing, as well as children under the age of five, receive an extra ration of food specifically designed for those suffering from malnutrition.
LDS Charities currently has other projects in process for the refugee camps and for the people living in the host communities outside of the camps. Such donations for refugees and for the Ethiopians living in the surrounding areas are possible because of donations to the Church humanitarian fund.
