WOMAN EMPOWERMENT
Women’s empowerment initiatives help women find ways to provide for their families. Grace Center provides jobs and training, assisting families in becoming self-sufficient through childcare, basket weaving, jewelry making and other skill development training and employment. Grace Center also runs a childcare training course, enabling women to earn a certificate and have the opportunity to work as a nanny at Grace Center or elsewhere. Grace Center employs over 200 women.
The Small Business Program creates job opportunities for those who might otherwise struggle to find work, such as Kari, who is profoundly deaf, as well as other women. They craft items using traditional Ethiopian designs but add their own unique flare and style. Grace Center sells these crafts to cover the women’s salaries. We also assist single fathers in starting businesses like shoe repair and support mothers in opening fruit and vegetable stands, tea houses, and larger businesses like restaurants, cafés and hair salons.
GRACE DAY CARE
Grace Day Care is a clean, safe, loving environment for children from birth to four years to come, learn and grow while their mothers and guardians work to support their family. Many women come to Grace Center feeling they have no choice but to abandon their children. When we tell them about the day care, it is as if their prayers have been answered.
Grace Infant Day Care was the first infant day care program in all of Ethiopia.
SPECIAL NEEDS
We provide food, one-on-one care, schooling and tutoring, and medical support. Most children in the Special Needs Program have cognitive and physical disabilities. Each child follows an individualized care plan tailored to help them reach their goals. Grace Center also serves children with physical disabilities through school sponsorship and other programs at Grace Center. In Bahir Dar, The Special Needs Program provides for children with special needs who rely on our help for survival and education. Many of these children would not be alive without this program.
AFTER SCHOOL CARE
The Grace After School Program provides a safe and enjoyable learning environment for school-aged children. Teachers and other support staff are available to tutor children ages four and up. For children not enrolled in Grace Academy, child sponsorships enable them to attend other private schools. The after school program typically supports 80 to 150 children, while several hundred more benefit from sponsorships, allowing them to receive high-quality education, including opportunities for university-level studies.
GRACE ACADEMY
Grace Academy serves children ages 3 and up. We currently have KG1, considered preschool in the US up to seventh grade and will add another grade each year through high school. Grace Academy charges no tuition and yet provides a Christian private school level of education, helping these children to break the cycle of poverty in their families. Grace Academy is considered to be the best school in Bahir Dar.
