The Success Story of Addee Elfinesh Sarbessa Supported by ASRA Under the sub-Project Women Empowerment through Lending Seed Money Without Interest
Posted Date:2024-06-21
For many decades, numerous Ethiopians have been kept under a cloudy vicious circle of poverty which is subject to complex and interrelated socio-economic aspects. Among several social groups, women are the front victims of cultural, economic, and socio-political burdens. Male superiority and gender imbalance have the lion’s share in hindering women from being considered as an inferior and marginal social group. This fact has also led them to be characterized by low precarious economic situations.
For many decades, numerous Ethiopians have been kept under a cloudy vicious circle of poverty which is subject to complex and interrelated socio-economic aspects. Among several social groups, women are the front victims of cultural, economic, and socio-political burdens. Male superiority and gender imbalance have the lion’s share in hindering women from being considered as an inferior and marginal social group. This fact has also led them to be characterized by low precarious economic situations.
Cognizant of these facts, Ambo And Surrounding Relief Association, ASRA has launched integrated development activities to penetrate the vicious circle of poverty and improve the living standard of the community. Moreover, ASRA has been implementing result-oriented development works that directly or indirectly address the whole development cornerstones at the household level. Particularly, ASRA believes that women are the key elements among the development practitioners and highly motivates this social segment to take part in societal progress and development endeavors.
In the case of Ambo, the development activities designed to empower women economically and to break out of cultural and social barriers, credit provision, home economics, and providing entrepreneurship training and counseling activities, for instance, have been implemented by ASRA to minimize the intensity of the challenges. As a result, significant members of the communities have been improving their livelihood and have been perpetuating the already begun development careers.
Addee Elfinesh Sarbessa is residing in Ambo town with her two children. She is one of the beneficiaries who has basically changed her way of life by strongly working with ASRA and being involved in the development workings undertaken by the project. According to her report, she is a handicapped widow and sorrowfully explained her past life which was entirely miserable, i.e., by far below subsistence level. She stated that she was living in traditionally constructed local huts and roofed with hatches. She had no sufficient income source, however, preparing and selling of traditional sewing seam and other labor works was her source of income which even did not cover daily requirements (hand to mouth). In the year 2013, after short capacity building entrepreneurial training and orientation, ASRA provided her 30, 000 seed money so that she could start baking injera.
Since then, she has been producing injera and supplying surrounding hotels in Ambo town and the nearby community users in her areas. On average, she cooks 100 injera daily. Currently, the unit price is 20 birr. According to her report, she has accrued a net benefit that ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 ETB per month. Besides, she has been cultivating onions in her backyard. Moreover, she has been also engaged in providing laundry services to the surrounding communities through her two daughters. They are washing blankets and different clothes to generate income for their living. Hence, she built her house which is roofed with CIS, and also secured the construction site plan and is ready to run a diversified business in Ambo town, around the Hacalu Hundessa Campus. She has furnished her residence with furniture such as a television, tables, and others. She has been schooling her children at the nearby university. At present, she has a capital of 50,000 ETB in cash.
Modified By: AMBO AND SURROUNDING RELIEF ASSOCIATION (ASRA), 2024-06-21