Recently Covenant International accepted one hundred and twenty kids, into our kindergarten in Debre Berhan.  For all of these kids this is a real opportunity: their first chance for formal education. We are helping these children in addition to the one hundred and fifty sponsored children. We still need to find sponsors  for these children. Right now we are just teaching them in our school and giving them one meal per day. If you are interested in sponsoring one of these children, giving a one time donation to this project, please contact us. 

In 2009, a total of fifty nine women completed the training in our Income Generating Activities program. Each of these women received seed money to start their new life in various small business endeavors. Most of the women are selected from the families of our sponsored children. At CIM, we are focusing more of our efforts on this program, as we believe that developing a self-sustaining economy will a catalyst in decreasing Ethiopia's dependency on international aid in the future.

Covenant international has recently received land from the local government free of charge in both Dire Dawa and Debre Behan Ethiopia so we can build our own schools. The local authorities also wrote us a confirmation letters stating that they will take the responsibility of administering the schools when our project is completed. We will be working in partnership with the school district in the long term, and see this event as a very large step forward to completing this project.

 Thanks to our doners these are some of the participants in our  Income Generating program. These ladies are seen here making Ingera for sale and rearing sheep for the market.  

Covenant international's IGA (Income Generating program) has become one of the our core programs, and we are implementing this program in Ethiopia and recognize it as a vital part of our work. These pictures show participants completing the required course material before starting their business. The government of the area is supporting us greatly after the the participant receive their training. Participants in this program often express their appreciation for the program and the training they receive as their goal is to become becoming self sufficient.

The father of one of our sponsored children in Debre Berhan Ethiopia, is seen tending his cow and it's calf as part of the IGA program. These small business ventures are possible because of the generousity of our sponsors and doners. If not for our donors' generosity, none of this would be possible. Besides raising a cow or an ox, these families and their child also receive fresh milk from their cow. For most poor families in this region, having milk is a luxury.