Where and how is Etiopia-Witten acitve?
The association's work takes place in Germany and Ethiopia (to raise money donations, seek and collect donations in kind, check availability, send out, recruiting professionals, organizing their trips and accommodation on-site). All work is done on a voluntary basis so that only very low administrative costs arise.
Initially, the medical project in the Bishoftu Hospital in Debre Zeyt, 70 km south of the capital Addis Ababa, was supported.
At the request of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, the focus shifted from there to a newly built University Hospital to the in 2006 newly built and in 2011 opened Ayder Referral Hospital of the University of Mekelle. Mekelle is the capital of the northern Ethiopian province Tigray.
The association thus aims to support the introduction of modern medical diagnostic and treatment techniques in technologically advanced university medical facilities in major cities of the country. This serves both that provide better health care of the population and improve quality of the medical education.
In this way, we open opportunities for the young, committed Ethiopian physicians to become familiar with specialized medical fields allows. Also, the already trained abroad Ethiopian physicians are given the possibility to use their acquired skills in health care in their own country successfully.
Collaboration in the medical field is underway with the St. Paul's Millennium Medical College in Addis Ababa (http://www.sphmmc.edu.et/).
Unlike many humanitarian organizations, our help is organized in projects that are accompanied from start to finish by the association. First, it is determined on the spot where concrete help is required and desired. Then it is checked whether the association can afford this help. If necessary, regulatory obstacles are removed and, eventually, financing, e.g. the transport costs of trainers and material or construction costs clarified.
Arrival of a container with relief goods in the Ayder Hospital
(800 km transport of the container from the port in Djibouti)
The on-site staff will be trained in the proper use of these devices and Etiopia-Witten is available to assist with technical and medical issues at any time thereafter.
Great emphasis is attached to improve the education of all in-hospital workers. This happens on-site, as currently in the Ayder Hospital in Mekelle, through the regular and repeated use of German doctors, nurses, psychologists, physiotherapists, and specialists in the field of administration and technology. This over a longer period of time and in the same institution. All professionals work free of charge and frequently finance their flights themselves or with the support of the Senior Expert Service in Bonn (www.ses-bonn.de). The cost of accommodation on-site and transportation is usually covered by the University of Mekelle.
The town twinning between the city of Witten and the city of Mekelle, which was established in 2016, will benefit from the exchange of experience and support at the municipal level, the further development of the Ayder Hospital, and the improvement of the entire urban infrastructure of the city of Mekelle. One example is cooperation in the field of the fire brigade.
Another area that has been developing well since 2012 within the association is the financing, organization, and supervision of the construction of the new school and the furnishing of rural elementary schools together with the University of Mekelle (http://www.mu.edu.et) and the Tigray Development Association (TDA - http://www.tdaint.org). The current focus is on the rural region in the metropolitan area of Mekelle.
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Germany and Ethiopia are 5000 kilometers |
Our focus is the region around Mekelle |
