In Ethiopia there are thousands of vulnerable children* encountering hunger, poverty, violence and abuse on a daily basis. Retrak’s principal aim is to reintegrate these children back into a safe family environment.
In the two months December 2019-January 2020, Retrak reached 652 children through outreach or referral; 124 were reintegrated with their families or placed in alternative, family-based care. We also provided safe shelter and protection to 352 children in the Retrak Lighthouses (short-term transitional centres).
At Retrak’s Lighthouses, children are supported to overcome trauma by accessing catch-up education (taught in line with the national curriculum), psychosocial counselling and the medical care they so urgently need. We use a child-rights approach to work with the children, meaning that together with them, plans are made for their next steps. Retrak social workers contact each child’s family to assess whether it is safe and appropriate for children to go home. When this is impossible, Retrak ensures that alternative family-based care arrangements – such as foster care or supported independent living – are made.
Below is a story of Sara, who is back with her family thanks to the support of donors like you.
Sara* is aged 16, and was born in Amhara, Ethiopia. About four years ago, she left home to be a domestic worker in the city, and, despite her tender age, immediately began to encounter multiple challenges to her survival.
For two years, from the age of 12, Sara was sexually abused by her employer. When his wife realised what was happening she refused to pay Sara the salary she was owed and threw her out. Sara went back home – and soon realised she was pregnant. The child she gave birth to died, aged four months.
Without having received support for her grief or abuse, Sara decided to try domestic work again and left home for Addis Ababa. Life in the capital is not easy for a vulnerable 14-year-old girl on her own. Again she was exploited and physically abused by her employer, forced to work from dawn till dusk with no rest. She tried to find another position, but with no one to act as guarantor it was impossible. After two years, she again decided to return home, and ran off without collecting her salary.
Alone and vulnerable, Sara was found by a police officer, wandering the streets of the capital in a state of distress. Retrak has nurtured relationships with Ethiopia’s police force, which meant that the officer knew the best course of action. He referred her to one of the Retrak Lighthouses, where she arrived in a state of trauma.
Trained Retrak staff provided Sara with the support and care she so desperately needed. Two weeks at the Lighthouse started to address her feelings of loss and isolation, and she began to communicate with the other girls. Over time, our support services – catch-up education, healthcare and lifeskills, all designed to rebuild resilience and self-esteem – brought Sara to the point where she could tell Retrak staff she was eager to go back home. Part of Retrak’s work is to ensure that the proper groundwork is carried out before a child is returned to their family, and Lighthouse social workers make as many visits as are needed to find out why the child left in the first place, and to ensure that the environment they return to is safe. They also arrange follow-up visits to make sure ongoing support is available as required, for up to two years.
The catch-up education classes which Sara participated in at the Retrak Lighthouse have enabled her to go back to school. Now, she’s happily living back with her family, and being supported by them to finish her education.
*Name changed to preserve anonymity
**children under 18 who spend the majority of their time living or working on the streets
In Ethiopia there are thousands of vulnerable children encountering hunger, poverty, violence and abuse on a daily basis. Retrak’s principal aim is to reintegrate vulnerable children into a safe family environment.
To date in 2019, Retrak has reached 2,549 children through outreach or referral. We supported 943 children in our Lighthouses, and 685 children were reintegrated with their families or were placed in alternative family-based care.
In the last month, we reached 192 children in outreach and provided safe shelter and protection to 138 children in the Lighthouses (short-term transitional centres); 46 of these were girls who were in domestic servitude. Children are supported to overcome trauma by accessing catch-up education (taught in line with the national curriculum), psychosocial counselling and medical care. We use a child-rights approach to work with children, and together with them, plans are made for their next steps which range from family reintegration to supported independent living for some young people. In the last month, we have supported 36 children to reintegrate into safe family-based care. All families are assessed to see whether it is safe and appropriate for children to go home. For those who cannot go back to their families, alternative family-based care arrangements such as foster care or supported independent living are provided.
Below is a story of Abdu who is back with his family, thanks to the support of donors like you.
Abdu’s Story
After living with his grandparents outside of Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, Abdu* had asked a stranger to take him to Addis, in search of a better life.
He ended up alone on the streets, not knowing where to go and intensely vulnerable to traffickers and predators. The police picked him up, and brought him to one of Retrak’s Lighthouses – our short-term assessment and transition centers.
Abdu ended up living there for several months, receiving psycho-social support, personal counseling, individual attention, life skills classes and catch-up education. Finally, Abdu decided with the support of his counselor that it would be good to return to his town in rural Ethiopia.
A neighbor was the first to greet him on his return, and slowly a bigger story began to emerge, a story that Abdu had not felt able to divulge – one marked by death, crime and child labor, and explaining why Abdu had seemed reluctant to return home.
Abdu’s father had spent time in prison and was rarely present, so Abdu was in the care of his late mother’s brother. His uncle heavily restricted Abdu’s personal freedom and forced him to do hard manual work on the family cattle farm. He was never allowed to leave the property.
But on Abdu’s return to the village, and understanding all that had happened to him since, the uncle was remorseful and apologetic, suggesting that Abdu live instead with his grandmother.
That is where he is today – safe, happy, and in school, having just started third grade.
*Please note that the name has been changed to protect identity
Rania* was born and raised in the Amhara region of northern Ethiopia, and lived with her mother and father until she was 16. She was a very happy girl who loved school – her grades were always good and her teachers were proud of her.
“I hadn’t realised that life could change so completely in just a moment,” said Rania to her social worker at Retrak’s Deborah Lighthouse.
This is the story of a girl who escaped child marriage, after her parents secretly tried to marry her to a man who already had several wives. “I’d never even seen him,” Rania says, “People said he was in his late thirties. My parents promised his parents that they’d make me marry him – they even started to prepare food and drink for the wedding.”
Rania was unable to convince her parents that she didn’t want to marry a man 25 years older than her. “I didn’t want to leave school! I’d dreamed of becoming a teacher, and giving others the opportunity to learn.”
Rania continued to rebel and kept on going to school. The man who was to be her husband showed up at her home in a bid to convince her. “When I saw him, I was shocked to the core – he was even older than I expected. At first he begged me, but when I continue to refuse, left, only to come back the next day, aggressive and threatening me.”
The man continued to show up at Rania’s home, hoping she would change her mind. When he realised she wouldn’t agree, he chose a day when her parents were away, waited until she came home from school and grabbed her. She fought back and shouted for help. The neighbours heard her cries and rushed to help. In a fury, the man pulled out a knife and stabbed her. The neighbours came to save her, and took her to hospital.
Rania says: “Some people sympathised, and my parents were upset that I was hurt – but when the man brought them a sheep and apologised, they forgave him and continued to insist I marry him.”
Rania decided to leave home and travel to the capital Addis Ababa, where her aunt, uncle and young cousin welcomed her into their home. However, her aunt objected to her plans to go to school, compelling her to take care of their little girl instead. Soon after that her aunt and uncle decided to divorce, and Rania chose to stay with her aunt.
One day, Rania and her cousin were playing together when there was a knock at the door. Standing there was the man who wanted to marry her. He grabbed Rania and beat her badly. Rania says, “I thought I was going to die – the man said he would kill me unless I married him. He left me bleeding, saying he would come back.”
Rania went to the police, who referred her to Retrak. When Rania arrived at Retrak’s Deborah Lighthouse she was initially very distrustful of adults and wanted nothing to do with any other children. Most of the time she would play alone, showing little enthusiasm for her surroundings. When she did come out of her shell she would lash out at other children and staff, both verbally and physically.
Rania’s individual treatment plan included therapy for depression and withdrawal, and counselling sessions to stabilise her and encourage positive feelings about herself and others. After a couple of months, she began to exude greater positivity and demonstrated an impressive performance in the Lighthouse catch-up education classes.
Retrak social workers conducted pre-visits to Rania’s family, who desperately wanted her to return home – but she was adamant about continuing her education. After Retrak’s intense counselling and a childcare review, she decided to join a vocational training course at a restaurant and training school run by another NGO. She learned about food preparation during the day and at night worked as a waitress in a café. She developed practical skills and started to save..
When the training finished, Rania went to the city of Bahir Dar to stay with her older sister, which in a stroke of serendipity coincided with Retrak opening its newest Lighthouse there. She got a job at the Lighthouse as a cook, where the manager says, “Rania’s an excellent cook and professional in her work. All the staff and the children like her – she’s an asset to Retrak!”
Rania says: “I never used to think about my future – I was just going through the motions, out of control of my life. Coming to Retrak and getting support, friendship and people who believed in me meant that I started to work much harder to achieve my dreams. Things would have been so different, and so ugly without Retrak.”
Rania has worked hard to become self-sufficient, and with Retrak’s support has been able to take back control of her future. With the new determination that her independence brings, she has space to plan her education and career goals – her future shines bright.
Thirteen-year-old Sara* comes from a remote part of northern Ethiopia. When she was aged five her parents divorced, and Sara started living with her mother and stepfather.
“My stepfather was so cruel. He used to abuse me, emotionally and physically. He didn’t allow me to go to school – instead I had to stay at home, herding cows and helping my parents with different jobs.”
When she was 11, Sara burned her hand badly while lighting a fire for her stepfather. It became infected, and because nobody took her to a hospital her fingers became inflexible and useless. Because of her injury, Sara’s stepfather deemed her to be no longer any use to the household – instead, he pressured her to move to Addis Ababa to search for work, earn some money and send it back home.
Sara found employment as a domestic worker in the capital. “The work was really hard because my bad hand didn’t work properly. I cried every time I tried to wash or do anything – it was too much. On top of that, my employer used to insult me.” She left the job after just a few weeks, and was found by Retrak staff on her way back home.
Sara was highly traumatised and the injury to her hand had crushed her self-esteem. Retrak provided her with all-important psychological support and medical care – and as her hand needed surgery, she stayed at the Deborah Lighthouse for 11 months for aftercare until it had completely healed.
Sara says, “I was so happy at the Lighthouse – I’ve never seen such love and care,” But she still wanted to go back home to her mother. To give the reunion the best chance of success,Retrak support staff provided parenting skills training and child protection training to her mother and stepfather, both before and after Sara returned home. The family was hugely excited to see Sara after such a long time and looking so well. With Retrak’s support, Sara is now in education and no longer doing domestic work for her stepfather.
*name changed to protect child’s identity
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At the age of twelve, Helen was sent to live as a domestic worker with a couple in the city. Helen’s parents and the employer’s relatives had lived as neighbours for years, and Helen’s mother trusted they would look after her child, and make sure she went to school as well as working for them.
After a year, Helen had received no salary, and the promise of going to school had never materialised. She believes her mother had sent her away to work because of dire economic necessity, and as she was told her salary was being sent directly home, she didn’t ask for the money. Helen was denied food and treated unkindly. She says, “The woman treated me worse than a dog – even a dog gets some respect.’’
One day, Helen was found on the street by police officers and sent to Retrak’s Lighthouse. The police also told Helen’s employers where she was, and they turned up at the Lighthouse, strongly denying having neglected, or physically or emotionally abused her. Trained Retrak workers took control of the situation and found out where Helen’s family lived, and although the employers were angry and uncooperative, they finally handed over the phone number for Helen’s mother.
Retrak then began the process of developing a trusting relationship with Helen. At first, she was withdrawn, anxious and very shy, but after a few weeks she realised that the Lighthouse was offering her protection, care and support, and she became as content and cheerful as a child of her age should be.
At every stage of the holistic care Retrak offered, Helen was in phone contact with her uncle, and he kept in touch with Helen’s mother. Finally, Helen asked to move back in with her mother, which the Lighthouse staff facilitated.
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