Meeting Tebereh from ‘Mums for Mums’
Three Club members, Marie Magowan, Pamela Smyth and Jean Wales, took the opportunity to meet Tebereh Wolde-Gabriel, founder of Mums for Mums in Mekelle, Ethiopia, when SI Enniskillen & District hosted an open evening in the Killyhevin Hotel, Enniskillen.
All attending were spell-bound as Tebereh recounted how she had come to idntify the need for and subsequentkly establish, grow and maintain the Mums for Mums project. While out walking as part of her rehabilitation after a stroke, Tebereh noticed a growing number of young women with babies or small children forced to beg on the street for money to survive. Rather than ignoring these young women she made it her business to find out how they came to be in these circumstances then set about establishing a means of getting them off the streets. By working to get these women into training and education Tebereh launced Mums for Mums. It is so named because it is about looking out for these young mums as a mum would.
Despite no financial support from statutory bodies Mums for Mums has grown over the years and has become a valuable asset in Mekelle with many young women and families benefiting from their experience of it.
The most recent project is the building of a day care centre for the elderly, known as Kate’s Day Care Centre, after Kate Doherty, SI Enniskillen member who brought the Mums for Mums project to the attention of SI in Northern Ireland. SI Ballymoney & District have given money towards a washroom in the centre in memory of the late Maureen Lavery, founder member of our Club.