Together, we can make a difference!

Help us save the lives of mothers and their babies by "Raising the Roof" on a Maternal Care Centre in Agarfa, Ethiopia

We hope this finds you well in this season of gathering, giving and light.

We are thrilled to share that our 120(-ish) guests/donors at our Traditional Ethiopian Dinner on Nov 18th, along with the silent auction item donors and the winning bidders, and our volunteers who made it all happen, were together able to raise just over $12,400 towards our Maternal Care Centre project. A pretty impressive result indeed. And thanks to the event publicity and media coverage, we received even more donations, so we raised a total of over $17,000 in the month of November!

For those who bought tickets to our dinner or made donations, you should have received an emailed tax receipt ($50 for each dinner ticket) from Rose Charities by now, if not please let us know at partnersinethiopia@gmail.com. Those who just provided a mailing address will receive a mailed receipt by early 2024.

Collectively, we have made an incredible difference in building the funds to save countless lives of mothers and their babies in the years ahead in Agarfa, Ethiopia. Thank you for fulfilling our confidence in our Okanagan/Shuswap community to rise to the occasion. And a special thanks to our donors from nearby and further afield who could not attend the dinner.

We are now $21,000 away from our final goal of $139,000 to finish the Maternal Care Centre by May 2024.

We are indebted to our Cooking Team who helped Woinshet put together and present such an incredible meal: Loris Davidson, Mary Rodriquez, Hiromi Nakagawa, Keith Rudance and Luke Davidson. And to our Dessert Makers, Anna Jones and Rachel Stadfeld - such yummyness!

We are grateful for our Riverside Helpers: Carol Garstad, Krista Harris, Diane Hutchinson. Dave Quinn and Dan Van Dalfsen. And to our Event Helpers: Susan Broadfoot, Rebekka Emke, Jade Lawrence, Keith Richards, Tigist Baigent, Evelyn Harris and Kaili Nissila. They all filled a multitude of roles so well.

And to the spouses of the PiE team for filling in the gaps: Murray MacDonald, Keith Cowan, Jan Lacko and Shelley Verlaan. (And special thanks to Murray and Woinshet for leading us in some post-dinner Ethiopian dancing.)

We appreciate the support of our generous Silent Auction donors: Revelstoke Mountain Resort, Birchdale Golf Course, Shepherd’s Hardware, CIBC Wood Gundy (Vernon Branch), Splatsin Tsm7aksaltn (Teaching Centre) Society, Kal Tire (Tony's Tire in Enderby), Toliver Advertising and Design (Salmon Arm), and to Miska Haven Bed and Breakfast and Hidden Gem Oasis Cabin Retreat both on the Shuswap River just east of Enderby. And a special thanks to Marie Baigent and Irene MacLennan for your wonderful artwork donations that attracted such interest. And of course to the magnanimous Silent Auction winners. We are happy to share that we raised a stellar $3200 with this auction!

We are thankful for Shelley Verlaan at Soapolallie Soapworks and Roger Parenteau & Robyn Keating at the Shuswap Community Foundation for serving as ticket sellers so agreeably. Your support and patience made a real difference in our attendance.

We are pleased to have the support of Jackie Pearase and Jody Goldsmith of the Enderby Rivertalk & Jennifer Smith of the Salmon Arm Observer and Vernon Morning Star for your generous articles. And to the Enderby Rivertalk, Friday AM and Your Country News for the ad discounts.

And a special thanks to the Riverside Community (Hall) Club and to the Kingfisher Community Society.

And as always, we are very happy to have the support of Rose Charities Canada, of which Partners in Ethiopia operates as a project. And thanks to Rose Accountant Kevin Simpson for your quick issuances of email tax receipts.

And a special thanks to Kal Rotary Vernon, BC, Enderby Lions Club and the Rotary Club of Salmon Arm for your generous donations earlier this year to support this project and your ongoing support.

We thank you all once again for your support. Together, we are making a difference!

Partners in Ethiopia (PIE) is a team of Canadian volunteers working to improve education, community health and maternal health services in Ethiopia with our registered Ethiopian non-profit partner Vision for Bright Future (VBF). We are a secular, non-profit, volunteer-run, charitable organization working to enact effective, compassionate development and aid.

Our mostly Enderby, BC-based team includes key people from Partners in the Horn of Africa (PiHA) who are inspired to continue the John Baigent model for development aid now that PiHA has wound down after John's passing. Similar to PiHA, VBF and our Ethiopian communities play key roles in selecting and implementing their projects and contribute 10-20% of the cost of infrastructure projects.

We proudly operate as a project of Rose Charities Canada whom we entrust to accept donations on our behalf, issue tax receipts and support us administratively very efficiently. Thus 95+% of your donation goes to the direct project costs in Ethiopia.

Our goal with your help - Building a new Maternal Care Centre in a 
community-led initiative in Agarfa, Ethiopia

Since early 2020 we have been funding smaller scale projects to support education and health in the Agarfa area of the Oromia region. Now we feel we have built the capacity to tackle something more ambitious.

Our goal is to to build a well-constructed, sanitary and well-equipped Maternal Care Centre (MCC) adjacent to the existing Agarfa Health Centre that has been identified as the top priority by the community. We have already raised over $118,000 of the $139,000 CAD of our commitment to the Agarfa community, and our "Raise The Roof" campaign is working to raise the final $21,000 of our project cost to make this much needed facility a reality by May 2024. The total project cost is $160,000, the remaining amount being donated by the Agarfa community in a combination of labour, supplies and donations.

The existing maternal health facility in Agarfa is a two-room cinder block, concrete floor building with no running water, privacy, or space for post-natal care. Ethiopia has an infant death rate 8 times higher and a maternal death rate 40 times higher than Canada's rates (worldbank.org). Partners in Ethiopia, with your help, would work with our partners to help reduce this risk in Agarfa.

We thank you for your interest in this important cause. Choosing which charities to support is always a hard choice. It can be hard to find non-profits that use your money carefully and efficiently to deliver effective assistance to either our local community or to developing communities. We feel we are continuing the PiHA legacy with this focus.
The Partners In Ethiopia team

The proposed MCC will have an 8 bed labour room with dividers, a delivery room with 2 beds, 4 postnatal care rooms with 2 beds per room, an office, medical supply storage and a reception area.

Partners in Ethiopia – A Renewal of the Partners in the Horn of Africa model

We are a new development initiative in Ethiopia modeled after Partners in the Horn of Africa (PiHA), a charity co-founded by John Baigent and Mekonen Bayssie, that was ultimately wound down in 2018 after John’s passing in 2016. Woinshet Bayssie, John’s widow and long term PiHA volunteer, has been inspired to resurrect the spirit of the PiHA model in a new organization, Partners in Ethiopia (PIE), and is now joined by her brother Mekonen Bayssie and a group of volunteers including some key PiHA advocates. Founded in 2020, PIE, is currently focused on improving the lives of the 156,000+ people of the Agarfa woreda (aka district) in a politically stable and food resilient area of southeast Ethiopia.

PIE, a non-sectarian charitable organization, in conjunction with our Ethiopian nonprofit NGO partner Vision for Bright Future (VBF), has two main development focuses:
• Education: Supporting Agarfa area K-12 schools and students to improve access to a quality education including providing textbooks for schools, and for those in need, subsidizing school uniforms, stationery materials for students, and underwear and re-usable sanitary napkins for adolescent girls.
• Health: Constructing a new Maternal Care Centre (MCC) to replace two grossly inadequate delivery rooms with no running water. The proposed MCC will be about 2850 square feet of buildings with an eight bed labour room with dividers, a delivery room with two beds, four postnatal care rooms with two beds per room, an office that includes medical supply storage, and a reception area.

Our current PIE funding drive is to construct this new Maternal Care Centre. PIE has committed to raising CDN $139,000 to complete the construction project, of which over $101,000 has been raised as of mid-October 2023. Governments, and caring citizens in the Agarfa woreda are also contributing an additional 15% beyond our portion, with materials and labour, to demonstrate their stake in the project.

PIE operates under the umbrella of Rose Charities Canada (RCC), a BC-based volunteer NGO and registered charity that provides the legal and financial framework for PIE for a fee of only 4% of donations. PIE is a 100% volunteer organization based in Enderby, BC, and has no overhead expenses. Thus all funds raised, less a 4% fee to RCC and a small percent for expenses associated with funds transfers to Ethiopia, go directly to the projects in Ethiopia. All donations qualify for CRA tax credits.

Additional Key Highlights regarding PIE’s work in Ethiopia:
· PIE’s predecessor, Partners in the Horn of Africa (PiHA), raised over $12 million over a period of about 17 years in support of a variety of community selected and engaged projects in Ethiopia, including footbridges, schools, libraries, clean water and a variety of social support projects, improving the lives of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians. John Baigent was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by the Governor General of Canada in 2016 for realizing a new innovative model of effective aid in Ethiopia and by inspiring a deep group of corporate and individual donors, volunteers, employees and Ethiopian Partners.
· Modelling ourselves after PiHA, PIE works closely with its partner organization in Ethiopia, Vision for Bright Future (VBF), a small non-profit NGO based in the Bale Zone of the Oromia regional State of Ethiopia, which is also the Zone in which Agarfa is located. VBF is represented in Agarfa by Mulualem Mekonnen, who works tirelessly sourcing school books, school uniforms, feminine hygiene supplies, and continues to be instrumental in co-ordinating the construction management on the Maternal Care Centre. Mulualem is also always reviewing opportunities to reduce costs, including seeking local government funding, and community contributions (labour, materials, expertise).
· The Agarfa community initiated the conversation with PIE on the need for a new Maternal Care Centre (MCC). A new MCC will greatly enhance the outcomes for childbirth and maternal and infant health. While great improvements have been made in the last 20 years, Ethiopia still has an infant death rate 8 times higher and a maternal death rate 40 times higher than Canada's rates (worldbank.org).
· The facility will be constructed on the grounds of the Agarfa Health Centre and will be operated by the Health Centre when completed with no ongoing funding required by PIE. The ‘Bill of Quantity’ (the plan for the building design and a full costing of construction) has been completed.

For further information, contact Woinshet Bayssie and the team at partnersinethiopia@gmail.com

Photos of the crowded existing delivery & recovery rooms in the Agarfa Health Centre during Woinshet Bayssie's visit in April 2022.