Bethel Orphans and Elders

Today I was visiting the Bethel Orphans and Elder Support program sponsored by Devxchange (https://devxchange.org/bethel) that affected over 550 families that at one time made their livelihood sorting through trash at the city dump.

People who live here are thought of as being the poorest of the poor. Today it is known as the place of those who are forgotten, forsaken and cursed. It has become home for orphans, disabled, elderly and the diseased. Years ago, under Hailie Selasie this area was designated as a leper colony. At that time it was a place outside of the city where people suffering from leprosy could live without interacting with the rest of the city. It became known as a cursed and forsaken place.

The government closed the dump and is currently building a huge biomass incinerator to deal with the city garbage so these people have

no way to survive. They are being given micro loans to start small business and as their businesses grow they give one third back to the project to enable others to start businesses. They are squatters on government land living in shacks that they have built out of recycled stuff from the dump.

The government has bulldozed their homes many times but they have no other choice but to start again. The immigration of people from the rural area keeps the city growing at a phenomenal rate and no one knows the population of the city now except they know it is over 9 million.

When I was a boy it was only around 800,000. These small businesses aren't taxed and and require no licenses so they are really helpful.