Yetebon,Ethiopia

WXOW News 19 – Project MercyWhen Gundersen Global Partners traveled to Ethiopia on Feb. 27, 2014, a local television news reporter and photographer traveled with to learn what was happening at Project Mercy. They are now spreading the word about the great work being done in the Yetebon Region.

Emmy Award winning journalist Amy DuPont and News 19 photographer Mark Bronson traveled to Ethiopia, documenting the work done by Global Partners and Project Mercy.

Project Mercy Footage

“You help those you can, and for those you can’t help, you can always help by holding their hand.”

Gundersen Global Partners was created to improve the health and well-being of the global communities we serve. Our newest partnership brings Global Partners to the Yetebon Region of Ethiopia. Global Partners-Ethiopia works to improve healthcare, education, and public health in Yetebon, Ethiopia. The inaugural Ethiopia volunteer team departed Feb. 27, 2014 for Yetebon, Ethiopia, and provided surgical services, vision screenings, first aid training, and other services in partnership

If you would like to volunteer on a future trip to Ethiopia please follow the link to our volunteer form!

Yetebon, Ethiopia Partnerships

Why Ethiopia?The United States and Ethiopia have a long history of partnership. Global Partners found a great opportunity to build upon those connections and help improve the quality of life in Ethiopian communities, focusing first on the Yetebon Region.

• Ethiopia faces extreme poverty, with nearly one in every three people live on less than $1.25 a day (World Bank, 2011).

• Ethiopia faces a vast shortage of healthcare workers, with less than one physician for every 30,000 people, and less than three nurses and midwives for every 10,000 people. (World Health Organization, 2011).

• The mortality rate for children under age 5 per 1,000 live births is 77, compared to the United States, which is 8 per 1,000 births. (WHO, 2011).

• Nearly 78 percent of the families in the Yetebon Region do not have access to clean drinking water. (Project Mercy, 2004).

• A 2013 UNESCO report found that approximately 57 million children worldwide are not attending school in 2011. Over half of those children are living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Project Mercy

In 2013, Global Partners selected Project Mercy as our new partner in Africa to continue building community-to-community partnerships focused on healthcare, education and community development initiatives.

What they have to offer:

•Fully functioning hospital, clinic and dental unit with one surgeon on staff and several physicians in training.

•K-12 school on campus with about 1,500 students; a new off-site high school now open.

•Children's Home on site with 40+ children who have lost their parents or have a parent who is unable to support them.

•Test gardens experiment with new fruits and vegetables that can be grown in the arid climate.

New Nurse Training Center where nurses will learn midwifery and anesthesia practices.

Photos above include children at Project mercy

Support Programs

Healthcare:

First Aid Education

Teach common first aid techniques to students First aid techniques prevent infections, pain, and chronic health issues

Vision Screening

Identify students with vision impairments. Poor vision makes reading the chalkboard difficult and ultimately impairs student’s ability to learn.

Payment for services coordinated through Project Mercy

Surgical Procedures

Work alongside local team to teach surgical/nursing techniques Assist local teams with already full workload capacity

Dental Clinic

A dental Team will come in 2015 to identify needs, organize the dental clinic and start seeing patients

Podiatry

A podiatry team will join the 2015 team to begin screening and treating foot problems

Community Outreach:

Sewing Education

To repair and teach electric sewing machine techniques to several of the staff in order for them to sew needed items for Project Mercy, for the hospital, and for the entire student population.

Identify future community needs

To explore and talk with the local team to identify areas of skill and resource needs for the future teams. Clearly there are many needs including teachers, medical equipment, as well as other non-medical needs.

To learn more about

supporting these

programs, please visit our Global Partners

Online Giving Site

Gundersen Global Partners has a variety of projects they help coordinate with our Ethiopia Partnerships. Check out the following initiatives to learn more about our projects. It is truly our volunteers that make our program succeed through their donations of time, resources and skills.

Dates Trip Focus Volunteer Roles Needed

February 2015 -Podiatry-Dentistry-Vision screening-Gynecology-Sewing projects

(This trip is full)

Volunteering in Yetebon, Ethiopia

Are you a first-time volunteer looking to get connected? Peruse the web to learn more about our partnerships and volunteer opportunities in Nicaragua, Pine Ridge and Ethiopia. Next complete the Volunteer Form which will let us know of your interest. Someone from the Global Partners team will follow up with you!

There will be two teams traveling to Project Mercy in Yetebon, Ethiopia this February. The first team will be leaving February 5th with 16 volunteers. Joining the team this year will be a surgeon, a surgical resident, a podiatrist and a podiatry resident. The team is supported by six nurses, an anesthesiologist assistant, and additional volunteers ready to assist in any way they can. This team will be the first podiatry team.

The second team will meet with the first team in Yetebon to transition between the trips. Team two will have 14 volunteers. The medical team is focusing on gynecology and dentistry, two very underserved specialties at Project Mercy. They will continue the vision screenings at the local school. In addition to the medical team, our IT volunteers will be assisting with information technology by teaching students and teachers, helping to develop their electronic medical record, and checking computer systems. There are also a variety of sewing projects that will be worked on, with opportunities to teach sewing skills to local students and adults.

This will be the first back- to -back teams going to Africa. The teams are anxious to see the opportunities and successes as well as the new friendships that develop while working in Yetebon.

2015 Trip

Trip PlanningSupport our volunteers and learn more from their stories from Ethiopia! Check out our blog!

The Trip

Trips are typically about two weeks in length. The group will leave from La Crosse, Wisconsin and travel to Washington DC and leave the following day on a direct flight to Ethiopia. Project Mercy, where our teams work, is in the Yetebon community just north of the community of Butajira, located approximately 3 hours south of the capital city of Addis Ababa.

Cost

Flights to Ethiopia range greatly but in 2015 will be around $1400. Additional costs for lodging, in-country transportation, meals, and other shared team expenses are an additional $700-1000 per person. These volunteer costs are considered a charitable contribution for volunteer service work and can be claimed as a tax deduction. Additional expenses include pre-trip immunizations, passport costs, visa and work payment expenses, and medications (e.g. malaria prophylaxis). Total estimated cost per volunteer is $2,500-3,000

Gundersen employees may apply for a Global Partners grant to help offset the costs of volunteering in Ethiopia (up to $500). Click here to learn more about how to apply for a Global Partners Grant.

Orientation

We offer 4 three hour sessions to discuss in detail the history, culture, geography, language, and health in Ethiopia. In addition, surgical training sessions are provided both for general surgical techniques as well as OR scrub and circulating skills.

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