She has recently sat down with Mr Dondi , the founder of  FOA ,  to tell us about those experiences.

D

So introduce yourself to us Karin.

K

I am Karin Sangren. I represent The International Society of Mankebacks Upper Secondary School (MINF) in Gothenburg,  Sweden.

D

We know that you are entirely dedicated in helping Abebech Gobena to give a better life to thousands of kids in Ethiopia. What inspired you to devolve your time in kids adoption ?

K

We do not deal with adoption, rather the opposite. Our field is society based family support for childrens education and vocational training. Being a mother of 7 children, a grandmother of 29 grandchildren and a teacher for 40 years, I have fully experienced the necessity of childrens education and training.

D

You come from Sweden, a very beautiful country indeed . Modern Sweden emerged out of the Kalmar Union formed in the 13th century and by unification of the country by king Gustav in the 16th century. History books tell us that Sweden has been always at peace, adopting a non-alignment foreign policy in peacetime and neutrality in wartime.

K

True, being a Swedish citizen means to be privileged in many ways. Sweden became a united country one thousand years ago. Slavery was forbidden by law in the 14th century. We have had peace for almost 200 years now and full democracy for 85 years.

D

How about Human Rights in Sweden ?

K

There is great awareness of Human Rights in Sweden, especially the rights of children. That is our reason to show solidarity by supporting children who live under difficult circumstances.

D

Tell us something about Abebech Gobena’s humanitarian achievements since the Wollo wanton destruction.

K

We like to be partners of AGOHELD, since they are very good in implementing projects in many different fields through efficiency and a great ability of cooperation.

D

How did you get started in Ethiopia with MINF ?

K

It was Abebech’s courage and strong wish for development that made us start our cooperation with her. She was brave enough to start her project, even if she had no experiences in that field or financial back-up. She was also brave enough to invite members of MINF to share the life of her, the children and the staff members. She opened all doors, and we have always felt welcome staying here every year since then. Also her courage took her to Sweden several times to meet all the sponsors in our common program and to get knowledge of our culture.

D

Well , we all share the common belief that Abebech is the mother of Ethiopia. She is a person of high moral integrity and unique in what she has done so far.

K

She has also been admirably persistent through the years, even if she has faced so many difficulties. She has trusted in God, and so she has been able to overcome the difficulties with the help of her staff and partners.

D

We know there are certain thoughts in the pipeline to make structural changes in this institution to  improve the services for children and to  gain efficiency overall.

K

Now it is our hope, that her courage and her wish for development might inspire her to change this institution for child care into a center for society based family care, where no children live but maybe a small group of children stay for a short time, waiting for a home together with relatives or faster families.

D

Why you feel a bit uncomfortable with Institutional involvement in children’s care ?

K

The reason of our hope is that we do not believe in institutional care of children. Through the institutionalization the children become socially disabled, since they do not learn how to live the real life and how to struggle for life, what is totally necessary in the tough Ethiopian society.

D

Can you give us some breakdown figures about MINF financial support to AGOHELD ?

K

In our program of 219 children we now have 34 children who are reunified from AGOHELD since 2005 living with relatives or foster families. To 6 of them MINF pay Birr 300 per month. To 26 of them MINF pay Birr 150 per month and AGOHELD Birr 100. To two of them, living with foster families, we both pay Birr 200 per month. The program is supervised by the MINF sponsored social worker in AGOHELD.

D

What will be your outlook for Y2009 ?

K

From 2009 we are phasing out our institutional support to AGOHELD. We are willing to support the family reunification of the 50 children out of all the 88 residential children who are now in MINF program.It is our hope that Abebech might be , as before , a spearhead in this development.

D

Thank you  Karin and have a good time in Ethiopia.