Witness about ORDA Ethiopia from a third party

Dear Fegegitaw and Girma

“My name is Emily Janoch, and I am the Senior Director of thought leadership and Knowledge Management with CARE, based in Washington DC. For the past few weeks, I’ve been working with the CARE and ORDA teams documenting stories of resilience in the Amhara region with VESAs and people who participated in Livelihoods for Resilience. We have also been visiting households that were part of the GRAD project, to see if GRAD helped people face the crisis and what has been sustained from GRAD.

We went to visit the Meseret VESA in the Gobgob kebele, and that group talked about how important both of you were to their learning and their success. They talked about you by name, and you’re your support, and how consistently you came to work with them, and how kind you both were, made a big difference. Admasu Alemu—who continues to grow potatoes and sell them to the local cooperatives—especially talked about how wonderful you were, and how working with you was very important to him. Here’s the quote I have from the interview we did.

“The extension agent from ORDA, Fegegtaw Mirhabu, who used to work here made such a difference to us. He worked 24/7. He never said he was tired; he never said the work was exhausting. He was always happy in his work. We still remember his smile. His smile was so contagious, and it made us happy to work with him. He improved his own life, too, and he worked so hard. He was so kind to us, and he was willing to help everybody. Everybody. It didn’t matter to him if you were poor, if you were short, if you were tall or fat or thin. He was so important to us, and we welcomed him with open arms.”

That group was still doing well, and while they were impacted by the conflict, they are bouncing back, and continue to grow. Admasu was doing especially well, and continuing to grow his potato business. It was lovely to hear how fondly you are remembered, and to hear people reinforce how important it is to have wonderful field staff, even 6 years after a project has closed. Thank you for everything you did to support these communities, and for the work you still do. Also, big thanks to Habtu for being such a wonderful host on my visit. I learned a lot, and was very impressed.”

Best,

Emily

Emily Janoch (she/her)| CARE USA | Senior Director Thought Leadership and Knowledge Management

1100 17th Street NW Suite 900, Washington, DC 20036

Work phone: 202-609-6350 | cell phone: 404-944-2312 | email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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