Dessie Region, Ethiopia

DATES: July 21 – August 3, 2019

COST: $2325.00 (USD) + Airfare

A deposit of $500.00 is due ASAP to hold your spot on this trip! If no deposit is made, the deadline to pay for this trip is June 21, 2019.

VOLUNTEER WEEK: 

Ethiopia is the second most populous country on the continent of Africa.  Over the centuries it has been witness to many things from its vantage point in the northeast part of the continent.  It has many stories to tell – we’ll get to those in our second week.  Now, in spite of having one of the fastest growing economies in the world, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world.  We’ve been asked to help.  One of the most difficult issues facing the residents of Welo is the problem of fire.  First of all, in order to cook their meals, they collect firewood and build a fire, and that’s not a surprise.  The location of the fire is the center of their one-room house – on the floor.  It fills the house with smoke, which has terrible health consequences, but it’s also an enormous hazard for anyone who might inadvertently step into it – or to children who might also fall into it during playtime.  The fire is maintained throughout the night to ward off the cold that relentlessly creeps into the home through the many gaps in the stick and mud walls.   Our task is to find an alternative method of cooking and heating.  We are working with a group of mechanical engineering students at a local university to design a simple and efficient stove that we can have built in the nearby city of Dessie.  Then we can help someone in the village of Welo to develop a business, selling, installing, and maintaining the stoves (complete with a chimney to remove the smoke) in an ever-widening radius of households.  In addition, we will provide instruction for building inexpensive solar stoves for each household, from cardboard, aluminum foil, tape and string, so that, on sunny days, they don’t even have to build a fire to cook their food! If that sounds like a great beginning for solving some enormous issues, then sign up today!  We can make an undeniable improvement in a lot of lives there!

• Level of Physical Challenge (easy – 1—-10 – difficult) = 4
• Special Requirements/Qualifications/Skills Needed = None

TOURIST WEEK:

Want to go on an African Safari?  Well, that’s what our second week will be.  Giraffes, Cape Buffalo, Lions, Cheetahs, lots of different kinds of antelope and the like, will be found in their natural habitat.  The only description that is appropriate is, WOW!! It must be seen to be believed.  And we’ll be exploring ruins from centuries ago, too.

REGISTER FOR THIS TRIP HERE!