Who We Are
SEEDS (Sustainable East African Education & Development Society) is a not for profit organization dedicated to supporting impoverished children and families in East Africa, through improving access to education, and strengthening families and communities through economic, community, and capacity development activities.
SEEDS was established in 1997 under the name ÔEye of the Horn ProjectÕ, by Meheret Worku and her husband Scott Smillie. Meheret, who is originally from Ethiopia, with her husband Scott, returned to Ethiopia for the first time after Meheret left some 15 years earlier. Meheret who is a teacher and Scott who has a Social Work background, initiated services to a hand full of street involved children in the capital city of Addis Ababa.
Since this inception, SEEDS accomplishments include:
Partnership with Mesrack del Elementary
For 11 years the organization supported over 40 children to attend a full-day non-profit private school program. Some of these children have now graduated from high school, having gone on to attend medical school or in some instances trade schools. Support to these children included funding their schooling costs, uniforms, extra clothing, meals, recreational activities, as well as micro credit services to their parents to improve families income security. SEEDS also supported the school with a donation of computers and books for a library.
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Chila, Wolo Project
Three years ago, SEEDS began to work with the community of Chila, in the province of Wolo. This more northerly region is quite mountainous and remote and lacks infrastructures like power, sewer, water and good roads. SEEDS has project staff who work with the primary school in Chila as well as the Secondary school in Amdework which serves the broader region. SEEDS presently assists 35 children to attend school and provides financial support to families that support these children. Many of these children are cared for by extended family members or other families in the community, as some of them are orphaned. Life expectancy in Ethiopia is presently at around 49 years, and HIV/AIDS prevalence in this area is around 5%.
The community has chosen the most needy children who were not attending school, to be supported by SEEDS. In this region, many girls are married through arranged marriages at a very young age. They often suffer health problems or death from early pregnancies. SEEDS is working with families and the broader community to mitigate the economic causes related to these practices and increase the opportunity for these children to obtain an education.
SEEDS funded the development of a water well, was granted land by the municipal authority, and are developing a community garden. The organization has also provided supplies to the secondary school in Amdework.
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Chapter 1 Pre-school
In the fall of 2007, SEEDS opened a non-profit, pre-school in Addis Ababa. This new project serves 40 children and has partnered with the Kebele (community municipal authority) in choosing families to be served. Most families are single parented with no stable source of income. The project encourages the development of mutual support amongst program participants and is presently exploring with families means with which to improve their economic stability. The school intends to add primary school grades as further licensing requirements are fulfilled.
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Orphan and Health Support
Although SEEDS holds the philosophy that supporting families to improve their longer-term financial stability is essential, the organization also believes that providing monthly financial support when there is no other safety net, is essential to the successful attendance of their children in school programs. This financial support has also served to enable other community members to foster children who are orphaned and would otherwise be street involved and unable to attend school. Many children have health concerns which barrier their ability to fully benefit from their schooling, and thus we seek to remedy these as best we can.
