Volunteers Recognition
Ohio State University Visited Mary Joy
Ohio State University delegates unveiled their interest to partnership: The Ohio State University (OSU) delegates visited Mary Joy Development Association on December 9, 2012. The delegates encompass OSU’s professors, Deans and researchers. The visit was aimed to establish partnership between MJDA and OSU on community health outreach program, volunteer mobilization and in-service training programs. The delegates visited the MJDA medical center’s activities and integrated community development programs as well as discussion has been held among the team members and MJDA’s management on the focus of the partnership and sustainability of MJDA’s health programs. The visitors were accompanied by Professor Tirusew Tefera (Dean, College of Education and Behavioral Studies, Addis Ababa University) and Dr. Mekasha Kassaye (Assistant Professor in English Language Pedagogy and Higher Education Policy and Management) and Ethiopian Medical Student Association’s Executives.
Volunteers Recognition
A Small Beginning
Success Story: Henok Felate
Henok Felate was once a young man on the verge of desperation, choked with overwhelming feelings of having nothing: no job, no future, no hope. A widowed mother rearing eight children without permanent income found it impossible to support him past high school.
After he graduated from high school, not knowing exactly what to do, he embraced the opportunity to be part of an association that collects household wastes to be processed into compost to later be used as fertilizer for vegetable gardens. His life changed
. This program is sponsored by Mary Joy Development Association and is aimed at local youths living in his neighborhood. Henok has been armed with the skills for the job, and after a small beginning, the association has become a large firm.
Being a member of the association enables him to live his dream. Even with all the challenges that life threw his way, the strength and resolve Henok acquired over the years has opened doors full of incredible opportunities. He is now a university graduate and the head of the association.
That small gesture –a small association formed by a few desperate youths– may not seem like a lot to most people, but even small things can perform miracles. The association was a vehicle that sent him like a rocket toward a productive life. Today he makes a good living and contributes back to his community.
In a country where people have so little, a small beginning can provide a hand up and make an immediate impact on many lives. As with Henok, a small beginning can change the course of one man’s destiny, and it can also save a life. 