During multiple mission trips to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, co-founders Cindy Douglass and Suzanne Ward met some amazing teenage girls who were barely making it from day-to-day. These girls had no family unit to speak of and had spent much of their lives in orphanages.
Through a journey of discovery, Cindy and Suzanne learned that there are millions of children and families fighting every day to survive, constantly beaten down by life and its hardships.
According to UNICEF, there are 4.5 million orphans in Ethiopia. The leading causes of orphaned children are HIV AIDS, untreated illnesses, famine, drought and war. In Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa alone, more than 30 percent of teenage girls are not living with a parent. These girls are vulnerable to exploitation or abuse, and typically have no legal or societal support.
Cindy and Suzanne began to dream. They cried out to God and said, “This can’t be okay. What can we do to give these girls, these people, these families, a new start in their lives?” They wanted to provide new beginnings for these girls and these families. That’s how Addis Jemari (Amharic for “New Beginnings”) came to be.
After much prayer, Addis Jemari, (a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization) was founded on May 11, 2016. Cindy and Suzanne developed a multi-faceted program to help these orphaned and vulnerable children. It is their belief that, by engaging local leaders and entities, and by creating an environment of love, support and discipleship, these children and their families can be educated, discipled, learn life skills, and be taught self-worth.
During multiple mission trips to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, co-founders Cindy Douglass and Suzanne Ward met some amazing teenage girls who were barely making it from day-to-day. These girls had no family unit to speak of and had spent much of their lives in orphanages.
Through a journey of discovery, Cindy and Suzanne learned that there are millions of children and families fighting every day to survive, constantly beaten down by life and its hardships.
According to UNICEF, there are 4.5 million orphans in Ethiopia. The leading causes of orphaned children are HIV AIDS, untreated illnesses, famine, drought and war. In Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa alone, more than 30 percent of teenage girls are not living with a parent. These girls are vulnerable to exploitation or abuse, and typically have no legal or societal support.
Cindy and Suzanne began to dream. They cried out to God and said, “This can’t be okay. What can we do to give these girls, these people, these families, a new start in their lives?” They wanted to provide new beginnings for these girls and these families. That’s how Addis Jemari (Amharic for “New Beginnings”) came to be.
After much prayer, Addis Jemari, (a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization) was founded on May 11, 2016. Cindy and Suzanne developed a multi-faceted program to help these orphaned and vulnerable children. It is their belief that, by engaging local leaders and entities, and by creating an environment of love, support and discipleship, these children and their families can be educated, discipled, learn life skills, and be taught self-worth.
Addis Jemari Home
In August of 2016, the Addis Jemari (“AJ”) home opened its doors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The AJ home strives above all things to create a true family for once orphaned and vulnerable teenage girls. Through an amazing Ethiopian staff, AJ’s goal is to Encourage, Educate and Empower the girls living in our home. Our Ethiopian staff provides not only for the physical needs of our girls, but also seeks to provide for their spiritual and emotional needs. To meet these needs, we instill our five core values to move our AJ Girls from a place of merely surviving to thriving.
Addis Jemari Family Empowerment
We believe that economic problems are one of the major causes for family breakdown. Children and youth living in destitute families are the most affected in the process. As a result, this program aims to help alleviate this complex and multi-dimensional problem of family destitution, which leads to child vulnerability and abuse. Through our Family Empowerment Program, AJ will work directly with families living in impoverished conditions, who are struggling to fulfill daily needs. We will focus on supporting families economically, emotionally, and spiritually, with the goal of keeping the family unit together. We believe this is a real and tangible way to change generational poverty and will make a true difference in the lives of the families we serve. Our five core values will be shared with each family while we love and build relationships with them. We will offer nutritional support, monthly financial support, medical assistance, life skills training, financial literacy training, counseling services, discipleship opportunities, and educational support.By offering a program that encourages, educates and empowers families to stay together as a unit, it is our prayer that we will work towards preventing family disintegration.
In August of 2016, the Addis Jemari (“AJ”) home opened its doors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The AJ home strives above all things to create a true family for once orphaned and vulnerable teenage girls. Through an amazing Ethiopian staff, AJ’s goal is to Encourage, Educate and Empower the girls living in our home. Our Ethiopian staff provides not only for the physical needs of our girls, but also seeks to provide for their spiritual and emotional needs. To meet these needs, we instill our five core values to move our AJ Girls from a place of merely surviving to thriving.
We believe that economic problems are one of the major causes for family breakdown. Children and youth living in destitute families are the most affected in the process. As a result, this program aims to help alleviate this complex and multi-dimensional problem of family destitution, which leads to child vulnerability and abuse. Through our Family Empowerment Program, AJ will work directly with families living in impoverished conditions, who are struggling to fulfill daily needs. We will focus on supporting families economically, emotionally, and spiritually, with the goal of keeping the family unit together. We believe this is a real and tangible way to change generational poverty and will make a true difference in the lives of the families we serve. Our five core values will be shared with each family while we love and build relationships with them. We will offer nutritional support, monthly financial support, medical assistance, life skills training, financial literacy training, counseling services, discipleship opportunities, and educational support.By offering a program that encourages, educates and empowers families to stay together as a unit, it is our prayer that we will work towards preventing family disintegration.
5 Core Values
We believe in the value of education. Statistics show, if you educate a girl, she will change the world! According to the Education for All Global Monitoring Report, educated girls prevent child marriage, narrow pay gap between men and women, and help women support their families. We fight to get the children in our programs, some who have been out of the classroom for years, back in school. We give them the tools they need, such as weekly tutoring sessions and resources to attend school, such as uniforms, school supplies, and textbooks, to encourage their academic success and get them the education they deserve.
Teaching life skills will help our beneficiaries succeed in all aspects of their life. We teach our AJ Girls how to cook traditional Ethiopian food and prepare coffee in a cultural way. They also learn about their health, hygiene, time management, and other important life skills that will help them be self-sufficient when they graduate from our program. Our FEP families will also learn life skills to help them improve their home and family life. A major focus on life skills with our FEP beneficiaries is on learning about and training for income generation opportunities that will make our FEP families self-sustainable in the future.
Discipleship is vital at AJ. We believe that in order to empower the children and families we serve, it starts here. We understand the value in allowing each of our beneficiaries to understand that they are important, that they were created with purpose and in God’s image, and that they have much to offer their community and the world.
Our AJ girls and AJ staff participate in a weekly Bible Study. They study regularly from a book in the Bible, which is taught by our discipleship leader. Our FEP beneficiaries will be offered many discipleship opportunities and our AJ staff and AJ mission teams will build relationships with the families, sharing with them the love of Jesus in a real, intentional and relational way.
Scriptures says that no matter one’s religion, studying God’s word will never come back void. (Isaiah 55:11.) We point the children and the families we serve to the One who loves them more than anyone, to the One who will never leave them or forsake them, Jesus Christ Our Lord, as He gives eternal life in Heaven.
Financial literacy curriculum, based on Biblical principles and specifically created for Addis Jemari, is taught both in the AJ Home and to the FEP families. The AJ Girls receive monthly allowances, a percentage of which they are required to save in a personal savings account. We teach our girls to budget for “wants versus needs.” We instill the importance of saving more than spending, so our girls will be self-sufficient in the future. The same will be done to our FEP families. They receive a monthly stipend, as well as extensive training on budget, finances and most importantly values and goal setting as it pertains to striving for a sustainable future.
From volunteering in a local feeding center, to delivering supplies to widowed and women with HIV, we feel it is imperative for our AJ girls to serve others. While serving those in need, our girls not only impact the lives of others, but develop as leaders in their community. As our Family Empowerment Families graduate from our program, we will plug them in to their local community, engaging them with other FEP families as a way to serve and to impart the knowledge they learned through their life skills and financial literacy training.
Cindy Douglass, Founder and Executive Director
Suzanne Shoaf Ward, Founder and Chief Operating Officer
Semere Fekadu, Program Director, Addis Ababa
Sophia Chanyalew Kassa, Program Specialist, Raleigh, NC
Ashley Henderson, Community Outreach and Retail Coordinator
Laura Kilcrease, Social Media Coordinator, Raleigh, NC
Leila Shikur, Family Empowerment Program Coordinator, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Temesgen Zemene (Ababa), Guard, Addis Ababa
Elsabet Tulu (Elsa), Housemother, Addis Ababa
Kuribachew Esayas (Kuri), Housemother, Addis Ababa
Meseret Tamene (Messi), House Cook, Addis Ababa
Board of Directors
Tara Owens Shuler, Board President
Emil LaCivita, Board Secretary
Clark Rinehart, Board Member
Karen Latta, Board Member
Michael Resar (Mikey), Board Member
Karen Timmeny, Board Member & Finance Chair
Board of Directors
Jilalo Chebsa, Chairperson
Fekadu Fereje, Vice Chair
Aboneh W/Mariam, Board Secretary
Worku Gebre, Board Member
Yisahak Desalegn, Board Member
