Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you." Mother Teresa
CHIROTA Project 2020 Summarized Activity Report
(January to December 2020) - 10th year Anniversary
I would like to extend my greetings to the Supporters of CHIROTA Elderly Neighbors Goodwill Project in Ethiopia Inc. (CHIROTA Project) and I also wish to express my gratitude for your continuous support.
I. Introduction
I would like to extend my congratulations to all Supporters
of CHIROTA Project for completing10 years assisting the vulnerable
elderly people, disabled young men including those who are affected by HIV/AIDS. CHIROTA Project registered in June 2010 and
started its activities on January 1, 2011. Since then, CHIIROTA Project
functions smoothly without encountering any difficulty. When time permits, I wish to get together and
celebrate our 10th Anniversary with you all.
As we do every year, I am submitting to you here below the Summarized
Report of the 2020 CHIROTA Project activities.
Firstly, I would like to inform you that, as I do every
year, I travelled to Addis Ababa on
February 5, 2020 but my trip was cut short due to the COVID-19 and
I came back on 31 March 2020.
However, I was able to accomplish lots of activities, visiting and talking to the Beneficiaries, two to three times, depending on their conditions. During that time, I observed their health situations, saw their living conditions, found out their needs and decided their yearly gifts. Accordingly, we distributed their gifts based on their wishes and needs. Also, for some Beneficiaries we have raised the pocket money based on their needs that we observed.
In general, during my stay in Addis Ababa, in addition to the regular activities, we set guidelines how to handle the activities if the pandemic is getting worse. Moreover, our medical advisors and I have spent lots of time briefing our 21 Beneficiaries, 3 Volunteers and 2 Messengers on the pandemic. We did it sometimes in group, sometimes individually. We explained to them how to take care of themselves based on the information we have on the pandemic. We also warned them to be very vigilant. In this regard, all Beneficiaries and Volunteers appreciated our advices and have promised to keep themselves safe.
II. CHIROTA Project General Activities
As noted in its Goals and Objective, CHIROTA Project is continuously assisting the vulnerable people by providing them daily meals, shelters and clothing as well as helping them to get medical treatment. Accordingly, in 2020, we have continued to assist 21 household Beneficiaries (27 people including two disabled men, one disabled lady and one lady with her daughter who are HIV/AID positive). Unfortunately, we have lost three Beneficiaries in the last few months as indicated in one of the paragraphs below. This year, one of our major decisions is to distribute, quarterly, the monthly Food Ingredients and Pocket money starting June 1, 2020 due to the serious situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, However, the Injera is being distributed as scheduled, three times a week to those who are unable to bake.
III. Health situation of the Beneficiaries
As I mentioned above, while I was in Addis Ababa, I have visited the Beneficiaries regularly and followed their health situations. I found out that except old age, disability and weakness, their health situation is better than last year. Since I came back, I have received a weekly report on the health situation of the Beneficiaries and was reported to me that three of our Beneficiaries were seriously sick and passed away (you may see the report here below) RIP. Some Beneficiaries who have regular checkups were not willing to go to the clinic due to the pandemic and we accepted their wishes. Only one Beneficiary was going by herself every month to the clinic to get refill for her blood pressure medication.
IV. Death of Beneficiaries in 2020
1.
Ms. AT passed away on June 23, 2020 at the
age of 91 RIP. CHIROTA Project assisted
her since January 1, 2011. She had eye-sight problem and some other serious health
issues.
2.
Mr. GT passed
away on July 9, 2020 at the age of 50 RIP. He was a disabled young man, who was
in bed over 10 years. CHIROTA Project assisted him including his parents since
January 2012. He died suddenly.
3. Ms. AB, who was sick for few months, passed away on December 4, 2020 at the age of 72. She was being assisted by CHIROTA Project since January 2018. She was a very hard-working street vendor with mentally sick daughter who has a child. RIP
V. Injera, Food Ingredients, Pocket Money, Shelters, Clothing & Visitation
I wish to inform you that when I was in Addis Ababa, I joined
the Volunteers while they were packing the monthly Food Ingredients and Pocket
Money. Then we went around by car to distribute the packages. It really a great
opportunity to observe the gratitude and excitement of the Beneficiaries.
Always, all assistances were received against their signatures.
1. Injera
In 2020, thirteen Beneficiaries have received Injera. Each
Beneficiary was receiving 7 to 12 Injera a week depending on their needs. The
Injera was distributed three times a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The
Baker, who was hired since 2016, is providing high quality Injera at a reasonable
price. We really appreciate that she is continuously doing a great job. She is also
delivering the Injera to the Supervisor/Packer on time, without payment for
transportation. All Beneficiaries, who are receiving Injera, have expressed
their admiration of its quality.
2. Food Ingredients:
(a) Berbere (68 kgs or 150lbs) was prepared in December 2019 by a person, who is close to us and who is giving a very reasonable price. The Berbere powder was well prepared with very high-ingredients. It was validated by our Advisors, Volunteers, Beneficiaries and myself.
(b) Cooking Oil: In 2020, since everything was expensive, we couldn’t get cooking oil at whole sale price. Although it is expensive, we got good brand cooking oil from the retailers.
(c) Split Lentils: Due to shortage of Lentils in the market, its price is very high. So, we decided, as of July 2020, to give more Shiro (Peas Powder) instead of the Split Lentils until it is available at a reasonable price. The Beneficiaries are happy getting more peas powder, because they like the taste of peas powder more.
(d) Peas Powder: Beginning of 20201, 100 kgs Peas were purchased. The peas-powder were being prepared four times a year to keep it fresh. The Beneficiaries have confirmed the cleanliness and the well prepared Shiro (peas-powder).
3. The Pocket Money
The Beneficiaries have received pocket money depending on
their needs and kind of assistance. The Pocket money was distributed each month
against signature of the Beneficiaries while distributing the monthly food
ingredients. As noted in the previous reports, the pocket money is to cover rent,
utility bills, mutual association, food ingredients such as onion, salt,
coffee, etc. This year, we have raised the pocket money to two Beneficiaries
after evaluating their needs. Here I
wish to note that no one requested to get more money, it was our own decision
observing their situations. So, they were surprised, happy and very grateful
for the assistance they are being provided.
Note: As noted above, due to the serious nature of
COVID_19, we decided to distribute the food ingredients and Pocket Money every
three months (quarterly) starting June 2020 instead of every month.
4. Shelter: In 2020, we did not repair any shelter; all dwellings were in livable conditions.
5.
Clothing: In March 2020, while I was there, shoes and clothes
were given to the Beneficiaries, according to their requests and needs.
6.
Visitation: As of
June 2020, the visitation by the Volunteers was very limited due to COVID-19.
However, those who were getting Injera and who live close to them were visited
three times a week.
7.
Providing cleaning assistance: In
2020, no cleaning services were provided by us thanks to neighbors and family
members of the Beneficiaries who were willing to do the job.
VI.
Applying New
Method of Quarterly Distribution of Assistances
As I mentioned at the beginning, due to the pandemic and to protect the Beneficiaries as well as the Volunteers, we started distributing three months Food Ingredients and Pocket Money as of June 2020. Accordingly, we distributed (1) 1st of June, covering June, July and August. (2) 1st of September covering September, October November. (3) Again, we distributed at the beginning of December covering December 2020, January and February 2021. We will continue this method until the pandemic is over. The Beneficiaries have expressed their appreciation of our decisions and thoughtfulness with blessing words.
VII. 2020 Financial Report
The
financial standing of CHIROTA Project in 2020 is in a very good status due to
the generous donations of immediate family members and friends who are determined
to save the lives of those vulnerable people. Therefore, CHIROTA Project
operates its activities without any financial issues. In this regard, our
gratitude also goes to the Administrator and the Volunteers for saving money by
purchasing food ingredients and other materials in a very controlled manner.
As previously done, we manage our financial
income and expenses as
follows:
1. Donation in dollar is deposited in Chase Bank
and it is wired to Abyssinia Bank once a year. Donation in Birr is deposited in
Abyssinia Bank.
2. As we do every year, the Estimated 2020 Yearly
Budget, Monthly Budget as well as Individual Budget were set up at the
beginning of 2020 and the activities were performed accordingly.
3. Checks for monthly expenses were prepared,
signed and were given to the Administrator in advance at the beginning of the
year.
4. All 2020 income and expenses were recorded by
the Administrator in her books and then by the Volunteer Accountant in the
Accounting Ledger and it was sent to me quarterly.
5. After reviewing and further discussions with the Volunteers, the financial statement was finalized.
VIII. Volunteers and Employees
1. The
Administrator is living far away from the Project area, as
reported last year. However, she has
continued her volunteer work by coming to the area as scheduled (a) first week
to distribute the monthly food ingredients and the pocket money. (b) mid-month
just to visit the Beneficiaries. (c) communicate on phone with me weekly and
with the Focal Point as needed. I heard
that she comes unexpectedly to observe the Injera distribution and other
activities. In this regard, I have expressed my appreciation to her.
2. The Controller/Packer & Accounting
Clerk (Focal Point) - Since 2019, she
was given additional responsibilities to be a Focal Point covering most of the activities;
(a) reporting urgent issue to the Administrator and to me; (b) providing weekly
report to me on all activities (c) receiving the Income and Expenses Book from
the Administrator and preparing the financial ledger after auditing it. Then she
submits it to me quarterly, which she did for 2020.
3. The Medical
Assistant/Monthly Assistant Packer/Visitor - She is not working with
us since September 2020 due to (1) the distribution is now quarterly (2) the
Beneficiaries are not willing to go to the clinic due to COVID-19 (3) no
visitation this time. However, she is
willing to be in standby in case of Emergency.
4. The Messenger/Injera Distributor – She is a street vendor. She is
working for us, part time, three times a week for two hours. She is doing an
excellent job by distributing to 13 Beneficiaries on time. Her willingness to
continue this job is admirable. One of her assignment is also to brings
information from the Beneficiaries to the Volunteers and she is doing it well.
Observing her hard work, we decided to give her raise. So, we have raised her
wage with our appreciation. She was very happy and expressed her gratitude with
many blessing words.
5. The Assistant Messenger - He is a guard in the compound who is available anytime when his help is needed. He also visits and brings information from the Beneficiaries. He is a great dependable gentleman.
IX. Conclusion
In general, in 2020, CHIROTA Project’s activities operated
according to its Goals and Objectives, although there is a change in the
distribution schedule from monthly to quarterly due to COVID-19. The
Beneficiaries as well as the Volunteers appreciated the change. FYI, the
Beneficiaries recent pictures were shared with donors.
I found it important to mention here that the 2021
activities have started with good financial standing; appropriate estimated
monthly and yearly budget as well as with good distribution of responsibilities
among Volunteers. It is my hope that, with our dedicated selfless Volunteers,
the activities in 2021 will be operated successfully. They have promised me
that they will try to keep themselves and others safe.
Dear Supporters, your unwavering support has enabled
CHIROTA Project to be successful and see positive results. Moreover, your positive and constructive
feedbacks have helped CHIROTA Project to reach a successful 10th
Year Anniversary.
I wish to take this opportunity to express my appreciation
to all Board of Directors for their determination to help these vulnerable
people. I hope you will have time to read it and send
me your comments, corrections as well as your suggestions.
God bless you all for your unconditional support to those vulnerable elderly people which means a lot to them as well as me
Warmest regards,
Founder/President
July 30, 2021
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