Reaching Out to Street Children in Ethiopia

Here at Retrak, we strive to return each child to a safe and caring family environment.

One morning, while one of our Ethiopia outreach teams was at work in Autobus Tera, they encountered 12 year-old Tewodros. The young boy was sitting on a stone, shivering in the downpour with only a thin piece of shirt covering him. The team talked to Tewodros and invited him back to the Addis Transitional Centre (ATC) with them. There, they provided him with new clothing and assigned him to Yoseph, a counsellor.

Due to the combined effects of economic hardship in his home and peer pressure, Tewodros left his family when he was only 8-years-old. As his home was quite far away from Addis Ababa, it took him a long time to make it to the streets of the capital, begging drivers for assistance along the way. He spent four years on the streets and suffered all sorts of abuse. In addition to the challenges that he experienced so early in life, Tewodros shared with Yoseph that he was addicted to smoking cigarettes, had a very short attention span, and had difficulty coherently articulating his thoughts. Fortunately, after 8 weeks of intervention and support, Tewodros was declared fit to return home. With Yoseph's help, he not only overcame his addiction, but also greatly improved his communication – he became a confident boy.

Reuniting Tewodros with his family was no easy task, as after years living on the streets of Addis Ababa, he had forgotten the location of his house. Fortunately, on the way there, our team met someone who showed them the way. When they reached Tewodros' home, they came upon his grandparents. Understandably, they appeared shaken to the core at the sight of their long missing grandson. The grandfather never said a word though his wonder was clear as he took Tewodros by the hand, led him outside and proceeded to look at him from every angle as though he we were from another planet. His grandparents, like the many neighbours who had gathered at Tewodros' arrival, had been convinced that he had died following his disappearance all of those years ago.

Tewordros' grandparents informed our team that following his disappearance, Tewodros’ mother had become mentally ill, requiring treatment at a psychiatric hospital. After months of treatment, she had recovered enough to go live with Tewodros' father in Addis Ababa. Once Tewodros' grandparents called her to inform her of her child's return, she travelled back immediately. Though our team left before she was reunited with her son, she later called the ATC and thanked each and every one of our staff members for helping her son and bringing him home.

Tewodros was an ordinary boy who fell victim to circumstance and ended up struggling to survive on the streets until Retrak intervened and helped him to return home. Thank you for being a part of our success! We couldn't do it without you. Please know it is making a real difference in the lives of these children.