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> USA Connection
> Center & Environs
> About Us
> Timeline
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1997 KMG granted full indigenous
NGO status with 7.4 acres of land in Durame, Kembatta-Ethiopia
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1998 Established liaison office
in Addis; Conducted Reproductive Health/Socioeconomic Baseline
Survey in Kembatta and Alaba districts; Conducted Sensitization
Workshop to inform and mobilize the local communities around
the objectives of KMG; Launched zone wide campaign against Female
Genital Excision (FGE) and other harmful customary practices
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1999 Began construction
of four buildings on KMG site; presented Sensitization Workshops
in Durame; established collaborations with women’s self
help groups; Received commitment from the Brtish Embassy to
build a Community Library Resource Center;
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2000 Inaugurated a yearly World
AIDS Day Rally in Durame (4,000 participants). Ensued training
in Gender in Leadership and Decision Making –Capacity
Building; Held paralegal training in Kembatta District; Sponsored
AIDS Rally and Sensitization Workshop in Alaba District; received
5-year European Commission (EC) grant on reproductive health
and reduction of FGE, including funds to build a Mother/Child
Health Center.
Abresh Abako, the first abducted girl to return home to her
parents and to her former school; her abductor sentenced to
five years prison term; this was a land mark, first its kind
in the region; it is unacceptable, for abducted girls who have
been raped to return to their families because they are seen
as “damaged goods.”
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2001 Began construction
of Kembatta Mother/Child Health Center; Completed Library Resource
building and Heritage House; Began construction of wells, reservoir,
and a network of water collection points; Trained and deployed
teams of community based health workers and peer educators
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2002 Staged educational
dramatizations HIV/AIDS and FGE; Showed videos about FGE and
AIDS in remote areas; Created and trained civic education
groups on gender, democracy an Human Rights women’s
rights, constitutional rights and responsibilities, with United
Nations Development Program, trained 52 volunteers in intensive
12-day Community Capacity Enhancement- Community Conversation
that brought change and transformation in remote areas. Opened
the first satellite office in Alaba.
September 12, the first uncut girl married in public rally,
declaring “I am happy to be uncut and learn from me”,
with 300 brides maids wearing the same affirmation. December
the same year, the couple toured three cities in USA.
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2003 Initiated preparations
to open first HIV/AIDS Voluntary Counseling and Testing Center;
Introduced registration of Vital Statistics (birth, death,
marriage) in rural villages; Nearly 10,000 uncircumcised girls
registered with KMG Advocacy and Support groups; 30 uncircumcised
marriages were celebrated; and 15 abducted girls who have
been returned to their families are now continuing their education
(it was, and still is in many villages and communities, unacceptable,
for abducted girls who have been raped to return to their
families because they are seen as “damaged goods.”
With grant from Austrian Embassy, opened four more satellite
offices in Kachebirra, Angacha, Kedidda Gamella and Omo Shelequo
districts which facilitated close communication with the communities,
thus intensifying the campagn against FGE. Austrian Ambassador,
the first foreign dignitary visited Kembatta and in the same
year the American Ambassador, also visited KMG Center and
its projects.
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2004 On the demand of the communities,
KMG opened another two more offices in Damboya and Hobich
Haka. KMG’s registry of uncut girls nearly quadrupled
to 25,000, and registered marriages of uncut girls reached
200. Mentoring begun of young couples to help them write their
own marriage contracts based on mutual respect rather than
gender roles. Completed construction of Mother/Child Health
Clinic and opened clinic.
KMG contracted by UNDP to coordinate the effort on up scaling
Community Capacity Enhancement-Community Conversation program
in Ethiopia. President Girma W/Giorgis helped launch the program
as a model in combating HIV/AIDS. Stephen Lewis, UN Secretary-General
Envoy to Africa for HIV-AIDS, visited KMG program and described
it as “a rare glimpse of hope” against HIV. “Behavior
actually changes!” he said. “(It) takes one’s
breath away.” KMG training program for female leadership
led to identification and ongoing preparation of candidates
for 2005 national elections. Biannual inter-district leadership
meeting focused on goals for first annual KMG Celebration
of Whole Body and Healthy Life in the Durame soccer stadium
in October 31, 2004. From 70,000 to 100,000 including 25,000
uncut girls streamed into Durame’s donated soccer field
from far-flung villages to meet and mark victories against
FGE with traditional dancing, costumes, speeches, banners,
etc. The first of 11,000 silver medallions were given out
to uncut girls. Medallions read, “I am whole.”
Received grant from Novib for Environmental program that focused
in the rehabilitation of Hambericho Mountain. Undertook extensive
Baseline Survey Environment, that included the regeneration
of water resources, alternative energy and income generation,
democracy, governance, gender and leadership, health, education,
in the zone and Special Woreda of Alaba. Entered into collaborative
agreement with SNV, a capacity building Dutch organization.
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1997 The Environmental program
that focused in the rehabilitation of Hambericho Mountain
went in full swing; received three nursery sites from the
government/communities in the three woredas of Kachabirra,
Kadidda Gamella and Angacha; entered into collaborative agreement
with CHF, a USA based organization in community empowerment
projects; Received grant from SIDA through NEWA for up-scaling
the good practices and experiences gained on FGE and HIV/AIDS
to adjacent zones of Hadiya and Wolayita and undertook situational
analysis in theses zones.
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KMG SEEKS TO CREATE
TWO SUPPORT MECHANISMS
• To establish a Safe House/House of Hope, a crisis
management and counseling center. This Safe House will be
a place for girls who have run away from their families in
order to recover from the trauma of abduction and rape, unwanted
female genital excision, and for girls and women who are survivors
of domestic violence.
• To establish an Educational Trust Fund, in particular
to enable young girls to pursue their education. The Educational
Trust Fund was initiated by Gina Blumenfeld of Los Angeles,
a long time supporter of KMG, in the memory of her mother,
Leah Blumenfeld and Hannah Lippert.They generously supported
Aberash Abako, They generously supported Aberash Abako, who
is seen as a kind of Rosa Parks role model in Ethiopia. She
survived bride abduction, refused to be considered "damaged
goods," and triumphantly returned to school and completed
college. Another young woman, Abaynesh, who currently is attending
a nursing school, and others at different educational levels,
are supported by Dr. Henriette Neerken and friends of Waddinxveen,
in the Netherlands.
KMG appeals to friends and those who believe that women must
be the primary actors in bringing gender equity and freedom
from violence. KMG believes that such concrete forms of financial
support give all women courage to struggle and stand up to
long established gender- based violence and discrimination
against them, hastening our effort towards eliminating such
practices and preserving human dignity for all.
KMG IS ACTIVELY SEEKING VOLUNTERS IN THE EXPATRIATE, ETHIOPIAN/AFRICAN
DIASPORA COMMUNITIES WITH SKILLS IN THE FOLLOWING AREAS:
• Graphic art, Documentation, data base management,
news letter production
• Project development, proposal writing in public health,
income generation; cottage industries development
• Research and development in issues of health education,
gender, human rights and the environment
• Retired medical doctors, particularly obstetricians,
gynecologists, senior nurses, pediatric nurses and medical
technicians
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