During the summer, the Sisters of St Louis in Dawhan, Ethiopia, opened a centre for youths, and began teaching computer skills and keyboard music to them. This idea for this initiative arose as a result of the amount of local youths that were risking their lives migrating illegally to Europe, America and Arab countries. Dawhan is the human trafficking headquarters of the Irob district, and it has been at its highest level in the last two years, with the loss of the lives of many local Dawhan youths between the ages of 20 and 28 in the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara Desert. To help prevent these youths from migrating illegally, the Sisters of St Louis, through the assistance of The World Mercy Fund, provided two desktop computers, two musical keyboards and some sports equipment.
Provision of this equipment is keeping the youths engaged and also distracting them from migrating to greener pastures. This is evident in the number that have registered for computer training and music classes. It is also believed that crime rates, teenage pregnancies and other problems will be reduced as a result of this initiative.
Other programs also exist at the Centre that is run by the Sisters of St Louis. The sisters teach environment and hygiene courses, enable the sharing of experiences on career choices, and provide a forum for discussion of social issues such as teenage pregnancy, school drop-out, youth migration, and the seeking of alternative sources of income.
To read more about the new centre for youths, click on the latest edition of Musings, our monthly newsletter – Issue 91.