ስሜ  ሙላቱ  ላንቴ  ይባላል ፡፡ እድሜዬን  ለማስታወስ ይቸግረኛል፡፡ የተወለድኩት  መራ ቤቴ  አውራጃ  ነው፡፡ እናቴ  እኔን እንደወለደች  ነው  የሞተችው፡፡ እኔን፤ እህቶቼንና  ወንድሞቼን ያሳደገን  አባታችን  ሲሆን የገጠር   ህይወት  በመሆኑ  በልጅነት  መዳር  የተለመደ  ነበር፡፡አገር ቤት እያለሁ ሶስት ልጆች ወልጄ ነበር፡፡ ሁለቱን በማደግ ላይ እያሉ ሞት ነጠቀኝ፤ባለቤቴንም እንዲሁ፡፡ አንዱ የቀረኝን ልጄን ወንድሜ ማሳደግ ጀመረ፡፡ ዘመዶቼ በሙሉ በማለቃቸው ሀዘን ውስጥ እንዳለሁ፤ አዲስ አበባ የምትኖረው የአጎቴ ልጅ ካልወሰድኩሽ ብላ ለምና አመጣችኝ፡፡ በመጀመሪያ የማያውቁት አገር አይናፍቅም በማለት አሻፈረኝ ብልም ያለሁበትን ሁኔታ በማሰብ እሱዋን ተከትዬ መጣሁ፡፡

አዲስ አበባ የገባሁት በጃንሆይ ዘመነ መንግስት ነበር፡፡ እዚህም ሁለተኛ ባል አግብቼ ልጆች ወልድኩ፡፡ ኑሮአችንን እንደማንኛውም ኢትዮጵያዊ እንኖር ነበር፡፡ ነገር ግን ከሁለተኛው ባሌ የወለድኳቸው ሁለት ልጆቼ በደርግ ዘመነ መንግስት በብሄራዊ ውትድርና ተወስደው ሳይመለሱ ቀሩ፡፡ በሀዘን ለብዙ ጊዜያቶች ተሰቃይችለሁ፡፡ ሁለተኛው ሶስት  ልጆችን ወልዶ ነበር፡፡ ባለቤቴንም እንዲሁ በሞት ተነጠኩ፡፡ከዚያ ጊዜ በሁዋላ ልጄን እየተመላለስኩ እጠይቀው ነበር፡፡ እንዲሁም እየመጡ የሚጠይቁኝ ዘመዶች ነበሩኝ፡፡ በዚያን ጊዜ የራሴን ሆድ ለመሙላት አልቸገረኝም ነበር፡፡ከጊዜ በሁዋላ ግን አይኖቼ እይታቸው እየደበዘዘ በመምጣቱ እንረዳዳ አረጋውያን ማህበር ህክምና ድጋ አድርጎልኝ የታከምኩ ሲሆን  ነገር ግን የአይኖቼን እይታ መልሼ ላገኝ አልቻልኩም፡፡ ያልሄድኩበት ሃኪም ቤት ያልሄድኩበት ጸበል አልነበረም፡፡ የአምላክ ፈቃድ ባለመሆኑ ሳይሳካ ቀረ፡፡እናም አይኖቼ ጤነኛ እያሉ እሰራ የነበሩትን ስራዎች መስራት አቃተኝ፡፡ ታክሲ እያለ በእግር እሄድ የነበርኩት ከቤት እንኩዋን መውጣት የማይቻል ሆነብኝ፡፡ በዛ ትልቅ ችግር ውስጥ እያለሁ ጎረቤቶቼ ካጠገቤ ሳይለዩ ይረዱኝ ነበር፡፡ አሁን የምኖርበትንም ቤት እነደዚሁ በነጻ ነው የሰጡኝ፡፡ በዚህ አጋጣሚ ነበር አንድ የጎረቤት ልጅ እንረዳዳ የአረጋውያን መርጃ ድርጅት ያስመዘገበኝ፡፡ ምግቤን የማበስለው ከዚሁ ድርጅት በየወሩ በሚደረግልኝ ድጋፍ  ነው፡፡ የምኖረው በሰዎች እርዳታ ነው፡፡ እንጀራ የሚጋግሩልኝ የጎረቤት ልጆች ናቸው፡፡ እኔም ለመስራት የማይከብዱ ምግቦችን እሰራለሁ፡፡ በአጠቃላይ በእግዚአብሔር ረዳትነት እኖራለሁ፡፡

My full name is Tadelech Wondimagehn. I don’t remember my exact age, however, I can surely say that I am above 80 years old. I was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

I have never attended school; from the day I was born my parents ensured that I would work each day to make a living. My husband is also not educated.

I have been married a very long time. I have been married only once – to one man, Hailu Worku. It was not an arranged marriage like everyone else’s at that time. I found Hailu Worku when I was young and employed; we got married instantly through a friend. I was married at a very young age, when I was in my early 20’s. I am currently living with Hailu Worku at our small house near Ras Desta Hopsital. We lost our official house many years ago due to financial instability, but luckily a wealthy man offered us a room in his house for us to stay. He also renovated the room he gave us and supplied us with many resources, including food, water and free care by his maid. He is a very generous and thoughtful man.

I have been employed many years; that was how I gained my main source of income. Before, I used to be a successful trader in my neighbourhood. From this occupation, I gained a reasonable amount of money each day. I started off by selling vegetables, but gradually as I grew older and wiser, I decided to expand my career. I decided to try new things, so I started baking Injera, washing clothes, dishes etc at people’s houses. The money I received I used to support my family and me. Currently I am unemployed; I am a retired old woman. The reason for that is mainly just my old age but also the fact that I was capturing several illnesses that prevented me from conducting labour. At home, my main chore is looking after my husband; I cook and clean for him. Sometimes when there is nothing to do, I just sit locked inside my house like a prisoner, feeling isolated, hopeless, weak and at times, burdened with heavy despair.

I had 3 children with Hailu – all of which who passed away one after the other. It was devastating and shattering for both me and my husband. When all my children left me, I had no one who could look after me when I was ill. Hailu falls ill quite often and the issue is most of the time with his foot. His foot swells and he cannot walk let alone work. Currently, Hailu is being medicated at the Ras Desta Hospital (close to where we live). Hailu was a very dedicated carpenter for many years. It was his passion and he was good at it. After having children with Hailu, I had 2 children with another man but we did not get married. He fled after I had my second child with him. Again, I lost both my children due to severe illnesses and was depressed for a very long time. Hailu stayed with me and comforted me at all times. I had 2 sisters and 1 brother. My brother passed away 3 years ago. He loved and cared for me very much – he supported me whenever I needed him to. One of my sister went abroad a very long time ago and I haven’t heard from her since. My other sister is very ill thus she cannot help me very much. Also, she has many children. In fact, she even has great grandchildren. She has many people that can support her but none of them are willing to do the same for me. I feel like my family has forgotten the true value of sisterhood.

I am also very ill. I have major eye problems even though I’ve been to the clinic and received medicine for it, my eyes still pours tears and unfortunately, I can’t control it.

I have received a substantial amount of support and resources from Eneredada Elder People’s Association. They have given me lots and lots of flour, sugar, oil, soap and salt. Currently, I don’t have any future plans or hopes, except perhaps that my husband and I get better.

W/o Mentwabe Hayele  is a 66 year old woman from Gulele Sub City  Woreda 05 in Addis Ababa City Administration, with three grand children depending on her. She lost her husband when she was in her forties .Since her husbands death, she was struggling to up bring her two daughters with no secured income .She was also obliged to go out and start to beg only to feed her daughters and send them to school .Things become a burden after losing her daughter to HIV and AIDS and she was left again alone unable to send her granddaughters to school and feed.

It was at this time that she heard about Eneredada. After included in the organization she was provided business skill training and 4000 birr as a revolving loan with no interest. She started to sell fruits and vegetables at her gate. As time goes on she scaled up her business .She rented a small shop from the city administration at the road side and began to sell additional items by preparing different types of traditional spices like pepper (Berbere), “Shiro” made from grounded beans and peas. She has mentioned that, “I have never felt young again and neither have my relatives appreciated my presence. My grandchildren had constantly been chased from school because I could not afford school uniform. All they relied on was collecting used and tattered pieces of clothes thrown away by other children piece the rugs together and use them as uniform to avoid being chased from school by the head teacher.

Oh my God! Whatever came to the mind of these well wishers (EEPA), that old people like me, could receive skill trainings to be engaged in income generating activities and earn money! Now, I am fulfilling everything necessary to feed my grandchildren and my self and send them to school.I have also a monthly saving to my future as well as paying back the loan regularly .  Look at me, don’t you see happiness in my eyes, no more humiliation and frustrations in my life!

You know, when I was informed about this organization, I could not believe because I have never seen organization that aims at utilizing old people like me for skill training and engagement in income generating activities. Many organizations used to come to us but they gave us food or clothes once in year on the occasion of religious or other celebrations. Eneredada is by far different and helped many other older men and women like me to be self-sufficient and help their grand children. If you had a chance to see the status of life two years before, you will see a difference!”