|
|
|
|
| Ambassador's Speech>2010 >101225 | |||||
|
|||||
| at the Inauguration Ceremony of the Project to Construct the School Dormitory and Health Post in Semera, Afar Regional State on 25 December, 2010 | |||||
| Ato Awel Mei, Head of the Agriculture Bureau of the Afar Regional State, Madame Fatuma Abdella, Chairperson of the Mahi Difu Child Care and Development Organization, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Good morning. Mahiseni. I am most grateful to all of you for your very warm welcome today. This is my first trip to the Afar Region as the new Japanese Ambassador to Ethiopia, and I have been looking forward to visiting Semera, seeing you and talking with you here in your capital city. Ethiopia is such a big country with great regional diversity, and I am fully aware of the importance of visiting each region. I am so happy that I have been able to make it here today. It is also a great pleasure for me to attend this inauguration ceremony of the project to construct school dormitories and a health post in Semera. The project was funded by the Japanese Government through the grassroots human security grant-in-aid scheme, amounting to about USD86,000. The grant contract was signed between my predecessor and Madame Fatuma, representing the Mahi Difu Child Care and Development Organization, in March 2009. Through this project two blocks of dormitories with a kitchen and toilets have been constructed. A block for a health post has been completed as well. The dormitories will accommodate those 30 orphans and vulnerable children who have been living at the school and an additional 30 children who have been on the waiting list. This project is aimed primarily at extending protection to those socially weak children. To be honest, I have been surprised and even shocked to know through this project that there are 80,000 orphans and vulnerable children in the Afar Region alone, nearly six percent of the population. We all recognize that orphans and vulnerable children are deprived of their first line of protection, their parents. Moreover, the separation from parents and family is detrimental to their welfare and their mental and physical development. Children without the proper guidance and protection of their primary caregivers are often vulnerable and are easily victimized by violence, exploitation, discrimination or other abuses. In addition, only a limited number of those children have opportunities to attend school and to have access to appropriate health care. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Mahi Difu Child Care and Development Organization has made untiring efforts to provide support for such vulnerable children by improving their access to education and health care. On behalf of the Embassy of Japan, I would like to pay tribute to this organization for the role it has played in addressing this serious social issue for the past four years. In October 2007, this organization built the primary school and kindergarten in Semera to extend education to orphans and vulnerable children. This project which we have just completed is aimed at further improving access to education for those children. I am sure that life changing opportunities will be provided for the orphans and vulnerable children as a result of this project. In conclusion, I would like to share some of my wishes with you. The school dormitories and the health post are now handed over to the organization. I am confident that all of you will work together to make the most use of them, while maintaining the facilities in good condition. Yet, it is more important that the orphans and vulnerable children in the local community will enjoy the full benefits of good health and education, and I am sure that this will be done as well. Finally, I do hope that we can work together again in the near future for the economic and social development of this region. Thank you very much. Gada geya. |
|||||
|
|||||
