New Lighthouse opens to safeguard vulnerable children
Hope for Justice has just opened its newest Lighthouse, offering a safe haven for children who have been abused and exploited or who have been vulnerable to such exploitation while living on the streets.
The new centre, known as Bright Lighthouse, is in Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia. It offers a safe and caring place where children can stay before reintegrated to family-based care or independent living, where appropriate.
This Lighthouse supports boys, as vulnerable young boys currently have little or no support in Bahir Dar, while several other non-governmental organisations are able to help girls in the region.
Bright Lighthouse has a capacity of 15 children and is run by a fantastic team of professionals, including social workers, teachers, street outreach workers and nurses – as well as cooks, guards and wardens.
Lynn Kay, Hope for Justice’s Ethiopia Director, said: “Bright Lighthouse will also become a real centre of excellence for local NGOs to visit, complete training and share experiences.”
The Lighthouse has been opened as part of the FHI 360 ‘REACH-High’ project, caring for orphans and vulnerable children, funded by USAID.
Hope for Justice’s Lighthouses are just one aspect of our work in Ethiopia, which also includes outreach and counselling; prevention and anti-trafficking training; deinstitutionalisation of children into family- or community-based care; family reintegration; and self-help groups.
