Category: News

With an estimated 2.5 million Ethiopian children suffering from treatable disabilities and the ambitious dream to see every one of these freed from their disabling condition, CURE Ethiopia has a big task ahead of them. Frankly, it’s a dream that’s not achievable alone. CURE relies heavily on continued investment and support by not only individual donors but also through grants and generous government giving.

You know that story in the Bible where the boss is going on a long business trip, and he gives three of his employees some cash to see what they can do with it while he’s gone. The first one freaks out and stuffs the cash under his mattress just to keep it safe until his boss gets back.

You might know the story. A shepherd is out with his sheep and one goes missing. The rest of the sheep are happily munching on grass, but the shepherd is distraught and goes off searching for the one lost sheep. He looks high. He looks low. He looks all night, and eventually finds the lost sheep. He lifts it onto his shoulders and goes home to celebrate the successful rescue.

There’s an old school hit song out there comically titled “Video Killed the Radio Star” (The Buggles, 1979), and it’s a reminiscent take on the changing ways people consumed information at the time. While it’s a tad tongue-in-cheek, it hits the nail on the head about how videos engage consumers at a higher level than just hearing something. Videos stimulate more of the senses and capture people’s attention.

Three years ago, Sofonias, an eight-year-old boy, fell and broke his leg while playing outside with friends. His mom, Endawek, rushed him to a local hospital, where the doctors performed a routine surgery to fix the broken bones in his leg. After the surgery, everything seemed fine, and Sofonias was recovering.

“I went to many hospitals, and they told me that it was impossible to treat her.” Rehema is the mother of Hadija, a little girl from Tanzania who suffers from a congenital condition called popliteal pterygium, which affects the development of the skin. Hadija was born with thick webs of skin on the back of her knee joints, which made making walking impossible.

“When I hear the word CURE, I always think of emotional healing and physical healing,” says Kebede, one of the counselors at CURE Ethiopia. “And it makes me very happy that I get to be part of it and to spend time with children.”

On January 22nd, 2019, CURE Ethiopia celebrated ten years of operation! CURE Ethiopia specializes in the orthopedic care of children, treating conditions like clubfoot, bowed legs, and knock knees, as well as non-orthopedic deformities like cleft lips, cleft palates, and burn contractures through visiting surgeons.

In Ethiopia, it is a constant challenge for us to help children who come from distant places within the country. Through prayer, planning, and support, we’ve been able to lighten the burden of our patients who travel from far distances by opening a new rehabilitation facility!