4th September

In the next installment of crappiness, the orphanage have been ordered to move out of their compound in Addis. The landlord has decided she wants to increase the rent by a good lot of money (I think around 2000 birr - £100 a month) and, anyway, has decided she doesn’t want children living there, even if the orphanage (and its supporters) could scrape together the required money.

There seems to be very little protection for renters in Ethiopia, so Landlords can just double the rent on their whim, or order someone to leave. There are tenancy agreements, but in my experience it’s rare anyone actually adheres to them – if the landlord wants to, he (or she) just ignores it. I imagine that if it went to court, it would be enforced, but (again, in my experience) rarely do people take it that far; they wouldn’t know where to start, they are too busy trying to find a new house, or they don’t even realise it’s an option.

I’m not sure whether that’s a road the orphanage will go down yet, but they are definitely in a quandary. This is the second time in three years this has happened. I’m not sure what these Landlords do – do they wake up one morning, a year afer they let the property to the Orphans Home and think ‘Hmmm.... Orphans Home ... I know that name means something to me ... oh yes, Children! Oh, no, I don’t want children on my property ...”. I mean, did they not realise this before? Why did it take them a year to decide they didn’t want children on their property?

And what kind of person evicts an orphanage anyway? It’s not as if they children are damaging the property or making noise so the neighbours complain; the neighbours are a kindergarten, a shop and a garage.

But at the moment, the orphanage face losing their offices, classrooms, kitchen and play area. The only option is to relocate, which will require a lot of money and a suitable building, and may mean moving away from the small houses where the children live. It’s not ideal – and of course, there’s the possibility that this will all happen again in the next couple of years.

It would be so much better if they could find a building that fits their needs and buy it ... but the money needed to do that is way out of our (and other Hanna Orphans Home supporters’) capacity. We’ve researched applying to a few trusts or grant making organisations, but many do not fund orphanages.

We will keep trying and planning and hoping and praying.