From Surviving the Month to Planning Ahead with Life for Relief and Development (LIFE) in Ethiopia

For Many Ethiopian Families, One Financial Shock Can Affect Everything

Families in Ethiopia continue to face overlapping economic and humanitarian pressures that can make food, healthcare and other essentials difficult to maintain.

UNICEF’s 2026 humanitarian appeal for Ethiopia aims to reach 8.9 million people, including 6.3 million children, as families contend with economic instability, climate shocks, displacement, disease outbreaks and worsening nutrition concerns.

For caregivers raising children who have lost a parent, an unexpected medical expense, food shortage or unpaid rent can quickly become debt.

In Kibet Town, Life for Relief and Development (LIFE) supported an orphan assistance program designed to give families something many of them urgently needed: a regular financial breathing room.

Support That Continued Month After Month

Rather than a one-time distribution, the program delivered monthly financial assistance over a 12-month support period.

The beneficiary list changed as the program progressed. A total of 28 children were supported during the first six months; 25 were supported for the following three months, and 32 for the final three months.

Assistance was deposited directly into beneficiary bank accounts, creating a documented way for support to reach the children and their caregivers. This form of delivery makes it easy for families to access the support without the need to travel to a specific location to retrieve it. 

The purpose was intentionally flexible. Families could respond to the needs in front of them, whether that meant food, clothing, medical expenses or another urgent cost.

For Amru’s Family, the First Problem Was Food

Amru’s mother was caring for five children while facing severe financial hardship.

At one point, there was not enough money to consistently feed the family. She borrowed 100 kilograms of maize from a local supplier simply to make sure her children had food.

Sponsorship changed what she was able to do next.

She repaid the grain debt and then purchased enough maize to help feed the family for approximately six months. She was also able to buy clothes and shoes for Amru.

She explained:

“The support helped me repay what I owed and secure food for my family for the coming months.”

For this family, assistance did not simply cover another expense. It replaced borrowed food with a more secure supply and removed a debt that had been hanging over them.

Abbas’s Medical Care Had Left His Mother in Debt

Another caregiver faced a very different emergency. Abbas developed a heart condition that required medical treatment. His mother, who was raising three children, borrowed money to cover the cost of his care.

The treatment addressed the immediate health need, but the debt remained. Through the orphan support program, she was able to repay what she had borrowed for Abbas’s treatment. Once that obligation was reduced, she could also purchase food for the family and clothing for her son.

She said:

“The support helped me repay the money I borrowed for my child’s treatment before I had to pay interest.”

The assistance meant she could spend more of her energy caring for Abbas rather than carrying the financial consequences of obtaining the treatment he needed.

Firdews’s Mother Is Thinking Beyond the Next Bill

For Firdews’s family, the pressure had accumulated in several directions at once. Her mother was struggling to provide enough food and had fallen more than three months behind on rent.

Sponsorship helped her repay outstanding debts and purchase enough food to support the family for approximately six months. 

With her immediate obligations under greater control, she began thinking about how to earn income herself. She plans to purchase an electric stove and start a small home-based business selling dry injera.

“I plan to buy an electric stove and start selling dry injera so that I can generate income and better support my family in the future."

What began as support for a child created an opportunity for a caregiver to move from managing debt toward building a source of income.

Reaching Kibet Town Required More Than a Bank Transfer

Kibet Town is approximately 238 kilometers from Addis Ababa, where norm where LIFE would normally distribute orphan sponsorship support. This distance made regular field coordination difficult.

Staff traveled to verify beneficiary information, facilitate deposits, monitor implementation and document the program. 

When field visits did occur, they also included small gestures for the children themselves, with candies and balloons distributed to make the experience more welcoming and child-centered.

When Immediate Relief Creates Space for the Future

Life for Relief and Development sincerely thanks the donors who made this continued support possible.

In Kibet Town, sponsorship helped one family move beyond borrowed grain, another recover from medical debt and another begin planning a small business.

Financial support can meet an urgent need today. When it also reduces debt, protects food and gives a caregiver room to plan, its effect can reach much further than the next month.