Immediate assistance

The plan was for the chairpersons of the association to travel to Ethiopia for two and a half months at the end of 2020 to advance the projects.

However, on November 3, 2020, almost everything changed for us at Hawelti e.V.

Almost completely unnoticed by the Western world to this day, a war began in Tigray! This war took place between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray region.

It lasted until November 2022. Since then, there has been an agreement aimed at peace – however, several key provisions have still not been implemented. As a result, fighting continues. Many people have been displaced within their own region! Among them are many children and young people. Some have lost their parents or been separated from them.

Hawelti e.V. consciously refrained from disseminating information throughout this entire period because we only wanted to communicate verified news. There were repeated reports that even we hope are “fake news.” These included, among many other atrocities, reports of the use of chemical weapons.

Many people lost their lives in this war; many women and girls were raped, crops were destroyed, and villages were completely wiped out! In Aksum, a massacre occurred in November 2020 in which 400 people lost their lives.

 

Shops, factories, and hospitals were looted and/or destroyed; drinking water pipes and infrastructure were destroyed… For many months, there was no telephone, internet, or mobile phone service – which also meant that we had no contact with our families and friends for a year and a half.

Due to the destroyed harvests, food supplies quickly became scarce, and medicines were also in short supply.

Since banks were also closed, people couldn’t access their savings; salaries and wages weren’t paid. And because of the supply situation, food prices skyrocketed.

 

It quickly became clear to us that we wanted to help, and we launched targeted additional fundraising campaigns to alleviate the suffering of the people on the ground.

Since 2021, we have been able to raise an additional €45,000 alongside our regular projects. In this very difficult situation, we have had the privilege of meeting many wonderful people in Germany and Tigray who don’t know us personally but are nevertheless helping us ensure that our aid reaches those in need.

Importantly, we did not want to use the donations already collected for other projects for this purpose – and we have succeeded in doing so to this day.

 

In April 2023, freelance journalist and author Navid Kermani traveled from Cologne to Ethiopia and visited several locations in Tigray, including Aksum. His experiences show that many severely malnourished babies are still hospitalized.

 

And even though the situation in Tigray continues to stabilize, widespread poverty persists, not least because around 25,000 internally displaced people still live in Aksum.

We now want to focus more on our Hawelti mobile unit; however, we cannot and will not simply return to business as usual.

We continue to receive donations for emergency aid, and we also want to use a portion of our donations to continue helping the poorest and most innocent – ​​especially the children.

At this point, we would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who helps us (especially in Tigray) to help others!

 

 

Emergency Aid Update April 13, 2021:

We were able to collect €3,000 and send it to Aksum!

Addendum:

We received thank-you letters – this is how our donation reached:

• 35 families
• 15 families whose children were hospitalized with (in some cases severe) malnutrition
• A neighborhood and the people in two towns

Emergency Aid Update September 16, 2021:

We were able to collect further donations and send a test transfer of €1,000.00 to Aksum!

Addendum:

We received thank-you letters and petitions – our donation reached 30 families whose children were hospitalized with (in some cases severe) malnutrition, malaria, pneumonia, Down syndrome, and war injuries.

 

 

Emergency Aid Update November 17, 2021:

Thanks to the help of many, €5,000 was delivered to the people of Aksum today.

Addendum:

We received thank-you letters and petitions – this is how our donation reached:

• 29 families directly
• 19 families whose children were hospitalized with (in some cases severe) malnutrition (the youngest patient was just 4 weeks old
• 24 children and the staff at an orphanage

 

 

Emergency Aid Update May 11, 2022:

Today, our fourth emergency aid shipment was dispatched to Aksum. We were able to collect another €6,000 for the people in and around Aksum – thank you so much to everyone who helped us!

Addendum:

We also received several thank-you letters and petitions for our fourth donation – the donation reached:

• 36 babies/children hospitalized due to malnutrition
• 23 children separated from their parents and now alone
• 18 children under 5 years old who lost their mother, father, or both parents during the November 2020 massacre
• 71 families in need

In addition to the petitions and letters, we received a video documenting the donation handover. You can find it on our YouTube channel under the title: Hawelti Donation Handover July 2022

Emergency Aid Update March 10, 2023:

• 78 severely malnourished babies in the hospital
• 209 children who were separated from their parents and are now alone

 

 

Additional donation from Mr. Navid Kermani, April 9, 2023:

Mr. Navid Kermani from Cologne donated €1,000.00 during a visit to the hospital in Aksum.

This money will help nine severely malnourished babies in the hospital.

We thank him for this wonderful and generous donation!

 

 

Emergency Aid Update, May 27, 2023:

Today we were able to provide an additional €4,100.00 in emergency aid.

Addendum:

We also received a letter of thanks from the “Office for Social Affairs of the City of Aksum” for our seventh donation, as well as petition signatures – the current donation reached:

• 125 children who have been separated from their parents and are now alone
• 18 displaced persons with health problems

 

 

Emergency Aid Update, June 23, 2023:

We are pleased that “Avicenna Cultural and Relief Organization e.V.” Following their appeal for donations, they provided a generous donation of €5,000.00. Furthermore, the ladies of Soroptimist International, Club Ellwangen/Jagst, also decided to make an additional donation for emergency relief. This allowed us to personally deliver another €6,000.00 in emergency aid to Aksum.

Addendum:

This distribution of donations had a special feature: our chairman was present and able to oversee the distribution directly and personally. This additional donation reached

• 141 internally displaced persons (children separated from their parents or living in refugee shelters in Aksum with only one parent) and
• 79 babies suffering from severe malnutrition and/or additional health problems requiring medication.

 

 

Emergency Aid Update September 4, 2023:

Another donation of €1,500.00 reached people in need in Aksum.

Additional information:

Our members and friends were able to distribute this donation to:

• 61 babies suffering from severe malnutrition and/or additional health problems requiring medication.

 

 

Emergency Aid Update October 5, 2023:

Another donation of €2,350.00 reached people in need in Aksum.

Additional information:

Our members and friends were able to distribute this donation to:

• 67 babies suffering from severe malnutrition and/or additional health problems requiring medication.

 

 

Emergency Aid Update January 22, 2024:

We were finally able to travel to Aksum again. We brought with us approximately €2,850.00.

Thanks to a private donation from Magda Tejwan-Bopp and her husband, we received an additional €660.00.

Addendum:

This time, we were able to be present for the distribution of the donations. Here’s what we were able to achieve:

• 34 babies with severe malnutrition and/or additional health problems requiring medication received financial assistance at Referal Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital.
• 570 people in need received a Christmas meal with injera and (after the fasting period) a meat sauce.
• 570 people in need received a breakfast of rice and bananas.
• Participation in a meal for the needy in the Hawelti district

The 570 people in need are fed daily by the Aksum-based “Hawelti Axum Association for Support and Care of Vulnerable People.”

The members work entirely on a volunteer basis and rely on donations.

We decided to “donate” three more meals; these will take place in the coming days/weeks.

A video was filmed in Aksum about our “special Christmas meal”; it can be viewed here.

 

 

Update February 15, 2025:

• 41 babies with severe malnutrition and/or additional health problems received financial assistance at Referal Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital.
• During our visit, we donated three meals for 570 people in need.
• We also purchased enough rice for 50 days for the Hawelti-Aksum Association and pledged a monthly meal (on the first Sunday of each month); either rice with vegetables or with bananas. We again participated in a meal distribution for people in need in the Hawelti district.

Update December 13, 2025:

• 10 additional meals
• were provided for 570 people in need six additional donations were distributed at Referal Hospital and St. Mary’s Hospital, where a total of hundreds of babies with severe malnutrition and/or additional health problems received donations