Conflict in Ethiopia: updates

For children living in inaccessible conflict areas:

If a child you sponsor attends a Compassion centre that has been temporarily suspended due to the conflict, we will notify you, and your monthly sponsorship donation will be paused for the duration of the suspension. We will contact you ahead of your sponsorship donation resuming. You can continue to send letters if you would like, but please be aware that letters will be held for delivery until we are able to re-establish communication with our frontline church partners in the affected areas. ​​​​​​​

For children living in areas of Ethiopia still accessible to Compassion:

Your monthly sponsorship donation will continue. We are thankful for your continued faithful support, which enables our local church partners to continue meeting the needs of children and their families during this difficult time.

As of January 2022, the delivery of letters and gifts to non-conflict areas has resumed. You may continue writing letters. Please note that some Compassion centres and regions are still experiencing letter delays due to COVID-19 pandemic realities in their communities.

We ask that you do not mention the conflict in your letters. The circumstances are extremely sensitive and discussing the nature of the conflict may put children or families at risk.

As always, please know that your letters are treasured and whenever the child you sponsor is able to receive them, your words of encouragement are so valuable.

In inaccessible conflict areas, Compassion’s access to and communication with staff, churches and children is interrupted. Frontline church partners cannot receive funds from Compassion, as bank services are suspended. Letters and child information are suspended as there is no communication with the affected area.

When frontline church partnerships are temporarily suspended, your monthly sponsorship donation is paused. We will update you as needed throughout the suspension and contact you when the time comes for your monthly sponsorship donation to resume.

We cannot access or communicate with churches in these areas. We are not able to monitor the status of the beneficiaries in these areas or facilitate any financial or physical aid to children, families and frontline church staff in these areas.

Decisions like this are very difficult for us to make. Child development and child protection are our highest priority, and our hearts break for the children, families, and frontline church staff experiencing such suffering and hardship. After prayerful consideration, we decided that suspension was the best course of action. Suspension allows us to continue being good stewards of the resources we have been entrusted with. We hope to resume services once communication returns and violence subsides.

Since the start of the conflict, Compassion has facilitated emergency support and organized trauma counselling for children, families and the staff of frontline churches. We also intentionally equipped frontline church partners in the areas of child protection and access to relief services provided by the United Nations and other organizations. In conflict areas that are no longer accessible to Compassion, we trust that our frontline church partners will continue to protect children and help them access relief as they are able.

That is our desire. We cannot make any promises at this time without knowing how long the conflict in these areas will continue. We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide regular updates to supporters about the impacts to our ministry, partners and the children we serve.

The conflict situation in and around Tigray worsened steadily in early 2021, leading to a complete cut-off of both access and communication the end of June 2021. Although the situation was not ideal, we maintained some communication with our frontline church partners and were able to monitor the status of the children in their care up until that time. Without access or communication, we cannot operate our child development program.

Compassion had intermittent contact with the frontline church partners in the Tigray region from the time the conflict began in November 2020 through the end of June 2021.

No. At this time, communication in and out of the Tigray region is not feasible. Cell phone service and internet, including mobile internet access, have been cut off. We are unable to communicate with anyone inside these areas.

We paused our relationship:

• with 3 frontline church partners in the towns of Kobo and Weldiya in September 2021.
• with 11 frontline church partners in the towns of Hayk, Kuta-Ber, Dessie, Kombolcha, and Bati in early November 2021.
• with 5 frontline church partners in the towns of Kemise and Karakore in late November 2021.
• with 6 frontline church partners in the towns of Mehal Meda, Shewa Robit, and Abaye Atir in early December 2021.

We regained communication with all 25 church partners in mid-late December 2021.

Compassion Ethiopia’s crisis response task force have visited the impacted areas and carried out a preliminary assessment of the impacts of the conflict on children, youth, families, and the staff and facilities of our frontline church partners.

Compassion is supporting and resourcing our frontline church partners to provide immediate emergency support, including food, critical supplies, housing costs, medical care and trauma counselling. Over the longer term, planned interventions include a comprehensive package of community support, including the deployment of counsellors/social workers to support our church partners to serve and witness in their communities.

Additionally, 56 children have been displaced by the conflict to other regions of Ethiopia and are currently being supported by Compassion church partners in those regions.

Our team in Ethiopia are working now with our frontline church partners in the affected communities to assess the impacts of the conflict on children, youth, families, staff, and facilities. We have been able to account so far for more than 99 per cent of the more than 6,000 children and youth registered with Compassion and confirm that they are safe and well, though many are dealing with direct or indirect impacts from the conflict, including damage to or destruction of property and housing, loss of livelihood, a lack of basic supplies, displacement and psychological trauma.

A small number of children and families are dealing with injuries or death of a caregiver, sibling, or other close family member. In respect for relatives, we won’t be commenting on these cases publicly at this time, although we will reach out to share news individually with sponsors as we have it.

As always, we will contact you directly if a child you sponsor has been seriously impacted by this conflict.

At this time, Compassion centres in Amhara will be focusing on conflict recovery and trauma response. As a result, child letters will remain paused and it may be some time before you receive a letter from the child you sponsor in Amhara. Please be confident that Compassion centre staff are supporting your sponsored child and their family during this time and when it is appropriate, child letters will resume. As always, if a child you sponsor has been seriously impacted by this conflict, we will let you know.