Lazarist Fathers Ethiopia.
Service Of The Poor
The Lazarist Fathers are a Catholic Order of Priests and Brothers. Founded in 1625 by a French Saint: St Vincent de Paul. They are part of a world wide Congregation committed to service of the poor and the formation of priests. They have been serving the needs of the poor in Ethiopia for over 100 years.
Lazarist Fathers and Education.
Education has been at the heart of their mission. Seen as one of the essential means of lifting people out of poverty, they established the second oldest independent school in Ethiopia (Lazarist School, Addis Ababa) and have been instrumental in promoting early childhood learning through the establishment of KG (Kindergarten) schools throughout Ethiopia.
Lazarist Fathers Commitment to the Deaf in Ambo.
Lazarist Fathers have been supporting the Deaf community in Ambo for over 20 years. Initially they supported students to attend the local Government School. Providing assistance with registration fees, purchase of uniforms, copy books, pens etc. In some cases they also provided assistance with the cost of house rent for older students from the rural districts to secure accommodation in Ambo. Their engagement with the Deaf community led them to realise that the education system was failing the Deaf community. A 'Special Class' (Grades 1-4) was available to the Deaf children at a local government school. However, the person employed had no teaching qualification. Once the students graduated to Grade 5, they were integrated into classrooms with up to 70 hearing students. None of the teachers had any Sign Language and little or no appreciation of the learning needs of a Deaf student. This was a disaster for the Deaf students who struggled to keep up with their hearing peers. Some left and returned to their rural communities with no qualification, others remained at the school, but were very frustrated at the lack of support and never got the opportunity to achieve their full potential in Education. Their only way of keeping up with class work was to depend on students in the class to allow them copy from their note books.
Irish Connection
The Lazarist Fathers invited a Deaf group from Ireland to visit Ambo to participate in a series of workshops aimed at exploring how they could better support the educational needs of the Deaf community in Ambo. The unanimous opinion emerging from the workshops was the need for a Deaf school; with properly qualified teachers for the Deaf and real understanding of the learning needs of Deaf children etc. Various groups in Ireland raised money to support building of a school. It all became possible when they were able to use the money raised to secure a very significant amount of funding from Irish Government through Misean Cara. On the 30th Dec 2012 the school was officially opened by the then Mayor of Ambo and the Irish Ambassador to Ethiopia. The ALDS is the first Deaf school established by the Catholic Church in Ethiopia. There is no other Deaf school within a 300km radius.
Lazarist Fathers: Other Works In Ethiopia.
They have parishes and missions all over Ethiopia: Addis Ababa, Ambo, Nekempte, Dembidollo, Mekele, Jimma, Bonga, Shishinda, Bahirdar, Alem Tena. Click on any of the location names to see a little about the work of the Lazarist Fathers in that area.
Lazarist Fathers
Mission Statement
Following in the footsteps of St. Vincent De Paul, St. Justin De Jacobis and Blessed Gebre Michael we the members of the Ethiopian province embrace as our mission the evangelization of the poor and the formation of the clergy. We will evangelize the poor through our ministry in our parishes and outstations seeking to meet the spiritual and material needs of the people. We will also seek to do this through our ministry in our schools, which are desperately needed for the upliftment of our children’s mind and body out of poverty. We will work in the formation of the clergy by training seminarians to be good priests and religious. We will work in the ongoing formation as St. Vincent did. May God help us.