Bazaar Story: Morning Light

As the sole income provider for her family of eight, Shitu worked hard to earn money. Shitu made injera , a non-sweet pancake-like bread Ethiopians eat with meals, to sell each day. But she barely earned enough to scrape by. Without electricity, Shitu relied on the traditional way to prepare injera— wood and eucalyptus tree leaves. Whenever Shitu cooked the injera , her small mud house filled with smoke. The scent dominated the mud hut night and day and created family problems.

Her two teenage sons couldn’t tolerate the smoke and left home in search of work. Another son stopped attending school because he was teased for smelling like smoke. But if Shitu stopped making injera , she didn’t have another way to earn money.

Through a local government organization, Shitu was introduced to Morning Light. Shitu wanted to continue her injera business so Morning Light helped Shitu connect to the electrical power grid and purchase an electric griddle to use in cooking injera . Additionally, Morning Light provided Shitu’s children with uniforms, bags, and other supplies so they could fit in among their peers at school.

Since her encounter with Morning Light, Shitu’s life isn’t hazy, but filled with hope. Shitu’s family can eat three meals a day, her son returned to school, the rest of her kids attend school, one teenage son came back home, and they purchased a bed for the children. Shitu’s family is rising out of poverty and on the path of self-sufficiency.

Morning Light provides child education, helps empower women, and brings health services to the needy, serving 243 widows, single mothers, and orphans in the slums outside Addis Ababa.