IDA on Tigray Mass Media (facebook link)

We had a great day! Our Diaspora IDA conference call today, on 1/15/2017, was very successful. The representatives of our IDA executive body (Hawku Reda and Asgedom Berhe, chairman and secretary of IDA, respectively, were very well organized and came prepared. They have presented clear, concise, and informative updates about the progresses of IDA and its projects back home. The Q&A session was lively, productive, and educational. The participants, excited, energetic, and hopeful than ever, have pledged a total of $15,660.00 on the spot to help fund the STVET project and they have promised to do more. For majority of the benefactors, the pledge was in addition to their annual membership fee.

What made today’s event more amazing was the humble participation of our young. As you can see their names on the list (Assimba Berhe, Zebib Berhe, Yordanos Berhe, Yoel Solomon, and Maya Solomon are members of our young who were born and raised in the USA. In addition to her $ pledge, Maya has promised to collect books. Way to go our beloved youth!

Here is the list of individuals who have made their pledges today. It is only the beginning and much better things are yet to come.

Today, we the Irob people are losing the most promising members of our society; our youth in search of unattainable dreams. Many of these young people are perishing at sea and in deserts. Standing with our youth in assisting them towards better economic future would alleviate the hopelessness and pragmatic road map towards becoming productive members in our own country.

The social fabric of our society seems to be coming loose, causing untold suffering within our families, as so many of our adults struggle with a destructive habits and dependency on others for their family’s economic survival.

While our church and the government is increasing the quantity of schools in Irob wereda, the quality remains at an alarming level and our children are unable to compete enough with others as they enter higher grades in the cities. In this regard, I would like to mention that the sustainability of the diocese’s educational institutions and relevant services are also facing a critical situation as the financial requirements are dramatically increased on one hand, and on the other, the resources have always been dependent on the generosity of our external partners who, since the world financial crisis, have substantially cut down their support, and leaving us in a very precarious situation.

Our language that is the corner stone of our identity needs to be supported if it is to stand the test of time and stay relevant for the future generation. New print and visual media needs to be created and those already in place must be supported to improve the quantity as well as the quality. read whole letter (must read!) ....

Irob Development Association (IDA) - Diaspora branch 2014 performance PDF Word

Today I heard about 40 young Irobs accompanied by human traffickers are travelling to Libya. The sources said they left Khartoum 4 days ago and nobody knows their fate, whether they will make it via Sahara Desert or not. Six under age Irobs are also captured by police on their way to Adwa to travel the same way. Those six are lucky for now unless they try again. I do not want to write about the details of the danger they can face because it has been said many times but what should be done to control this chain of human traffickers stretched from Irob Wereda all the way to Europe?

I would say all Irobs have to report on this human traffickers to parents, police, local militia and other authorities. If they see some body whispering to under age kids to pass them to human traffickers why are they keeping quiet? They have to inform parents, relatives and law enforcement authorities in Irob Wereda and neighboring areas. I heard no parent is sending kids, most parents and relatives are surprised by receiving phone calls from human traffickers after they kidnapped their children away from home. Some of the human traffickers are already in prison in Irob area. Please pass to every body to arrest rest of these human traffickers who are taking our young people away to harms way. No body is going to make it all the way to Europe by themselves without the traffickers.

Tesfa Hagos

Feb 14, 2015

Today, the committee assigned to prepare five years strategic plan for IDA is cheerful to come up with first draft document and to present it for further comments as well as suggestions. These four members of the technical committee have been working on the document with great passion freely. The committee followed scientific and modern models to assess the interests and priorities of the owner, the Irob people around the globe. In its assessment the committee used SWOT and STACKHOLDERS ANALYSIS tools for its data sources. For involvement and participation of Irobs a lot of efforts and approaches were employed. Meetings and conferences in different cities were effective in having better participation in the discussions. In three cities - Mekele, Adigrat and Dawhan - the committee had very warm and in-depth discussions with different community members on problems to be solved.

Regarding the background of participants it was really holistic. Concerned irobs, government bodies, educated and representatives from seven Irob kebeles had participated. Males and females participated equally well.

Passing through different stages and works today it is ready for your comments. So please, you Irobs, all over the world need to look at it. Don't hesitate to suggest any errors you come across. We can collect your comments from http://www.irobdevelopment.org as well as from social Medias. The technical committee is very proud of your valuable inputs and suggestions that helped to develop the strategic plan. Once again thank you all.

Seyoum Yohannes

Irob Development Association(IDA) - A Five Years Strategic Plan (pdf)