Resources for the Enrichment of African Lives (REAL) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. The board includes immigrants from Ethiopia, a former Peace Corps volunteer to Ethiopia, a former missionary to Ethiopia, and other friends. While REAL envisions a broader pan-African focus in the future, it is presently concentrating efforts with people in and from Ethiopia.
Jote Betel, supervisor, MHP Consumer Department
Randy Hoversten, CFO of No Place Like Home, principal of Impact Management
Christine Hurney, senior developmental editor of college textbooks, Paradigm Publications
Ann Jensen, MSW, former Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia, retired social worker
Erik Kaaya, private consultant
Tsehai Wodajo, MSW, LGSW, community coordinator, Hennepin County School Success
John Chrisney,
Rev. Alem Hagos, pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church, Minneapolis
Judge LaJune Lange, JD, judge, Hennepin County District Court, Fourth Judicial District
Rev. Melkamu Negari, pastor, The Oromo Lutheran Church, Minneapolis
Katie Sample, retired social worker: director, African American Academy for Accelerated Learning
Mary Lou Williams, retired social work professor, Augsburg College
The roots of REAL began in Ethiopia in June, 1990. Tsehai Wodajo, an ethnic Oromo Ethiopian woman, had ignored a health issue for three years, but finally went to a doctor, who told her she should go abroad for more tests and treatment. She went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, in November, 1990. Through friends, found doctors and a hospital who would donate their services for her treatment. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and was put on a medication to be taken for the rest of her life. To ensure follow-up treatments, Tsehai decided to stay in Minnesota, and by April, 1996, she was tumor free
Tsehai faced significant challenges to keep her family intact. As she explored solutions for her family, she reached out to women from her own country and others in Minneapolis who had the heart and the desire to "do something" about the challenges facing African women and their families. In 2001 she and a friend, Hanna Getachew-Kreusser, also from Ethiopia, founded REAL and laid the foundation for REAL programs. In 2003, an American friend, Ann Jensen, who had served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia, and Rev. Yadessa Daba, past president of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church - Mekane Yesus, joined the group. REAL began to take shape.
In April, 2004, Tsehai and Ann traveled to Ethiopia to establish the foundations of a program to assist girls/young women to attend school there. Tsehai, herself, had attended high school in Ethiopia with the support of a woman from Sweden. She then attended college in Ethiopia before coming to the United States, where she pursued graduate school studies. Tsehai has never forgotten the Swedish woman who rescued her from a very limited life in an Ethiopian and she is committed to providing the same opportunity for other girls.
In September, 2004, other individuals were invited to form the REAL Board of Directors, and in November the corporation received its 501(c)(3) non-profit status.
|
