Can you imagine the destruction of your reality in a number of days?

Women like Awetash don’t have to imagine. 

In Kafta Humera in Western Tigray, Awetash ran a successful restaurant and enjoyed raising her three children. Life was stable and she felt pride in building a future for her family. Then, when violence erupted, everything changed.

Shelling, looting, and devastating war crimes against women forced Awetash and her children to flee with nothing but the clothes on their backs. 

“I was horrified and forced to leave everything behind,” Awetash recalls. “I had no way to feed or shelter my children. We walked for days. I was haunted by [the violence I saw].”

Along the way, Awetash endured deep physical and emotional trauma. Fear, exhaustion, and uncertainty became part of daily life.

This burden is something no mother should ever have to carry. Yet, two million people like Awetash and her family have been forced to flee their homes in Northern Ethiopia since 2020. After a fallout between the Tigray People’s Liberation Front and the federal government over political reforms, devastation spread throughout Tigray. Schools, businesses, factories, and 79 per cent of health facilities were shelled, destroyed, and looted. The conflict left at least 2.3 million in need of assistance. 

For the women and girls in Tigray, the impact was especially devastating. An estimated 43 per cent of women in Tigray experienced at least one form of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Many were forced to make impossible choices to survive, leading to risks of sexual exploitation, infectious diseases, and SGBV. The upheaval also shattered the childhoods of many children. With deepening poverty and constant danger, some families turned towards child marriage and labour out of desperation. 

When Patty-Leigh Thielmann, FH Canada’s VP of International Programs, spoke with women affected by the conflict, their stories echoed one another.

“They talked about how they have experienced difficult things,” Patty-Leigh recalls, “Like having to flee their homes in the middle of the night. Many women’s husbands were killed or simply disappeared. It was a traumatic time, and they are still not able to return to their original homes.”

Additionally, mothers also bear the disproportionate burden of walking long distances to collect contaminated water from damaged water systems. This has led to cholera outbreaks throughout many communities, adding extra devastation to already tragic circumstances.

But this is not the end of the story.

Alongside Global Affairs Canada (GAC) and FH Ethiopia, Food for the Hungry Canada is restoring hope for women and girls in Northern Ethiopia. Together, we have implemented the Ethiopia Humanitarian Response project to provide healing, resources, and a brighter path forward.

We began by listening. Women and girls shared what they needed most to feel safe, healthy, and hopeful again, and were invited to fill leadership roles. The project restored access to clean water, built safe sanitation facilities, and created friendly spaces where women could gather without fear.

For women like Sielay, this support was life-changing.

As a single mother with a visual impairment, Sielay faced overwhelming challenges. Before connecting with FH Ethiopia, she and her daughters drank contaminated water shared with animals, which left them constantly sick.

Then Sielay found an unexpected opportunity: a job managing a newly built well installed by The Ethiopia Humanitarian Response project. With access to clean water and a steady income, she felt hopeful again!

“Now I can send my daughters to school, and I can pay my rent,” Sielay says. “Having this job has given me the opportunity to interact with people, especially other women, and to share my feelings with them. For the first time in many years, I feel at ease in my mind. I feel happy. Thanks to God and FH Ethiopia, I finally feel at peace.”

For both Sielay and Awetash, healing required something just as essential: an opportunity to begin again. After arriving at an internally displaced persons camp in Hitsats, FH Ethiopia staff secured Awetash a spot at a safe shelter near a Women and Girls Friendly Space, which changed everything. 

Awetash received counselling, attended psychosocial support sessions, and received life skills training, which helped her regain strength and resilience. Through these programs, she realised she didn’t have to embark on her healing journey alone. The support she received helped her take the next steps toward a new, restored life. The Women and Girls Friendly Spaces have provided a place of hope and renewal for more than 7,700 women and girls like Awetash to find safety, healing, and freedom.  

Awetash receiving support at a Women and Girls' Friendly Space.

Thanks to these spaces, Awetash can live with the power of knowing that the trauma of her past does not dictate her future.

“The relaxation sessions taught me to calm my anxiety. I learned to manage the pain of my past and the challenges I face now. It gave me tools to live again,” Awetash says.

She now has hope for herself and her family, and even dreams of a better future!

From clean water to trauma support, Awetash and Sielay’s stories highlight how these resources don’t just meet immediate needs, but they also bring healing to communities as they rebuild a life after the devastation of war. Alongside the Government of Canada and FH Ethiopia, women and girls can restore bright futures in the midst of recovering warzones. 

In just 60 seconds, you can help protect a vital space for women and girls. Complete the quiz and a generous donor will give $5 to FH Canada’s work with women and girls in Northern Ethiopia. Be part of restoring safety and rebuilding lives today.

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