Meet Our Families

Lalibela House

When we first meet Birke, she was camping outside the housing department in Addis, demanding a home for her infant daughter and herself. She had been trying for five months with no luck. A kindly man offered Birke food to keep her alive. We invited Birke to Selamta to see if she would consider taking the training course and keep her and her baby Tsion safe while we figured things out. Much to our surprise, Birke was not only a dedicated mother, but a smart articulate woman who had lost her place in society when she became pregnant our of wedlock. Thankfully, she embraced the chance to start a new life and became part of the Selamta Family. Birke is absolutely amazing as a mother to her eight children.

Little Tsion is rapidly growing with lots of hugs and kisses from her siblings and she will start pre-school this year.

Birke has our two outgoing twins, Getu and Wendimagegn in the house and they are full of life. Getu is outgoing, sports orientated and full of energy. Wendimagegn, although identical, can be identified because he usually can be found with papers and pencils as he loves to draw. Both boys love soccer and are very good athletes...both being chosen to play for the all-city league of Addis Ababa. These two older boys could not be any different from their brother Sammy.

Sammy is really smart, very funny and is content to hang back and watch the show unfold unless pushed into the spotlight. Sammy can make the whole house crack up with his female impersonations and the girls love to egg him on.

Sammy's biological sister, Maragenesh has been diagnosed with epilepsy, so Sammy is very attentive to her and stays close to home, often babysitting Tsion while Birke shops. Maregenesh is quiet, shy and struggling with the medicine for her epilepsy but always has a smile, hug and laugh available. Everyone agrees that she is just the sweetest girl around.

Tesfanesh is totally deaf in one ear and that makes it hard to keep up with conversations sometimes. She and Maregenesh hang out together and have a sisterly code of talking that is cool to watch. Both girls work extremely hard at school to keep their grades up, but neither likes after school sports. Tesfanesh has overcome her fear of being close and enjoys a loving relationship with her mother.

Another quiet soul, funny Menen has the best sense of humor but hates the limelight and can often be caught laughing behind her hand at most anything that is happening in the house.

Menen can make any outfit into a fashion statement and loves to gossip with the girls.

And Nardos? Another fine mother in the making as far as we can tell...she really helps her mother and watches Tsion with great care. Plus, she is funny, smart, loving besides being a great great dancer. Nardos and her Selamta friend, Bemmnet, always steal the show performing complicated traditional dances during the friendly summertime Selamta Idol competitions. Nardos is growing into a beautiful young woman who is just now enjoying fashion and girly girl stuff.

Happily, Birke handles all of these different personalities with the joy of a calm and capable mother.