Selam Children's Village (SCV)

Background. David and Marie-Luise Roeschli lived with their four children in Ethiopia from 1962 to 1975 during which time they adopted six Ethiopian children. In February 1975 they returned to Switzerland with the enlarged family.

In 1984 the eldest of the adopted children, Wz Tsehay, made a visit to Ethiopia which was then affected by severe famine. Moved by the ill situation of her native country, she returned to Switzerland and started to work to establish a small home for 28 orphans.

The foundation stone for the village was laid on January 16, 1986 and 19 boys and 13 girls moved in. At the end of the same year the Selam family grew to 69 children between the ages of 3 to 16.

At present, more than 100 children are able to leave the village after graduating from educational institutions and training centers predominantly from Selam Technical & Vocational College few others have also graduated from Selam Girls Vocational Center. These young children are now supporting themselves and their families. Selam is raising now more than 450 children who are between the ages of 4 years and 18 years.

Since November 25, 2009 Selam is registered as Ethiopian Residents Charity (No. 1043).

Activities. Selam Children’s Village was established to support orphans who lost their parents due to natural and man-made calamities.

Its objectives are:

§        To ensure the education, training, and overall well-being of the children of the village and youth from the community so that they can participate effectively in the socio-economic development; thereby, supporting themselves. §        To satisfy the basic needs of the children by promoting access to certain basic goods and services such as food, water, shelter, sanitation, etc. §        To ensure  access to goods and services by generating  income in Selam compounds through enhancement of farm and non-farm programs. §        To promote employment opportunities through enhancement of labor intensive venture.