Sport - The Bridge Ethiopia's 10th anniversary: How it all started

Starting with 20 street children on 20 December 2004, the Swiss teams (Stephan and Simona Zihler, Kathrin Wespi and Ivan König in the first year, and Caroline Gehring, Paolo Altundag and Stephan Brun in the second year) set up the grounds with a lot of passion, trust and positive energy. Sometimes we talk and remember the Swiss teams and we tell each other anecdotes about this memorable time.

Looking back, it was wonderful to see how the crew faced challenges and no matter which direction a situation may have gone, they always found a way to manage it. To this day, this remains a big inspiration to our daily work.

First group of children
The first group of children integrated through STB’s approach will always remain special. With them we started to polish and develop our methods, and today it is touching to see how these kids have grown up to conquer life’s daily challenges.

Taking responsibility
In 2006, a new leadership framework was created by transferring responsibility to the Ethiopian staff. Since then, we have faced several challenges and there will certainly be more to come. Of course, these challenges have always been accompanied by a lot of happy days.

Every time we integrate a child with his or her family or we receive a visit from former programme children telling us that they are doing fine, it reconfirms the impact of our efforts. Administrative successes are also quite satisfying, like the renewal of the project’s license, which can be a hard process.

A new approach
Many staff members remember how they were confused when they first realised that children do not spend their night in the STB compound or in a specific home meant for them. Experience has given us confidence that our methodology works. By not giving shelter to street children, but rehabilitating them from where they are and supporting them on their way back to their family and school, we focus on the children willing to change their own situation.

At the beginning, new staff members are often reluctant to work with street children, but when they find their own way to explain to the children that they won’t receive material support but empathy and empowerment, they’re all convinced by the unique work of STB Ethiopia.

Sport – The Bridge is a Swiss-based NGO, based in Bern. Established in 2002, the organisation promotes the personal development of children through the use of sport. Its project "Ethiopia - Sport builds bridges" is situated in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and focuses on the social rehabilitation of street children through sport.

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