Event Detail

Awassa,21 July 2007:-The Ethiopian national Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy(ENAPAL) handed over 50 residential units constructed in Awassa town at the cost of over 1.1 million birr. The residential units were constructed for persons affected by leprosy and other people with different types of disabilities who used to live in a cemetery area in the town under difficult living conditions over the past 40 years. Speaking at the inauguration ceremony, Disability Affairs Department Head with the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (MoLSA), Assefa Ashengo said Ethiopia has signed United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disability (PWD) last March 2007, adding that the Ministry was adopting laws aimed at ensuring equal rights with respect to job access for PWDs. Assefa urged the Awasa Integrated Community Development Project beneficiaries to make use of this opportunity and become self-reliant. ENAPAL Chairman Leulseged Berhane commended the Awasa Town Provisional Administration, its Municipality and Mayor as well as the Awasa Town Youth Sport and Environmental Development Department and the Awasa Town Petty and Small Scale Enterprise Organizing Office and donors for making the project a reality. Speaking on his part President of the Ethiopian Federation of Persons with Disabilities, Kasahun Yibeltal said that the area where the residential units were located were in line with the UN Convention On The Rights of Persons With Disabilities as it is accessible to the basic education, health and other social services. The Awasa Town Provisional Administration has given 7693 square meters of land free of lease to help construct the residential houses at Addis Ketema and Tabor Kebeles. The Leprosy Mission International New Zealand, England, and Wales funded the Awassa Integrated Community Development Project, which encompasses the housing project for 50 house heads, income generation scheme for 15 youth, basic education services for 58 children and elderly as well as family planning projects. South Nations Nationalities and People’s State officials as well as invited guests have attended the ceremony ENAPAL are currently running 16 projects among seven regional states where there are 63 branch offices.