In Amharic, Busajo means “the one who sees ahead.”

Busajo is a unique program that serves children living on the streets of Soddo, helping them chart a new course for their lives through education, love and family reunification.

In Soddo alone, there are 2000 children living on the streets. That’s 10% of the population in the region. Children leave home for different reasons, but serious challenges to their survival, including severe poverty or abuse, are common. These children, some as young as five years old, are living on their own, in the elements, with only the camaraderie of other street children to support them. These kids are intensely vulnerable to theft, sex trafficking, and other forms of exploitation.

Officials at Busajo meet with children on the streets to get to know them, tell them about the program and to assess the child’s seriousness to be educated and build a different life. After the lengthy, incremental effort of establishing relationships with the children on the street, they are invited to start to attend daily classes. Those who show up consistently and show a commitment to schooling are then invited to live on the beautiful Busajo campus full-time.

There, they receive clothing, food, school supplies, shelter, education, love and – crucially – medical and psychological attention to begin to heal scars formed living on the street. They focus on rehabilitation and what it takes to be part of a family – think cooking skills, cleaning the washrooms and sleeping quarters, and other chores. Busajo also works to reunify children with their families. Incredibly, the program has a successful rate of about 85% of the time.