| Our Story | ||
MissionWe, the Felege Hiywot Center, serve urban youth of Indianapolis, second generation Ethiopians in Indianapolis, and orphans in Ethiopia. We teach gardening and environmental preservation. We encourage youth to embrace the virtues of community service. We perform this mission as an expression of our Christian faith. VisionWe follow Jesus’ guidance in Matthew 25:40: “Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my Brethren; you did it to me.” As we teach youth and reach out to the community, we practice our faith and demonstrate Christ’s love among those we serve. Education by Gardening
We are determined to become the primary educator of gardening skills for youth in Martindale-Brightwood. Our goal is for each youth participant to develop gardening skills, an awareness of nature, a commitment to environmental preservation, an ability to make nutritious food choices, and skill in recycling and composting. Through involvement in our programs, each youth will have the opportunity to become an active community servant, a helpful team player, and a responsible family member. It is our hope that each youth will also gain a sense of self-sufficiency through the growth and sale of crops. Read More Embracing Ethiopian Heritage
Ethiopian Orphans
Contributing to the CommunityWith education comes expression. We envision a more prominent role for the youth we serve in the Martindale-Brightwood area. We will encourage these youth to participate in community service and discuss their ideas and dreams with community leaders. StrategyFHC has reached its participant capacity with approximately 300 youth involved in the center each year. As a result, in 2009 and 2010 we will focus more on operational excellence and education than on increased youth participation. Accordingly, we will emphasize these strategies during the next three years:
We are most concerned with providing timely communications to families and funders, deepening our outreach to local churches, improving our record keeping, moving from seasonal to year-round capabilities, improving our physical space, and selling more vegetables in our community. We will focus on refining our programs rather than expanding operations. If we grow, we will likely do so through our own means and through alliances and partnerships with other organizations. Web SupportWe appreciate and thank Reborn Code for thier support in donating their expert time by providing this website to get our information out. Thank you for saying yes to God's call to serve these children. |
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FHC will be known, first and foremost, for its gardening program in Indianapolis. Youth will learn how to grow vegetables, tend land, sell crops, and recycle. Our gardening resource center includes fertile land and will eventually include classrooms and more gardening acreage. As we develop the land further, the garden will gain a broader multinational flavor, with sections focused on crops indigenous to countries outside of North America.
FHC will enable second-generation Ethiopian children to embrace their heritage and share their traditions with the urban youth of Indianapolis. We will teach Ethiopian culture and provide a venue for these children to learn and express their heritage. 
The care of orphans is a third focus for FHC. We have been involved in supporting orphans in Ethiopia will continue finding sponsors in the United States and in placing the orphans in Sebeta nunnery orphanage. The programs at Sebeta include caring for 200 orphans, teaching sewing, weaving, carpet making, bakery, beekeeping, animal husbandry, elementary school, clinical services, and farming. Sebeta is a fitting partner since it, like our program in urban Indianapolis, involves gardening. Since 2006 FHC has been finding sponsors for orphans and currently in 2009, we have twelve orphans sponsored by American families. In the future we would like to start friendships between Indianapolis and Ethiopian orphaned youth through a pen pal arrangement.