Children in Crossfire exists to make a significant and lasting contribution towards the eradication of poverty. The charity was founded in 1996 by Richard Moore. With your support Children in Crossfire gives children the chance to choose a better future

On the 18th July 2007 His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, accepted an invitation from Richard Moore to come to Ireland to celebrate Children in Crossfire's tenth anniversary. His Holiness was the  keynote speaker at a 2-day International Conference on Children’s Rights

St. Luke's College of Nursing Scholarship Project
‘Children in Crossfire’ are working in partnership with St. Luke’s College of Nursing in Wolisso Town (also known as Giyon) in south west Ethiopia.

St. Luke’s hospital in the only hospital of it’s kind in the whole of South West Shoa Zone, and serves a population of over 1.2 million.

Preventable diseases still result in unnecessarily high death rates in South West Shoa.  On average, 8% of patients reporting to the hospital with malaria, diarrhoea, malnutrition and anaemia died despite being attended to and receiving treatment.  High levels of HIV/AIDS further compounds the problem.



The nursing college based at the hospital is only a 7 years old, but has already built up a national reputation as one of the best medical training centres in the country.

‘Children in Crossfire’ are supporting 23 young people from across Ethiopia and who are from poor and vulnerable backgrounds with full scholarships to complete a 3 yr Diploma in Nursing Studies.
These young people, who could not otherwise afford to pursue their education, will be professionally trained and qualified as nurses and also given the opportunity of full time employment in the local health care sector.

This will serve the dual purposes of enabling the young people to provide financial support to their families, and of benefitting local health institutions that will have more and better trained nursing staff and be able to offer improved health care services.

‘Children in Crossfire’ are impressed by the services offered by St. Luke’s in spite of a severe lack of resources, and by the enthusiasm and effort of the college’s students and staff.

Together we are building the capacity and effectiveness of the college to provide ever better training.  In doing so, CiC have:

•    Supported 2 graduate nurses to complete a BSc in Nursing
•    Supported 5 graduate nurses to complete ‘Health Officer’ training – which qualifies them to tutor at the college; supervise students on the wards and operate as departmental heads at the hospital.
•    Employ a full time tutor at the college for 3 years.
•    Provide 15 apartments for college and hospital staff to reside near the facility.
•    Provide educational resources for the college library.

This project is not only helping to change the lives of vulnerable young people, but also to save the lives of millions of Ethiopia’s poor and vulnerable.

Wolisso Youth Development Project
This The local government administration of the ‘Kebele 1’ district of Wolisso Town (also known as Giyon), in South West Ethiopia, carried out some baseline research amongst young people living in the area to identify their concerns and needs.  One major concern raised was the lack of educational and recreational facilities available for youth who have left or dropped out of school.  In most cases these young people have little or no prospect of furthering their education or of finding employment.  Many end up out of necessity and through a sheer frustration at the lack of opportunities, turning to alcohol and drugs for entertainment.  Many also become involved in petty crime, even prostitution to get some income. Some are also living on the streets. Rates of teenage pregnancy are higher than they should be, and the risk of HIV infection is a very real and frightening prospect for these young people.



This places a great physical, emotional and financial strain on these young people and their families, which are in addition to the everyday difficulties they face living in a poverty stricken, developing country.
Currently, there are no educational or recreational services available to young people in Wolisso, outside of schools of private fee paying institutions.  In response to this, the local government administration in partnership with the local community, wish to establish an ‘integrated youth care centre’.  It is their hope that establishing such a centre will serve four main purposes:

•    The centre will offer relevant and appropriate training courses for local young school leavers.  These courses will either help them gain additional academic qualifications, or provide vocational advice and training to assist find employment or establish their own small businesses.
•    The centre will have a library facility for young people to study while participating in the various training courses.  The library will also give opportunity for the young people to broaden their horizons and learning, through providing access to IT facilities, internet facilities and through the broad range of learning resources that will be made available.
•    The centre will have a sports and recreation field, to encourage young people to exercise their ‘right to play’, get involved in specifically designed sports and recreation activities, and develop their own personal and teamwork skills.
•    The centre will provide appropriate counseling and advice services to the young people and will encourage them to establish various ‘interest groups’ and/or ‘peer support’ groups so that they have the opportunity to support one another to become active and productive citizens.
‘Children in Crossfire’ are currently constructing the youth centre and sports field and later plan to train staff for the centre and equip the library.

It is expected that the neighbouring St. Luke’s Hospital (with whom CIC operate a nurses training programme) will be involved in establishing the project and help in facilitating training and counselling in the areas of personal health and hygiene, HIV/AIDS awareness etc.

Wonji Child Feeding & Subsidised Treatment Programme
This project will provide a feeding and nutrition programme and improve access to essential medicines to mothers and children attending post and ante natal clinics.

This Gari & Jarso Water Projects, Ethiopia
Catholic Secretariat of Nekemte, Social and Development Coordination Office is based in Nekemte Town in western Ethiopia.  Amongst a number of religious and social services that they provide to the local community is a kindergarten and improved livestock development projects at Gari village.
Currently, the kindergarten, a local livestock development project and the village households do not have their own water supply system. People must fetch their daily supplies of water from a riverbed about 1.3 km away, and carry it in jerry-cans on their shoulders or on the back of a donkey.



The children at Gari Catholic Church Kindergarten suffer from this poor accessibility to water.  As a result much time is taken up during the day, for the purposes of fetching water, and children must go to the river before or after attending school. Even then, the water they are drinking is unclean and untreated.
Of greater concern, is the fact that water borne diseases are common amongst students, which can adversely affect their learning and attendance.

The same office manages and operates a medical clinic at Jarso village.
This clinic provides curative services for all types of ailments, commonly experienced by the local population, with outreach services offered for four days per month at four rural outreach stations.
The main emphasis is on post-natal and ante-natal care; children and babies and health education, including HIV/AIDS awareness programme.

Currently, the clinic does not have its own water supply system. The water for the usage at the clinic must be fetched from a protected spring almost 1km away from the clinic compound, and is carried in jerry-cans on peoples shoulders or on the backs of donkeys uphill.
Obviously this causes great difficulties for both staff and patients of the clinic, not only is a lot of extra time and effort needed to keep the clinic hygienically clean, but patients are not being offered the standard of care that the clinic staff would like to give.
Child deliveries are being conducted in circumstances where there is either very little water or sometimes no water at all.  Other patients are forced to take their prescribed medicines and drinking water from unclean and unsafe sources.

In addition, the clinic has plans to expand its services to include a laboratory service, which will not be possible or practical without a clean, dependable and accessible water supply to the clinic.
The establishment of such a water supply would be of great significance and benefit to the local population who depend on the health services provided by the clinic.

‘Children in Crossfire’ have supported the office to dig wells, install pumps, fit pipes and construct water tanks with taps, so that both these facilities can have an accessible and clean water supply.

Akaki/Kaliti Housing Project, Addis Ababa
Children in Crossfire are supporting a vulnerable community in Kebele 13, a slum area in Ethiopia’s capital city Addis Abeba.  

These sixty families, covering four generations, are suffer terrible conditions.  With no place to call home they have had no choice but to erect temporary shelter in a local cemetery.  Some of the residents have been living in this slum for over 20 years.  Homes made of plastic sheets, scrap iron, cardboard and whatever else people can find, stand along side the haunting graves.

Living conditions are appalling.
•    There is no sanitation and water supply
•    The people have little or no access to education or employment opportunities, and many of the women and young girls are forced to turn to prostitution to survive.
•    They cannot access or afford health care services, and disease is rife and mostly goes untreated.  At least a quarter of the residents have some form of disability.
•    The families not only life in squalor, but in danger, with the fear of exploitation or attack from others a constant worry.

‘Children in Crossfire’ are working in partnership with the Catholic Vicariate of Addis Abeba and The Fransican Missionaries of Our Lady to help these families. Working together with the local authorities, our partners are planning to re-house these homeless families.  Plans to construct apartment blocks, which will provide the families with security, shelter, clean water and sanitation, are well under way, but much government bureaucracy is delaying this process.
The Ethiopian government is very sceptical about organisations and projects that promote human rights, especially those supported by foreign organisations and donors, and this makes progress a very delicate and difficult matter.



While we wait for the ‘green light’ to begin constructing or to purchase new homes for these families, CiC are supporting a humanitarian relief project to assist the families.  This project includes a feeding programme, especially for the children, and will supply other essential items such as clothes, blankets and cooking equipment to the families.  We also plan to support a community health nurse and a teacher to begin providing informal health care and education to the residents. (We would have liked to supply tents and/or better quality tarpaulin sheets for the temporary houses, but local authorities are against altering the physical condition of the slum, and doing so would put the residents’ homes and lives at risk).

Once housing for these families has been arranged, CiC will support our partners to help the families to form a ‘residents association’. This community group will then promote education, skills training and social integration within the local community.