IBBY Ethiopia

26/09/2026

Our Everyday Hero this week is Ingrid Olson, Executive Director of Partners with Ethiopia. Her grant helped launch our locally printed books and her amazing photos have helped us share their impact in Ethiopia. Thank you for supporting literacy in Ethiopian languages!

26/09/2026

📚 ROTARY READS 2026 IS LAUNCHED!

Be the Ambassador. Be the Reader. Inspire a Child.

Today, 22 September 2026, the Rotary Club of Addis Ababa Central Mella launches Rotary Reads 2026, a one-month community reading campaign marking Rotary's Basic Education and Literacy Month — in partnership with the Rotary Club of Addis Ababa, Open Hearts Big Dreams and Ethiopia Reads.

The idea is simple. One champion. One book. One reading session. One community.

Over the next month we aim to:
• Mobilize 30 Literacy Champions from across the Rotary family
• Deliver 30 interactive reading sessions
• Donate 30 bilingual English–Amharic children's books
• Reach at least 300 children in 5 communities
• Leave every single book behind in a community reading corner

Campaign period: 22 September – 22 October 2026, Ethiopia.

🙌 BE A LITERACY AMBASSADOR — 30 PLACES ARE OPEN

Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interactors are invited to take one beautiful story into one community, read it aloud to a group of children, and place that book in their hands for good. You will receive a book assignment, a practical orientation and recognition for completed service.

To join, simply text your NAME, PHONE NUMBER and EMAIL to:
Rotarian Yemiserach Worku — +251 911 170 167

Books funded through a Rotary District 5030 grant with the Rotary Clubs of University District of Seattle, Seattle International, Bellevue and Renton.

Thirty champions. Thirty stories. Five communities. One shared mission to open hearts, awaken imaginations and build a nation of readers.

26/09/2026

Our strategy for 2025-27 sets out our vision for local leadership

26/09/2026

26/09/2026

Our Featured Language this week is spoken by over a billion people: Mandarin Chinese! It's one of the six official languages of the UN, and we are proud to offer almost a dozen titles in Chinese, with more coming soon!
https://ohbd-rsgbooks.com/selection/book-language:english-mandarin/

26/09/2026

26/09/2026

First week of the school year, and these two showed up ready. New backpacks, fresh notebooks, pens in hand, and the smiles to match.

Across rural Ethiopia, students headed back to class this month. When students walk in with supplies on day one, they can take notes, keep up, and start the year strong.

This is how it works. Local educators know which students need supplies to get started. Monthly giving keeps our Ethiopia team ready when school opens.

Become a monthly donor: www.rootsethiopia.org/monthly

26/09/2026

We had a wonderful and joyful children’s reading and story time session at Sendafa-Beke Public Library, under Libraries for Ethiopia. ❤️📖

It was beautiful to see children come together, listen to stories, read, share their ideas, and enjoy learning in a welcoming library environment. Their smiles, curiosity, and enthusiasm remind us why creating opportunities for children to read and learn is so important. 🌟

26/09/2026

✨ LITERACY AMBASSADOR SPOTLIGHT ✨

Rotarian Miheret Negussie
Past President, Rotary Club of Addis Ababa Central Mella
Disability rights advocate • Program Coordinator, Inclusion Africa

📖 Reading: Sign to Me / በምልክት ቋንቋ አወሩኝ

Some people do not just talk about inclusion. They carry it into the room with them.

For Rotary Reads 2026, Rotarian Miheret is taking Sign to Me — a bilingual English–Amharic story in which sign language, friendship and belonging sit at the heart of the page rather than at its margin — into a community of children, and leaving the book behind in their reading corner.

That is the whole idea of this campaign. One champion. One book. One session. One community. And a story that stays.

We are proud to have leaders like her in the Rotary family, showing what it looks like when service, advocacy and a good story meet in front of a circle of children.

🙌 THIRTY PLACES ARE OPEN
Rotarians, Rotaractors and Interactors ,take one story into one community this month.
Text your NAME, PHONE NUMBER and EMAIL to Rotarian Yemiserach Worku +251 911 170 167.

Be the Ambassador. Be the Reader. Inspire a Child.
22 September – 22 October 2026 • Ethiopia

A project of the Rotary Club of Addis Ababa Central Mella in partnership with the Rotary Club of Addis Ababa, Open Hearts Big Dreams and Ethiopia Reads. Books funded through a Rotary District 5030 grant with the Rotary Clubs of University District of Seattle, Seattle International, Bellevue and Renton.

11/02/2026

📣 IMPACT TIME! ☺️
We’re thrilled to announce the official launch of a project close to our hearts — built through a club-to-club partnership between Rotary Club of Addis Ababa West, Rotary Club of Seattle - Seattle #4, and Rotary Club of the University District, Seattle, USA. Rotary fellowship truly knows no borders. 🌍🤝

📚 Project: Hope for Korah Reading Room
Education and literacy are among Rotary’s key focuis areas — and this reading room is now complete and ready to open its doors.

✨ This space will serve 300+ children every month, giving them:
📖 Access to books
🚪 A pathway to opportunity and a reading program by Rotarians and Rotaractors
🌟 Hope for growing minds

🗓️ Monday, February 16
⏰ 4:00 PM
📍 ቆሬ — on the road from Mekenisa to Alert Hospital
📌 location XPJ9+9FF 2, Addis Ababa

Come be part of the moment:
👧🏽👦🏽 Meet the children
📚 Celebrate learning and reading
🤍 Live Service Above Self

We can’t wait to see you there!
Rotary International District 9212 Wairimu Njage