Raasorelief.org

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Abdalla Ahmed (above centre), a Somali Community Leader in West Heidelberg.
 
History of RRRDO
The Raaso Relief Rehabilitation and Development Organization (RRRDO), is a Melbourne based, volunteer-run organisation. The Organisation was founded by Abdalla Ahmed, a Somali community Leader in West Heidelberg.
 
Abdalla was deeply affected by the poverty and sickness he witnessed on a visit in 2005 to Raaso, located in the Somali region of Ethiopia. After a second visit in 2006, Abdalla promised the people of Raaso that he would help them. Thus our Organisation, assisted by Banyule Community Health, was created and is committed to improving the lives of people living in Raaso. True to his word, in December 2006, Abdalla presented his idea of buidling a hospital in Raaso, Ethiopia to the Board of Management at Banyule Community Health. The Board of management felt compelled to act by lending its support to this project.
 
 
A short history of Raaso and its inhabitants

The video depicts the harrowing

tale of a mass of humanity on the

move in search for a pecaeful  

place. They trekked for more 

than 9 months in a hostile 

terrain with their livestock and

starving children finally setting

camp in Raaso. 

 

Raaso has quickly mushroomed

into a vibrant town of 80,000 people,

including its environs the population

reaches well above 300,000.

Disease is rampant with no access

to health care, clean water and
education.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Raaso

Raaso is in the Somali region of Ethiopia and is occupied by over 300,000 displaced persons. There is currently no infrastructure - electricity, clean water, education or health facilities. No aid agencies or non-government organizations service the area; the only assistance the people of Raaso receive is minimal food deliveries from the Ethiopian Government.

 

A 50-kilo bag of rice or wheat is expected to feed 10 people for six months. This equates to just 27 grams of rice per day. Needless to say, people are starving and many die from preventable diseases which have been all but eradicated in Developed nations. The average life expectancy is less than 45 years.

 

 

 

 

Hospital Project

Raaso Hospital is under construction. The hospital is scheduled to be opened early next year.Once completed, it will be the second largest hospital in the Somali region of Ethiopia with two hundred beds,laboratory, and its own ambulances. It will consist of two sections: general hospital and Delivery ward and Pediatrics section. Its expected to serve small towns from both the Somali, and Oromia States.

 

a fundraising was made in July 2008 in Minneapolis, and some $50,000 was raised but the hospital requires additional $200,000. This makes imperative the need to raise further funds to build the first hospital in this region to assuage the extreme hardships that accompany lack of healthcare such as complications in childbirth.