Fashion Feeds Ethiopia, Friends of Fresh and Green Academy Inc Launches Online Shop of Handmade Ethiopian Goods

Proceeds to Benefit Mothers of Students at Fresh and Green Academy, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

NEW YORK, Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Friends of Fresh and Green Academy Inc, a registered non-profit charity has launched an online shop called, Helping Ethiopia Mothers Cooperative, under the brand title "Fashion Feeds Ethiopia." This online shop offers its visitors an opportunity to purchase hand woven scarves and goods made by students' mothers at Fresh and Green Academy, a private non-profit school for some of Addis Ababa's most impoverished children.

Friends of Fresh and Green Academy Inc works to feed, educate, clothe, and provide medical care for children in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and provides the students' mothers with a place in which they can come at least once per week to participate in a Mothers Cooperative. The Mothers Cooperative is an on-site program at the Academy in Ethiopia, created to provide personal empowerment for the students' mothers by allowing them to earn their own money, learn new skills and provide for their families' future.

Many of the students' mothers grew up in small villages in the 1980s, a time of great famine in Ethiopia.  Seeking a better life, they moved to Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, thinking it would be the land of opportunity. But there was no work or food. These women were faced with limited choices and many of them turned to prostitution as a way of survival.  Most got pregnant, in addition to contracting HIV.

Through the Fresh and Green Academy, which is run by local Ethiopian woman, Muday Mitiku, these women have been able to join the Mothers Cooperative and have been given back their dignity.  Thanks to the money they earn through the sales of their handmade merchandise, the Moms are able to help feed and clothe their children and pay their rent. Most importantly, they are now able to qualify for life-saving anti-retroviral medicine that has turned AIDS from a fatal to a manageable disease.

"I have seen the Mothers of our students transform from quiet and subservient into strong and independent women in the four years since the Mothers Cooperative was formed."- Trish Hack-Rubinstein, President of Friends of Fresh and Green Academy Inc.

By visiting http://etsy.me/helpingethiopia, you are not only purchasing beautiful handmade Ethiopian items but, supporting women and their children across the globe.  For more information on Friends of Fresh and Green Academy Inc, please visit http://friendsoffreshandgreen.com.                                                         

http://www.friendsoffreshandgreen.com
http://etsy.me/helpingethiopia

CONTACT: Trish Hack-Rubinstein, President
(646) 567-7672, [email protected]

SOURCE Friends of Fresh and Green Academy Inc