Refugium Ethiopia · Protect · Educate · Empower
Help us build our first home.
Refugium Ethiopia is working to create a safe and supportive home for vulnerable girls in Ethiopia — a place where they can be protected, educated, supported, and empowered to build their futures.
The Need in Ethiopia
Understanding the challenges facing Ethiopia's children and families.
Children experiencing multidimensional poverty
Source · UNICEFChildren currently out of school
Source · UNICEFOf children under five affected by stunting
Source · UNICEFChildren targeted for humanitarian assistance in 2026
Source · UNICEFBehind every number is a child.
These aren't just statistics. They represent girls, boys, mothers, fathers, and families who deserve safety, food, education, opportunity, and hope. It takes a village to raise a child. Together, we can help rebuild that village.
Understand the full pictureProtect · Educate · Empower
How we work across every stage of a child's life.
Refugium Ethiopia protects, educates and empowers vulnerable children — and strengthens the communities around them. Our safe-home program is one part of a wider mission, built in step with Ethiopia's family and community-based alternative-care framework.
Protect
- Safe housing
- Food & clothing
- Healthcare
- Counseling
- Case management
Educate
- School enrollment
- Supplies & backpacks
- Computers & tablets
- Tutoring
- Library access
Empower
- Mentorship
- Life skills
- Recreation
- Future preparation
- Community support
We're seeking founding leaders, advisors, ambassadors & partners
Help build Refugium Ethiopia from the beginning.
We are seeking individuals willing to contribute their experience, expertise, connections and time toward creating lasting opportunities for children, families and communities in Ethiopia. Your experience can help us build an organization capable of protecting children, strengthening families, creating opportunities and empowering communities.
In loving memory of Mercy
In Memory of Mercy
Her Story. Our Inspiration. Our Mission.
Read Mercy's storyWe're just getting started
Be our first supporter.
Every project below is waiting for its very first gift — yours could be the one that begins it all.
See our commitmentMercy Made · Made in Ethiopia
Every purchase has a purpose.
Mercy Made is the social-enterprise initiative of Refugium Ethiopia — handmade coffee, soap, candles and injera. Every purchase helps protect, educate and empower vulnerable children.
Sponsor a room
Build something that lasts.
ProtectFunding NeededGirls' Bedroom
A safe, warm bedroom for up to four girls in a family-style home.
EducateFunding Needed
ProtectFunding NeededRefugium Village · Monthly Supporters
Become a sustaining supporter.
It takes a village to raise a child. A monthly gift gives our children something priceless — the certainty that someone will be there, month after month. Set up recurring giving on GoFundMe and join the Refugium Village.
Educate
Keeps a child in school with supplies, books and tutoring support.
Give $50/moOn GoFundMe, choose "make this monthly" when you give — or set your own amount. Every recurring gift, large or small, helps us plan ahead for the children in our care.
Follow the journey
Straight from the home
Our anthem
Refugium Ethiopia Official Song
Meet our founder
Amelework “Amilly” Kassahun
Amilly knows firsthand what it means for one opportunity to change a child's life. Abandoned as an infant and facing extraordinary challenges throughout her childhood in Addis Ababa, she eventually received the support and education that helped change the direction of her future. Today, she wants to open that same door for others.
“My life changed. Why can't theirs?”
Read Amilly's story
Get involved
How will you make an impact?
There are many ways to be part of Refugium Ethiopia — give, serve, partner or amplify our mission.
Help us open the door for another child.
Amilly's life changed because people chose to care. Together, we can help create opportunities for vulnerable children in Ethiopia.