February 2012: The first sight visit to the village of Gendetesfa, Ethiopia. Pastor Shawn and Pastor Misiker meet with village elders to open a free medical clinic. This village in abject poverty was founded as a leper colony on the 1950s an has grown to over 20,000 residents.
May 2012: Long term vision is born and child sponsorship program begins. Health clinic, ongoing child sponsorship, primary education, and economic development. These four will move a village out of poverty and into sell-sufficiency and thriving.
December 2012: Primary clinic opens. The free-service clinic begins as primary level. It cannot dispense prescription drugs, but in the first year, 3,000+ are served, surpassing all expectations of the government.
June 2013: Intermediate clinic status granted and first nursing team visits. The clinic worked diligently to upgrade to an intermediate level clinic affording a broader scope of care to the village. The first nursing team from OrthoVirginia and HCA participated.
July 2014: Our primary education program begins and nursing teams continue going. Chesterfield County School Teachers went to Gendetesfa Schools and assisted in preparing students to sit for their English Exams and share teaching methods and materials.
July 2015: Upgraded renovations create a strategic laboratory and day patient room. Architectural drawings were created for the expansion and construction of the now upgraded clinic. Medical staff from OrthoVirginia provide needed supplies & medicines to expand service.
June 2016: Full time social worker is hired and teams continue going. Team nurses implement a community wide TB/HIV testing campaign. Child sponsorship swells to 70+ children providing food, health care, education, clothing and social work home visits.
February 2018: Microfinance program begins. Varied businessmen and women travel to Ethiopia and begin a village microfinance program that enables villagers to escape the poverty cycle and change future generations.
June 2019: Home visit program begins and Government Health Department proposes long term hospital. As teams now include physical therapists, the government proposes the clinic move towards the final clinic level “High” and consider moving towards a primary hospital in the future.
November 2020: Pharmacy plans approved and funds raised. Home visitation program excels during COVID. Military coups and COVID19 prevents sight visits but indigenous staff completes plans for the pharmacy and funds are raised. Shut downs prevent further progress until Fall 2021.
January 2022: Site visit to finalize pharmacy construction and government approval. Pastor Shawn and clinic leadership will meet and finalize the pharmacy which should be finished in the summer as well as continue to discuss next steps and government vision for the primary hospital.
July 2022: The clinic moves to expanded facility and meets with Dire Dawa’s Mayor and Cabinet. Pastor Shawn and leadership meet with village and city leaders (mayor, health director, cabinet) to discuss steps for expanded services and a primary hospital in the future. An official proposal is requested by the city.
January 2023: Microfinance expands to redlight district of Detachu.
July 2023: Project Hope makes history by facilitating the donation of Chesterfield Country Public School chrome books to create the first computer lab in a government school in a the greater Dire Dawa area.
January 2024: Clinic opens state of the art ultrasound services. This doubles the daily patient count and introduces a new level of care which gains recognition from the village and the city government.
July 2024: Patrick County Public Schools donates 40 Chromebooks to open second computer lab in Dechatu.
July 2025: Patrick County Public Schools donates 100 Chromebooks!
July 2026: Patrick County Public Schools donates 300 Chromebooks! Project Hope Clinic opens a vision care center. The government acknowledges there is only one other center in the city with comparable services. But ours are still free!