Famine has been stalking Ethiopia in recent months. So there was great joy and thankfulness in the town of Debre Sina when the generosity of AE supporters provided basic food assistance to the poorest of the poor citizens who were facing serious deprivation and even starvation. They gratefully received 55 lbs of wheat grain, 1 gallon of edible oil and a blanket per family. 
One recipient was Lakech Lissane, a mother of three who had her first child at age 14, pictured at right with her daughter and AE's Ethiopia team leader, Melisachew Mesfin. While giving birth to her third child 16 years ago, she became seriously ill and was taken to a traditional doctor who was unable to help her. By then it was too late to treat her problem and the doctors amputated one leg.
Her husband and the father of the three children left her after the amputation. Now Lakech is living in a rented house with one daughter. The other two children are not living with her. She sent them to relatives because she was too poor to provide food for them. Lakech says, “I try to earn a living by crocheting. People who need some crochet buy the material and I do the crocheting. They pay me for my labor. That is all I do. From this income I am unable to support myself and my daughter. Today I am so happy to be remembered by God and get this provision of food and blanket. God is so good that He remembers even a person like me and gives me what I need most!"
The support of generous AE friends also provided exercise books, blankets and food to orphans and children who only had one parent. All were extremely excited and thankful.
Elfinesh Dabi's family arranged her marriage when she was only 16 years old. This young Ethiopian woman has known little but sorrow since then.
Her first child died in the womb. Then, when pregnant with her second baby, she fell down by the side of a road, injured, and could not get up. A kindly stranger took her to a hospital. But her baby died soon after delivery.
After she ended up divorced at a young age, she decided to commit suicide. Her brother came home one day to find her with a rope around her neck... and prevented her from taking her own life just in the nick of time. But Elfinesh was miserable. "I am sleepless, "she says. "I never sleep even for an hour in a night. I am so much troubled that life is meaningless to me. I am tired of living and weep every time."
But then she came to hear the Gospel during AE's evangelistic mission to Akaki-Kaliti, a suburb of the capital city of Addis Ababa. "When the preacher was praying," she says, "the evil spirit inside of me started to manifest and I was delivered! I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal savior. Since then, for the last four nights I have been sleeping more than 7 hours a night."
"This is a new experience in my life!" Elfinesh rejoices. "I am seeing a great change. Now I have peace of mind and I want to continue with it!"
Because of friends who pray and give generously to AE, desperate young women in Africa can find relief from their suffering and meaning in their lives through Christ. Your support makes all the difference!
Fekadu Tolu has been desperate to find answers. Growing up in Ethiopia, his parents took him to witch doctors and he worshiped ancestors as part of the traditional religions. But, he says, "I don't have a settled mind. I hear voices inside of me and I am guided by these voices as to where I should go and what I should be doing."
Then he heard about AE's evangelistic mission to Akaki-Kaliti, a suburb of Addis Ababa, the country's capital, when he was looking for a house to rent. "A woman invited me to come and see," he says. "I came in and heard the word of God. When the altar call was made, I willfully stood up from my seat to accept Jesus."
Looking back on the past, Fekadu says, "I have lived a miserable life. I even felt there was no purpose for living. But now I think I have made a right decision. I have made a new beginning in life and I want to follow this path."
Fekadu will be welcomed into a local church in Akaki-Kaliti, where he will connect with other believers and grow closer to Christ through the rest of his life. Only through your partnership is AE able to reach out to lost people like Fekadu. Thank you for your support!
Sadi Karangwa's T-shirt says, “Born in the USA.” But of course he wasn’t born in the USA. He was born in Africa. And that wasn’t his choice.
But it meant that he lost his father when he was just a little boy to a disease that could have been treated here in America. It also meant that his mom couldn’t earn enough money to feed him, his brother and two sisters. So Sadi was constantly hungry. There was no money for him to go to school. And so he ended up living on the streets, dressed in ragged clothing, going to sleep cold and shivering, afraid of being beat up by older street kids or abusive adults.
But then new hope came to Sadi! Friends like you took this little boy to heart and gave generously so that he could have just a few of the blessings that would’ve been his if he had been born in the USA. Your support enabled AE to share the love of Jesus with Sadi by inviting him off the streets to live in a new home where he’s surrounded by care. He also has a warm bed and a pillow.
Sadly, the streets of Africa are filled with little kids like Sadi who want the same thing he craves – a “normal” life where they have enough food, a place to sleep... and a family. They especially want this at Christmastime.
And the good news is that you can help other young children like Sadi who are still living on the streets of Africa this Christmas... by helping us offer them a home, an education and a faith in Jesus.
With your help, we can give young African children like Sadi a new life of hope... by surrounding them with love, giving them healthy food and an education and introducing them to Jesus Christ. Please won’t you return the most generous gift you can right now to give hopeless kids like Sadi the help they need?
Maputo, capital of Mozambique, is a city filled with people desperate for the Good News of Jesus Christ. Just how desperate was illustrated on Sunday, Sept. 25, when AE launched its citywide evangelistic mission to Maputo. After AE's Stephen Lungu shared his testimony of being rescued from the streets as a kid, the man in the photo to the right cried out from the midst of the crowd to God in anguish. He was desperate for God to rescue him also. So he ran forward, eager to embrace his Savior. Stephen assured him that “God can take a nobody and make them somebody!”
As tears cascaded down the desperate man's face, Stephen said, “My mother threw me away. But the Lord knew where I was. He loved me, and He loves you!”
In response, a previously lost man put his life in Christ's hands for the first time, now experiencing tears of joy, of relief and of new hope.
As the meeting drew to a close, many young boys, amongst others, responded to the invitation to meet the same God who had so totally transformed Stephen’s life. It was a joyous evening, with much dancing and praise under the open African sky, as many people came into the Kingdom for the first time.
“African Enterprise has had a unique and spiritual ministry for many years. It is always a joy for me to recommend this ministry of evangelism, Christian leadership training and the many other facets of their organization.”
– Billy Graham
"Michael Cassidy and African Enterprise have made under God a real contribution in South Africa over these last four decades."
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu
"As an unswerving Christian and strategic thinker, Michael Cassidy is deeply involved in the ministry of reconciliation. His is a truly African evangelistic team that's proven its effectiveness over the past years. I applaud Michael's commitment to train and develop other evangelists and give them greater opportunities for ministry in the church of Jesus Christ."
– Luis Palau
"I highly endorse the ministry of African Enterprise. For half a century this ministry has been reaching the cities of Africa with an evangelical message of healing and hope. They are strategic in their mission and I like their concentrated focus on leadership development and training. When I think of ministry in Africa, I think of African Enterprise. Perhaps no other mission agency has had the impact they have had in the cities of Africa."
– John Ortberg, Author and Senior Pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church
"I have seen the work of African Enterprise firsthand and I have stood in admiration of its founder, Michael Cassidy. There are few organizations across the world that have been used more mightily of God in some of the most difficult places to do Kingdom work. I am glad to be one of those who prays for and supports the work of African Enterprise."
– Gordon MacDonald, Author and former president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship
"The ministry of reconciliation has been Michael Cassidy's life. His courage as he stands up for his beliefs in the midst of opposition is a testimony to the power of God and the power of truth."
– John M. Perkins
"I believe with all my heart that without the help of African Enterprise South Africa would not have peacefully survived the downfall of apartheid. Without African Enterprise the rest of Africa will not be saved."
– Dr. Archibald Hart, Dean Emeritus, School of Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary
"African Enterprise is one of the most significant forces on the African continent, because of what AE is doing to bring black and white, Indian and colored together in a shared ministry."
– Michael Green, former professor of evangelism, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada
– Billy Graham
But could two men who had nearly killed one another find forgiveness and friendship? AE has seen this happen firsthand.
Mbawa, the nickname of Antoine Harushimana, grew up in a poor Hutu family outside of Bujumbura, the capital city of Burundi. Unable to finish his studies, he joined the National Army. After his training, he left to join the Forces for the Defense of Democracy (FDD), a renegade Hutu group bent on overthrowing the Tutsi government. Mbawa rose quickly to become the leader of training for the FDD and became a feared household name in Burundi, especially within the Army.Colonel Deo Ntiyankundiye, the current Chief of Operations for the National Police Force of Burundi, grew up in a wealthy Tutsi family. The Tutsi government of the day unjustly imprisoned Deo’s father, accusing him of corruption. Anger and bitterness motivated Deo to join the Army, in hopes that he could one day overthrow the Burundian president to avenge his father’s unfair treatment. His military abilities led to his elevation to a high position as an Army officer where he was soon positioned to avenge his father. Deo actively started to gather support from fellow soldiers against the president.
After years of fighting against one another and seeking to avenge wrongs done to them, both Deo and Antoine were transformed through an encounter with Jesus Christ and came to be reconciled with one another in AE's Reconciliation and Trauma Healing workshop. Today, having grasped the implications of their faith, not only have they been healed from bitterness by forgiving one other and others who caused them pain, they now work together in ministry and help lead AE's Reconciliation workshops in Burundi.
Over the course of this year and beyond, Antoine will join a team that will develop AE's Reconciliation and Trauma Healing work in the neighboring and troubled Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The Eastern DRC has suffered for many years the consequences of a complex and longstanding conflict similar to the one in Burundi and Rwanda between Hutu and Tutsi. Peace in this region is long overdue.
The African Enterprise Leadership Training Centre (AELTC) in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, was founded in 2006 by AE Founder Michael Cassidy. It provides cutting-edge practical and theological training to lay people and clergy on a variety of topics aimed at equipping the African church to transform the cities of Africa for Christ.Harnessing AE’s half-century of evangelistic and leadership-development experience across the African continent, the AELTC provides both on-site and distance-learning opportunities, often partnering with Christian institutions and organizations around the world, such as Moore College in Australia and 9Marks in the U.S., to provide world-class instruction.
Courses are designed so that Christians employed full-time either in ministry or in the marketplace can improve their skills and capacities in sessions of intensive or weekend instruction. The AELTC’s current emphases include biblical instruction of pastors from African independent churches, a Master Trainer program based on the exponential church-growth methods employed by churches in India, and a Youth Adventure Camp, to invest in high school and university-age students. In order to impact Christians who most need the training the AELTC offers, many pastors and laypeople, who have little income, are heavily subsidized. This allows the AELTC to contribute to the Gospel transformation of countless communities around South Africa and the wider continent which so desperately need biblically trained Christian leaders.