History

Bridge to Israel was founded in 1984 by Timotheus and Magdalena Augstburger who have dedicated their lives to serving the poor and needy. In the past 21 years, the Augstburgers have worked in the West Bank in Israel, Lebanon, Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine. They came to Ethiopia in 1999 and partnered with Ato Demmelash Aysheshim, an Ethiopian experienced in managerial know-how. Together, they devoted their time, energy and money into establishing Morning Star Children's Village in 2001, with the dream of bringing help, hope and blessings to many hopeless and impoverished children in Ethiopia where poverty, malnutrition and HIV/AIDs are common. 

Our Vision

To do our part in the fight against poverty, HIV/AIDs and illiteracy by specifically targeting the most vulnerable members of the society – Children. We strive to raise children who will become healthy, responsible and productive citizens.

Our Mission

To develop sustainable, integrated programs targeting Orphan and Vulnerable Children as well as critical community issues, particularly interventions on HIV/AIDS.

Our Values

Our values come from our Christian origin. They are:

• Love and respect for all mankind, service to the poor, the needy and the deprived.
• Equal treatment of all people regardless of race, religion, health status, gender, age or politics. This applies to all our activities including eligibility criteria for children as well as in the hiring of employees.
• Transparency in all realms of our activities.
• Empowering communities to take ownership of their future.
• Imparting the core values of honesty, integrity, love and respect for all, strong work ethic, respect for nature and the environment, by setting an example in all that we do.

General Objectives

1. Improve the livelihood of Orphans and Vulnerable Children.
2. Reduce the vulnerability of high-risk groups such as children, women, youth, poor farmers, Commercial sex workers and households affected by HIV/AIDS through community-based interventions.
   

Our Strategy

We believe that sustainability is achieved through self-sufficiency. We embrace new and innovative ideas that are culturally relevant to achieve that goal. We recently adopted a three-pronged strategy for the expansion and strengthening of Morning Star Children's Village:

• Self-Sufficiency: Utilize Village resources for revenue. This includes sale of excess Village products (e.g. vegetable, fruits, dairy products, poultry, woodwork etc.) as well as producing Arts & Music shows and organizing fund raising events for revenue.
• Community: Contribute to, and participate in, local community events and functions such as providing sponsored, free workshops on a variety of preventive health & social issues in particular HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, gender issues and youth issues.
• Sponsors and Donors: Establish partnerships with donor organizations, corporations and churches to help sponsor projects or donate items needed while concurrently strengthening & expanding the partnership with our base of individual donors and sponsors. Additionally, team up with other NGO's to develop joint projects and utilize best practices learned from other organizations to achieve our goals.