About Us

This is what we do

Project Harar helps the poorest and most isolated people because they face the greatest barriers to accessing the surgical care they need. Our Ethiopian staff travel the remotest parts of the country, liaising with health officials, community leaders and family members to let them know about the help we can offer children with a facial disfigurement.

We show 'before' and 'after' pictures of previous patients to help new candidate patients make an informed choice. If a child and their family make the decision to receive treatment, we arrange for Ethiopian and visiting doctors to carry out surgical procedures which the child requires. We help the surgeons prepare for the procedures by sending detailed photographs and organising x-rays and other scans.

Despite the recent improvements to the Ethiopian health systems, many rural families still cannot reach professional facilities because the doctors and the hospitals are mainly based in the capital city, Addis Ababa.

 In Ethiopia, where 85 percent of its 90 million people live in rural areas, the cost of getting to a hospital in Addis Ababa from a town like Harar in the east of the country is equivalent to the entire annual income of a coffee farmer and his family.

Project Harar Ethiopia covers travel and board for the patients and their guardians, as well as arranging a place at hospital and prescription medicines.

All our young patients are offered the opportunity to bring a parent or guardian to accompany them. For many of the children this is their first time in a big city and away from home. It is important each child has a loving companion offering encouragement and moral support.

Project Harar’s work with hospitals in Addis Ababa and with other medical charities also provides advanced practical training to the Ethiopian medics, making a long-term impact on the country’s surgical capacity.

Project Harar’s staff in Ethiopia carry out follow-up visits to check on each patient's progress and organise secondary treatment if it is needed.

Our aim is to provide a responsive and comprehensive outreach service, enabling remote communities to benefit from the best available care provided by our medical partners in Ethiopian facilities. As the range and quality of hospital services increase, we must work harder to ensure that as many young patients as possible benefit.

This year, infants as young as six months will be able to receive their first cleft correction and we will build speech and language therapy into the aftercare of children with a cleft palate so that they may learn to communicate with others.

Our goal is for all our patients to return home after surgery to lead fulfilling and healthy lives, fully involved in their community.

To read about some of our past patients, go to the our successes page.

We are a Hampstead-based charity, and would be very happy to tell you more about what we do. If you have any questions, please get in touch via our Contact page.

None of our work would be possible without your donations, please go to the Support us page for more details about how you can help Project Harar Ethiopia.

A little can go a very long way.