Tennis Project for Young Children in Ethiopia

The IC of Germany has last year set up a tennis school in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, which is regularly attended by between 60 and 80 kids from poor neighbourhoods.

The school is run by Tariku Tesfaye, an Ethiopian coach, from time to time assisted by a coach from the Racket Center in Nussloch, Germany.

Tennis training takes place daily before and after school and children are also provided with free meals. Once a year half a dozen of the more talented kids go to Germany. They stay at the Racket Center in Nussloch, where they get further training and participate in local tournaments.

The project which costs US$ 50,000 a year to run has been made possible by substantial donations from the charity Kindernothilfe and Mr. Manfred Lautenschlaeger and his wife, sponsoring member of the IC of Germany and owner of the Racket Center. Further contributions come from the IC Council and the IC of Germany.

The project is being supported by a German school in Addis Abeba and by a secondary school in Sandhausen, Germany, which enabled a library to be installed and teachers to be employed to supervise home work of the kids.

This initiative of the IC of Germany has been very well received in Ethiopia and hopefully the not insignificant funding requirements will continue to be met.