Mill for Chaffe Community

Chaffe is a small community of farmers in the eastern region of Oromia, far away in the mountains and almost 500 kilometers away from the metropolis of Addis Ababa.

PBF knows this widely dispersed community through our longstanding contact with Yohannes Haile, who has been a pastor there for over ten years. We promote the education of young people and children there, enable compulsory school attendance on site, and a considerable number made it to university degrees.

Years ago the farming families received a small machine from PBF for grinding their grain. Now she has given up her so necessary and helpful service and the farmers came to their pastor. They asked him to do what he could so that they could continue to process their teff, their grain, and thus save them – especially the women – much longer journeys. After intensive clarification and the farmers’ own efforts (construction of the factory building), the new mill was inaugurated on April 2, 2021 with a colorful festival and with great enthusiasm and participation of the population. PBF was represented by Getachew Sale and Solomon Mekonen, who, as a professional filmmaker, visually captured the events that were important for the entire population.

We are happy about our connection and presence with these people, who are mostly forgotten and remain unknown. They try to master their everyday life with dignity with extremely limited resources. Special thanks go to the parish priest Yohannes Haile in Chaffe, who works tirelessly and selflessly for the people entrusted to him. Peter Bachmann met him, then a young new priest, well over a decade ago in Addis Ababa.