Sister-in-arms: Medhin Tesfay fights against hunger in Tigray

As Sister Medhin Tesfay speaks, the unusual sound of raindrops beats on the tin roof. “Rain is a good sign for us!” she says, smiling a smile that is rarely far from her face. “We have been without rain for so many months, so it’s a sign of blessing for you all who are visiting, and for us too.” We are sitting in a neatly decorated room in a house run by a Catholic congregation called the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, or more commonly, Daughters of Charity, or DOC, in Mekelle, capital of the Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia. Tesfay heads this residence — one of two belonging to DOC in the city — where she lives with a group of sisters. She joined the congregation as soon as she finished school and had spent the last three decades dedicated to its aims. Calm and modest, she would never admit she played a key role in saving thousands of internally displaced people, or IDPs, from starvation during the region’s recent war. Nor take credit for enabling the current implementation of the region’s largest feeding program for school children. DOC operates in more than 90 countries worldwide. It began in 17th century France when it was founded by Roman Catholic priest Vincent de Paul to help all people living in poverty. DOC began operating in Ethiopia in 1927. Last year, DOC partner Irish global development charity Trocaire, awarded Tesfay its Romero International Award for her “extraordinary courage and commitment.” She joins a Guatemalan activist who spent 800 days in prison and an Irish nun who delivered humanitarian work in Gaza and the Middle East as recipients of the accolade. Sitting on an armchair, wearing the DOC gray-blue habit, Tesfay suggests that rain is what Tigray needs right now more than courage. Northern Ethiopia is parched after six years of failed rainy seasons, which have caused ‘crisis’ and ‘emergency’ food shortage levels, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, or FEWS Net. When Devex visited recently, Tigrayans outside the capital were struggling to plow the stony, dry earth, hopeful they could prepare it for planting ahead of the rainy season from June to September. “If people are not able to cultivate, 80% of the population would be facing famine and hunger,” Tesfay warned. But while the DOC sisters have been praying for rain, they also lead a life of intense practical action. Working with partner organizations, they follow five thematic areas, all of which became more urgent when war broke out in 2020 between Ethiopia’s federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, a guerrilla movement turned leading political party. The two sides blamed each other for the outbreak of fighting. The government accused TPLF of launching a plot to oust the national government. Tigrayans suggested the federal government wanted to eliminate TPLF as a political force. The conflict has caused 600,000 deaths and left 2.5 million people internally displaced. A report published in June by the New Lines Institute stated that “reasonable basis” exists to conclude that forces invading Tigray — Ethiopian National Defence Forces along with allies from other Ethiopian regions and neighboring countries — committed genocide against Tigrayans. Although no total number exists, estimates for the number of women raped during the conflict are as high as 120,000. Tesfay and DOC were at the forefront of the war response, both during and after a peace agreement was signed in 2022. “During the two years of war, nearly the entire population became dependent on food assistance and all basic needs,” says Tesfay, now looking serious. “At the moment, according to credible sources, we have 4.5 million people who are dependent on food aid.” Emergency response is a thematic area where the DOC sisters showed their agility and determination during the war. As soon as fighting broke out in November 2020, federal forces cut off all communications in the region, including phone lines and internet. They also restricted aid access, placing the region under what the United Nations described as a “de facto humanitarian blockade.” With communication out of the country limited to just one United Nations landline, Tesfay struggled to communicate with colleagues at one of its partner organizations, Mary’s Meals International, or MMI, based in Scotland, U.K. Since 2017 the two have provided meals to children in schools in Tigray. This program was forced to pause as schools closed when fighting began. But Tesfay had an idea of how to put the food in storage to good use. When she finally managed to speak to MMI, she requested permission to divert the food intended for schools to desperately needy IDPs. “We were able to shift all the cooking materials and other things immediately to feed 30,000 IDPs in 27 camps for ten months,” Tesfay explains. “Whenever we go to the camps … people say if it was not for the DOC and if it was not for MMI, you would not have seen us alive. And that is true. There was no supply coming in, there was no supply in the region, but we had that supply available.” It is easy to draw parallels between the situation in Tigray today and 40 years ago, when the region and other parts of Ethiopia experienced a devastating famine that killed one million people. But Tesfay says the two cannot be equated. “The war of the past two years is not comparable to any kind of a situation or history that is known to me in my life,” she says darkly. “If the problem was only famine … I think we could embrace it gracefully because this is a natural phenomenon. But this war is human-made. How would anyone displace people from their places of origin, I mean civilians, who are supposed to be enjoying life, which is their human right? “This appalling war is something that has left a scar,” she says. “It’s something I would really wish no one would ever experience in their life. No one deserves what we have gone through.” After the war ended, DOC restarted the school meals program and began expanding its support with MMI. The daily meals address undernourishment and low school enrolment, with the partnership reaching more than 24,000 children in 2020. During COVID-19 when schools were closed, MMI provided take-home rations to pupils’ families. But when the war broke out in November of the same year, school meals halted for two years. Since November 2023, when operations resumed, the partnership has grown to serve more than 114,600 children. “This is something so unbelievable — like a miracle for all of us,” Tesfay says. Tesfay and her team still support IDPs in a local camp. They no longer deliver food, as other aid organizations have taken up this role, but provide psychological and social support and trauma healing to countless people who have witnessed killings, lost family members, or are victims of sexual violence. About one million people remain displaced across Tigray, unable to return home in areas still occupied by Eritrean and Amhara soldiers despite the peace agreement. As Tesfay describes one example, she loses her train of thought and admits she is very tired. The night before the interview, she could not stop thinking about one woman she has been supporting. “She was raped by 10 soldiers,” Tesfay says, her face grave. “They took her out of her house, and took her to bushes and they raped her and her 14-year-old daughter, for nearly two weeks.” DOC helped the woman recover enough to leave the hospital, where staff shackled her as a result of her poor mental health, Tesfay says. DOC provided skills training so she could open a small restaurant. “Imagine the level of empowerment from being chained to the level of now becoming an income earner and a business owner, and leading her family once again,” says Tesfay. “I wish that was the story of all women that are in need of psychosocial or mental health support. There are women who are still closed in, who are not able to come out of their houses. Rape is a shame that you live with for a long time.” Livelihood programs are another pillar of Tesfay’s organization, mainly targeting women and girls. This also includes supporting people with housing, by repairing or improving homes and assisting people to become property owners. As well as meals in school, DOC supports education and health more broadly, running Montessori-based kindergartens, a primary school, and two health centers with a 24-hour ambulance service. During the conflict, invading forces stole ambulances and deliberately destroyed health services. In the last two years, DOC has supported about 209,000 individuals with €7 million ($7.6 million) of funding. But with a sigh, Tesfay admits she fears the worst if more aid does not arrive. “Unless we work together with other NGOs, international organizations and with the help of the U.N. agencies, there is a high possibility of losing so many people,” she says, still concerned about whether the rainy season will provide relief for crops. “It's very vital, very critical, that other NGOs provide the emergency support people are very much in need of.” As the interview comes to an end, Tesfay rises tiredly from her chair. Though with a smile, she looks out of the door at the symbol of hope: Pools of water on the stone steps leading her back to her duties. Editor’s note: Mary’s Meals International facilitated Devex’s travel and logistics for this reporting. Devex retains full editorial independence and control of the content.