After one and a half years of civil war in Tigray, there was a partial ceasefire last summer and we were happy to welcome the children back to the centre. At the beginning of autumn, however, we received the news that it was too dangerous to gather the children together because of the danger of renewed bombings. Because security of supply has been at risk for a long time, it was clear to us that families would have no or too little food if their children stayed at home. Fortunately, we were able to react quickly and give each of our children at the Mekelle, Adwa and Adigrat sites a fixed amount of money for their families. With that they would be able to survive at home with enough food. Food has become up to four times more expensive and cash is becoming increasingly scarce because banks are still closed. Having enough cash available is associated with huge effort and high costs for us. This is only possible thanks to the support of our donors, which has not decreased even in times of crisis, for which we are infinitely grateful!

In October, at least in Mekelle, the nutrition program was able to resume. The children come to our centre every day for lunch. Getachew Tesfay, the head of Operation Rescue Ethiopia, reported to us at the end of October from Mekelle that everyone is doing well in Operation Rescue, but due to the communication blockade he lacks any information from the other two centres and at the moment can only pray for their safe-keeping and well- being.

The ceasefire between the warring parties announced at the beginning of November makes us cautiously optimistic that this fragile peace process will not be undermined again. According to Getachew, despite the lack of a proper ceasefire, it looks as if there may be a change for the better.