Common River

Tsegaye Bekele & Donna Sillan's Common River Organization

After 40 years, Tsegaye Bekele returned for a visit to the village of Aleta Wondo in Ethiopia where he was born. During his visit, he reconnected with family members, friends and the community of his childhood, but also witnessed the tremendous needs of his people. Empowered from his trip, Tsegaye decided he wanted to find a way to help the community of Aleta Wando become more sustainable.

Three years after his trip, a way fatefully presented itself. While in a coffee shop in Northern California Tsegaye was introduced to Donna Sillan who had recently been in Ethiopia helping friends adopt two children. Upon further conversation, it was discovered that the two children were from Aleta Wondo. This was the first time in 30 years Tsegaye had ever heard of anyone from his home village.

It turns out that Donna was compelled to help the people of Aleta Wondo as well and with her vast experience working for NGO’s in international health development, she had the experience to make it happen. They traveled to Aleta Wondo together in April of 2007 to meet with community leaders, religious leaders, village elders and other members of the community, all of whom gave their blessings and support. When Donna asked a member of the Ethiopian Congress how he knew Tsegaye, he replied, “Oh, Donna, we come from the same river.” Fittingly, Tsegaye & Donna decided to name their non-profit NGO “Common River”.

As much as Donna and Tsegaye’s meeting was fateful in the first place, it is also pretty ironic that they met in a coffee shop. Aleta Wondo happens to be one of the premier coffee growing regions in the world and it’s through the empowerment of coffee growers that they intend to help the community become more sustainable. Projects that the Common River organization have planned for Aleta Wondo include the construction of a new school, a library, a health clinic & a community center.For more information go to www.commonriver.org

To help out this wonderful cause, women click here and men click here to buy a World Minded “Coffee” t-shirt and 10% of your purchase will be donated to their organization.