Images of Harar

The story so far:

Towards the end of a long and arduous photographic journey in Ethiopia which had taken him the length and breadth of the country, Jonathan Crown travelled to the predominantly Muslim town of Harar in the East, near the border with Somalia.


It was late afternoon on another hot and dusty day in the bustling streets around the market. A beggar approached him, hand out, asking for money. He wore a veil, not an unusual sight when worn by women; except he was a boy. Jonathan passed him by; he looked healthy enough and certainly did not appear to be in any urgent need. As he walked on, out of the corner of his eye, Jonathan noticed the boy lower his veil slightly, and what he saw in that instant changed his life forever.

The boy had a huge hole where his right cheek and nose should have been, he had no mouth to speak of, Jonathan was at once disgusted by the horrific sight before him, but he was also profoundly moved. Immediately he gave the boy some money; Jonathan only turned away for an instant, but the boy had vanished into the crowd. He proceeded back to his hotel in somewhat of a daze

The sight of the boy’s face would not leave him, he had never encountered a poor soul like this before in all his travels. He remembered though a similarly afflicted boy who was bought over to the West for treatment some year ago, ‘The Boy David’. He had become famous when a TV documentary made by Desmond Wilcox followed the progress to rebuild his face.

If Desmond Wilcox could do it, so could Jonathan Crown!.

Working in the hotel was a man called Mekonnen Tesfaye; he had seen the boy in town once or twice before. A search party was organised that night to find the boy but it proved fruitless. A second search in the morning failed too, but another younger boy was found and presented to Jonathan, he also had terrible head injuries.

Jonathan Crown took photographs of this boy, whose name was Fhami; he was 12 and was another street boy. Before leaving for Addis, he gave money to Mekonnen to find the other boy, and get him to a photographic studio and send the pictures to the UK. He also left instructions to feed and clothe both boys, find them lodgings and take them to the local hospital for rudimentary medical assistance.

And so it was in April 2001 that Project Harar came into existence.

Within two weeks of his return to London, Jonathan had received the photos of the other boy and some details of his desperate life. His name was Jemal and he was 14 years old. If anything, the images were even more horrific than those he had seen in that instant when their paths had crossed.

To read about what happened to Fhami and Jemal, see their stories in the Case Studies section.

Since then, the Charity has quickly expanded its capabilities and dramatically improved its infrastructure. We have undertaken a number of missions transporting children abroad, but now that we have forged links with hospitals and surgeons in Ethiopia itself, we are able to aid many more individuals at a fraction of the cost. This was largely achieved in 2004 and 2005.

For the most recent news, please go to latest news.

Yekatit 12 Hospital in Addis Ababa

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2003 a year of progress

We had a very productive year in 2003 which culminated in bringing over Hassan and Mohammed (read their stories in Case Studies), together
with our new Director of Operations Sebesebe to London.

They stayed a month for complicated surgery and returned home just before Christmas. But it wasn’t all ‘work and no play' as you will read below. We had some great days out sightseeing in London.

A Premier (ship) day out at West Ham United

It’s not every day that a Professional Football Club gives something back to its ordinary fans, but Jonathan Crown, an avid West Ham United supporter all his life, is still on cloud nine after the incredible day that the club laid on for him and the star struck group of Ethiopians who had never heard of the club before coming to London.

This was a day that we had all been looking forward to, taking place just before they returned home. And the club did not disappoint, putting together a quite marvellous day including complimentary tickets for the game in Mid December versus promotion favourites Sunderland.

Having all received a goody bag of memorabilia, including a scarf and wall pennant, we were entertained in the players bar. Then we were taken on a tour around the ground and onto the pitch for photograph taking.

Prior to kick off we were invited into the hallowed team changing room to meet the rather stressed out players (the team had not been doing that well recently) and the new manager Alan Pardew.

After getting everybody’s autographs and wishing the players well, we took our seats for a game that will live long in the memory. At two down within half an hour West Ham did not have a hope in hell and our Ethiopian guests were far from impressed.

However after a fortuitous West Ham goal scored by Jermaine Defoe just after half time, hope was restored. And so it turned out to be with the Hammers winning 3—2 in a second half charged with the passion and excitement that only English football can provide.

To top it all, the Sky Sports cameras followed us around to record the whole day, and we saw ourselves on TV that night.

From East Africa to the East End of London (and back), now there will always be a part of Ethiopia that is truly Claret and Blue!

We are indebted to Matthew Lorenzo, the TV Presenter, for helping us put together a quite marvellous day.

Sightseeing in London

Although our time for relaxation was brief, we did manage to take two marvellous days out sightseeing in London.

As our pictures show we took in most of the famous tourist attractions. We took a boat up the river Thames, went on the London Eye, went to Buckingham Palace and visited some museums. one morning we also went shopping down Petticoat Lane for presenta for the boys' families.

Project Harar isn't just about surgery, we also try to reintegrate youngsters back into society, and these trips are a great way to help achieve our goal. Often, it is a new experience for the children not to be stared at in public, because after surgery, their looks have improved so much. This is a great confidence booster.

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2004, a year of further consolidation.

We are now three years old. Project Harar, a UK Registered Charity aimed at aiding impoverished street children in Ethiopia, has now completed a number of major missions with dramatic results.

The Charity has begun to make a name for itself and Jonathan Crown himself has now won National acclaim for his charitable work, being a runner up in the 2002 'Global Heroes' award scheme and in 2003 by winning a prestigious 'Unsung Heroe's award, presented by Michael Buerk, the BBC News Presenter. Jonathan has also made a number of TV appearances.

Having recently returned from a visit to Harar town in Eastern Ethiopia in Spring 2004, it is clear that Project Harar is going from strength to strength. Building on its recent successes, we progressed the aims of the Charity to ensure its long term viability. Moreover, the opportunities to expand the number of people given support and medical attention continues to grow as awareness of the Charity’s work increases and its infrastructure matures. With contacts and support growing all the time, the future looks bright.

We continue to employ a Director of Operations in Harar, Sebesebe Ayele, who will oversee all future projects. He will be able to find new patients, accompany them on their medical trips, and be able to look after them on their return. He also has a brief to keep an eye on those previously aided. He is fast becoming a lynch pin in the Charity’s operations.

Our main goal now is to increase the number of people that we aid. This can be achieved simply and cost effectively by forging links with surgeons and hospitals in Addis Ababa willing to operate on our patients. In doing so, we dramatically reduce the cost and effort of transporting patients abroad. In doing so, we negate the need to transport patients abroad, saving huge sums of money in the process. This is obviously a far better use of our limited funds.

We have succeeded in finding a skilled Norwegian surgeon Dr Thom Topstad who works out of two excellent institutes in the Ethiopian Capital. One of these is Yekatit 12 hospital which is being refurbished and will reopen its doors soon.

The summer of 2004 sees Project Harar beginning to transport patients to Addis Ababa for first class treatment. At a fraction of the cost we aim to set up a conveyor belt of activity, aiding many more cases on a more regular basis.

You can see some of our new patients in the case studies section.

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2005 and onwards into 2006, numbers of patients aided goes through the roof!

2005 will be remembered as the year that PHE really became a force to be reckoned with.

As the graph below shows, our capacity has risen from treating just a couple of patients a year to fifty in 2005. This is due in the main to the crucial links recently forged with other like minded charitable agencies.

We now work in close cooperation with two Norwegian based doctors from Norad, a branch of the Norwegian Government. Headed by Dr Thom Topstad, and backed by a superb and dedicated team, they are in the process of setting up the first fully equipped maxillo Facial and Burns units in the heart of Africa.

This facility will treat many different conditions from the relatively simple cleft lip and palette patients to the more complicated noma, tumours and burns cases.

We work out of two fast modernising hospitals in the Ethiopian capital, the Yekatit 12 and Alert complexes. Both of these fine institues act as training colleges for Ethiopians. The hope is that one day soon these hospitals will be entirely staffed by Ethiopians.

PHE is now in the enviable position of being able to have all its patients treated, no matter how many there are. Indeed 2006 will herald the milestone of treating out hundreth patient.

We are organising three or four major trips a year to bring children and their guardians to Addis by bus. On each trip around 20 patients are transported and treated, whilst a similar number of parents or family relatives are put up in a simple hotel and provided with food. PHE pays for these trips and all expenses in their entirety.

Most patients remain in Addis for a month or so until they are transported home to their remote outlying villages in the Harar region.

For the latest news, please go to our Latest News section.

Check back soon for regular updates, also see our newsletter.

Winter 2005

Jonathan Crown gives a well received speech at the Embassy of Ethiopia to the Ethiopian Forum of NGOs introducing Project Harar and detailing our plans for the future. His Excellency Mr Fisseha Adugna, the outgoing Ambassador was in attendance. He stated that he was most impressed with our progress and agreed to further assist us to attain our aims in any way that he or his staff were able.

Our Website undergoes a major update with more news, info and images.

January 2006

We receive a £15,000 legacy from a generous benefactor on her passing away. This huge amount will help secure our future for at least the next two years. However, we are still desperately short of   funds. Our search for increased donations, sponsorship and institutional grants is a full time occupation.

As our operations expand exponentially, we are also making strides to increase our general appeal and to publicise our work to a much wider audience.

February 2006

Our Ethiopian manager Sebsibie spends this month on the road around Harar in the East of the country meeting government health officials and searching for suitable candidates that we can treat in the coming months.

We also agree with Doctors in the Yekatit 12 hospital in the Ethiopian Capital the times and number of patients that they can treat throughout the year.

March 2006

PHE appoints its first two Trustees, further indication that PHE is planning for the long term expansion in activities.

Sebsibie checks on last years' patients to ensure that they are well. If they require follow up procedures, they will be taken back to hospital in Addis at some stage in the coming months. The long term care of patients and their continuing welfare after surgery is very important to PHE.

Year ended 31st October 2005 Accounts published online on our website. They show a large increase in income, but an even larger increase in expenditure as patient numbers increase quickly, inflation is high in Ethiopia.

April 2006

Having been contacted by ourselves, John Hurt agrees to become our first ever Patron.

It is confirmed that a party from the Dutch Noma Foundation will travel to Addis in November for two weeks to operate on the most severely affected patients.

May 2006

First trip of the year to Addis for surgery on five patients. The trip was supposed to have included another five youngsters, but sadly and frustratingly for us, they could not travel for various reasons.

June, July, August 2006

Second , third and fourth missions to Addis planned, each with ten patients.

Our Seventh Newsletter is published and distributed.

September, October 2006

Fifth trip to Addis organised with another ten Ethiopians, this will take our total for the year to around sixty patients.

We will prepare for the most difficult, long and costly mission of the year, treating around twenty of our most severely facially deformed cases.

November, December 2006

Our final trip of the year is to be made with our most complicated cases, who will be operated upon in Addis by the Dutch Noma Foundation, a group of skilled plastic surgeons from Holland. They agree to pay many of our expenses, funding which is crucial to us. Many of the patients will remain in Addis for over two months. Having fully recuperated we will take them home, keeping an eye on them thereafter.                                                                          

We will begin our strategy and agenda for the busy year ahead.

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2007 Hard work continues

Please see latest news for an up to date progress report