Young Men’s Christian Association: Uplifting the Youth and Modernization in Ethiopia, 1933-1991

Since beginning its work in Ethiopia in 1949, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) has pursued a mission to empower young men and the community through innovative programs and services. The effects of the activities in the YMCA have brought unity among the youth in different parts of the country and abroad. This unity enabled the young men to seek their own and their people’s freedom, which is given little attention in the still-written history of the YMCA in Ethiopia. Through its activities and programs, the YMCA played a significant role in uplifting the youth and modernizing the country. Going through the multidimensional efforts, they have addressed the whole personality of the youth's mind, spirit, and body, who modernizes the country. This article critically examined how the YMCA made young students stand for the cause of the people and struggle for freedom. The intention of this article, however, is not to champion YMCA over all the contemporary foreign agencies and local associations but, dig out all sorts of primal historical materials stacked in the YMCA Headquarters, in Geneva and other repositories, to contribute in filling some perceived gaps of reconstruction of the history of the YMCA in Ethiopia. It adequately emphasized the role of the YMCA in producing sensible, curious youngsters who were actively engaged in the student movement, which is believed to be the midwife of Ethiopian modernization.