“ Some people help others by giving up their money. Some give up their time. Agitu Wodajo has given up herself."

—Jennifer Thaney, The Minnesota Women's Press

Agitu Wodajo, Founder

Strong Christian faith and a calling to serve those in need is a driving force behind Agitu Wodajo’s selfless dedication to the empowerment of marginalized women in Ethiopia and in the U.S. Instilled in her was a desire to help others. After receiving an associate degree in Community Nursing, from the Public Health College in northern Ethiopia, Agitu worked in a mission clinic treating patients and delivering babies, where she discovered her passion. “On my own initiative, I established a referral system and accompanied complicated deliveries to the nearest hospital, which was almost 100 kilometers (about 60 miles) from the clinic”. Despite these harsh conditions, she boasted that her training by a skilled U.S. midwifery teacher prepared her so well that she never lost a baby.

After several years of discernment, Agitu said she finally understood she belonged among the displaced women of Ethiopia. These women had no homes, little or no education and few skills. Agitu realized that it was vital to teach such women practical, marketable skills, and in 1990, Agitu used her own resources to found a women’s self-help organization in Ethiopia, the Women’s Self-Reliance Association. The goal of the organization include: (1) empowering marginalized women to become self-reliant and bring change to the quality of family life and the community in which they live (2) affecting systems and policy change to address gender inequality and enhance women’s equal participation in and benefit from the social, political and economic arenas.

Aware of the extreme challenges facing many women, Agitu eventually sacrificed a comfortable lifestyle to pursue her call. “I started facing adversities soon after I started working with the displaced women in Ethiopia. Life was easy and good before that” Agitu recalled. She worked for different governmental and international organizations holding leadership positions which she had to give up for higher calling.

During the initial period, the association provided 55 women, who were formerly unskilled for employment, with hands-on training in garment production/sewing, leather works and food processing. It also offered management training in working in cooperatives and starting their own business, as well as providing them with skills to sell the products they have learned to make. In its early stages in 1990, Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) and Under Secretary General of the United Nations visited WSRA as a model for women’s organizations. The model of integrating Maternal and Child Health Family Planning into economic development activities was found to be commendable, leading to the UNFPA sponsorship of Agitu’s study tour to Niamy, Niger. The study tour in Niger was instrumental in establishing the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Ethiopia.

Soon after arriving in the U.S. Agitu enrolled at Metro State University. As part of her internship work, she established the International Self-reliance Agency for Women, Inc, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 1996. Similar to the organization she founded in Ethiopia, the aim of the agency is to help isolated immigrant and refugee women help themselves through a three-fold approach: (1) Assisting immigrant women in meeting their immediate needs and basic needs for safety, housing, healthcare and food; (2) longer-term, empowering women in becoming increasingly self-reliant; and (3) affecting systems and policy changes to lift barriers that hold refugee/immigrant women from making social and economic gains. Agitu explains, “We want a hands-on, not a hand-out. A hand-out creates dependency, while hands-on promotes independence.”

Agitu’s own adjustment to a new life can provide important lessons and motivation to others. Arriving here in 1994 with her five children, adjusting to a new culture and new economic class was far from easy. In 1998, Agitu recalled, “The first year was very difficult. We were not poor in Ethiopia. Here, we are poor. I hate it.” Quickly settling into local culture, sons and daughters Abdi, Helen, Jalale, Bethel and Menase got used to watching television for hours directly after school, like their American friends. Agitu addressed this by removing the television set until they learned to limit their viewing. Agitu’s children benefited from this highly involved style of parenting and a supportive environment and are highly accomplished.

Her eldest son, Abdi, is working as a computer engineer at Honeywell. Her daughter, Jalale, graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in architecture, and Helen recently received a Masters in Business Administration and is currently working as a Financial Systems Analyst. Her younger daughter, Bethel, is a student at the U of M Carlson School of Management. Her youngest son, Menase is currently studying at the Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

One year after she graduated from Metro State with BA in Human Services Administration, Agitu received the Bush Leadership Fellowship and obtained Executive Master of Public Affairs degree from Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs/University of Minnesota. Currently, she is highly engaged in ISAW’s day-to-day activities, and she still loves her work. “I don’t count the hours I work or the problems I have. I count character; I count whether I build it in others, and build it to please God. In that I have the most happiness,” Agitu said.

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Board of Directors

A Board of Directors governs ISAW. The board members kindly volunteer their time and effort.

Amy Asher, B.A.
ISAW Secretary

Aja Cittrece Bonsu, M.A.
ISAW Chair
Research Consultant
MN House of Representatives

Lois A. Bosch, Ph.D., ACSW, LISW
Associate Professor of Social Work
Augsburg College

Girma Daka, MSISE
Civil Engineer

Theodora Julia Elliot
Vice Chair of ISAW
Educator
North Central University

Mike Jorgensen
Chief Operating Officer and CEO
Innovative Computer Systems & Window Works International

Melanie Lee
ISAW Treasurer

Roya A. Moltaji, B.A.
Financial Services Representative
MetLife

Susan Nwoke, B.A.
ISAW Vice Chair
Nutritional Counselor
L.A. Weight Loss Center

Kirsten Poehling-Monaghan
Human Studies Administrator
Minneapolis VA Medical Center

Floriane Robins-Brown
Founder/Executor
Nibakure Children’s Village

Agitu Wodajo
ISAW Executive Director
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