Our Story

The story of our organization began in 2013 when our President, Iftu Abdalla was living in Saskatoon.

Iftu got connected with Bridget who worked for an organization called Global Gathering Place. Bridget reached out to Iftu because she needed help with managing the excessive donations that her organization was receiving, by being involved in this task Iftu helped to coordinate sending donations to those who needed them in Ethiopia.

In 2018 when Iftu moved to Edmonton, she realized how important it was for her to continue doing this work, as she had seen firsthand the impact that those donations have made in people’s lives and in the community. For this reason, she got connected to the Edmonton Mennonite Center for Newcomers where she was encouraged to find others from her community with similar interests in supporting her idea. By founding other members of the community and through a set of meetings, it was found that many other women in the community were in need of receiving support through donations both in Edmonton and back in Ethiopia. Since then these women decided to join forces and work together and create what is today the Urji Women’s Support Association of Edmonton.

​Urji Women’s Support Association of Edmonton has been operating for about 3 years and was officially registered in 2019.

Our Mission

To support Canadian newcomers to integrate and succeed in Canadian society, by providing resourceful settlement programs and services designed to each individual needs.

We also support the education of children and the development of women overseas.

To accomplish our mission we partner with individuals, communities, and organizations to mobilize the support needed to meet the settlement needs of Canadian newcomers.

Our Vision

A prosperous and progressive society to help one another thrive.