Carolyn Klaus – Executive Director
Carolyn Klaus, M.D., became skilled in care of AIDS patients in a Philadelphia inner city clinic she founded. Her book, Prescription for Hope, chronicles the unlikely beginning of Esperanza Health Center, which 31 years later still flourishes. With mentoring from an international agency, she also learned to do community development in that needy neighborhood. She has used this experience in seven countries, teaching and consulting for medical schools, universities, churches, and community-based organizations. Since 2005 she has focused on Ethiopia, where she began facilitating AIDS work in national coalitions and grassroots groups. Recently she has focused on empowering endogenous organizations to achieve their own agendas for development. Off duty, she enjoys hiking, rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles, listening to George Gershwin, and crocheting.
Ron Klaus – Ethiopia Director
Ronald Klaus, Ph.D., has worked in the US Space program, taught chemical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, and done research in solid rocket fuels, efficient electric power generation, and other topics. He has also spent most of his life leading and promoting small discipleship groups—first as a camp counselor, then as part of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, then as a pastor and church planter. His teaching on the kingdom of God sparked the founding of Esperanza Health Center and has stimulated students in seminaries and Bible schools in six countries. Since 2004 he has been teaching and mentoring church leaders from many denominations and cultural groups within Ethiopia. In his spare time he walks extensively, watches Eagles football, plays piano, and does mathematics.
Jeanette Lespect – Director of Operations
Jeanette Lespect has over 15 years of experience in business and non-profit administration, advocacy, and training. Raised in France, Jeanette has volunteered with non-profits in Europe, West Africa, and the United States, particularly focused on humanitarian aid and development, refugee resettlement, and conflict. She has an M.S. in International Relations with a specialty in conflict transformation and development in Africa. In her time off, she enjoys reading travel and political memoirs, plays strategy board games with her husband and two sons, and loves to travel.
Partners in Ethiopia
We work with individual leaders, congregations, and movements from within several Protestant denominations, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and other community groups as requested. We work by invitation only; we do no work in Ethiopia on our own initiative.
Our child sponsorship program is administered by Community Transformation Ethiopia, an indigenous Ethiopian organization licensed by the Ethiopian government. Meet our CTE staff here