Gifts We Want To Deliver To Ethiopia--Will You Help?

I asked for, and just received, a list from Desalegn that details the types of things FOVC and the orphans there most desperately need at this time. Here it is!

• clothes (gently used or new, boys & girls)
• shoes
• sneakers
• jackets & sweaters
• skirts
• jeans
• socks
• underwear (new)
• towels
• watches
• earrings, necklaces
• hair do-dads
• headbands
• deoderant
• soap
• shampoo, conditioner
• body lotion
• toothbrushes, toothpaste
• educational games for little children
• first aid kits
• school supplies
• notebooks
• markers, pencils, pens, crayons,
• mathematical sets (flash cards?)
• books for library
• office supplies
• printers (very important)
• printer inks for HP Laser Jet 1010 and 1005 series
• photo copy machine (very important)
• laminating machine (very important)
• digital video camera (very important)
• digital camera
• rechargeable batteries (AA type with 220v charger)
• AA batteries for digital cameras
• another laptop and desktop computers for office use
• blankets (can be bought in Ethiopia)
• bed sheets (can be bought in Ethiopia)
• beds (can be bought in Ethiopia)
• mattresses (can be bought in Ethiopia)
• kitchen materials (very important and can be bought in Ethiopia)
• adding machine
• coffee machine
• staplers
• toys

It's a big list, but it should be easy for Team Tasfa to gather lots and lots of these items. Please let me know if you can help! If we all do a little bit, we can make a HUGE difference!

with so much love,
Lory

Kids Sponsored!

Some FOVC kids have already been matched with sponsors. What are you waiting for? They are all in such desperate need. Since Shanto is in such a remote area of Ethiopia, it is an area that is not served by foreign aid, or by aid organizations or NGO's. These kids are all in such desperate need, and they are depending on us!

Here's a note from Desalegn about the meaning of  "Seeds of Hope:"

Thank you so many million times for giving this great name for our (FOVC's) child sponsorship program. It is really very blessing name.

By the way Seeds of Hope stands for "Yetasfa Zer" in Amharic and it has much blessing meaning. Some times due to heavy drought and lack of regular rain the farmer uses his all seeds for feeding and some clever farmers save a few seeds for sewing (it may not be more than 10 gm, imagine how small it is). Now that small amount of seed which helps to revive again is "Yetasfa Zer"/ Seeds of Hope in our context!

So thank you for this name. You are always great for us!!!

More Sponsorship Insights

Dear Ones,

Please see Desalegn's blog post here.

I'm not much of a cry-er, but this one tore me up.

Humbled. Amazed. Grateful. Even broken. Thank you, God!

We are thinking of naming the sponsorship program Seeds of Hope. Here are some of the children the government has just referred to FOVC. As you can see, these kids are hungry and they hardly have clothes to wear.

Please contact Sharon today if you will plant a seed of hope!

From Our Social Worker & Prayer Needs

Here is US-FOVC's first official communication regarding the orphan sponsorship program!

Thank you for your interest in sponsoring a child through Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (FOVC) in Shanto, Ethiopia. It is my great pleasure to announce that FOVC is ready to get the sponsorship program off the ground!

The past couple of months, US-FOVC has been in the process of developing the sponsorship program and anticipated beginning the sponsorship program in January 2011. It has come to our attention that the need for sponsorships to begin is very urgent. FOVC-Ethiopia is currently responsible for 57 orphaned children in Shanto. Twenty-four of these children joined FOVC in mid-September after the local government, seeing the work done by FOVC, requested that these children be admitted into the program. While we are thankful that the local government is supportive of FOVC's projects and is seeking help for the children in their community, the admittance of 24 new children has placed a significant burden on FOVC. FOVC-Ethiopia's Executive Director, Desalegn Daka, reported that these children "need immediate support to sustain their lives." Because of this, we feel it is in the children's best interest to begin the sponsorship program and not wait until after Team Tasfa travels in December.

All 57 children are in need of sponsors. $35 a month will provide a child with food, clothing, education and medical care. Sponsorships help children living in poverty begin to break the cycle of poverty and hunger through education As a sponsor, you will receive photos and biographical information of your child, and the opportunity to communicate with your child 3 times per year. It is our hope that a long term relationship will develop between children and their sponsors.

Your tax-deductible gift will have immediate impact and will offer hope to a child desperately in need. Please contact me at followingthewayhome@gmail.com for more information or to begin your sponsorship.

Seeking the best for children of Shanto,

Sharon Bonnett
FOVC Social Worker
http://fovcethiopia.wordpress.com/

Thank you, Sharon! You are a gift to us and to the children of Shanto!

Because of the urgency of getting children sponsored, here are our most pressing needs. Will you pray, can you help?

• That we will get US-FOVC's website (and email accounts) up and running.
• That we will continue to make progress on the daunting 501(c)(3) application process.

with so much love,
Lory

Ready to Sponsor a Child?

FOVC is ready to begin its child sponsorship program now! FOVC has been made responsible for over 50 orphaned children in the village of Shanto. $35 per month will provide food, clothing, education and medical care.

The need is so great, we don't think we should wait until Team Tasfa travels....it's time to start helping these kids NOW.

If you would like to learn more about the sponsorship program, or if you're ready to sign up, please contact Sharon.

Let's give these children a reason to dance!

Tasfa Ethiopia

Tasfa Ethiopia happened last night in Denver...and the event raised about $20,000. Wow!

Thank you, Ethiopian Orphan Relief, and thank you, Shawn, for your hard and wonderful work.

The members and supporters of Team Tasfa had a terrific time!

Thankful and Community.

I found myself getting more and more sick late last week. Saw a doctor Saturday afternoon. Went to Urgent Care for an anti-nausea shot Saturday evening. Went to the local E.R. late that same night. Doctors couldn't decided whether to send me home or keep me. I knew something was really wrong and I was afraid to go home.

After some tests, it turned out I had an intestinal blockage. The pain was legit!

Transferred by ambulance to a different hospital for surgery. This is my second middle-on-the-night, unplanned surgery in less than six months!

So, after several days in a couple of facilities, I am home, and resting, (un)comfortably.

Thankful and Community.

Dave had a can't-miss work trip today. But, thankfully, my mom flew in to save us all. Thankfully, friends have sent flowers and are bringing meals. And checking on us. Generally making me, all of us, feel loved and thankful.

Thank God for our community....not just our town, but the people we know, the ones with whom we do our day-to-day life.

I guess it would have been more fun to have gotten, um, something augmented and maybe something else tucked.

But I'll take my community, and I'll be thankful.

In about 80 days, Team Tasfa will travel to join the community in Shanto, Ethiopia. Can't wait to experience the community, and the thankfulness, that we will all absorb and process together in Ethiopia.

(And now I'll take something to help me sleep, followed by a pain pill chaser!)

We interrupt this travelogue...

...for some pics from the Silver Creek High School Homecoming! 

Friday night: Flute girl!

Flute girl and friend Morgan! 



Anthony and Allison's cheering section. 

It's Anthony: excellent friend and also player on Team Tasfa!

                                               

Al and Anthony and Morgan are out there somewhere, really. 

Show's over, back to the game! 

 Post game pic of Al and Anth.

     Three good friends--Victoria, Al and Morgan.

   

How did these cute girls become high schoolers?

Gotta love the foot-wear!

Al and Victoria.

All the girls!

  

Just Al.

Corinne N.

Al and Mia!

The whole gang arrives at....Noodles for dinner!

Al and Nathan.

Some of the gang.

More of the gang.

Mia, Morgan, Nathan and Al....on the way to the dance in the mini-van limo.

Beware, this one is very difficult to see

Dear Friends,

Below is a recent post from Desalegn in Shanto (first my note, then his note, then the photo and article to which he refers):

I am humbled beyond thoughts or words to be able to go and do what is within my ability to break the back of the cycle of poverty. Thank you, God! Let's go, Team Tasfa! If we are able to do even a little bit begin to break the cycle of poverty, THAT, even more than feeding programs, is what will change the lives and the destinies of these communities, families....and children. These kids are no different than our kids, really, except they were born into really desperate and difficult lives.

Please, please if you read all the way down to the photograph, be aware that the picture is graphic and terrible. This photo was taken, and the article written, about two years ago. But the problem is as acute now as it was then. I hesitate to include this photo...maybe I'll end up removing it...I don't want to sensationalize the situation ("slumdog tourism?"), but how else can we realize that it's time to do the right things to end this suffering?

From Desalegn:
You can’t imagine this kind of trouble thing happens in the lives of human being. But this had really happened one year ago in and around Shanto, FOVC’s Village and my birth place. It was killed many little children. Killed many beautiful mothers. Killed many old people. Killed many animals. Killed “Enset” false banana, our multipurpose plant. Killed many things.This is still happening to many families in our area.

Today Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (FOVC) straggles to break this cycle, the cycle of poverty and hunger. Let us stand together to break a cycle of poverty in Shanto, Ethiopia! Let us make it history for my children!!! Let us make it history for Bizunesh and her friends!!! Thank you all for joining us to break a cycle of poverty in and around Shanto, Ethiopia!!!

Here is the article:
(Associated Press) SHANTO, Ethiopia — This year's poor rains have nearly killed Bizunesh.

The 3-year-old weighs less than 10 pounds. Her long limbs, weak and folded like a praying mantis, cannot carry even her slight weight. She cannot speak. She doesn't want to eat. Health officials say she is permanently stunted.

Bizunesh — whose name, sadly, means "plentiful" — is one of untold numbers of children hit by this year's double blow of a countrywide drought and skyrocketing global food prices that has brought famine, once again, to Ethiopia.

"She should be bigger than this," said her mother Zewdunesh Feltam, rocking the listless child. "Before there was maize, different kinds of food. But now there is nothing ... I beg for milk from my neighbors."

The U.N. children's agency said in a statement Tuesday an estimated 126,000 Ethiopian children urgently need food and medical care because of severe malnutrition — and called the current crisis "the worst since the major humanitarian crisis of 2003."

The U.N. World Food Program estimates that 2.7 million Ethiopians will need emergency food aid because of late rains — nearly double the number who needed help last year. An additional 5 million of Ethiopia's 80 million people receive aid each year because they never have enough food, whether harvests are good or not.

In Shanto, a southwestern agricultural area that grows sweet potatoes, recent rains arrived too late to save the harvest.

The crisis here is vivid. A feeding center run by the Irish charity GOAL has admitted 73 starving children in the past month.Aid agencies say emergency intervention is not enough and are appealing for more money to support regular feeding programs.                                                                 

Some, like Bizunesh, are frail and skeletal. Others, like 4-year-old Eyob Tadesse, have grossly swollen limbs in a sign of extreme malnutrition.

Eyob, whose mother said he used to be a lively, talkative child, sat in a stupor, unable to speak, not moving even to brush away the flies that swarmed over his face. The sunny room humid with a recent, too late, rain shower was made gloomy by an eerie silence despite being full of sick children. Chronic malnutrition can affect children for life, stunting their growth, brain development and immune systems, which leaves them vulnerable to a host of illnesses.

Many mothers said their families were trying to survive on a gluey, chewy bread made of the root of the "false banana" plant — one of many wild or so-called famine foods that Ethiopians depend on in times of trouble.

It's not known how many children have died or are starving now. Local and international aid and health workers say between 10 and nearly 20 percent of Ethiopia's children are malnourished — 15 percent is considered a critical situation. In 2006, Ethiopia had 13.4 million children under age 5, according to UNICEF.

Samuel Akale, a nutritionist with the government's disaster prevention agency, said the hunger will get worse. "The number of severely malnourished will increase, and then they'll die."

WFP officials say the drought has affected six of Ethiopia's nine regions, stretching from Tigray in the north to the vast and dry Somali region in the south, though not every part of each region is affected.

Spokesman Greg Beals said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is preparing an appeal for additional tens of millions of dollars.

"This is a real crisis that needs to be addressed," he said.

Ethiopia is a country with a history of hunger. It's food problems drew international attention in 1984 when a famine compounded by communist policies killed some 1 million people. Pictures of stick-thin children like Bizunesh were broadcast onto television sets around the world.

This year's crisis is far less severe. But drought and chronic hunger persist in Ethiopia, a Horn of Africa nation known for its coffee, a major export. In 2003, droughts led 13.2 million people to seek emergency food aid. Drought in 2000 left more than 10 million needing emergency food.

Drought is especially disastrous in Ethiopia because more than 80 percent of people live off the land, and agriculture drives the economy, accounting for half of all domestic production and 85 percent of exports. But many also go hungry because of government policies. Ethiopia's government buys all crops from farmers at fixed low prices. And the government owns all the land, so it cannot be used as collateral for loans.

"What we're doing at the moment is waiting until children get severely malnourished, taking them into the feeding program, getting them back to a level of moderate malnutrition and then watching them cycle back," said Hatty Newhouse, a nutrition adviser from GOAL.

There are fears that the next harvest also will fail.

"We are crying with the mothers and the children," said Akale, the nutritionist.

Fundraiser Photos

The Irish Music Fundraiser for FOVC was a great success! The Mewes'es organized an evening of great music, great Silent Auction items, great people, a great location...and a great big gift to FOVC: about $1800!! Wow! And thank you, Dirk and Debbie, for making this event happen!

Here are a few pictures:

Handsome guy's Ethiopian outfit doing a pre-concert swing....

Meels is a swinger, too.

Amelia's friend (and Bereket's future girlfriend?? He does seem to like her an awful lot!), Lidya Rodda.

Sweet baby Sullivan....ah! the baby days!

The musicians. These guys are GOOD!

This guy LOVES  to dance!



Meelsie is a doll.

Our big beauties: Victoria, Al, Rebecca and Abs.

Mr. Handsome

Lovely Lidya listens.

Thank you again to everyone who supported this wonderful event!

Note from Desalegn

Here is a note Desalegn posted on the FOVC blog. I guess to say we are humbled and honored would be an understatement. As regular and flawed and misguided as we can be (or at least I can be)....to have been picked to partner with this dear young man, for such an exceptional cause...there are no words to suffice.

MY EYES ARE FULL OF TEARS: TEARS OF JOYS, HOPE AND HAPPINESS
In our new year (01/01/2003) I received the following wonderful email from our Board Members which made my eyes full of tears. Do you know why my eyes are full of tears: tears of happiness? I never dreamed and thought that these all great things will happen on behalf of FOVC for the poorest children in Ethiopia. When I started Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children (FOVC) four years ago things which I had plenty were hope, belief, commitment and love to help poorest orphans. Thanks to FOVC’s hard working Board Members, Friends of Orphans and Vulnerable Children succeeded these all wonderful achievements. I have many million thanks for Lory, Dave and Stacey and their families and friends for making these things happen for FOVC on behalf of poorest and vulnerable children!

Hello Desalegn,
How are things in Soddo and Shanto? We cannot wait to be there! Thank you for your update this week. I wonder if you have any recent pictures to share of the construction site, or of any recent happenings in Shanto? Also, as you prepare to welcome the new children in to FOVC’s program, would you be able to send their photos and basic information? And please don’t forget: save some orphanage-building work for Team Tasfa! This is soooo important to our group.


Here are some of the things we have accomplished for FOVC recently:


1. Team Tasfa paid for our in-country travel (we are using a company called Spring Ethiopia Tours,  for our in-country travel and to arrange our hotels)! We are also going to stay one night at the Sabana Lodge at Lake Langano, so we paid for that as well. Since we are such a big group, it seemed that hiring Spring Ethiopia’s vehicles would be the most reliable way to get us to the Sidama region.


2. I opened a bank account in the U.S. We think this is the best way to accumulate funds for FOVC, and then to get the funds wired over to Ethiopia.


3. We registered the US charity for FOVC. It is called US-FOVC Ethiopia.


4. We also obtained a 501c3 number for US-FOVC. We are still in the early stages of completing the difficult 501c3 process, however. Many, many thanks to Stacey for leading us through this huge effort!


5. We purchased a couple of URLs– www.fovc.org and www.us-fovc.org. Hopefully, we will finally get going on the website!


6. I had a long conference call with Sharon Bonnett, who, as you know, is the social worker who is working on the sponsorship program. Sharon has lots of great ideas and she is working hard to put things in place for the FOVC children! With your current children, and the 12 children you want to add this year, and the 21 children the local government has asked FOVC to help, we think there will soon be 57 children, is that correct? We believe we will be able to get them sponsored.


7. The local adoptive family held their fundraiser last night, and raised over $1700US for FOVC!


8. As generous people begin to financially support FOVC, there is a lot of tax and record-keeping paperwork for us to do here in the U.S. I am figuring out how to support these aspects of the organizations.


9. The church of two of Team Tasfa’s members has donated $1500US to FOVC.


10. I am communicating often with EOR as they plan their big fundraiser and as we generally partner with them. For Ethiopian Christmas, EOR is preparing small backpacks full of gifts and supplies for all of the FOVC children. Team Tasfa will deliver them. Will 36 backpacks be the correct number when we arrive?


I think this is all for now.


Happy New Year and God bless!


Lory, Dave and Stacey

It's beginning to look a lot like Gena! (a fun, easy way to help!!!)

Hi Friends,
Please see this post below from Ethiopian Orphan Relief's blog. Team Tasfa has the distinct honor of playing Santa, and delivering all of these backpacks to the kids at Children's Heaven and FOVC.

Maybe this sweet and simple project is a great way for YOU to get involved....change the world for a kiddo!

And P.S.--please don't forget that the Celtic Music Concert & Silent Auction for FOVC is tomorrow (Friday, September 10) in Boulder! Come! Join us! Let's clog! :-)

much love,
Lory

                                           *****************************************
Christmas in Ethiopia is called Gena and it’s celebrated on January 7th in Ethiopia. Here at Ethiopian Orphan Relief we’re gathering gifts to put in backpacks for children of Children’s Heaven & FOVC (Friends of Orphans & Vulnerable Children). Through “ProjectGena2010“ your generosity will brighten an orphan’s life. EOR provides the backpacks~~ can you help us fill them

Boy or girl? Email kim@ethiopianorphanrelief.org to make plans to shop for a specific child. Too busy to shop for all the special someones on your personal gift list? A backpack for an Ethiopian child makes a wonderful gift for others. For a donation of 15.00 we’ll shop for you AND send a special card to the honoree of your choice. A personalized letter or photo makes a wonderful addition to any backpack – we welcome yours. We can’t wait to share a photo of the children receiving their gifts, please include your address with your donation so we can send you one too. Here's a short video on ProjectGena2010:

Gena Giving Project - 130 backpacks to children in Ethiopia from Ethiopian Orphan Relief, Inc. on Vimeo.

For those counting, it’s 106 days till Christmas! Let EOR help you take some gifts off your list. Do your children have a service project at school? Feel free to pass along our flier and…

Melkam Gena!

Gift Ideas
Toothbrushes, socks, underwear, small toys, pencils, hair do dad’s, small cars, yo-yo’s, jump ropes, etch a sketch, markers, journals.

Please contact kim@ethiopianorphanrelief.org for questions and address on where to ship your treasures.

FOREIGN TO FAMILIAR -- A Super-Important Book!

Foreign To Familiar has been called a MUST-READ for anyone who is involved in cross-cultural communications or who plans to do work (aid, mission, short-term, long-term) in a foreign culture.

Here's what one expert says about this book:
Foreign to Familiar is a splendidly written, well researched work on cultures. Anyone traveling abroad should not leave home without this valuable resource! Sarah's love and sensitivity for people of all nations will touch your heart. This book creates within us a greater appreciation for our extended families around the world and an increased desire to better understand them.

As a requirement for traveling with Team Tasfa, I am asking every member of the team to read this short book. Our time in Ethiopia will be brief, and an understanding of cultural norms and expectations will be INVALUABLE to each of our team members as we seek to maximize our time and effort in-country!

Here's a review of the book:
In her book Foreign to Familiar, Sarah Lanier seeks to aid the reader in cross-cultural communication and relationships by highlighting the differences between hot- and cold-climate cultures. While these concepts are unfamiliar to most readers, Lanier quickly introduces and defines the categories before discussing them in detail. Having lived in the Middle East, South America, Africa, Europe, and New Zealand, Lanier (who is American) is certainly qualified to address the issue. The reader gets the impression while reading that this book is the fruit of her own experiences and frequent lectures on the subject in different settings.


According to Lanier, "the population of the entire world can roughly be divided into two parts. The two groups represented are 'hot-climate' (relationship-based) cultures and 'cold-climate' (task-oriented) cultures". Lanier recognizes there may some overlap in the two categories, and cites one unnamed person who suggested that she use the terms "hot/tribal" and "cold/urban". She also recognizes that personalities differ within each culture. The primary distinction between the two cultures is that of relational focus as opposed to task focus. Those in the warm-climates tend to emphasize the relationships involved between individuals while those in cold-climates focus on the efficient performance of tasks.


After defining the groups and explaining the primary relationship/task distinction, Lanier spends the next six chapters explaining further manifestations of the cultural differences. In Chapter Three, the focus is on direct versus indirect communication. Chapter Four emphasizes the individualism of the cold-climates over against the group-identity of the hot-climates. Privacy, highly valued in the cold, is contrasted with inclusion as the norm in the cold-climate in Chapter Five.


Chapters Six and Eight discuss two elements of society in which the differences between hot- and cold-climates are very evident: hospitality and time. Those with international travel experience will find themselves laughing with familiarity as they read of Lanier's experiences. Of course, the hot-climates demonstrate much more warm hospitality, while the cold-climates are extremely conscious of time and planning.


In Chapter Seven, Lanier introduces a different distinction between cultures which sometimes clouds the distinction between hot- and cold-climate cultures. This distinction is between high- and low-context cultures. Drawing from Edward T. Hall's Beyond Culture, Lanier defines the high-context culture as the one which has a long history wherein traditions have become very formalized. Low-context cultures are those whose history is briefer, whose population is more diverse, and in which very few traditions have developed.


Some of the strongest points of Lanier's book are its brevity, clarity, and engaging tone of Lanier's style. The reader is aware that Lanier is not writing an academic treatise. Her aim is pragmatic. She delivers fully in Chapter Nine, entitled "Practical Next Steps". Here simple steps are outlined to aid the international traveler or other person who finds himself or herself developing cross-cultural relationships. Perhaps the most beneficial element of the book is the summary found at the end of each chapter. It is not as if the chapters are so lengthy that this is a necessity, but the brief outline form of the summaries makes relocating information very easy.


This book has made a positive contribution to the field of cross-cultural communication. In Foreign to Familiar, Sarah Lanier has provided a clear, brief, practical introduction to several key issues. The book is written on the popular level, making it accessible to a wide audience. This reviewer enjoyed the book and recommends it as a primer for anyone involved in cross-cultural communication.

********************************************************

Team Tasfa, please get this book as soon as possible (here's the link on Amazon). It's only $8.99, and I am confident we all receive a great deal of value by increasing our understanding of the culture in Ethiopia before we travel!

Powerpoint, anyone?

I am creating a simple powerpoint presentation about FOVC, and Team Tasfa's upcoming trip to work with FOVC. Please let me know if you would like a copy of it! Some on Team Tasfa are using it for fundraising presentations, for example.

love,
Lory

PS According to one member of Team Tasfa, it's only something like 113 days until we travel!

Local Fundraiser for FOVC!!!!!

IAN mom Debbie Mewes is putting together this fun concert (with the help of her talented uilleann pipes--and whistle-playing husband!!!) and benefit for FOVC!

It's Friday, September 10 at City on the Hill Church in Boulder. Can you come? Will you join us? Let me know!!!!

love,
Lory

Keep Changing the World

This song just runs through my mind as I think about Team Tasfa's trip to Ethiopia. (Even though it sounds a little bit like a song the cast of "Glee" might sing....I still love it!)

Let's! Go! Change! The! World!

"She said she was happy for me."

Now that David has been home for six months, his English is really, really good. Occasionally, I try to talk to him about his life in Ethiopia: His memories are fading, and I hope to learn as much as I can before he forgets. I figure everything I can learn about his "first life" will be a gift to give back to him someday.

The other day, we were talking about how it was when his first mom said good-bye. This is a subject we have talked about before. I'm still not clear about all of the details, and I still can't tell if she was tearful or stoic.

He did share this time, that his first mom told him she was happy for him as they parted.

As a mom, I cannot imagine. Putting my child in a car. Knowing I would never see him again. Being aware that I would not have any idea where my child would end up. And bravely telling my son that I was happy for him. Because I hadn't been able to give him food and shelter and medical care. So I was happy for him that he might be able to find these fundamental provisions, and a chance at a brighter future, somewhere else in the world.

I cannot imagine.

It makes me more thankful than ever that Team Tasfa is traveling to Ethiopia in just four months. We can't do everything. But we can create an environment where the children will have a place to live, and an education. And perhaps we can get some livestock to the widows And the community members can learn some job skills, and perhaps we can help them sell their products. And in the process, we can bring some joy and some hope. Tasfa.

I Guess It's True

I have always heard that little boys love their mommies. I guess it's true. Bereket picked a bouquet of flowers for me today.

And isn't it kind of neat that this way of showing love...giving flowers....it must be universal!

Bereket has been home for six months now. It hasn't been easy, but it has been good. We are thankful and proud to call Bereket our son.

Oops--by the way: He will start kindergarten this week. He tells his teacher he would like to be called, "David...like my daddy."

Needs -- from Desalegn

Desalegn sent this email to Aneata, one of our group members:

(By the way, Aneata works at our adoption agency, IAN. She has overseen over 65 adoptions from Ethiopia, but she has not yet been there! She has a HUGE heart for the orphans. Aneata has committed to traveling with us, but she must raise funds. She's an artist by training, and she is selling beautiful hand-made (and affordable) jewelry so she can make this trip. Click here to check out her stuff!)

  

                

Ok, back to Desalegn's message:

....My children's big problem is shoes and clothing. As you may haveinformation many Ethiopian children are wearing one cloth for longyears or may not ever wear any cloth. So I need your great support to have any types of clothes and shoes for my children. Please notice that most of the children are somewhat big and need at least L size clothing and medium size shoes. The shoes may be new or old no matter (it looks like boys and girls sizes 7-14 could be really helpful). Any type of exercise books/note books/, pen, school supplies etc are also needed. Any types of toys are also important......

And now, here is Team Tasfa's "take" on Desalegn's message:

I know we are hoping to take up to 200 pillowcase dresses (with t-shirts) for the girls! I know, too, that some in our group have ideas about how to bring clothes for the boys.

Because of the parasites in Ethiopia, shoes are so important. People walk around in bare feet (particularly in rural areas like Shanto), and the parasites get into their skin, and they get terrible diseases like elephantitis. Also, the lack of shoes keeps people from going to many places--like school, or the market, etc. CAN YOU, CAN WE, EVEN IMAGINE???

I'm sure each of us has been asked, "How can I help?" With summer coming to an end, maybe we can ask those who have offered to help to purchase some clearance-priced, end-of-the season shoes? Close-toed shoes are best--like little flats for females and whatever looks sort of comparable for boys. Or, ask people to pick up tops, packages of underwear (these kids have NO underwear), skirts, jeans, etc.

Better yet, maybe some of the big-hearted people you know will donate even $10-$20 that you can take over to Addis. Shoes, in particular, are plentiful and cheap (by U.S. standards) in Addis, and we can easily buy shoes in the city and take them down to Shanto. Dave and I are less confident about buying clothes and underwear over in Addis, however. So, possibly our best plan is to try to collect a few shoes, more clothes/underwear and to plan to buy more shoes in Addis. Remember, too, that we are a greater help to Ethiopia when we buy all that we can buy there, in-country!

This is also a great time of year to pick up cheap school supplies! Just be aware that paper, in particular, gets really heavy in terms of the weight allowance in your luggage. You will be shocked at how easy it is to accumulate 100 pounds' worth of stuff for your luggage!

By the way, when Desalegn says the children are bigger....I think he means they are not babies/toddlers. FOVC primarily serves kids from about 5 years to 15 years. Aneata is right, sizes 7-14 will likely be the best.

Desalegn also mentioned that any type of toys are important, too. I know Aaron has obtained full sets of soccer uniforms for the kids! That makes me think he'll probably bring some soccer balls, too, right? I want to say that our son, Bereket, really loves the little toys that come in Sonic kids' meals, happy meals, Chick-Fil-A meals, etc. Maybe we can start collecting those kinds of little toys to take? Also, we really can't take stuffed animals or stuffed dolls. It is just too dirty there, and soft toys quickly get very unsanitary and have to be thrown away. I recently read about one little Ethiopian girl: her ONLY toy was a tooth she had lost. CAN YOU, CAN WE, EVEN IMAGINE? Let's deliver some fun and joy to Shanto, too!

with so much love,
Lory