"Compassion Mail"

Usually you don't have to wait so long for this to come.. but there apparently was a "glitch" and our packet took longer that normal.

This is what our official sponsorship packet looks like. It Came 3 and 1/2 weeks after we sponsored Efrata... a very long 3 and 1/2 weeks!
(I'm sure the wait until we get her first letter will feel like an eternity if I though this was bad!)

1st Package on the way to Ethiopia!

Here is her first package! It includes a 3-D card for her birthday, a cheesy handmade bookmark with her photo, a family photo (taken last fall), a photo of the kids, photo's of HER, and lots of stickers. I hope it gets to her in time.

It may seem strange that I'm sending her a photo of herself, but she may not have a photo of herself. Photos aren't common in 3rd world countries and this may be something that she doesn't have, or doesn't have many of.

Water: Jennifer's Story

From BloodWaterMission.com


I know a girl named Jennifer who walks for most of her day. Not by choice but by absolute need. One step in front of the other brings Jennifer closer to a source of water, water that is needed to survive. She carries a bright yellow bucket in one arm and the hand of her younger sister in the other. Her calloused feet meet the dirt path with ease and levity. She passes neighbors, livestock, mud huts with thatched roofs, and the primary school down the road.

After thirty minutes of walking, Jennifer and her sister dip their buckets in the filth of a muddy river. They do their best to swirl the water before dipping their buckets deep into the water so as to push away the clumps and bugs that sit along the surface of the brown water. With remarkable grace, each girl places her 20 pound bucket on her head and walks back. Their bare feet hit against the dirt of the path, passing yet again the primary school down the road, the mud huts with thatched roofs, the livestock and the neighbors. When they arrive home, they empty their buckets into a large tub. Invisible bacteria swim in the water, causing serious stomach aches, skin infections and life-threatening diseases to the members of the family. They will use it for drinking, cleaning and cooking. It is what they have, and so it is what they use. Jennifer turns around to walk back along the dirt path with her bright yellow bucket in one arm and the hand of her younger sister in the other, to return to the river once more.

Malnutrition

-photo from nytimes.com (infant is 5 months old)


There is an article in the New York Times worth reading. It is about malnutrition in Ethiopia (specifically in a city north of Addis Ababa called Shimider.) You can find it here.

Some statistics outlined in the article are as follows;

Malnutrition still kills here, though Ethiopia’s infamous famines are in abeyance. In Wag Hamra alone, the northern area that includes Shimider, at least 10,000 children under age 5 died last year, thousands of them from malnutrition-related causes.

Robbed of vital nutrients as children, they grow up stunted and sickly, weaklings in a land that still runs on manual labor.

Some become intellectually stunted adults, shorn of as many as 15 I.Q. points, unable to learn or even to concentrate, inclined to drop out of school early.

Nearly 6 in 10 are stunted; 10-year-olds can fail to top an adult’s belt buckle.

They are frequently sick: diarrhea, chronic coughs and worse are standard for toddlers here.

Five million African children under age 5 died last year — 40 percent of deaths worldwide — and malnutrition was a major contributor to half of those deaths.

One in 15 pregnant women experiences night blindness, indicating vitamin A deficiency and a diet devoid of protein and red or yellow fruits and vegetables.

One day without shoes

One for One-
"TOMS Shoes was founded on a simple premise: With every pair you purchase, TOMS will give a pair of new shoes to a child in need. One for One."

TOMS Shoes is sponsoring "One Day Without Shoes" to have you experience life without shoes firsthand and to spread awareness of the impact a simple pair of shoes can bring to a child's life.

Join us and participate!

(Picture is of Hunter's cute little toes!)

One Day Without Shoes Link

Efrata (our sponsored child)

I have some updated information on Efrata!

I am allowed to send Efrata $25 for her birthday which is on May 21st (she will be 8.) I submitted that today because I'm aware that it takes a lot of time to get that processed. ($25 can buy a goat!) The children usually buy necessities with thier gift money. (Many people get a photo of what the child bought with thier birthday money, I hope I do!)

Efrata's paperwork says that lives with her mom because her dad passed away. She appears to be an only child. She is in 3rd grade and has "average" school work. Her mother's job is listed as a "house maid." (Does this mean unemployeed? I assume it does as most people are unemployeed.)

The typical home in Holeta, Ethiopia has a floor made of dirt, walls made of mud, earth, or clay, and a tin roof. A typical family income is $18 a month. I am not sure what language she speaks but the typical language of this area is both Oromigna and Guragigna. The project that she is in just started in December 2009.

Delivery of mail to & from her project can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months... (still waiting!)

...off to write her an email!

BTW- here's a blog on the 2009 Ethiopia tour. (I would love to do this someday!!) click here!

A sibling group comes home.