Ethiopia

As I mentioned before, I work as a program coordinator at an international adoption agency. One of the programs that I work on is our Ethiopia program, which is our biggest and most active program. Since beginning work, I have been learning as much as I can about the culture, people and history of Ethiopia, as well as the role that international adoption has played in the country. I am about to get a chance to learn even more because I will be travelling to the country November 28-December 17.

There is a lot that I can try and predict about what the next three weeks are going to be like for me, but I think I am going to hold off on a lot of that until I get over there and can write with some actual experience. Instead, I thought I would take the time to give you some basic facts about the country as well as a little overview of how I have been preparing for the trip.

At the beginning of November Sean and I, along with some of my coworkers, attended an auction, Art for Ethiopia, which raised funds for orphans. Part of their marketing strategy focused on educating the public about the current orphan crisis in Ethiopia, and I took much of the following information from them. Ethiopia is an extremely poor country that has recently seen the faces of famine and AIDS eliminate much of its population. Considered to be the third worst country to be born into, Ethiopian children have a one in ten chance of dying in infancy and 1 in 5 chance of not making it past their fifth birthday. Thirty percent of girls aged ten to fourteen are no longer living with their parents, many running away from child marriages and having little options but to work as domestic workers with little pay, regular abuse and limited social supports.

Over thirteen percent, or 3. 8 million, of Ethiopia's population are orphans, with that number continually rising. The 1994 genocide in Rwanda resulted in 500,000 orphans and the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia resulted in 10,000 orphans - Ethiopia has effectively experienced the impact of 7 Rwandan genocides or 380 tsunamis.

My trip will serve as an opportunity to open a transition care home for Ethiopian orphans preparing to be adopted. We are building this organization from the ground up (OK, so the house is already built, but it is empty. And I actually will be finalizing which house we will use) and we have been in need of absolutely everything. Well, I sent out one email to our clients and have gotten an overwhelimg response:



And that's just the medicines/diapers! We had about 10x as many clothes. People have been absolutely fabulous at collecting donations for us- and all of the necessities at that. I was really concerned that we would be overloaded with infant clothes and toys because they are so fun to shop for. Instead we truly have a solid base for every age range and have practically enough to stock the entire orphanage just based on donations! Unfortunately Delta has ridiculous baggage policies so I will only be able to bring the first 150 pounds (and that is going to cost an extra $200). I wish they had a humanitarian discount or something to that effect.

I will be staying at the Ethiopia Guest Home (www.ethiopiaguesthome.com) which was started by a man (and his wife) who came to Ethiopia to do exactly what I am doing! It is so inspiring. I corresponded with him via email and he signed his name with his job title as Orphan Advocate. I think that has to be the perfect job title. He is very dedicated to our cause and makes sure that his organization is constantly giving back to the orphan community in Ethiopia. The guest home is based in Addis Ababa, the capitol city. It looks like a great place to stay and there are going to be adoptive families in the home when I am there. I so look forward to hearing their stories.


I don't know what else to write now. My brain is definitely overloaded with some mixture of stress adn excitement. I will be going by myself and a lot of the planning has been left to me, so I am waaaay more stressed than I have ever been before travelling. Uusally I just feel excited because I know the people in charge have everything under control. I've had two nearly sleepless nights in a row now because I just can't stop running over the details.

I look forward to writing more from Addis!

Sean=Employed!

So this post is waaaay late, but Sean got a job as an environmental scientist at a local environmental consulting firm! The job is very similar to what he was doing in PA, only with less exposure to potentially harmful chemicals. Yay! His first day was November 3, which means that we were both working within 6 weeks of our move. That is pretty exciting considering the difficult economic times our country is facing at the moment. Unemployment was definitely the riskiest aspect of our decision to move, and we conquered it very quickly. And now we will have health insurance! Such great news, being that my job really lacks on the benefits front. I am so anxious to get some physical therapy done so that I can go for a run/get on a bike/ learn to snowboard. The only big downer with Sean's new job is that it is northwest of Denver and my job is southeast of Denver. And we have one car. He has been a champion bike rider/public transportation taker these first few weeks, giving me the car. We will see how it all works out once we get some more snow and the bike ride is less appealing.

Yes He Did

Today, I am proud as I have ever been to be an American. I look forward to telling my children and grandchildren what it was like to be a part of Obama's victory and the beginning of a new America. Here is the part of the speech that got me crying:







"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

"At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can"
"She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons: because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

"And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America, the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

"At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

"When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

"When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

"She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

"A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

"America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves: if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

"This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes we can."

Visit From Mom and Dad

My parents came to town a few weekends ago after finishing a hiking trip in Utah. Of course, they couldn't stay away from the trails, so we took them to the first and second flatirons in Boulder. It was an easy hike and had some spectacular views...and it was only 30 minutes from our place. We had an all around fabulous time( delicious food, good music, great outdoors and terrific people makes a pretty nice combo). We also got to celebrate the birth of baby Zoê together (hence the champagne. Here are some shots from our place and the hike.













We are always open for more visitors!

Did we just break into a political rally?

On Sunday, Chad, Kevin, Sean, Jordan and I went to an Obama rally at Civic Center Park, which is just a few blocks form our apartment. We had to jump a fence to get in almost an hour before the rally started because there was a line that went on for blocks (we never did find the end of the line...)Obama was an amazing speaker, as usual, and got the crowd really pumped up. We were standing with a group of women who had not been to a political rally since seeing Bobby Kennedy. They all went to college 'during the war years' (as they put it) and had never been inspired by a candidate until Obama came around. It was really fun to talk to them and to recognize the energy they felt before with the energy we were feeling right then. Such an exciting time. I am making phone calls for Obama tonight and the rally really got me pumped to feel more like a part of this campaign. The crowd was over 100,000 and was Obama's biggest crowd in the USA. Pretty awesome. Now Vote!

Another Weekend, Another Peak

This past weekend we headed out with Chad to tackle another 14er. For this trip, we woke up super early Saturday morning instead of camping on Friday night. We climbed Mt. Bierstadt, 14,060ft, which is one of the closest 14ers to Denver. We began the hike at 8:30 and finished close to 2. The hike was a class two climb, and was definitely harder then Quandry! There was snow the entire way up, which was mostly crunchy and had only a few deep spots. It was probably about 4-6 inches deep most of the way. It was an absolutely gorgeous day with the only weather problems being the wind on the way down. It was very intense and was contiuosly blowing snow in our faces (it stung!) so much so that you really had to turn away form the snow, pull your hood over your face and wait for the wind to die down so you could take a few steps and do it all over again. Once we got 1,000 feet or so from the ridgeline we were fine. And glissading got us down from the mountain in no time.



















Here are some of Chad's Pics...

Marathon

Well, I totally flaked on posting about Sean's fabulous marathon. On October 19th Sean ran the Denver Marathon in just over three hours and forty two minutes. This in and of itself is a great time, but take into account that Sean hadn't run more than 15 miles since May, that Denver is a mile high and that we went to a concert the night before, and his time is down right amazing. It was fun to watch him, I got to see him five or six times during the marathon. This involved hitchhiking and my first ride on the Denver Light Rail, but it was well worth it. Here are some shots of Sean during miles 19-22 (tough time to get photographed!)They are in Washington Park, one of Denver's biggest and most beautiful parks.

Welcome Zoë!

The newest addition to the Helfrich family, Zoë Suzanne, was born on October 17th at 12:37 am weighing 7lbs and 13 ozs. She is (obviously) incredibly beautiful. A big congratulations goes out to Mom Beth and Dad Tim. We cannot wait to meet her!

Quandry!

Saturday morning Sean, Chad and I summited Quandry Peak via the Quandry Peak trailhead about 8 miles south of Breckenridge. Quandry is the highest peak in the tenmile-mosquito range and rises 14,265 feet. The 3.3 mile trail gains 3450 feet in elevation. It is a gorgeous hike, espeically this time of year because you get the snowy mountain with some beautiful yellow trees.

The best part of the whole trip was how easy it was to get to the backcountry from Denver. The trailhead was about an hour and fifteen minutes from our place. We left Friday night, but by the time we got to the trailhead it was too dark to start hiking, so we set up camp in the parking lot.



We started our hike at about 8 on Saturday morning. We were below treeline for about the first mile, and there were some really beautiful views during that part of the hike.



Once we got above treeline we were very very exposed. We could see huge clouds on the mountains around us and it became evident pretty quickly that we needed to get to the summit as fast as we could and get down. Usual mountain advice is to get off of the summit by noon because of thelikelihood of afternoon storms. We didn't have that kind of time, as the storms were coming early on Saturday.






After a while, we all stopped talking and each got into our own rhythm. I think we were all dealing with the altitude in our own way. You are so focused on getting to the top that you have to stop and remind yourself to look around. At that kind of elevation every rest provides something beautiful to look at....but nothing like at the top







We were able to get off the summit at about ten to eleven, just in time. The storm moved in pretty quickly and we couldn't believe all of the (unprepared) people we passed along the way. It was definitely in the low 30's on top of the peak and some people were heading up in shorts and after noon. We also met a couple who got enaged on the summit in the morning (we were going up when they were coming down), which is pretty cute. We got back to our apartment- and more importantly, our hot tub- around 4 on Saturday. Literally a 24 hour trip, totally amazng.