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!
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