#OrphanPrevention

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Day 1 in Ethiopia

Today we visited Embracing Hope, Strong Hearts, and Onesimus (Forsaken Children). All were excellent organizations, doing really great things. Orphan prevention is the goal of Embracing Hope. I fell in love with this term. Jerry Shannon was a dynamic guy with a golden heart. They offer support for single mothers in order to keep the family together and prevent the mother from having to give the child up. Strong Hearts has several projects, the most interesting was opening the second hospice center ever in the entire country of Ethiopia. Onesimus (The Forsaken Children) worked with street children and trying to integrate them back into family style living and getting them to go back home to their families. We were informed that the are currently 100,000 street children in Addis Ababa alone. #truthgrenade

HIGHLIGHTS from today:

I will never forget my new little 2 year old friends, Betty and Abigail at Embracing Hope. From the moment I walked into their day care room they wanted to be my friend. When I put Abigail down she wouldn't stop crying.

There was a woman named Tshay weaving baskets out back of the Embracing Hope compound. Her story? She had stepped on a nail and injured her foot. She didn't ever go to the doctor about the injury, it ended up getting infected and she had to have her leg amputated. Because of this circumstance she was ostracized by her village and nobody would hire her. She had started bringing her daughter to Embracing Hope Day Care, in hopes of finding work somewhere. However, nobody would hire her because of her prosthetic leg. She approached Jerry Shannon with tears streaming down her face explaining how nobody would hire her. He asked her if she knew how to make baskets, and if he could hire her to work at the compound. So there she was..... Working so hard on her basket. And we had the privilege of buying her first four baskets.

Candlelit dinner because the electricity is off....again :) TIA :)

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