Wish Lists for Ethiopian Kids

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If you or your school or club would like to send items for either school or to distribute to local youth clubs or street children, they would greatly appreciate anything sent. Our school is considered more upscale and still the walls are bare, the 2 restrooms (for 450 kids) have no soap, toilet paper, nor towels.
The street kids wear the most threadbare clothes that are almost see through, or they wear shoes worn down to multiple holes on the bottom. The non-food items don’t need to be new - gently used is fine.

Candy, all kinds. You can buy small Snickers here, but the cost is 80% of a shoe shine boy’s whole day salary. Even when I buy crackers for my kids that cost $.15 each, I have to hide them in my bag or I get approached by beggar kids saying “Biscuit! Biscuit!”
Maps
Clocks
Posters for schools or child care centers (with ABCs, inspirational quotes, the kinds you get as magazine inserts)
Old kids magazines
Used books of all kinds for school, child care libraries (for ages 3-19)
Balls (deflated if more practical to send)
Ball pump (we have punctured 3 soccer balls in 3 weeks)
Pens, pencils, markers, tape
Games ( jump ropes, jacks, small balls, action figures)
Old DVDs
Raincoats, jackets
Children’s vitamins

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Photos

Poor woman with 2 kids
I gave this woman my lunch of breadsticks. In return she let me take her photo.

Cute Kids
These kids were attracted by the sight of Tadas putting a bandaid on Rytas' scraped knee. About 15 people gathered for the attraction

Excitement
These girls are so thrilled because they have just seen their image on my camera from the previous picture taken of them. Lots of giggling and laughs.

Comments

[Dana Balciunas]

labas
Labas visi--I was in Riverside with Viki last week-end and just got your blog link--it is so interesting and my thoughts and prayers are with your family. Arija is touring Chicago schools and will probably end up there as well--Dana B.

[Ramune]

Wish lists books: Children's librarian in Ethiopia
Here's someone whose organization might help school libraries too? Just announced in Library Journal in Oct. 2008...Ethiopian librarian nominated as one of the Top 10 CNN Heroes for 2008. As someone rightly said: "Librarians, I'm sure will be voting". Ethiopian-born children's librarian Yohannes Gebregeorgis, with an MLS from the University of Texas at Austin and a stint at the San Francisco Public Library... , has gone home to establish children's libraries via the nonprofit Ethiopia Reads. He even wrote the first bilingual Amharic-English children's book, Silly Mammo.