30 Sept 2011

A Giant Step



We are about to take a giant step forward, of the kind that fills you with joy and hope. Because we are now certain we shall have an ophthalmologist for Sebeta, in fact a children’s ophthalmologist. And not just an eye doctor but also an eye nurse who will be going out with him at the end of October. They will examine the 340 children at Sebeta to see how some of them can be helped by surgery, glasses or poor-vision aids.

The three Messi room monitors will thus be able to teach reading and writing in Oromiya to those children, who aided in this way will be able to see, so that they will not have to go out into the world at the age of 17 knowing only Braille.

Apart from this giant step and with a view to improving the very difficult living conditions of the Sebeta children we are taking a number of smaller steps: we are buying sheets (at the moment they sleep directly on filthy mattresses) and we are thinking about hiring laundresses (if they let us) to wash these sheets and the children’s clothes. We have already improved things by mending the toilets and replacing the broken windows. 

We have a huge task on our hands turning round this school which has been virtually abandoned by God and man for the last 30 years. The carers don’t look after them, the cleaners don’t clean, the Head master doesn’t seem to be in charge and there’s a statutory nurse who’s never been to the huts where the children live. A bleak picture, but we’re not put off by the challenges, quite the opposite.

Photos: the daily life of the children in their huts

At Mediterranea we are in favour of showing happy photographs, photographs of our achievements, but sometimes we have to show you the other side of things. If we were not helping them we would never show you this darker side, since we are totally opposed to showing the harsh reality just to raise money in situations where we are not helping directly.



29 Sept 2011

Rumours Bar Fundraising - A Big Success


On Friday evening Rumours of Puerto Portals held a memorable fundraising event on behalf of Mediterranea.  The evening got started at 9pm with a Cava reception for all guests.  There was an excellent turn out and a relaxed atmosphere as people chatted and the energy level slowly rose.

Energy levels quickly increased as Liam Live treated us to some songs off his newest album ‘The Tale of the Tiny Dancer’ and a number of guests couldn’t contain themselves and started gyrating in the bar area.  People kept arriving and the party was in full swing.

The mobile casino opened and there was even more excitement.  Participants (and there were many) received a good quantity of chips for their 10 Euro stake.  Their objective, to accumulate their stacks of chips on the roulette wheel and at the black jack table.  There were fantastic prizes to be won for the four top accumulators.  All takings on the casino were destined for Mediterranea.

Dr Stoma and full family attended, together with Roma and Robin who represented Med on the night, providing information, collecting donations in tins and ‘welcoming’ some new Med members.

The evening has been declared a great success for all concerned.  Med would like to offer a big thank you to Elizabeth, the owner of Rumours and a new Med member for hosting the event and to Ayesha of Diamond Events, the organiser who worked tirelessly to make this a great success and compeered the evening.

Details of how much was generously donated will follow in another post.