70 children more in school.

17/9/2010

Yesterday was a happy day in the public school Fitawrari Abaninya of Akaki, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The 70 children, most 10 years old, who began a bridge course in reading and writing and basic mathematics last april to be able to access a normalized scholar education, have finished the course.

Mediterranea covered the expenses of this course by paying for scholar material for the children and the salaries of the teachers responsible for the classes.

Yesterday the graduation ceremony took place. The heads of education of Akaki Kaliti and the proud parents or grandparents assisted to witness how their children or grandchildren are able to access the educational system which beforehand was not possible due to lack of information or poverty.

As a graduation gift, every child received 5 notebooks and pencils.

70 children less on the streets – 70 children more in school. Another small grain of sand in the desert.

Photo: Girls and boys at the beginning of the course (april 2010)

Return to Addis: 6:20am Palma airport

Bernie and Vitoria about to set off.

Sunday October 10th, we return to Addis Ababa.
This time, apart from Abugida, new projects and relationships are waiting for us.
We can now rename the project: "Schools of Akaki".
On the first day, we shall sign an agreement between the Kebele of Akaki, who will become,  through this act,  our official local counterpart.
They kindly issued us with a letter  to help us with Customs and another as a safe-conduct, knowing well the way local Mafiosos work - and now that we have even more "friends", it is better to watch out than to feel sorry later on.
There will be heartwarming  moments at the Abugida school as well as in the kindergarten.
We will also visit the Fitawrari public school where we are providing  breakfast for 160 children, one studies better with a full stomach,  and we hope to be able to inaugurate the kitchen and dining hall we have built so as to be able to feed over 100 orphans. Heavy rainfall has delayed the opening of this dining hall.

We will get to know the  Biru Tesfa junior school , which was closed for years and will be opened this year with our help.
And we will meet the disabled and handicapped children at the Akaki Mengist school. We intend to to evaluate the situation and find out what we can do in the near future there for them.
And, of course, we will have meetings with the "adopted" families - with those brave mothers and grandmothers (and also with one father equally valued).
To see the positive evolution of these families is most gratifying and cannot be described in words.  To bring hope to people who never had it before is a great responsibility , but is  it also very  worthwhile.  It is good to see how our mothers and grandmothers are stronger with every passing day.
There has not been a single case of abandonment because of poverty, or for any other reason in this program.  Fortunately, there has also not  been any grave health care problem with any child, which again shows the direct relationship between food supply and health.

We shall meet the old folks of the "railroad district" whom we support financially, and also we meet the adult students of Abugida, who not even in summer interrupted their lessons.
And we will certainly we be meeting up with the proud parents of Abugida who are so very happy to have their  their children in our school.

Makeda

Makeda (not really her name but a traditional Ethiopian name meaning "beautiful") is a woman from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, born in the mystical city of Gondar, the Camelot of Africa; a city of incredible castles, a recommended place to visit and a ‘must see’ if you go to Ethiopia.
For some years Makeda lived alone with her 3 sons. She worked as a cook but became ill and had to leave her work. She remained without work, without a home and lived in the streets with her 3 children, the smallest only a baby.
To live in the streets of Addis is extremely difficult for an adult but more so for a child.  Not only are these children deprived of the most basic needs, but they are exposed to violence and danger from the Mafia types who control the begging on the streets. These children can even be kidnapped and used for begging.  Often they are mutilated in order to gain more pity and therefore earn more money.
In such a hostile environment, Makeda decided to give up two of her sons for adoption. Makeda knew that this would be the most painful and difficult decision of her life but the only way, she believed, that her children might have a chance. Comments such as “ in Ethiopia, the mothers do not love their children the way we love ours” and “they are accustomed to giving their children away and therefore have several”, personally infuriates me.
It isn’t so. The mothers there are like any of us, human beings, women with emotions, who have the same feelings, exactly the same as any other mother. To be poor does not mean you are immune to pain and suffering or that you are any less of a mother.
Makeda gave up her children in order that they may live a life without danger and uncertainty. But with this decision came a deep pain. Not only did Makeda realize that this pain would be with her for her entire life but that also she would never know the whereabouts of her children or if they were well.
It was only by a twist of fate that we had the opportunity to meet and learn  more about Makeda.

Makeda was a very thin woman, always together with her smallest son, who in the period when we initially met her, would have been a little more than 1 year old.  Her starvation contrasted enormously with that of her son. He appeared well looked after, well nourished, you would say that the child radiated good health. It was evident that everything Makeda gained from begging was spent on food for her son, not for herself.
Every day, for an entire year that she was without her other two sons, Makeda would ask for news of them, wanting to know if they were safe and well. But, people treated like a "nobody" and ignored her requests for news. She wasn’t a "nobody", only a poorer woman than the others.
Finally she received news and was overjoyed to find that that they were well. When Makeda received the news and saw the photos of her older sons, a river of tears fell down her face. For me, it was a difficult scene to handle, as on one hand I was delighted to be able to give her the news of her sons but on the other hand to see her cry like this, and yet trying not to show her pain, broke my heart.

The family who adopted her sons took kindly to Makeda and wanted to help with some of her financial needs as they didn’t want to see her have to give up her small son due to the continuing poverty situation she was in. One day she said to us “I don’t want to be given more money, they have helped me enough. What I want is to be able to work”.
By this time, Makeda had recovered from her illness that had left her without a job and on the streets. We believed that she would be able to work so we employed her in the Abugida school where she has been for just over a year now. At first, she explained that she had been a cook. Some were skeptical but we asked that she be given a chance. And she proved it, she is a great cook.
The life of Makeda changed, and so has that of her son. He used to be a very easily frightened and shy boy, which is normal when living in the street. Now, he is a happy child who has fully integrated in the school.

Today, Makeda is the head of the kitchen in Abugida and it is all due to her own merits. Her life has turned around 360 degrees.
We hope to be able to turn around the lives of many women like Makeda. Hopefully, sooner than later, so that, should there be children involved, they can stay with such loving, caring mothers as Makeda.

Medical Help for One Ethiopian Boy

Medical Help for One Ethiopian Boy Makes for One Happy Mom!

August 21, 2010  Remember our friend Mikias? The young Ethiopian boy who has been spending a little time with us in Mallorca for treatment of his chronic osteomyelitis?
Well, after four months, the clinging, multiresistant and mutating bacteria that has been an inseparable companion to Mikias for the last four years, and the cause of the destruction of one of his arms, has been beaten. With medical help from the Mediterranea group, his cultures are finally negative. This is great news, which we had almost lost hope to be able to give.
Mikias has gained more than 19 pounds, his nutritional state has improved and so has his body’s natural defense mechanisms. Mikias has healthy bone at last as a result of good nutrition, proper medical attention,  antibiotics, and a boy with a strong will to live.
Next Friday, Mikias will have his big operation where a filling material, which stimulates the growth of new bone tissue, will be introduced to his bone, and the severe deformity of his arm will be corrected.
A new life for Mikias can be now be seen on the horizon.

Here, we leave you with a beautiful photograph of Mikias´s mother at her house in Ethiopia. The happiest mother in the world knowing that her son will have a normal life. Because if life in Ethiopia is hard without having a disability, with one, life turns into something terrible, condemning you to extreme poverty with no opportunity for a decent life.
Mikias´s mother is about to give birth, so we are very happy to be able to give her Mikias’s successful treatment as a gift to her during this special moment of her life.
Mikias´s family loves him very much. The entire village is following the progress of Mikias, and when anyone asks, “Where is he?” the answer is that he is “In Spain” “In Spain? Ah! Yes! The ones that beat everyone to win the World Cup!”  – and the ones who won the battle against Mikias´s bacteria too, heh, heh!
On an additional note, Martha, the girl who came to Mallorca on two occasions to be operated for a serious cifoescoliosis (hump and lateral curvature of the spine) has passed her checkup with our trusted Cuban orthopedist surgeon in Addis Ababa, and is well. This is further great news as her vertebra was so delicate due to malnutrition that we were worried they would not hold the spinal fixings, like once before, when she had to return to Mallorca to go through surgeries multiple times. Today is a day for good news, at least for these special Ethiopians. We are happy that Mediterranea can help and be a part of these success stories.

4th world Mallorca program for 2010-2011

We are preparing the 4th world Mallorca program for 2010-2011. We need help in all the different areas. If you would like to collaborate, do not hesitate, and get in touch with us right away.


4th world Mallorca project 2010-2011

Sections:
           Feeding:
                1)Distribution of food amongst the needy in Calvia.
                2)Distribution of food amongst the needy in Palma.
           Education for the future:

1) Reading and writing, Spanish, English and computer lessons in Palma Nova.
2) Reading and writing, Spanish, English and computer lessons in Palma 1 (San Fernando, Es Forti).
3) Reading and writing, Spanish, English and computer lessons in:Palma 2 (Son Gotleu)

          Help for senior citizens:
                       Volunteers organized according to languages and who are to visit on a regular basis,  senior citizens who have no familys to establish a relationship with them and to help them with minor problems.
           Supplies:
                        Sort and classify clothes and other goods that have been given to us for 4th world citizens.
                        Distribute the supplies amongst those in need.
                        Deliver the goods we can not use to Dexailles and other organizations that can put them to good use.
                        Select amongst the supplies given to us, the articles that can be used as Christmas presents and birthday presents for the senior citizens attended in the "Help for senior citizens"

AT LAST, ABUGIDA’S NURSERY SCHOOL IS NOW OPEN

06/26/10

Next Monday will see the kickoff of Abugida’s nursery school for children from the ages of 1 to 2, affectionately nicknamed “The Cutie Pies” by us and by Abugida’s workers.
We have 31 children starting out, 31 children with 31 histories – quite a few of them very difficult, and all of them, like the histories of their mothers, an example of survival.

"Even when children are valued, it seems their needs and rights are not.” This observation, which appears in a report that discusses the situation of Ethiopia’s children at www.omct.org/pdf/cc/ethiopie_esp.pdf, says so much.

It isn’t easy to be a child in Ethiopia, nor is it easy to be a child in other Third World countries, let alone our Fourth World.

And like the abovementioned report states, the poverty and ignorance in which Ethiopian society has sunk is even more clearly reflected in its children.

This alone we know for certain: by elevating the quality of life of Ethiopian children, we’ll achieve many things, in addition to the obvious, that they’ll grow up healthy and happy.
It will also ensure that no child will be left without an education when he or she leaves Abugida’s nursery, because their parents do not want them to stop going to school.  And those fathers and mothers who would not have taken their children to primary school if it weren’t for Abugida, will not hesitate to do so any more, once they see for themselves what their children are learning in preschool and once they see for themselves just how bright their children are.

In sum, just as we feel about our own children, they, too, have high hopes for their children’s future, and they are proud of them.

Elevating the quality of life of these children also helps advance the fight against discrimination, because no father or mother wants to miss out on getting their child in Abugida. And in living and interacting with one another on a daily basis, they see that their prejudices were caused by nothing more than ignorance.

This nursery school for 1- to 2-year-olds has sparked a revolution in the neighborhood. There are no other nursery schools of this kind where mothers can leave their children knowing that they will be properly fed and they can go to work at jobs that mostly consist of baking injera, washing laundry, working in construction. These jobs are vital to family economies, especially when the head of the household is a single mother, which is very frequent here.

These mothers can now go to work knowing that their children are well taken care of.

Three of the mothers at the nursery school will begin working at the Fitawrari School when its dining room, which we are going to build and maintain for 100 orphans attending the school and living alone, begins operating.
We have had to bring many things from here. We are advocates of developing the local economy, and we always do what we can; but in this case, the carpenter chose to take the Farengi for a ride, so we chose to buy many of the things we needed from a well-known Swedish store, which were cheap and easily transportable.

We’ve also brought swings, toboggans, seesaws, changing tables, waterproof mattresses, toys (which are very hard to find in Addis), baby care items ... it was a real challenge to transport it all, but it has been worth it.

We still have to install the cork flooring. The crisis in Greece has prevented contact glue from being available right now in Ethiopia.

Here are some photos of the day we had such a blast setting up and decorating the nursery school.

The next few photos will be of the kids inside the nursery.