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.

9 months of 4th World in Mallorca

Resume: 4th World Program, Mallorca. November 2009 to July 2010

During this period, a group of approximately 30 enthusiastic and energetic volunteers have worked hard to constantly provide food, clothing, medicines, toys and supplies for personal hygiene to unemployed north Africans, subsaharian Africans, south Americans, Spaniards, and east Europeans amongst others. During nearly all the winter food was handed out for over 1500 meals a day. Given the well know generosity of the subsaharian people with  their fellow countrymen the food was probably going to a bigger population than we estimated.
We maintained our collaboration with Zaqueo and Can Gaza. We have been working with them for many years and we plan to continue doing so. Our volunteers carried out a remarkable effort not just helping Can Gaza in becoming self sufficient but in improving the centre so as to better the quality of life of the residents.

In reference to the food handed out, over 26379 kg were distributed. Of these 6.5 tons were rice, and over 6180 litres  was milk.  975 kg were delivered to Zaqueo, 7000kg were distributed in Palma Nova, 18000 kg in Palma and approximately 400 kg were delivered to Can Gaza.
The foods handed out included: oil, rice, garlic, broad beans, meat cubes, chocolate powder, onions, pasta, tinned fruit, flower, milk, salt, pepper, canned tomatoes and bread. At the same time, soaps, detergent, bleach and nappies were distributed.

We also started two school where unemployed people were taught to read and write, Spanish, English and introduction to computering. This was very important as giving them these skill better their job opportunities and also will enable them to act as interpreters and guides when they return to their home land. Those of you who know the third world will know how good it is to find a guide or interpreter who speaks your language.

The Crisis, unfortunately has not disappeared, and this winter we will find ourselves once again with people eating out of the garbage bins, people struggling not to slip in to the world of crime or prostitution so as to subsist and people that because of many reasons can not access the Establishment's help channels.

Thank you to all the team.
Michael Stoma

My first visit to the Abugida school in Ethiopia

Three weeks ago,  Victoria, Stefi and I returned from Ethiopia. It was my first visit to the Abugida school we have in the outskirts of Addis Ababa.
After driving south for about half an hour we took a left hand turn and drove up a very bumpy muddy  road which made me doubt that the car would reach the school in one piece. After driving approximately 350 meters up this lane, flanked by small houses made of bits of wood and tin, we arrived at a gate and there behind it stood majestically the Abugida school. The parents had painted it the two Mediterranea blues and it was like finding an oasis.
Little faces with big smiles came running out to meet us. They were all wearing their blue uniforms and looked very healthy and bubbly.

The main reasons for our trip were :
-to deliver all the supplies we travelled with to the nursery we had just built
-to set up the nursery and decorate it
-to deliver the computers we took with us to the Fitawrari school
-to give an introduction to computering lesson to all the teachers of the Abugoda school and the Fitawrari
-to meet and check out the situation of the senior citizens we have been asked to help
-to be present in the inauguration of the new classes and other  rooms (dining room, nursery, etc) we built in the school

I could write a long story about all that happened, about the people that came to the inauguration, about the speeches, the tears, the singing and dancing, the Ethiopian television, the clothes the women wore, the typical Ethiopian food, the religious leaders of different religions and how they were clearly friends and respected each other, the way they blessed each and every new space we had created,  but what really impressed me was something else.

When our volunteers return from Ethiopia we have a debrief, and then I study all the pictures and videos as I utilise them for the web and presentations. This procedure gives me a certain amount of knowledge about the school but these things I now noticed, were things this information did not transmit to me, and I only understood them when I was there. What really struck me was the feeling of deep rooted  happiness and confidence the children had. They were overflowing with happiness and humour. They looked healthy, strong, secure, wanting to make friends and were  always willing to sing and laugh. Children bought up in a happy surrounding tend to grow up to be happy, stable, healthy and friendly adults.

I was very impressed by the importance of this program in the lives of so many children.
I realised that the effort we make to enable this program to exist is very little compared to the good it does, and at the same time I understood the fear our team that runs this project has in reference to the sustainability of it.
It is actually a very complex program. The distance does not help, the lack of supplies in the country, and the idiosyncrasy of the people make it all the more difficult to run.
Often they do not understand us and more often we do not understand them. But summing up we went there to help  little people  have an education, be healthy and happy and we are clearly succeeding.
The Abugida model is so good we should export it to another school. If we had more members we probably could, but till then that is a dream and Abugida is a reality.

Victoria and her team of helpers have created a school, but probably what is more important than that, they have created happiness.

Thank you for being a part of Mediterranea, this success is also yours.


To see the video:http://www.youtube.com/ongmediterranea