A New Year and Life a Little Better

At last we have started to provide breakfast for the 198 children of the Biru Tesfa Primary School in Akaki, Ethiopia.  The breakfast is composed of bread, egg and milk, on other days rice and other ingredients.  This is an important contribution to the dietary needs of these children who eat nothing or very little else throughout the rest of the day.  For this reason they call our breakfast, lunch.

Next month Barry, our volunteer builder, will travel to the school.  He will produce a budget for the repairs that are needed and then start work immediately.  As you can see from the photos the children have started classes with cracks in the walls, broken windows…it is not a safe environment for them and for this reason we shall try to make repairs as soon as we can.  Mediterranea will pay for the materials and the parents will provide the manual labour.

Counting the children of Biru Tesfa, of Fitawrari and Abugida we are now feeding 686 children in Ethiopia.  For us it is not merely caring but and investment for the future.

More Glasses!

Over the Christmas holiday’s supporters of Mediterranea have delivered glasses to: Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Guinea.  Shortly there will be a shipment to Burkina Faso.  Thank you to everyone who helped us with this programme and by doing so have helped to change the lives of all those people in all those countries who have so little.  It is incredible what can be achieved with only the smallest effort.

A Small Light at the End of the Tunnel

This Christmas we received some good news: at last it seems that we have found a substitute mother for a child at Abugida who is on the point of becoming orphaned.  This little boy of six only has his mother and she, tragically is gravely ill having AIDS and terminal breast cancer.

The future of a child in Ethiopia and particularly of this age is very uncertain if left alone.  The most likely outcome being that he would increase by one the number of children living in the streets.  From one day to the next passing from the effective warmth of his home and the security of the school to a most horrible scenario.

We have been trying for a long time to find a family from Abugida who in exchange for a monthly payment would agree to be the child’s substitute family.  But if they don’t know the children from birth they won’t accept them, not even with the monthly payment.  This situation has been causing us anguish since shortly after starting with Abugida.

Now there is a small light at the end of the tunnel with this first lady, who has agreed to become a substitute mother.  The procedure that we have decided on for such cases is as follows: when the mother is very ill the substitute mother starts to care for her and take charge of the child, washing the clothes, cooking and accompanying the child to school.  The child and the mother slowly become accustomed to the new mother.  In this way we believe that it is less painful for the mother and beneficial for the child who gradually becomes accustomed to the new mother figure.

Up until now the sponsored children who live with adoptive families are children who have lived with these families since they were very small.  This will be the first child to join a family at a more advanced age.  We hope that it will go well.  To these substitute mothers that will have charge of a child without having known them since very young we shall pay 500 birrs a month.  Bearing in mind that the child will have breakfast, lunch and tea at the school from Monday to Friday we believe that this amount will be sufficient and will allow them to start their life together.

Our level of involvement in Abugida means that we know all of the cases and all of the problems that arise.  What was a school with x children has been converted into a school where every mother, father, grandparent is known and of course each boy and girl, boys and girls each one of which is a treasure and a challenge for a better life.

It is a big responsibility that we have taken on, a big commitment.  It would be much easier for us, emotionally speaking if Abugida had continued being a school of x children…but this is what happens when you get to know the people.

Sometimes it just can't be.

We met Z four years ago when we first started in Abugida.  She is a girl who had everything but the illness that killed her husband and that is slowly killing her has radically changed her life.  She had to return to Akaki to live with her family who, because of her illness, discriminated against her and made her live in the garden.

Z is the mother of E, a precious little girl, who is intelligent, sweet and mature beyond her years.  E was one of our first children in Abugida and is now at Fitawrari school.

After some time Z left her family and started a life of prostitution, prostituting herself for insignificant amounts of money.  Once a month she returned to the school to see her daughter.  Mother and daughter adore each other.

We offered Z a position in Abugida and she worked with us for over four years.  It was a hard fight to win her that position, as they didn’t want anyone who was HIV+ working there, she was the first.  During her time at the school she had her ups and downs including a mental breakdown for which she took medication.  During our last trip to the school she told us that she would like to continue with her studies.  We personally took charge of her studies, we wanted with all our hearts that she would continue moving forward and build a new life.

But Z left her studies, she left Abugida without saying a word and we don’t know where she is now.  Luckily E is staying with her aunt. As Z will not be able to return to work in Abugida we want to arrange a sponsorship to support her daughter.

E is one of four children that we have for sponsorship.  The others have all lived similarly sad stories and are on the border of survival.  The sponsorships can bring about a very important change in the life of these children.  They are the poorest of the poor.  To sponsor is to give life, a new life to a child that has nothing.  It is also a commitment to the child and to the family that will look after the child.

If you would like to sponsor one of the four children then please write to us at apadrinamediterranea@gmail.com

There are currently 44 children sponsored through Mediterranea.

The Miracle of Glasses

We would like to introduce you to Derartu (on the left of the photo) and Hannaniya (on the right) who are students of the Akaki Mengist Public School.  They, together with other children and teenagers attend the two classes provided for those with sensory and psychological disabilities.

Deratu and Hannaniya are both deaf.  In addition Deratu has myopia of 11.5 gradation, which means that he can see practically nothing and is considered blind, deaf and blind.  Now he can see!!  Thanks to some simple glasses, that are very normal here but in Ethiopia are considered a true luxury.  What’s more these glasses are good looking and have graduating lenses.

Hannaniya does not have such severe myopia but he cannot see very well either.  Being deaf it’s very important for him that he makes the most of his vision, now with the help of his new glasses he can.  These glasses have come about thanks to the Abay Association that paid for them and thanks to Paco, a lovely person, who has taken them personally to the school.   Thank you very much Abay.

Next Friday, Dr Abonesh will visit the two blind children in the school who have congenital cataracts.  She is the very best specialist we were able to find and will assess if they are operable.  The nine deaf boys and girls also have a visit on Friday, from the Ear, Nose and Throat specialist.  He will see three children each Friday for the next three weeks. 

Celebration at Fitawrari Public School

The celebration was attended by the leaders of many of Akaki Kaliti's most important organisations: the Kebeles, the city council and the heads of all the primary schools.  They came to see and better understand the schools project for feeding the children.  This is the primary school where Mediterranea constructed a dining room and kitchen and serves breakfast to all the 160 pre-school children and breakfast, lunch and tea to the 103 orphans who attend the school.

The dignitaries also inaugurated the Information Technology Centre which was equipped with computers donated and purchased by Mediterranea.

They then proceeded to deliver uniforms bought with money provided by Mediterranea.  The donation of 24000 birrs (1092 Euros) served to purchase the uniforms and also the school material for the current year.

The authorities and school directors, in addition to visiting the dining room and kitchen, also had the chance to see the entrance road, new toilets and playground, all of which were paid for and constructed by Mediterranea.

The saddest part of this happy day was saying goodbye to the two assistant directors of the school.  One of who was taking up the position as director of another school and the other as supervisor for all of the primary schools in Akaki.