Oy!
Some routine maintenance happening today on our Ethiopian Orphan Relief, inc. website. We should be back on the internets in a day or so. In the meantime, feel free to pop by the blog instead for scintillating posts about all sorts of things. When this housekeeping is all finished, we’ll be much happier. We may even look like this:
Thanks for your patience and continued support!
Paige, who likes to sneak gratuitous shots of her tot on to this blog.
Sorry for such a heavy post–but it is what is on my mind…
Adoption is part of our life. A huge part and talking about it is also part of our life. I have been too busy to pay much attention to what is going on in Haiti. I am not oblivious but without radio/npr in my car, I don’t get much news in my life–as well life it just busy. Yesterday, I was driving to teach in the am and was listening to NPR–I have a loaner car while mines getting body work done–oh how I miss NPR each day. So, I was listening to NPR and they were talking about the devastation in Haiti and about mothers giving up or trying to give up their children before and after the earthquake. This is not a new phenomena to me–I understand that isn’t the right word–I can’t even begin to understand the desperation these women and families feel in these developing/impoverished countries feel and experience.
They were talking about the surge in women attempting to give their children away for adoption in the aftermath of the earthquake as most people houses and jobs have been destroyed and lost. How completely bleak it much feel when you see no tangible way to provide food, clothes, shelter for your children. They had a Haitian woman’s sound byte about her attempts to give up her four children because she sees no way to feed them or take care of them. At this point, I lost it and the tears came out in a flood. I had to pull over in a parking lot. It saddened me so much that these people are living in such a state of utter destruction that they cannot see how they can keep their own children. It really hit home, as I can infer that this is how my kids birthmoms must have felt. It saddens me to think that any parent give up their child when they are healthy simply because they feel they cannot provide for them. It is overwhelming and reminds me of the other side of adoption. The one we rarely talk about–it is a blessing for me as an infertile–but for those who surrender their children based on a feeling of desperation, it must leave a whole in their heart and soul that can never be filled.
As grateful as I am, I am also sad. My thoughts are with all of the mothers who have sacrificed their parenthood to “give” their children a better life. I hope to make you proud.
This post was previously published on my personal blog
–Dawn
So excited to see a brilliant article on the Better Homes and Gardens site about our special friend and uber-supporter, Autumn.
Natalie wrote about the happy marriage of fundraising and crafting, noting that Autumn makes beautiful dolls to benefit…well, you know…Ethiopian Orphan Relief.
Here’s a link to the fabulous article. Many thanks to Better Homes and Gardens for this article, and to Autumn who is so very generous with her time and talent!
Paige
Last month, we tried something new to help Ethiopian Orphan Relief and all the causes listed at iGive. It worked better than
we ever expected. We donated over $5,000 in less than 24 hours, so we’re going to try it again!
It requires your participation, but it is free and definitely easy.
For each person who joins iGive using the special link below and does just one qualified web search on our
site between now and noon Thursday, we’ll give Ethiopian Orphan Relief a dollar.
5,000 new members, $5,000. No purchase necessary. That’s 5,000 new members for all causes, not just
yours, so it’s a bit of race.
Of course, if these new members search more (or buy something at an iGive store) they’ll earn even more
money for Ethiopian Orphan Relief. Right now, we’re donating a special $.02 per search and a
bonus $5 for that first purchase plus the usual percentage.
Here’s where you come in. The only way Ethiopian Orphan Relief will get new supporters and that free $1 (or more)
is if you invite them. Send your friends, family, and colleagues the following link in an e-mail, tweet it, do a
Facebook posting, put up posters, shout from mountain tops (you know the drill) and let them know you think
Ethiopian Orphan Relief is pretty cool and deserves their support, especially since it’s free! You can even just forward
this e-mail.
This is the link:
http://www.igive.com/welcome/warm_reg…
We’re really proud of our search capability, powered by Yahoo! We’ve made tons of improvements over the
past five months, so we want lots of people to try it out and put it to the test. If they keep on searching or
shopping after testing us out, so much the better for Ethiopian Orphan Relief.
The details:
- Offer active between now and 11:59 a.m., January 21, 2010 (Chicago time).
- New members only (never have been an iGive member previously). All the normal rules of membership, searching, and
purchasing apply, our site has the details.
- Once we’ve given away $5,000 in total, the offer ends.
- The special link is important. No link, no qualified web search, no $1.
Paige, annual fund chair, unflagging devotion to nagging EOR supporters
It’s hard to believe that Valentine’s Day will be here in 4 short weeks! If you are looking for a way to show someone you care and need gifts idea, EOR is here to help!
We have custom made note cards! These amazing cards were created by children adopted from Ethiopia. Each card has the child’s masterpiece on the front and on the back of the folded note is a little bio of the child. Cards come in packs of 8 or 6 different designs for $12.00 & $15.00. We have the Tsegereda Series, Watercolor Series and Africa Series. They make perfect gifts for Grandma, Aunts, Teachers, and anyone who loves to write notes.
Below are images of the card sets available.
Another idea is to make a donation to EOR in honor/memory of a loved one. EOR will notify the loved one with a card that a donation has been made in their honor! Recently my Aunt passed away and her birthday falls the day before Valentine’s Day. We are going to honor her memory in making a donation to EOR in honor of her love she gave all of us.
If you are interested in either of these ways to shower your valentine please contact kim@ethiopianorphanrelief.org
Today is the day that Christmas (genna) is celebrated in Ethiopia, and the Epiphany is celebrated on January 19th. Unfortunately, I know very little about how Ethiopians celebrate either of these holidays, and have made it my mission to learn more so that I can properly celebrate next year. For now, I plan to cook an Ethiopian feast of doro wat, kik wat and injera (no, I am not making the injera) tomorrow and celebrate with some fellow Ethiopian adopters. We’ll have baked ziti as a backup in case my wat is not up to par. If I can figure out how, I will post some pictures of our girls all dressed up in their Ethiopian outfits. On the 18th we are meeting other adoptive families at our local Ethiopian restaurant. I am hoping to use that as an opportunity to expose our children to the traditions of the Ethiopian holiday.
If you have come across any good resources on the subject of these Ethiopian holidays, please leave a comment here. I’d also love to hear what others are doing to celebrate.
Thanks – and Merry Genna!
Shawn
When I returned from Ethiopia and was going through the mail that had accumulated on my desk during my absence, I was thrilled to find a fat envelope of checks from Kathy Dansky, Board Member Shawn Rodda’s mom. Inside was a letter from Kathy, and here’s a portion of what she wrote–
“Every year during the holiday season, my running group makes a donation to a local, national or international organization. We have been running together for 15+ years and call ourselves the “S5s”, after an item on the menu at the local Waffle Shop. We meet for a run on Saturday mornings then have breakfast together. Over the years, we have become incredibly good friends and have worked on numerous projects together.
The S5s all know the story of Lidya. In fact, when she came home from Ethiopia, they had a baby shower…even though they have only met Shawn, Justin and Lidya once or twice, they feel connected. When I passed around the folder of information about EOR, it wa a no-brainer. Everyone wanted to contribute!”
Kathy and the S5s raised $335 after a run over breakfast. What could your group of friends do?
Thanks, Kathy!
Danielle
Q: I have a bunch of baby clothes that I would love to donate to children in need and was wondering if you could provide me with an address to ship them to in Ethiopia.
A: Due to the expense and uncertainty involved with shipping items to Ethiopia, we do not recommend that donations be delivered in this manner. As an organization, EOR no longer ships donations to Ethiopia, nor will we be bringing donations into the country on Board of Directors trips. We have learned that the best way to help out in Ethiopia is to purchase physical donations in country. If you’d like to help and will be travelling to Ethiopia, we encourage you to purchase needed items in country. If you’d like to help and won’t be travelling to Ethiopia, please consider making a donation to Ethiopian Orphan Relief. This past year we’ve funded playgrounds, a clinic, medications, a community center, toys and more for our orphanage partners. If you have gently used items such as baby clothes and toys, we suggest you donate them to a non-profit in your community working locally, such as Goodwill or The Salvation Army.
Thanks,
Danielle
Q: I am interested in volunteering in Ethiopia. Do you have or know of any programs to which I could apply?
A: At this time, EOR does not have any volunteer opportunities in Ethiopia, nor to do we know of any programs seeking volunteers with our partners. From time to time these programs do come up with our partners, and when they do, we announce them to subscribers of our quarterly email newsletter and here on this blog. If you aren’t already receiving our email newsletter, please add yourself to the mailing list by visiting www.ethiopianorphanrelief.org and clicking on “Newsletter”.
Q: I am the project coordinator of an organization that works with orphaned children in Ethiopia. We were wondering if we could partner with EOR.
A: Unfortunately, at this time, we are not seeking additional partner organizations in Ethiopia. We are focusing our efforts on our existing partners, projects and programs.
Thanks,
Danielle
