Great day today!

Yesterday not so much.

Yesterday, my assistant, Nesredin came to me saying that he was just informed of a child-headed household that was about to be thrown into the streets. The landlord didn't want them living on the compound anymore as they didn't have any money for proper meals let alone rent.

I asked Nesredin if he could take me to visit the children to, if nothing else, provide them with a few days worth of food. We arrived at the compound with a bag full of groceries and a couple popotees (suckers) for the children. The first to greet us was the little 3 year old girl named Maryamwit. She was dressed in a beautiful but ragged green dress. Next was her 6 year old sister named Beamluk - she was much skinnier than her younger sister. Then we met their biological aunt, Yordanos, also an orphaned girl of 16 years who is their caretaker. We were asked to have a seat in small room where we were told their story.

Yordanos was orphaned at one year old. Her mother disappeared sometime around her first birthday and has not been heard or seen since. She doesn't know who her father is. She was offered a place to stay in the compound as her neighbors tried to care for her. Currently, she is attending a private school were she was granted a scholarship for study as she has no money to pay for school fees or materials. She is a great student.

Maryamwit and Beamluk were orphaned two years ago when they were 1 and 4 years old - their mother also disappeared. Fathers don't want anything to do with them and have never visited the children. There were no caretakers available in the compound for the children and so Yordanos, at 14 became a mother of 2. She shares her small room with them, feeds them, cares for them, washes them, and sleeps with them. Through all of this she has asked for nothing in return and has taken the children in, finding them food when possible and making sure they are safe every night in her room.

As they are about to be kicked out into the streets it was urgent that I find them a home if they were willing to move. We wouldn't separate them based on biological lines but keep them together as Yordanos wished to be with 'her children.' The search was on to find an organization willing to take 3 children in and it was destined to be difficult as it always seems to be that there is never enough space and too many children needing immediate assistance.

We were SO LUCKY AND I AM SO GRATEFUL! The first meeting we had this morning we were told that Salemta, an organization with a transition center for orphaned children and a foster care program in the works agreed to take them in. If you remember back in January I visited this organization for Timkat (Christmas) and it is an amazing organization run by a young man hired by its American creators. It is an organization that allows the children to attend a private school, have a soccer team, live with a permanent family, and keeps siblings together! It's so wonderful!

Tomorrow we will be picking up the children and bringing them to the transition center where they will stay until they have been provided with a foster family. I am so overcome with emotion that these children will now have a permanent and loving home and most importantly - one that is allowing them to stay together.

Yordanos will begin her 8th grade year on Monday at her new school and Beamluk will now attend her first year of Kingergarten, something which would not have been possible without this home!

Now, it is time to ask for sponsors. All the children at Selamta have permanent sponsors - all the children LOVE their sponsors and show their pictures and letters to everyone in the home continuously. If anyone is willing to sponsor 1 or even all 3 it would be great! The cost is $30 per month per child and please remember that includes everything, from clothes, private school, food, and medical care. It takes so little money to supply these children with a great future. Please if you are interested in sponsoring a child I will give you further information about the organization which is US-based and tax-deductible!

There are pictures of the girls on the photo page. Please please act!!!!

My email: bettinakeppers@hotmail.com