A few laughs and a big smile

This video is linked to Jocelyn's blog (L.A.) and it made her son who is recovering from back surgery to correct his spine smile which was a huge breakthrough for them after this extremely intensive surgery and recovery time. If it can make him smile, it will make you smile and probably laugh out lot a few times just because :)

ALERTNET EXPRESSO: Your daily shot of humanitarian news

Yep! This headline is what I get to wake up every morning to: "ALERTNET EXPRESSO: Your daily shot of humanitarian news." Though I don't have the time I wish I had everyday to soak myself up in the crises that are affecting our children around the world, I do try to stay up to date with the most volatile situations - and most specifically in Ethiopia. Along with this news is a daily quote from a humanitarian worker or news reporter in an affected region. Today it was about Ethiopia. I wish I could write more but I'll just simply leave you with the quote:

Quote of the day:

"Tea in Ethiopia is drunk very sweet, and this cup contained the very last of the community's sugar - and while they were starving, they gave it to me."
Rob McNeil, on a trip to Ethiopia for Oxfam, describing his experiences in some of the regions worst-hit by drought.

Audio Slideshow: Please watch this also, featured on the BBC Today about those starving in Ethiopia: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_7522000/7522795.stm

Dancing Star!!

That's right, I have a dance star as a daughter :) I was just notified by Maeza at Kechene that Beamluk entered a dance contest and won!!! She was so excited and received candy as a prize (which I'm sure she enjoyed even more).

This is just too cute and had me smiling from ear to ear. Apparently the dancing gene can skip biological genes ;) I was telling everyone early on that I knew she was a dancer or maybe even a gymnast as she just loves to climb on anything and everything and is very successful at it - not to mention the natural grace she so easily has mastered.

I wish I had a picture to post of me dancing at the age and also one of her, but I'll have to wait and continue to be patient for that opportunity, (I'll try to post one of me later).

I'm trying to get more details and I'll post them if I can get them.

How to Buy a Child in 10 Hours

No, there isn't something wrong with the title of this post. Last night, this was the 30 minute news story on Nightline. It's disgusting, and though we would hope that this is a unique scenerio - that child slavery doesn't affect many children - it is estimated that there are 27 million people enslaved today. This is more than at any other time on earth.

Please, I beg you to watch the footage. It only takes a 1/2 hour out of your day but you can't help to be moved into action after watching just how easy it is to "buy a child." I attended a conference on international child trafficking in Minneapolis a few years back - all I can imagine is, is this were my child and I ask myself - What would I do?

This news story really hit home as I am working on creating an organization in Ethiopia to provide for girl-mothers who have been trafficked or forced into early child marriage and impregnated by their captors. It's in the works and I hope when I return to Ethiopia I'll be able to get the ball rolling faster than working on this on the sidelines in Minnesota.

In some regions in Ethiopia, particularly the North, the average girl is married by 14, with some being married as young as 7 years - marrying much older men. In fact, in these regions 80% of girls in the area are married by age 15. Due to their resulting early pregnancies these girls are 6 times more likely to die in child birth (already at 1 in 12 lifetime risk in Ethiopia) and experiencing obstructed births resulting in fistula.

Very briefly, these are the services we hope to provide:
-24 hour emergency and counseling hotline
-counseling
-safe shelter
-maternal, prenatal and neonatal health care
-family foster care for girl mothers and children
-skilled labor training
-employment assistance
-micro-credit
-daycare

If you'd like to learn more about this program please just let me know!! It's going to take a lot to get this up and running as it is a VERY ambitious program but with concerned people joining together with their varied backgrounds, strengths, and amazing hearts it is certainly possible. This is the first program for the new NGO "All Our Children International Outreach" for which I am a founding board member.

Link to view the episode - also provides information on how you can get involved:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/Story?id=5326508&page=1

Updated Photos :)

Hello! So I finally was able to get a new photo of Beamluk and some of the girls :) It's so amazing how much she has grown but I'm so happy to receive these photos!!!!!!!! The photos are from Maeza's 17th birthday party! It's amazing that at 17 she's almost done with her first year at nursing school :) And to think 1 1/2 years ago, she didn't know much English, but now is thriving in her English-only medical courses. It's amazing the perseverance of children or should I say young adults who are forced into adulthood too early.

So that's my princess in a jersey below!!!

Living by Ethiopia's sewage canal

Okay... just another day and another frustration... if you continue down this article it mentions the town of Kechene where Beamluk is living. Just another reason why waiting and knowing the reality of her life now is so difficult. By Ernest Waiti BBC Focus On Africa magaz

The sewage is accumulating from below Addis Ababa's skyscrapers

Sanitation in Ethiopia's capital city leaves a lot to be desired - and it is the poor who are most vulnerable as a result.

In a small shack made of iron sheets and pieces of clothing in the slums of Addis Ababa live the Alemu family - Abiy, Marasit Bishaw, and the couple's three-year-old son and 25-day-old baby daughter Yanit.

And just a few metres from their one-room home is a mass of sewage and garbage, mixed with the carcasses of dead chickens and cow and goat skulls.

The Alemus live near the gully where the Kabena river used to meander gracefully through the Ethiopian capital.

But the river is now full of the city's waste, and a stench of sewage is the first thing that hits.

During the rainy season, the filth and sewage from the skyscrapers up the hill flows freely onto the floor of the house.

A sewer by the entrance jets waste water incessantly, sending a gush of greying liquid down into the river.

The situation is typical of many in the slums of Ethiopia's capital, and highlights a desperate need for clean water.

Defecating outside

The government is aware of the problem, admitting that dilapidated sewers, a lack of toilet facilities and general poor sanitation in the city are some of the leading causes of disease and death in the country.

The World Health Organization estimates that 64% of people in Ethiopia defecate in the open - although this is down from 91% in 1990.

The family will have to put up with the conditions for now Marasit Bishaw

Water is critical. With a new baby, the Alumus' household water needs have increased - they spend the equivalent of 10 US cents a day to buy 50 litres of water which has to be fetched from a kilometre across the river.

But even the water they buy may not be clean enough to keep the family healthy. Burst pipes or a lack of constant pressure in the pipes can contaminate the water.

And the jerry cans used to fetch the water are often unclean, says Gadissa Hailu, a project officer for Water and Sanitation for Africa Medical and Research Foundation (Amref).

"People need to be educated on how to take good care of the water they fetch to avoid contamination,'' he says.

Worryingly, though, the Alemus do not boil the water since they believe that it is clean simply because it is piped.

But they fear for the health of their children, especially the infant.

Yosef Asfau, a general practitioner working at a hospital in the city, says that the constant stench hanging over the house is likely to cause rhinitis (allergy of the nose), sinusitis (allergy of the sinus) and an even more serious condition called bronchial asthma.

Just next to the Alemu household, young men openly bathe in the filthy water, scooping it with their hands. For those even worse off, there is no way of accessing piped water - the river is their only option to attempt to keep clean.

No man's land

Further downstream lies a settlement called Gorgorios. At the bottom of a quick-sloping hill, numerous tributaries of sewage have joined the river and turned it into a raging and black mass of water.

Here no-one has a toilet.

Children and adults relieve themselves in the open by the river, adding to the furious flow of filth that is carried to other communities downstream.

There are major concerns about the use of dirty jerry cans in Ethiopia

Endale Asmare, a lab technician with Amref in the slum, says that waterborne diseases such as typhoid and parasites that cause dysentery consistently show up in his laboratory tests - a clear manifestation of poor sanitation in the area.

In the town of Kechene, a little further downstream, is Amleworke Wordfa - an 80-year-old woman who shoulders the difficult task of raising her four grandchildren alone.

A year ago she lost one of her granddaughters to illness resulting from contaminated water.

"It was so hard for me to see her die," she says.

"She was so beautiful."

Now Wordfa attempts to boil all the water she gives to the younger two of her four surviving grandchildren, who are under five years of age.

Nonetheless, fuel to do so is scarce. At times she just trusts their immunity, acquired through time, to keep them from getting sick.

The government says the situation is steadily improving: regional heath authorities are reporting better access to sanitation, while 30,000 key health workers are expected to be deployed in 2009 to promote personal hygiene as part of a campaign by the health department.

The UN has declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation, and Amref is working on a plan to provide water and sanitation facilities to the people of Kechene.

But as long as extreme poverty in this country persists, families like the Alemus and the Wordfas will continue to live in a filthy no man's land on the banks of Addis Ababa's rivers.

Ernest Waititu is the editor-in-chief of the Afrikanews group based in Nairobi.

Some More "New" Photos

Oh how I love to receive photos (even if they are several months old)! These are some additional photos taken by someone who was visiting Kechene (an international adoption colleague based in Canada). And again, these photos are special because they are the last shots I have of some of the children who have since been placed with their families.

I’m so grateful that though this time has been extremely difficult, I’ve been able to speak with, send presents and supplies to, and receive pictures with Beamluk. Some days are harder than others but it certainly helps knowing that someday this will all end and she’ll finally be home forever!!

Now, the question is - will I be granted another miracle and make it through court before it closes???

That's my little girl thinking who is this lady taking photos of me? (with Nesredin)

This is from left to right: Meta, Ilsa (they are Bamlie's best friends!) and Ilsa's sister Betty

Oh I see my little one's head peeking out! And too many kids to mention but all children of my heart.

Eating bananas I advised her to bring for the kids :) Someone has to do the work while I'm gone. And that's Bamlie walking toward Nesredin. (Oh and Gma and Gpa Keppers, that's still your donated walker being used!!! Yippee!!)