"We Need Change" - Living Conditions

By: Nasir Al-Amin
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

From Nov. 25 to Nov. 30, 2009, a group of us traveled to Ethiopia to follow-up with the orphans and vulnerable children I serve. These are photos of the substandard living conditions impoverished women and children are forced to live in.

Click here to view this photo album.

God's Gift to you... Your Gift to God...

"What you are is God's gift to you; what you do with yourself is your gift to God"

In Focus: Notes from School Visits in Ethiopia (School 1)

“A student’s background is critical they don’t get enough meals a day. They are not in the best health to learn.” (Staff member of visited school)

The aforementioned quote crystallized the educational plight for orphans and vulnerable children in Ethiopia for me. I began the first two days of my trip to Ethiopia visiting schools in an effort to gain a better grasp of the education system in Ethiopia for the poor. All of the schools I visited were formally public schools yet are now considered governmental schools. Their student body consists of poor and marginalized children—orphans and children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Before I toured the school, a meeting was held with the school’s administration and staff. What follows are my notes from that meeting:
• Average class size is 57—not teacher’s assistance, simply 1 teacher with 57 students.
• 3 to 4 students to a desk
• Girls typically drop out more, as they need to care for ill family member and/or support the family (financially)
• The school day is 8 AM to 3 PM. Each class is 45 mins.
• Student’s major difficulty is poverty: lack of food and adequate shelter
• “A student’s background is critical they don’t get enough meals a day. They are not in the best health to learn.”
• Lacking of school materials thus cannot conduct experiments or apply learning.
• 1 computer for 2,000 students. Only the top 120 students get training in computer, and they share that 1 computer.
• 1 microscope for 2,000 students to use.

CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS SCHOOL VISIT!

Willing to Serve ...

"Lord, I cannot preach like Martin Luther King, Jr. or turn a poetic phrase like Maya Angelou, but I care and am willing to serve... I am not holy like Archbishop Tutu, forgiving like Mandela, or disciplined like Gandhi but I care and am willing to serve."

Real Revolution: Revolution of the Heart

"Real revolution that is required today... is an ILLUMINATION OF HEARTS.. the remedy for the current problem is an ancient remedy... we need to turn within... create a revolution within... the revolution that is required is the REVOLUTION OF THE HEART."

"We Need Change" -Education in Ethiopia

By: Nasir Al-Amin

During the first two days of our trip to Ethiopia, we made a number of visits to public/government schools in the Capital city, Addis Ababa. These schools are the schools that orphans and the impoverished children of Ethiopia attend.

We started each school visit with an information session with the Principle and staff of each school. The three major concerns were generally the same:
(1) Food: The children are unable to concentrate in school, because they are hungry and lack proper nutrition. Students that are on medication for HIV/AIDS or other mental health issues need to take their medications with food in order for the medications to work effectively, yet they are to poor to afford the proper food to take with their medications. *NEED: SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM

(2) Restroom Facility: The school averaged around 1,000 students and had one restroom facility. These restroom facilities were both male and female and divided by a wall and no doors. One restroom in particular, the students had to defecate or urinate at the door of the stall, as the whole for the toilet is full with feces. And due to a lack of funds, the school was unable to pay for the pipes to be cleaned, and thus the feces has hardened in the pipes and it cannot be removed—forcing the students to use the rest room at the entrance of the stall. *NEED: A NEW RESTROOM FACILITY

(3) School Supplies (Computers and Science Supplies): Each school averaged around 1,000 students and the school with the most computers had 3. Additionally, their science classes lacked supplies to facilitate experiments. For instance, their was one microscope for an entire school. *NEED: SCHOOL EQUIPMENT & SUPPPLIES.

We know what they need (and now you do too), the question is what will we do?Painted on one of the walls of the school was the phrase: “We Need Change.”

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE PICTURES!

Light One Candle-(2004 to 2009)-2

By: Nasir Al-Amin
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I've been working with *Hiwot since 2004. She has done well in school graduating from KG and is now in elementary.

*Not her real name.

"At a tender age I discovered that it isn't doing spectacular things that make you remarkable in the eyes of God, but instead, it is when you light just one candle to dispel a little bit of darkness that you are doing something tremendous. And if, as a global people, we put all the little bits of good together, we will overwhelm the world."
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Click here to view this photo album.

Light One Candle-(2004 to 2009)-3

By: Nasir Al-Amin
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

I've been working with *Min since 2004. He has grown a lot over the years. He graduated from KG and is now in 3rd grade.

*Not his real name.

"At a tender age I discovered that it isn't doing spectacular things that make you remarkable in the eyes of God, but instead, it is when you light just one candle to dispel a little bit of darkness that you are doing something tremendous. And if, as a global people, we put all the little bits of good together, we will overwhelm the world."
- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Click here to view this photo album.

Light One Candle-(2004 to 2009)-1

By: Nasir Al-Amin
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Our work from 2004 to 2009.

Click here to view this photo album!

"Light Just One Candle"-Reflection

By: Nasir Al-Amin
Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

At 4:00 am on Wednesday, November 25, 2009 I stepped on a flight destined for Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. I have traveled to Addis once or twice a year since 2003. This trip from its inception has been marked by inner growth, thus resonating with me as a spiritual journey. The pressing realities of disenfranchised children and impoverished young women pushed to the margins in search for sustenance have on a number of occasions awakened me form a state of spiritual slumber. For this awakening I am grateful.

On the surface it’s a trip to reconnect with orphans and vulnerable women that I serve in Ethiopia. To say that their plight is sobering is an understatement. The superficial facades and desires within myself become apparent once our eyes meet. Their hope and resolve informs my soul of a higher purpose, it reminds my spirit of my life’s work: service.

This trip was particularly unique in that I brought 12 co-workers along with me to share in this experience. We took with us suitcases filled with clothes and school supplies for the orphans I serve. However, my aim for this trip was to afford my co-workers the same opportunity I was blessed with: to touch and be touched by one life, one smile, and one story—in the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, to allow them to “light just one candle.”

"At a tender age I discovered that it isn't doing spectacular things that make you remarkable in the eyes of God, but instead, it is when you light just one candle to dispel a little bit of darkness that you are doing something tremendous. And if, as a global people, we put all the little bits of good together, we will overwhelm the world."

These trips to Ethiopia are my way of dispelling a bit of darkness, a humble attempt to “overwhelm the world” with the light of compassion, which is most visible through service.

Click here to view this photo album!

"We Need Change"-Clothes & School Supplies for Orphans

My coworkers and I collected clothes and school supplies that were disregarded at the end of the school year. We packed it all up in 25 boxes and stored them in my office for 4 months until we were able to travel together to Ethiopia in order to deliver the supplies and clothes personally.

This album documents the boxes journey from my office to my apartment hallway, to the hands of orphans and vulnerable children in Ethiopia.

It was a fun and beautiful experience!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE PICTURES!