ETHIOPIA: I knew the risk I was taking, but my family had to eat

Via: PlusNews
Picture: PlusNews

Article:ETHIOPIA: I knew the risk I was taking, but my family had to eat

The following are excerpts from an article written and published by PlusNews:

By day, Aster Beyene [not her real name], 21, is a saleslady at a boutique in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa; by night she attends computer school. After losing her mother and older brother to AIDS-related illnesses, Beyene has been left with the responsibility of feeding and clothing her remaining siblings. "Even though I am the last born, I have experienced the struggle for survival first hand, and I vowed to rescue my family from the pit of poverty that seemed to get worse as the days went by. A middle-aged guy who lived next door had always had his eye on me, but I never considered going out with him before the problems at home.

I pushed all the frightening thoughts aside and opted to have a relationship with him; in return, he offered to give me money, including my tuition for night school. Despite repeated warnings from people in my community that he was infected with the HIV, I continued having sexual relations with him without protection. I was aware of what was at stake, but my family relied on me to provide for them and I felt I had no other option.

Click here to read this article!

*Note all credit and references should be afforded to the authors/sources for this article.

A Simple Reflection...

by: Nasir Al-Amin
I wrote this to a friend today and thought I would share it….

I think the best intentions and initiatives that address the plight of marginalized populations both domestically and abroad originate in the heart. And like in any relationship with the heart, the turning of the heart towards an individual or issues is a connection that could be instantaneous or gradual, but that connection—a station of the heart, which motivates one to love for humanity that which one love for oneself—is the aim. One of the responsibilities that comes with reaching and/or aspiring for this station of the heart, is to create an atmosphere and/or environments that will nurture that connection for others—so that this desire for the best for all is contagious. That’s actualized through the facilitation of presentations, workshops, downtime during meetings, and random conversations on the subway or at a dinner with the waiter/waitress.

One never knows what will be their moment of awakening, nor does one know what it will be for someone else, as I was oblivious to the magnitude and meaning behind my encounter with a little 5 year old street girl I bumped into in Mercato (a bustling market in Ethiopia). This girl was the spark that created ALIF. When I reflect on it now, this initiative to send 50 orphans and vulnerable children to school (the Hiwot Campaign) is merely a response to that “accidental” meeting with the 5 year-old child laborer in Ethiopia. That was my moment of turning, my awakening!

So yes, people will say to you that you are just one person and that’s true. However, the beauty in this whole process is that neither you nor the one that makes that statement knows the beauty inside that one child you will serve and what that encounter will awaken in you.

In difficulty I find solace in the following:
"Past the seeker as he prayed
came the crippled and the beggar and the beaten.
And seeing them... he cried
"Great God, how is it that a loving creator
can see such things and yet do nothing about them?"
God said "I did do something. I made you."
(Sufi Teaching)

Nasir Al-Amin

Overview of Services for Orphans and Vulnerable Children in Ethiopia

by: Tsegaye Chernet
via: CRIN

The first part of the report attempts to give a “birds eye view” of basic statistical indicators in Ethiopia. Brief descriptions of the current situation of orphans and vulnerable children is also part of the report. The recurrent droughts as well as the civil unrest are discussed as major factors that influenced the expansion of institutional care. Subsequent discussions are made on problems associated with residential services for orphans. In this connection, a case of the ‘Ethiopian Orphanage’ is presented to help readers gain a better insight of the
situation.

Click here to read the article!

ETHIOPIA: Urban farming boosts families affected by HIV

Via: PlusNews

Picture: PlusNews

Twelve-year-old Woinishet Wujura's dedication to her gardening duties would be surprising in someone her age, but the land she is tilling has been a lifeline for her and her family because the farm is run exclusively by and for women and children affected by AIDS."I love this garden," she told PlusNews. "I come as much as possible, as soon as school finishes." Woinishet's garden is one of many plots of land in an unusual setting: a sprawling urban farm in the middle of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.The farm, called 'Gordeme', is part of a successful urban gardening project that started in 2004 and now has several farms across Ethiopia, all managed and maintained by about 10,000 women or children.

Broad Benefits

The goals of the urban garden programme have been to combine HIV/AIDS education with nutritional support for HIV-positive people, but Kimberly Flowers, communications officer for USAID in Addis Ababa, said surplus vegetables were also sold to the surrounding community, providing much-needed income to the women and their families.An estimated 40,000 people buy their vegetables from the project's farms in Adama, Addis Ababa, Awassa, Bahir Dar, Dessie and Gondar, the six largest urban areas in Ethiopia.

The programme also helps reduce the huge social stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS. "The relationship with my neighbours has changed," said Akaki Kaliti, another single mother. "Before the garden they never came to my house. Now they come to my house for food."Ethiopia's HIV prevalence is estimated at about 3.5 percent, and of the estimated 1.32 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 2005, 55 percent - or 730,000 - were women.

Click here to read the entire article!

YEMEN-AFRICA: Smugglers drown African migrants

Via: IRIN
Picture: IRIN

A group of 33 migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia died on Friday after smugglers forced them off their boat near the Yemeni shore, a Somali community leader in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, said on Monday. "Smugglers forced 120 [Ethiopian and Somali] migrants into the sea before anchoring at the shore for fear of the Yemeni coastguard authorities," Sadat Mohammed, head of refugee affairs in the Somali community in Sana'a, told IRIN. "Those who resisted were stabbed and beaten by smugglers, and then thrown into the stormy sea. Twenty of them were stabbed, and the shore became reddish as a result of the bleeding bodies," he added. According to Mohammed, Yemeni authorities buried the bodies in the local area. The victims were on three boats carrying 320 passengers in total that left the Somali port of Bossaso on 4 April and arrived in Bir Ali in Yemen’s southern province of Shabwa after a two-day perilous journey across the Gulf of Aden. Two other boats carrying 100 passengers each arrived safely. The incident came 15 days after at least 35 African migrants were confirmed dead and 113 missing while crossing the Gulf of Aden as traffickers forced 450 Somalis and Ethiopians off four boats into the sea off the Yemeni coast.

Click here to read the entire article!

ETHIOPIA: New strategy to tackle reproductive health issues

Via: PlusNews

Picture: PlusNews

Ethiopia has launched a national strategy on adolescent and reproductive health that aims to tackle the problems of early marriages and pregnancies, female circumcision, abduction and rape, and poor access to healthcare for 10- to 24-year-olds. Launched by the health ministry in collaboration with United Nations agencies on Tuesday, the Adolescent and Youth Reproductive Health Strategy (AYRH) will be implemented over eight years.

• The report cites the 2005 Ethiopian Demographic Health Survey which showed that 80 percent of women and half of men believed that there were situations when a husband was justified in beating his wife.

• Another widespread issue was female genital mutilation. More than half of 15- to 19-year-old girls had been circumcised. Although support for this harmful practice was declining, about a quarter of 15- to 24-year-old girls believed it should continue.

• The AYRH document noted that abduction was common, especially in Oromia and southern regional states, and young women in rural areas were twice as likely to be abducted. Nationwide, many married women reported having been abducted for marriage.

• Rape was common in both rural and urban areas. A study in six peri-urban areas found that 9 percent of sexually active adolescent girls and six percent of boys had suffered rape.

• Another study among street girls in the capital, Addis Ababa, found that 15 percent had experienced rape while 43 percent had been coerced into their first sexual activity. "

Click here to read the entire article!

Becoming Remarkable

"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

STRENGTH & COMMITMENT

by Nasir Al-Amin

I want to take a moment to introduce as well as acknowledged someone whose actions exemplify the commitment needed to aid in the global struggle to raise awareness and liberate children from bondage of child labor and poverty. Her name is Feven Shiferaw. I met Feven six months ago at one of ALIF’s CAF (Civic Action Forum) meetings, when she introduced herself to me, in which she indicated her interest in joining ALIF’s efforts to alter the life of impoverished children in Ethiopia. When she introduced herself, I remember thinking to myself that her name was familiar, then I remembered that I received a financial contribution from her the prior week. I went on to thank her for contributing to the Hiwot (Life) Campaign, an initiative to send 50 children to school in Ethiopia, and she maintained that she wanted to do more. However, at that point I had no clue that she would subsequently enter a triathlon in an effort to raise awareness and funds for the orphans and vulnerable children of Ethiopia through the Hiwot (Life) Campaign.

By no stretch of the imagination is a triathlon a simple task. The Liberty to Liberty-America’s Memorial Triathlon consist of a one-mile swim in the Hudson River, 91-mile bike through New Jersey to Philadelphia and a 10K run along Phil’s Schuylkill River ending at Philadelphia’s Art Museum famous for its scenes in “Rocky.”

When Feven and another friend told me of their plans to do this triathlon, I must admit I was in awe of their commitment to affect change in the lives of Ethiopia’s orphans and vulnerable children and inspired to push myself to do more for our children!

In the coming week ALIF will dedicate a page to Feven’s efforts, which we hope will inspire others to join in this global effort to affect change in the lives of Ethiopia’s orphans and vulnerable children.

I’ll close with a reflection from Feven on why she decided to take action:

Saving lives,

When I first found out about the Hiwot Campaign the first thing that came to my mind was to check out the website, and then I thought to myself how can I help? Sure I can donate money, but I wanted to do more than donating, I wanted to raise awareness, get more of our generation involve to help kids in Africa to achieve a better life through education.

When you drive around the streets of Addis Ababa and see hundreds of children roaming the streets, it can be very overwhelming and disheartening. You just want to help all of them. We can change their lives by helping one child at a time.

We're blessed to live in a place of comfort and opportunity. I also feel doubly blessed to have the chance to share and give, to give them hope and opportunity. For me this is a journey, a journey to better children's lives through education.

Click here to find out how you can help Feven raise funds for the Hiwot (Life) Campagin!

GMU ETHIOPIAN STUDENT ASSOCIATION (ESA) 6TH ANNUAL CULTURAL SHOW

Please come out and celebrate with the ESA of George Mason University (GMU) as they host their 6th Annual Cultural Show. This event promises to be one of excitement and purpose. Admission is FREE, however everyone is encouraged to bring a textbook to donate for Africa and/or a $5 donation. Lastly, ALIF will have a booth, as well as an opportunity to briefly speak about the Hiwot (Life) Campaign.

I look forward to seeing you all there!

Tuesday, April 10th
7:30pm-11:00pm
Located @ SUB II
(Student Union Building 2)
On the GMU Fairfax Campus

For more information contact
Ms. Yodit Gebreyes
703.801.8057

ygebreye@gmu.edu

The world of modern child slavery

By Rageh Omaar
Presenter of BBC Two documentary Slave Children

The world of modern child slavery

Via: BBC

Slavery is a word which immediately conjures up very specific images in our minds. When it is mentioned we tend to think of people, almost always black people; degraded, abused and bound in chains, and we tend to think of such images, and the word slavery itself, as belonging to another era. We do not see slavery as belonging to our world, not as something which is still happening today.

Yet the truth is that if William Wilberforce were alive today and he travelled to different parts of the world - not just in Africa, but also in large parts of Asia, the Middle East, South America and even parts of Europe - he would find children living in conditions and circumstances which Wilberforce would understand and which I am sure he would describe as slavery. It is believed there are nearly nine million children around the world today who are enslaved. There are international charters and covenants which try to come to a legal definition of what constitutes slavery.

In essence these documents define slavery in the modern world as a situation where a human being and their labour are owned by others, and where that person does not have the freedom to leave and is forced into a life which is exploitative, humiliating and abusive.

Click here to read the rest of the article!

The child slaves of Saudi Arabia

By Rageh Omaar
Presenter of BBC Two documentary Slave Children

The child slaves of Saudi Arabia

via: BBC

On the wealthy streets of Jeddah, in Saudi Arabia, thousands of young child-beggars, under the auspices of ruthless gangmasters, are simply trying to survive. Many hail from countries like Yemen which, despite bordering one of the Middle East's richest states, is a world away in terms of economic prosperity. These children are often sold by families who are either duped into believing their offspring will get a better life or sometimes simply threatened. Once in the country, they are likely to face beatings and are sometimes even mutilated as their Dickensian masters stoop to any low to try to improve the chances of them earning more money.

The Ministry of Social Affairs in Saudi Arabia's western province has a unit dedicated to picking up children who are illegal in the country. It is tasked with taking these children from the streets and then investigating their stories. Efforts are made to try to find their families but often no relatives are found. In such cases, these youngsters are deported as illegal aliens back to their country of origin.

But to bring these children in, the unit must carry out night-time swoops to find children begging without families. When these children are found, they are often frightened and desperate to get away from the Saudi officials. One child found by the team during a raid, Ali, is a typical victim of the slavery business. Initially, he attempted to convince officials that he was in the city with his brother. However, it soon became clear that this was not the case.

'Smuggled'
Eventually, Ali revealed that he slept under a bridge or in "any house" he could find. He avoided using shoes, to boost his chances of getting money. While the details of Ali's story are sketchy, we know that Ali was smuggled across the porous border between the Yemen and Saudi Arabia. In 2005, the Yemeni Ministry of Social Affairs acknowledged that about 300 children were crossing the border every month.

It is not always possible to know the entire truth about these children but what is clear, is that they are working for others, out of education, and kept in a cycle of poverty and danger.
Ali told officials at the shelter: "I was smuggled in, in order to beg. I told him (the gangmaster) I don't want to beg, so he beat me up." The boy said he ended up begging because of physical abuse involving metal wire attacks to his back. He also said he was forced to beg all day, but claimed that he only gave some of his earnings back to his paymaster.

Click here to read the rest of the article!

Waking Up: An “Authentic Moment,” joining the Human Soul to the World

by: Nasir Al-Amin

Almost a year ago, a fellow traveler gave me a book of poetry entitled “Ten Poems to Change your Life.” Due to the daily demands of life I never got around to reading this text until the other day.

It was a normal day, a million and one things to do, functioning as usual off of a coffee addiction due to sleep deprivation. However while waiting for the D train to go home before a meeting, this quite inner voice told me to ‘call it a night.’ I have to admit I was feeling drained, my first love, coffee, had let me down so I began to wrestle with myself on how I can cancel this appointment and rearrange my scheduled so that I can take care of the other things on my To-Do list.

Subsequently, I conceded to the voice, canceled my appointment, trashed the To-Do list, took a shower changed into a pair of jeans, t-shirt and blazer (one never knows who you will meet, I have 50 kids to support, I was tired but its still business first!). Still feeling out of it I left for the mosque, as my intention was to simply pray and just sit their and clear my mind, yet before I left I turned back and picked up the book of poems while thinking to myself ‘this isn’t work related I’ll read it.’ Yet what I soon realized is this collection of poems is work related, as I’m blessed in the sense that my work is my passion. It evolved out of various life altering moments, which lead to an awakening, this transformation in life and the subsequent path I’ve chosen to take.

Once in the taxi, I opened the book to the poem, “The Journey” by Mary Oliver, which begins: “One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began.” At that moment the words spoke to me as it brought me back to Mercato, this bustling market in Ethiopia when I first encountered this 5 year old girl who spent her days begging in the market; it brought me back to the grandfather I met in Maginaya who explained to me that he lost his daughter and son-law to AIDS and that he could no longer support his grandchild in their absence; it brought back to the moment when tears poured from the face of Mintesnot’s mother as she explained the pain of pulling him out of school because she could not afford to pay the school fees and afford to feed him; it brought back the conversation I had with a teenage girl in Addis whose eyes brighten when she spoke of her plan to open a clothing boutique, yet quickly became despondent when she spoke of selling her body to support herself and her son, and her fleeting dream of opening that boutique.

Also, I read “Last Night As I Was Sleeping” by Antonio Machado. Both poems speak of this “authentic moment”, this “waking up,” in which the human soul connects to the world. As Roger Housden maintains, it’s a “moment when you dare to take your heart in your hands and walk through an invisible wall into a new life.” The new life that these poets allude to is a life that is deeper than the selfishness of our desires, a life that shuns conformity to the status quo, to systems of power and inequality, while simultaneously rejecting “habitual perceptions of life” in favor of taking a journey towards the inward, beyond mere vain pursuits, conspicuous consumption and materialism. In essence, an awakening to the true self, and what that authentic self yearns for.

For me that “authentic moment,” which in previous writings I have referred to as an ‘Awakening’ when I knew what I had to do, first occurred in the streets of Ethiopia. However that clarion call to the inner self is not bound by geographical location, as it was in the streets of Harlem that I was reminded of “The Journey.”

“Beyond living and dreaming there is something more important: Waking up.”
(Antonio Machado)

SWAZILAND: Community gardens flourish to feed the vulnerable

Via: IRIN PlusNews

Picture: UNICEF Swaziland/2005

NGOs in Swaziland are shifting the emphasis of their operations from handouts of donated foodstuffs to training households and communities to set up projects that produce food and generate income, to find a lasting solution to perennial food shortages.

"AIDS has made food security more difficult to achieve. You cannot separate food from health. People living with HIV/AIDS require food to boost their strength: antiretroviral drugs must be taken after nourishment," said Sibongile Hlope, Director of the Baphalali Red Cross Society. "We do give food assistance to children: a 50kg bag of maizemeal, 10kg of corn-soya blend that is rich in protein, five kg of beans and three bottles cooking oil every month," said food coordinator Kunene.

COMMUNITY STEPS IN

"More people require food assistance; that is why we are also doing community gardens," said Kunene, who supervises six community gardens around the Sigumbeni settlement, about one hour's drive southeast of the capital, Mbabane. "There is a problem with irrigation affordability, especially with our communal gardens. They all depend on rain - but even with proper watering, the hot weather harms the crops. The heat brings pests, but we discourage [these by] using pesticides - we don't want people consuming chemicals."

Besides food production and income generation the gardens are also social gathering spots for HIV-positive people and AIDS-affected families, who comprise the bulk of the volunteers who till, weed, water and harvest. Until recently, HIV-positive people were stigmatised in their villages, and support organisations for HIV-positive people were located in some towns but rarely in rural areas.

"The communal gardens allow HIV-positive people to discuss matters important to them, and be with other HIV-positive people. They get out of the house, and they take charge of one part of their lives," Kunene said. Volunteers working in the gardens divide the food amongst themselves and the vulnerable children in the area. Some fields are even large enough to generate food surpluses, which are sold and the profits divided among the workers.

In Zandondo, a settlement in the northern Hhohho Region, one community donated a 28.5ha field for this purpose. "Last year one field provided school uniforms and basic school supplies to area orphans. We expect other fields to follow suit when this year's harvests come in, starting in May," said Kunene.

Click here to read the full report!

ETHIOPIA: Nearly half of the children orphaned by HIV/AIDS

Via: IRIN PlusNews

Ethiopia has one of the largest populations of orphans in the world with nearly half of the children having lost at least one of their parents.A government official said on Tuesday that HIV/AIDS, disease, hunger and poverty threatened to drive the number of orphaned children from 11 percent to 43 percent of the 45 million children in Ethiopia by 2010.

This could mean some 19 million children will have lost one or both of their parents, according to the figures, said Bulti Gutema, the head of the government's taskforce on the problem of orphans and vulnerable children. He said the figures were based on projections by the health ministry.

Bulti said antiretroviral drugs are vital in curbing the explosion but less than five percent got the drugs. Cheap antibiotics costing less than US $0.03 cents could also cut the numbers of child deaths from HIV/AIDS in the country by half but less than one per cent of the children got them, he added.The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimate that looking after each orphaned child in Ethiopia would cost around $300 a year, totalling some $1.38 billion. But the organisation has less than $10 million available even though Ethiopia has one of the largest populations of orphans in the world.

Some 300,000 children already live on the streets, according to the UN body."It is easy to stand and look at the problem from a distance and wring our hands at how big and impossible the problem is," he said. "But we must confront this."There are currently 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia - with around 540,000 of them having been orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Click here to read the full report!

ETHIOPIA: Inequality, gender-based violence raise HIV/AIDS risk for women

Via: IRINPlusNews

ADDIS ABABA, 8 January (PLUSNEWS) - Efforts to address the plight of women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS are lagging behind in Ethiopia's profoundly conservative society, while they continue to bear the brunt of the epidemic. "Women are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia, mainly due to a lack of know-how and control over how, when and where the sex takes place, particularly in the rural areas, where culture and religion dominate the rights of women," Alemu Anno, in the advocacy department of Ethiopia's Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (FHAPCO), told PlusNews.

According to FHAPCO's latest report, of the estimated 1.32 million people living with HIV/AIDS in 2005, 55 percent - or 730,000 - were women. They also accounted for 54.5 percent of AIDS deaths and 53.2 percent of new infections in that year.Women and girls often have less information and access to services, especially in rural areas. Girls make their sexual debut early - either through early marriage or sexual abuse - and their partners are typically much older men.

According to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), marriage at the age of seven or eight is not uncommon in Ethiopia.The results are usually premature pregnancies, which cause higher rates of maternal and infant mortality, and increased vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. Physical and sexual violence within marriage are also common, and women have little room to negotiate the use of condoms or to refuse sex to an unfaithful partner. A 2005 World Health Organisation (WHO) multi-country study on women's health and domestic violence revealed that in a one-year period nearly a third of Ethiopian women reported being physically forced by a partner to have sex against their will.

"This high rate of forced sex is particularly alarming in the light of the AIDS epidemic and the difficulty that many women have in protecting themselves from HIV infection," WHO said."Women in Ethiopia have the larger AIDS burden because of factors like economic dependence and difficulty in meeting basic needs, insufficient proper knowledge of prevention, lack of enough access to prevention, and lack of proper information about sex and sexuality," Berhane added.

Click here to read the full report!

The Journey

by Mary Oliver

On the day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice —
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
‘Mend my life!’
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognized as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do —
determined to save
the only life you could save.

EVENT: Reflections

Reflections, is an event to provide Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians who have just returned from Ethiopia with a venue to share their experiences and images from their trip and outreach efforts with vulnerable populations in Ethiopia. Reflections will be facilitated on Friday, February 23rd from 7PM- 9PM.

Location:
Columbia University’s Teacher College (Room 305)
525 W. 120th St.
New York, NY 10027


Please join ALIF for this event as we hear about the enriching experiences of three individuals who have recently traveled to Ethiopia. This event is sure to be an edifying and insightful affair for all who attend.

Textbook Fundraiser for Black Lion Hospital Dept. of Pediatrics

ALIF is engaging in an initiative to purchase pertinent textbooks for medical students and residents of Black Lion Hospital’s Department of Pediatrics. On Friday, February 23rd ALIF will be hosting a fundraising event at Duke City located in Washington D.C. to secure the funds to purchase the following textbooks: Nelson’s Textbook of Pediatrics 17th edition and Neonatology Textbook

Location:
Duke City
1208 U st NW
(bet: 12st & 13st)

10PM-Until
$10 at the Door

The following is a letter written by Dr. Abdulrahman:

Books for Black Lion Hospital Department of Pediatrics
This initiative is the result of seeing the need for textbooks after doing a rotation as a graduated medical student at Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Black Lion Hospital is the only government owned tertiary care center serving not only the heavy populated capital city Addis Ababa, but also persons who walk miles from the rural areas to seek health care. While the hospital is a teaching center, the library holds very few up-to-date textbooks that medical students and residents need to read about their patient’s diseases. Although, there are many issues that need to be addressed to improve health care in Ethiopia, one way to make a difference is to provide newer edition textbooks for medical students and residents. It is my belief that it is important to support the physicians in Ethiopia as they tackle the very difficult task of working with minimal resources. Since my visit in 2004, I have kept in touch with the Dean of Medical School, pediatric residents whom I worked with and medical students that are active in the Ethiopian Medical Student Association (EMSA). They have confirmed what books are desperately needed. I hope that this is the beginning of a life-long collaboration with this teaching hospital in Ethiopia.

Thanks for your support,

Dr Eiman Abdulrahman
Second Year Resident Schneider Children’s Hospital- North Shore Long Island Jewish Hospital

UPDATE: Fundraising Event for Fresh & Green Academy

ALIF would like to thank everyone for his or her support in making Friday’s One School At-A-Time fundraising event for Fresh & Green Academy a success. The proceeds from this event will serve to financially assist the Fresh & Green Academy in paying the schools rent for two months, the purchasing of vital tools to serve potable water to the children, reestablishing the Academy’s internet connection, as well as send one child to school through the Hiwot (Life) Campaign.

Again, ALIF sincerely appreciates your support, and we look forward to seeing you at future events!

New ALIF Initiative: One-School-At-A-Time

One School At-A-Time is an initiative to reach out to children and their families through community-initiated schools that are responding to the needs identified by the community. The aim of this initiative is to link community-based schools to various indigenous and international organizations in an effort to enhance the services and the education these schools provide. The first beneficiary of the One-School At-A-Time initiative is Fresh and Green Academy.

Fresh and Green Academy
Fresh and Green Academy is a kindergarten created 6 years ago by vanguards Ms. Almaze Beyene and Ms. Muday Mitiku who realized the need to educate children that spent most of their day on the streets begging. Located in Yeka Kihe Ketema (woreda 28, kebele 19) the children of Fresh and Green Academy suffer from malnutrition and extreme depravation.

At present Fresh and Green affords 75 kids between the ages of 4 and 9 with the opportunity to access education. The kindergarten receives no government aid, and operates solely by sponsorship of local residents. Currently, only 20 children are sponsored.

On-Going Initiatives:

(1) Potable Water Project
We need to buy the following items in order to provide water to the children at school:

Items: Price USD
1 Stove $312
1 Fridge $282
3 Large Filters $30
Filter refills -
2 Large Pots $37.5
Water Jars $ 3.75
Cups (70 units) -

(2) Library Project
We need to buy the following items in order to create a libraryfor the kids of Fresh and Green Academy:

Items: Price USD
Shelves $300
Folding chairs $8
Folding tables $22.5
File Cabinet $115
TV $288
DVD Already donated! Thanks Kenia Valentin!

(3) Other Efforts:

School Supplies
We are collecting new/used school supply materials to be sent to Fresh & Green Academy.

Toys
We are collecting new/used toys to be sent to Fresh & Green Academy.

Clothing
We are collecting new/used adults’ and children’s clothing to be sent to Fresh & Green Academy and their community.

Contact Gabi Dias at gabidias@allianceinvestment.org in order to send your new or used school supplies, toys, and children/adults clothing to our children and the community of Fresh & Green Academy!

We also accept financial contributions for all of the aforementioned efforts. Checks can be sent to the following address:
Alif Fund
Columbia University Station
P.O. Box 250457
534 West 112 Street
New York, NY 10025

Pleased indicate in the memo section of the check the particular initiative you would like your contribution to be directed towards!