Heather’s Appeal for Selamta

THE FUTURE
The Ethiopian Ministry of Health estimates that 1.4 million children have been orphaned by the AIDS epidemic and that this figure will rise by 43% by 2010. As the number of orphans is increasing the vision for Selamta is to double in size in the next few years. Selamta has a proven track record of changing children’s lives by providing family homes and education. To illustrate the success, one of the Selamta “graduates” is now a prelaw student. It costs $800.00 a year to take care of each child and the organization is ready to accept large corporate funding and or grants to take the program to the next level. Volunteer service vacations are organized three times annually and for people with more time are welcome to teach and mentor the children. Donations are always gladly accepted. Yes one person can make a difference.

Heather Welcomes New Children to Selamta

NEW ARRIVALS

On the last day of our trip we drove into a very poor area to meet three new girls who had been invited to join our family. The girls recently lost their father and since no cause of death was given we assumed it was due to AIDS. The mother passed away in childbirth eight years ago when the youngest was born. Zara age 19 in an attempt to take care of her sisters age 12, 10 and 8 years had turned to prostitution. They were living in a ten-foot by ten-foot room with no running water or kitchen facilities and paying $10.00 US a month rent. The room was neat and tidy and the girls gathered their personal belongings into 2 small supermarket size bags. The elder child ran to a neighbor’s where she had been working as a maid and where she wanted to collect some of her personal possessions. The man of the house, on hearing or her departure, whacked her across the face. Everyone in our group was devastated by this action and we pleaded with the community members to tell the man that this type of behavior is inappropriate.
In what seemed like a lifetime we eventually loaded all four girls into our van and gave them See’s lollypops for the ride across town. From the back of the bus I waved goodbye to the “matriarch” of the community. She smiled from ear to ear and generously waved with two arms and hands outstretched knowing the girls would be well taken care of at Selamta. My heart was overfilled with joy. I was instantly reminded of one of the most heartbreaking farewells I have ever witnessed in Rabbit Proof Fence (Pilkington) where the girls are forcibly removed from their families. Molly and Gracie cry and sob as the police drive them away to an orphanage a thousand miles away and their mother and grandmother scream for help as their own flesh and blood are stolen. As I waved to the community matriarch I had the opportunity to redo this paradigm in a positive and happy way!
Upon our arrival we showered all four girls with clothing, towels and their favorite gift of all a hand-made doll. The smiles of happiness of the girls’ faces and the big hugs of gratitude I received were overwhelming. I asked the caretaker to check the chicken coop for eggs and he found four. One egg representing each of the lives that will have a new beginning at Selamta. The sisters then settled into their bedrooms and had lunch. Suddenly, Zara told me she had to leave which was really disappointing since we were all hoping we could entice her to stay and offer her a job as a cook or an aunty so that the family would not be broken up. Perhaps in time, as Zara sees her sisters flourishing at Selamta she will decide to join them. Since my return to California I have received several emails telling me the new arrivals have settled in well and are enjoying life at Selamta.

Heather Meets Selamta’s Wonderful Moms and Aunties

Big smiles all around!

MEETING MOTHERS AND AUNTIES

Children by their nature have an innocence and curiosity to engage with US volunteers. I wanted to know more about the wonderful mothers and aunties the true backbone of the Selamta Project. These are the women who decide on the home décor, shop, do the menu planning and cooking, cleaning, take care of medical issues and deal with the physical, emotional and spiritual well being for each child under her care along with the transmission of cultural knowledge. Most of the caregivers, like the children, have overcome adversity. Furthermore, Ethiopian women are marginalized members of society with many women victims of domestic violence and rape.
The Selamta mothers and aunties are chosen for their abilities to run a household and for their parenting skills. Before being given the responsibility of taking care of a home they attend trainings to enhance their skills. Most of the mothers are single and in some cases have one or two of their own children with them. Selamta believes in keeping family members together so a single mother will have her child/children under her care. Aunties on the other hand are frequently married and live a bus ride away in the suburbs of Addis. Each day they return to their families.
My favorite day with the mothers was handing out donated clothing and personal care items to them for each of their children. The ladies came to the office knowing exactly the type and sizes of clothing that each of their children would like and wear. I know many of the US donors who had given jeans, jackets and shirts so it was heartwarming to see the mothers leave with so many gifts sent by caring friends. The mothers and aunties beamed with joy as they left with their arms laden with gifts.

Heather Hendrickson Meets the Children at Selamta

The Selamta Project has 85 children living in modern homes equipped with electricity, running water and plumbing in a new suburb on the eastern area of Addis Ababa. Upon my arrival at the front gate a small boy with big brown eyes and a very sweet smile welcomed me by shaking my hand and showing me to the kitchen where the mothers and aunties were preparing injera (Ethiopian bread). Later, I learned that the four year old welcoming committee was Tsega probably the most loved child in Addis and the only Selamta child who is HIV positive. Tsega is small for his size due to his health issues but his heart and charisma are enormous. The mothers and aunties knowing of our group’s arrival performed the elaborate coffee ceremony- a traditional welcoming gesture. Coffee is one of Ethiopia’s major exports and a cash crop that provides much needed income for the nation.
After coffee, I trudged down the unpaved roads to greet the children as they finished classes at the Alpha School. Each child, proudly dressed in their burgundy school uniform greeted me with hugs and kissed my checks the appropriate number of times. I could not imagine a California high school or middle school child performing such a gracious greeting in front of their school, let alone in front of their peers. I saw the happy smiles and the kindness the children showed each other. I knew these were wonderful children whose hearts were full of gratitude and love from the care given at the Selamta houses despite the obstacles and hardships they had overcome early in their lives.
Walking back to the main house I held hands with a small boy who recited his ABCs with perfection. The Alpha school offers 8 hours of classes a day and teaches English, French and Amharic the local language that has over 260 letters. The older children walked together and shared the day’s events. Back at the main house a group of boys excited about social studies focusing on the history of Ethiopia sat with a tutor and did their homework. A handful of girls and boys went to the woodworking class set up by a US volunteer and the remainder of the children played hopscotch in the courtyard. I read some stories out loud to some of the older boys who were keen to improve their English speaking skills. Each child was well mannered and courteous not only to me but to all of the volunteers. My heart sang with delight to see an effective program improving the lives of children who recently were living on the streets.
I spent many afternoons with the children hanging out, giving them hugs and sharing their life stories. One of my favorite topics for discussion was: “What would you like to be when you grow up?” Each child had definite goals of being a doctor, an engineer or a teacher. Listening to the children’s aspirations reaffirmed that the Selamta program is working. A child coming from a loving support system and who is receiving a fine education can visualize a future in a successful career. With Ethiopia’s social structure in turmoil and with so many children displaced by the AIDS/HIV epidemic it is vital that new leaders are being groomed for tomorrows leadership and for these leaders to advocate social justice and human rights. Selamta is providing the academic challenges and family support for Ethiopia’s next generation of leaders.

Addis Ababa (New Flower): Heather Hendrickson’s Experience in Ethiopia’s Capital City

The city of Addis Ababa is a thriving metropolis over 5 million people and full of western influences, from the ultra modern airport to the out of control urban housing boom and extensive freeway construction under the supervision of a large Chinese corporation. As we drove from the airport to the hotel I was struck by the people’s western style of dress mostly blue jeans and US style t-shirts. The other striking factor was the heavy smog that is a result of no vehicle emissions control. The city is situated at 7,500 feet (about one mile high) and I noticed the dryness of the air, the arid landscape and absence of tall trees.
Our group stayed in the city of Addis and traveled daily to the Selamta family houses in the outer eastern suburb. Each day proved to be an adventure as we drove the streets full of lorries, taxis, large buses, small buses, cows, goats, sheep and innumerable pedestrians. Like any developing city all of life can be seen on the streets from beggars to well dressed businessmen and women along with shanties built by people too poor to live anywhere else. Many of the street people arrive from the country areas and have no work or family to support them. We had a van and driver to transport us on our daily excursions and I would not suggest renting a car and driving in the city. I never could work out who had the right of way at the intersections and corners!
We stayed at the Hotel Ghion originally built by Haile Selaisse to house his summer guests. The Hotel has traditional Ethiopian charm and its greatest blessing is the wonderful gardens that surround the complex. The gardens filtered the city noise and smog along with providing homes for some of Ethiopia’s endemic birds. Each time we entered or departed from the compound a group of armed military guards spoke to our driver and inspected our vehicle. Often times the large parking lot in front of the hotel filled with UN vehicles and their African drivers and the scene reminded me of the horrific movie Hotel Rwanda. The Ethiopian government runs the Hotel Ghion which is moderately priced compared to the palatial Sheraton at $400.00 a night and the fancy Hilton at $300.00 a night and all of this in a country where the average Ethiopian earns less than $800.00 US a year and thousands remain hungry.

Creating Change in the Lives of Ethiopian Orphans: Heather Hendrickson shares her experience in her first of seven blogs

In February I traveled to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to work as a volunteer with the Selamta be at peace Project, a program that provides housing, education and medical care for orphans many of whom have been living on the streets. Much of Selamta’s success can be attributed to the small family homes that the children live in with a “mother” and “aunty” who provide the love and care needed for children to thrive.
PLANNING THE TRIP
I had often thought about doing humanitarian work in the global sense but never felt comfortable about signing up to work with people I did not know. My daughter and son in law, who live in Sebastopol, shared the Selamta story with me and I was intrigued to hear that Ethiopian’s children’s lives were being changed for the better. Then I met Carol and Mike Foster founders of the program and I was convinced that this service vacation would be well organized, meaningful and a positive experience for our group and for the children.
As I began to share the news about my Ethiopian service vacation with friends I was struck by the sense of awe and support I was given. My extensive background of world travel in developing countries put me at peace with the journey. However, I never imagined traveling to Africa let alone Ethiopia – a country of which I knew very little except for the recent famines and photos of starving children and more recently the AIDS/HIV epidemic. Rather than focusing on learning more about Ethiopia I immersed myself into educating myself about the Selamta Project and working with the children knowing that once I arrived in Addis Ababa I would be immersed into the culture. The flight to Addis Ababa takes about 22 hours and most travelers from the west coast of the USA stop over in Washington DC, London or Rome. Most of the travelers in our group spent a few nights in London to stretch their legs and to help ease jet lag.

 

 

Heather Ben and Tara at the Addis airport

 

 

Lauren’s Stay at Selamta

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

I’m finally finishing up my seventh week here and it seems to have dragged on much longer than any of the others. Its interesting because I thought it would get easier to be so far away from home and to live on my own, but it has only proven to have gotten more difficult as time passes. I am so sad about leaving everyone here who I have grown to love so much, but I cannot WAIT to see my friends and family back home!

The past week has not been uneventful though. Last Sunday I spent the day at the “Sport the Bridge” program soccer tournament which was really fun. The Selamta girls and boys both played really well, and the younger boys got a chance to get in on the action when they played a team of other younger boys. There was a little boy who was probably about two that came running up to me almost right when we got there in the morning and he stuck around with the Selamta spectators throughout the day. His name was Abush and he was one of the cutest children I have ever seen, I immediately fell for him. His mother was sort of lurking in the background throughout the day, clearly a homeless woman who was also suffering from elephantitis. It was so hard to think about this adorable and loving boy having to live on the streets with a mother who let him run around among strangers. All of the Selamta kids became partially attached to Abush and when Abel came at the end of the day there was talk of whether or not we could try to have Abush come live in Selamta. Abel went to speak with the mother, who adamantly did not want to separate from her child, which of course makes sense. Then Seyfe told us that this woman had lived where he used to live and that she had tried to sell her son when he was younger and then had sued the person she had sold him to. I guess it was a good thing that we didn’t get involved with a person like that, but it really was heartbreaking to have to say goodbye to this little boy. Oh, he was so sweet.

On Wednesday, I took a much needed break and spent the day at the pool at the Ghion Hotel. It only cost 25 birr ($2.50!) and we could hang out there as long as we wanted. It was very relaxing, but unfortunately the sun was much stronger than I expected and I got a little sunburn that has really been a nuisance. It was nice to get into the city though, and I realized that I hadn’t seen any other forenge since John left almost two weeks ago! I think going home is going to be more than a major shock.

The week in school seemed to go by very quickly. Friday was my last day with my grade 7 students and it turned out to be extremely anticlimactic. I was kind of expecting some big inspirational thing to happen and then…. Nothing. Most of the children did pretty well on their quiz that I gave them which was a general review of everything we had studied together. The average grade was about an 80%. After spending a few hours grading all of the quizzes, I have a new found respect for teachers. Grading is a lot of work! Quite a few of the students brought in letters or small presents for me like jewelry and little trinkets like that. It was sad to say goodbye to some of my favorite students, but honestly I couldn’t really wrap my head around the idea that I would never see some of these kids ever again. I guess the fact that I’m leaving hasn’t really hit me yet.

So now I just have a few more days here, I have to finish up with my grade 6 students, do my last minute souvenir shopping and spend my last precious days with the kids and moms. I’ll write once more before I go!

Notes from Ambassador Lauren Argenti

Thursday, March 5th, 2009

 I’m about to finish my sixth week here at Selamta and I’m finally
 feeling like I have my routine down. Carol and the big group of
 volunteers were here about two weeks ago, and right after they left it
 was tough to keep the energy level up without the help of seven
 others. Especially after we got home from Bishangari, I was having a
 lot of trouble with homesickness and frustration in teaching. I’m
 teaching English grammar to grades 6 and 7 at the Alpha School (where
 all of Selamta’s kids go). My grade 6 kids especially seemed to be
 having so much trouble remembering what I had taught them in the class
 before, I felt like I was failing as a teacher and as a volunteer. It
 was nice to talk to my dad, who has been a professor for about thirty
 years, about this frustration, its good to know that I’m not alone in
 feeling like I’m not doing my job correctly! And of course he
 encouraged me not to get angry at the kids for not remembering, but to
 try and come up with a more creative way for them to learn the
 subject. Although anyone who can make conditional sentences
 interesting has got to be a genius… I did try my best and after
 another review in more of a game form, they seemed to understand a lot
 better. I realized it really isn’t fair to think that they’ll remember
 everything I teach them. I might review the lesson four times in the
 four different grade 6 classes, but they only learn it once, along
 with all of their other lessons of the day. So I’ve been trying to
 practice patience and teach more creatively, and I think it has really
 been working.

 On Carol’s last day here she picked up three new girls, Almas (15),
 Belaynesh(12), and Yezzina(8). They are sisters and they are just so
 sweet. The school won’t let them just start in the middle of the
 semester so they’re hanging out at Selamta during the day with me.
 They are really adjusting quickly and seeing their gorgeous smiling
 faces every morning makes me so happy. It’s pretty cool that they’re
 so loving and open with me, shows that the culture of Selamta is easy
 to get used to for them. The other girl who’s home every day is
 Mekedes (15). It’s been one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had
 here to get to know this girl. I know all of the things that happened
 with her in the past but she has clearly made a 100% turn around and
 its been so fun to spend time with her. Her English is also improving
 really rapidly so that’s exciting to see. Unfortunately, on the other
 side of things, Belay has not proven to be behaving any better since
 Carol left. I feel so bad for him, he’s run away about 15 times and
 just never listens to any authority whatsoever. Its clear that he has
 had major trauma and trusts no one. It’s really tough to see him
 struggling.
 John and I had a lot of fun finishing up the woodworking project. He
 did such a great job of getting as many kids as possible engaged, and
 it was especially exciting to see so many girls with so much skill in
 carpentry. I helped out as much as I could in the shop, although I was
 learning right along with the others. By the time he left on Tuesday,
 John and the kids had built a shoe cubby for all seven homes and an
 extra for the eighth home (opening in April) and eighteen “dooka” or
 stools for the mothers and aunties to sit on in their kitchens. Every
 piece that was completed was varnished a few times over and made to as
 close to perfection as possible. John worked hard to show the kids the
 difference between just doing something, and doing something well. He
 also spent at least a day and a half at each home fixing up all the
 loose/broken odds and ends that needed to be fixed. His “honey-do”
 list, as Carol called it, was very long, and whenever he showed up at
 a house they ended up thinking of four other things that needed fixing
 as well.. But he got almost everything accomplished and the mothers
 and children were so grateful for all that he did for them. The kids
 especially showed an amazing form of gratitude for John, two of the
 houses made him big pieces of art work to bring home. Wendimagegn
 (Lalibela House) actually drew a beautiful map of Ethiopia, with all
 of the important landmarks labeled, and put it in a frame that he had
 built with the help of John in the woodshop. I thought that was really
 touching because he had worked so hard to make this frame perfect and
 then felt so grateful for John’s help in teaching him that he wanted
 him to have it. That kind of generosity is definitely not seen in
 fourteen old boys everywhere!

 On John’s last Sunday here we spent the afternoon going around to the
 different houses to make sure everything was copasetic and for him to
 say his goodbyes. I have to admit, I was very glad I didn’t have to
 say goodbye to all the kids and moms yet. We probably drank one too
 many cups of buna, but we had a good time seeing all the shoe cubbies
 and dooka put to use. Since he left, the office has seemed extremely
 quiet. After Abel left on Tuesday night there was hardly any noise
 until Haile started his tasks at 7 in the morning. It really wasn’t
 fun to make or eat dinner alone! It has also been really great to just
 discuss day to day issues, and life issues, with John over instant
 noodles and a St. George’s. I was really sad to see him go. But
 luckily I can convince my buddy Tesfaye to stay and hang out with me
 pretty often!

 As I’ve started to realize that I really only have two weeks left, I’m
 already getting sentimental about leaving. I’m going to try to make
 the best of the time I have left here, and of course am already
 planning for when I’ll come back.

“Into Abyssinia” Film Trailer

The trailer for “Into Abyssinia”, a documentary set around the Human Capital Foundation’s first humanitarian visit to Ethiopia, and the inception of the Selamta project, has just been posted online a couple days ago. Three years in the making, the film focusing on four volunteers each with their own unique story as they travel in to the heart of the AIDS orphan crisis in Ethiopia. The film is due to be released this summer, so check it out!

For more information about the film check out The Into Abyssinia Facebook group

Teddy Afro on NPR

NPR has a great story on Teddy Afro, the Ethiopian musician whose songs have become the soundtrack of the Selamta project. It’s not long, but it’s definitely an interesting breakdown for us faringe admirers, and some good exposure for our favorite afropop star!

You can listen to the full story at NPR.com:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10819101