Just Two

Questions

Well lately I’ve been getting a lot of questions as to how people can help. Let me tell you there are plenty of opportunities. I’ll name a few and if you are interested email (emilytalcott@gmail.com) me and let me know.

1.     School sponsorship. You can sponsor a child to go to school for a one time fee of $20 USD. That includes buying a uniform and school supplies. The government will waive the tuition fee if the parents can prove they can’t afford it.

2.     School uniform. Most parents can afford tuition because it’s roughly ($5 UDS a semester) but they can’t usually afford a uniform. It costs about $10 USD to have a new uniform made. Most children are going to school in rags of a uniform and this is one way to easy the financial burden of the parent’s.

3.     Shoes. It seems like everywhere I look someone needs a new pair of shoes. Luckily fake crocs are all the rage here and they are cheap. It costs about $2 USD for a new pair of shoes.

4.     Tutors. The orphanage I am working with would like to hire a tutor to come to the house five days a week and tutor the children in math, reading, spelling and English. It will cost about $35 USD a month for the tutor and supplies he/she needs.

5.     Daycare. This is something I am very passionate about. All the time I see mothers giving up their children to an orphanage because they simply can’t afford them. If the child were able to go to a daycare during the day so the mother or father could work then it would prevent them from having to go to an orphanage. I also see many children playing in the streets because no one is at their house to look after them. There are also many children who are in charge of watching their younger siblings – I’m not talking about a 15 year old in charge I’m saying a 6 or 7 year old is in charge of a smaller children. I am still working out the details, but when I figure it out I will let you all know. I’m figuring that it would cost about $20 USD a month per child (that is for 50 children or $1000 USD per month). This would allow us to rent a house, hire nannies, hire a cook, pay the bills, and provide breakfast and lunch for the children. 

 

Oh Have Mercy

If you didn’t get the title right away don’t feel bad…it’s from the TV show Full House. But that’s not the point of the story.

Today (Saturday the 10^th) I went over to Hiwot #2’s house to hang out. She was telling me how they just got a baby girl at the orphanage and that she got to named her. I told her how lucky she was. I remembered naming Lily and Hallelujah and how fun that was. She then told me that the next time they get a baby who hasn’t been named she will call me and I can name him/her. Well, I didn’t think she would call so soon, but low and behold she called tonight a mere seven hours after our conversation telling me that they just got another tiny baby at the orphanage and she doesn’t have a name. I told her I would call her back in ten minutes after I think of one. I started naming off names in English and Tesfanesh translated them into Amharic for me. I found I liked Mercy the best or Meheret in Amharic. So I called back and told her the name I chose and the verse in the Bible that it is from (Micah 6:8). I cannot wait to meet little Meheret some day soon.

*To pronounce Meheret correctly all the ‘e’ s are the same sound. Take the ‘e’ sound in Emily and use it three times…Me-he-ret. I hope that makes sense – it’s the best I could think of.

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