I have started this blog to document my journey in establishing an orphanage in the beautiful Lalibela, Ethiopia. My name is Sheridan, I'm 25 & am just finishing up a law degree. I should have finished this degree a long time ago, but life had other plans for me! Earlier this year I took a short trip to Ethiopia and spent a week in Lalibela. I met a wonderful guide (S for the purposes of this blog) and T, the unofficial director of an unofficial orphanage there. This orphanage (unofficially called the children's village) is housed in a very run down and poorly equipped rental property. T does the best he can, but the orphanage is largely unfunded. When I met him in Lalibela, he shared his vision for a more adequate orphanage with me. Over the past 6 months I have kept in contact with S and T. T always reports that the village is doing well, but they need more funding. I kept wishing that I had the money to help him out, but couldn't see a way. Then one day a month or two ago it occurred to me that of COURSE i could help him out. In fact, not only could i help him out, I would help him realise his vision, and in the process, make my dream of starting a non-profit organisation a reality. I didn't have a cent to put towards this dream at the time of making this decision, but I had a whole lot of faith that where there is a will, there is a way! Since then, S, T and I have been working together to develop plans for a sustainable orphanage. My ultimate vision is to build an orphanage on at least an acre so as to allow us the space for agriculture- room for a decent permaculture garden as well as and incorporating chickens and goats. The orphanage itself will consist of a series of Tukul-like buildings (traditional Ethiopian huts) which will ideally house 8 orphans and a caregiver. By building a series of tukuls rather than one large concrete building, we hope to promote a sense of family rather than an institution. It will also allow us to construct the buildings using as many local, traditional and sustainable practices as possible. Furthermore, it will allow us to build the orphanage gradually according to budget and need, rather than having to wait until we can raise the chunk of cash that would be needed to build a great concrete monstrosity!
We want the orphanage to be as sustainable as possible, so there will be a big focus on permaculture- hopefully growing enough crops to be at least partially self-sufficient. Goats and chickens will be kept and bred for milk, eggs and meat, or for sale. The gardens themselves could be used for demonstrations in the community on permaculture practices.
This is the big picture.
For now, we have received permission to rent a property in Lalibela in which to establish the orphanage. Once we can prove ourselves and our organisation to the local government, we will then either apply for a land grant or look for some land on which to build the permanent orphanage. To this end, S and T have found a rental property they believe would be suitable. It is close to both the school and hospital and best of all, has 1000m2 free land that could be used for our initial permaculture project!
I was really despairing the other week because we had got the project up to the point where all we needed now was the money to get it started and here I was in Australia, lacking even the money to get myself to Lalibela, let alone start this project, when I received my first 2 miracles! A loan I had given out awhile ago was suddenly paid in such a way as to allow me to travel to Lalibela and just enough (i hope) to get things started over there. Thank God! The second miracle was that I was just stressing over all the things I needed to buy to take over there in 3 weeks, when I received a very unexpected $850 store credit which will allow me to buy a good portion of what I need to take! Awesome. I have complete faith in the goodness of people and God's ability to provide what I need. So far, so good.
