Ashley Haven

2011-08-08T22:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

With all the news coverage regarding the famine in the horn of Africa, some of you might be wondering how the orphanage is faring and whether or not we have been affected in Lalibela. well, the Lalibela region has been in drought for some time now and because of this, the price of food has doubled over the last 12 months. It has not reached the point of famine yet, but if crops keep failing, it could be on the cards. The Lalibela region (North Wollo district) was one of the worst affected regions in the country during the famous 1984-5 famine, so people in the town are pretty anxious right now. Rising food prices has really put a strain on the orphanage's budget, however, as food is one of our biggest expenses and we are presently feeding 9 children with voracious appetites, as well as 6 adults! Since less than half of the children are being sponsored, we urgently need more sponsors to help with the shortfall. If you know anyone who is interested in sponsoring a child, please give them my contact details or forward this email to them! Why not organise for your workplace to sponsor a child and have co-workers put in $5 a month, or split the cost amongst a group of friends? It's very easy to make a huge difference to one child's life.

I am planning a trip to the orphanage in October, and if I can get a few more sponsorships (or donations!) for the kids, I would love to take in another 2 kids. We have 2 spare beds at the moment, but until I can secure more funding for the orphanage, I will not take more in (as much as I would love to!!).

I have just finished creating a facebook page for the orphanage, if any of you have facebook and would be so kind as to 'like' our page, it will help spread the word via facebook. The page is at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/pages/The-Ashley-Haven-Project/111003365655931 you don't need an account to view the page. There are recent pics of the kids taken a few months ago there, with their new mattresses and blankets. The kids are in dire need of new clothes, but fortunately I can take 40kg of donations over with me in October!

Our manager, Solomon, is currently searching for a local to come to the orphanage of an afternoon to teach the kids a handicraft like basket weaving,so they will have more skills to help them earn their own living in the future (assuming they don't choose to go to university, which we are hoping they will!). Our eldest boy, Gashaw is also still studying art and has become quite the artist! We are applying for an official license to operate the orphanage in September, we have a court date for then. This will also help us with our application, as Ethiopian authorities like to see that we are equipping the children for their futures.

Hope you are all well!

Happy Ethiopian New Year!

2010-09-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

Well the new year has begun in Ethiopia and I feel really positive that this year is going to see some real progress for the orphanage. I am already planning a trip back in March/April next year and am really keen to kickstart a few new projects while I'm there. There are also a few things that need to be sorted out, I need to look at the accommodation and whether or not we can keep renting the property for another year and if not, alternatives etc. I want to assess the kids bedding, I think it must be really getting to the stage where we need new/more beds and definitely more sheets/blankets. New gardens need to be planted, I want to build a proper chicken coop so we can start raising chickens (we had half a dozen chickens who were living on S's grandmothers property as it is fenced and bordered by other houses as opposed to our property which backs onto a hill..regardless, the chickens are now deceased..)
the kids love the eggs though and they're such a great source of protein, vitamins and minerals!
It's also high time the first steps were taken towards self-sufficiency. I have plenty of ideas for this and am SO keen to do some serious fundraising between now and next year so that I will have the funds to take those first steps. My plan is to open 2 small businesses that work together to achieve two aims. The first is obviously generate funds to sustain the orphanage. The second aim, however, is to help the wider community. It is all well and good to help the 11 kids fortunate enough to be given this wonderful chance in life, but it's also important to spread that help a little wider to the community as a whole and one of the ways I want to do this, is by empowering community members to help themselves. Oh I am ITCHING to just spill the beans about these plans! I am hesitant though, because there are plenty of people out there looking to cash in on the boom that's happening in Lalibela at the moment and even though I'm talking about charitably business, business IS still business and I would hate for my ideas to be poached before I have the chance to implement them!

For now, there is a lot of work to be done fundraising and organising before next March/April. I will really need every cent I can raise through fundraising if these ideas are to become reality, so if anyone has frequent flyer miles they would like to donate to help me get to Lalibela next year, let me know! Sometimes I kick myself for opening an orphanage in the furthest possible place from Australia.. while studying full-time and earning a very meagre income.. but then I remember how malnourished Bereket was or I wonder how long Wineshet would have lasted living on the streets and I'm glad I chose this path. They couldn't have just waited around for me to finish my degree and establish a career for myself. They would have become another UN statistic of child mortality in Ethiopia.

long time, no post!

2010-08-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

Well it's been far too long since I've updated the blog, so here's the latest news:
An Incorporated Association has been formed in Australia which will oversee orphanage business, manage funds, fundraise etc. The corporation is called "The Ashley Haven Project" and I am in the process of opening a new bank account in it's name so that any donations or sponsorship monies can be paid directly into this account. I will have those details tomorrow and will let people know the new account number then. Next goal is a new website! I am also looking at options for a fundraiser to be held later in the year, so stay tuned for that..

As for news from the orphanage itself, the kids have a month left of their 'end of year' school holidays and they were getting more than a little restless (I don't like the term 'bored'..)and requested a school tutor be hired to teach them for the rest of the holidays. Of course I was more than happy to oblige them, so a tutor was found and hired for the month on the proviso they focus particularly on studying english (as well as Amharic and maths)because they really are quite lazy when it comes to learning english despite the many fun english learning aids I've bought over for them!

I think I updated last time that our main full-time caregiver Sabilah left us, sadly! Sabi was only 16, despite looking a LOT older and she didn't want to be tied down to such a demanding full-time job, which I can understand. Sabi has been a huge help to us over the past 8-9 months particularly when the orphanage first opened and we couldn't afford a second caregiver. So it is sad to see her go, but fortunately when I was in Lalibela in February/ March I was able to hire a second caregiver Zidal who has turned out to be the most delightful, trustworthy, genuinely kind hearted girl and after Sabi left, Zidal stepped up into her role as main caregiver and has been wonderful! We have now found another caregiver though, an older lady named Tesfa who so far has been working out just fine. I haven't met Tesfa yet and am quite keen to, however, our manager's grandmother recommended her to us and this lady has not yet steered us wrong!

So we have our quota of staff once again and I have since asked the orphanage manager to ensure that each staff member is assigned one rostered day and night off per week on top of the time off here and there they all take when needed. Hopefully this will improve staff working conditions and morale etc and we will be able to keep staff longer. Of course it's all a matter of trial and error and we will work things out as we go!

The other thing I wanted to include in this update is some financial information about the working of the orphanage for those interested. I know when I was researching the prospect of opening an orphanage in Ethiopia, I found it very difficult to find this kind of info.

A basic breakdown of our costs per month:

Food
bread- 780 Birr
shiro- 100 Birr (ground spicy chickpea powder made into a stew)
lentils- 200 Birr
teff- 750 Birr (to make injera, the national bread)
sugar- 320 Birr
tomato paste- 100 Birr
Pasta- 400 Birr
Vegetables- 300 Birr
meat- 1000 Birr

Food total of approx. 4000 Birr ($295 USD/ $330 AUD)

Rent 4500 Birr ($335 USD/ $372 AUD)

Wages 2900 Birr ($212 USD/ $235 AUD)

---------
All up per month the orphanage costs $842 USD per month/ $937 AUD per month to run.

This bare figure does not factor in the kids clothing/ shoes and school equipment 9pens, books etc into consideration as I don't send this money over on a monthly basis, I take as much clothing and school equipment as I can carry whenever I go to Lalibela (aiming for twice a year where possible!!) as the stuff you buy there is very poor quality and wears out far too quickly! If I can't make it over though, or someone else I know isn't heading there, I send a couple hundred dollars over and get the manager to buy them what they need. Oh the other thing I haven't listed is soap- the kids go through A LOT of soap. soap for washing themselves and their clothes.
I send around $550-$600 a month to cover the expenses of food and wages plus incidentals (hospital, clinic, medicine, pens etc) and I send over the rent every 3 months as I can scrounge it up!! So far we have 5 kids fully sponsored and 1 half sponsorship per month which provides $440 of the monthly cost of running the orphanage, but there is still a $500 deficit per month. A lovely American family have been helping us cover some of this shortfall by paying the last 3 months rent, which has helped a lot!! However, what we really need is to get every child fully sponsored to ensure that we can continue to provide for them adequately each month. If anyone reading this would like more info on sponsorship, please email me at sheridan.ohara@gmail.com or if you know of anyone who is interested in joining with you to collectively sponsor a child, that is an option too! Just send me an email and I will happily talk to you about different options.

Well that is all for now, will update again soon with new banking details and hopefully a new web address!

Sheridan
xx

Photos from February

2010-04-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,
Once again, I do apologise for not updating more regularly but as I've mentioned probably a billion times before, I'm a little swamped with work at the moment! Uni finishes in June, so once that is over, I should have alot more time to work on getting the new website up and running (www.ashleyhaven.com) at present there is only a temporary page up there, but expect a lovely new website post-June!

As for orphanage news, it is the rainy season in Ethiopia now and the kids are going a little stir crazy being indoors alot, but I took a lap-top over with me in February for orphanage admin and also for the kids to learn to use and it just so happens it plays DVDs as well, so I believe it's getting a workout at the moment.. after schoolwork is done, of course!

The new staff members have settled in well and Sabi is enjoying being able to spend more time just looking after the babies. Zaidal is still tutoring the kids every afternoon and the kids grades are already improving because of it.

The kids all celebrated Easter with a lovely big feast, the compound was thoroughly decorated and our 3rd goat was brought in from the countryside to be the main course. I was a little upset initially as I was always from the 'you don't eat pets' school of thought, but it wasn't really a pet and as the kids pointed out, it was nice and fat from it's holiday in the countryside..

Now, a couple of pics!

The newest member- 5 year old Mekedes!

Kids and Staff all together

The babies eating a spaghetti breakfast!

Plenty of news!

2010-03-14T20:42:00.000-07:00

I do apologise for not updating the blog more regularly, but things as always, have been hectic! I guess that's just life when you work, study and open an orphanage on the other side of the world :)
I have lots of news though! Last month I held my first fundraiser for the orphanage- a charity screening of the film 'Up in the Air'. I was very fortunate to have had so many people turn up to support the orphanage and came close to selling out! Even better was that quite a few people who came, were motivated to make donations to me afterwards and as a result, I was able to make a last minute trip back to Lalibela (before university started). Boy was I glad I did! Everything was running nicely in my absence, but the hardworking staff were really starting to reach the end of their tether, so they were very grateful when I was able to hire 2 new staff members to assist them. Poor Habtum the cook was ready to tear her hair out as she was spending all day every second day in a hot little hut slaving over a wood fire, cooking 30 or so giant pieces of injera (the local sour pancake that is the main staple) for 11 very hungry kids as well staff. This was in addition to making and seving breakfast, lunch and dinner for them. Once I saw just how much work she was doing, I was able to order an electric injera machine for the orphanage so that she can make the injera at the orphanage itself, without slaving over a wood fire. This also means that the huge injera basket doesnt need to be carried from Habtum's house up to the orphanage every day, saving alot of work. I was also able to hire a second caregiver who can assist Habtum with some of the meal duties.
Sabi the caregiver was also well and truly overworked, so hiring a second caregiver who primarily looks after the older kids, allows Sabi to concentrate on the two toddlers and all their washing and cooking etc.
Fortunately, the new caregiver, Zidal is also a grade 12 student who speaks excellent english, so she can help the older kids with their school work.
the second employee is Marag- a lovely young man who for the past 3 months has been carrying the heavy injera basket twice a day for Habtum, unpaid! He has joined staff as a part-time guard to assist the guard, Ayalsew(I've been spelling it Ayatil, but thatis incorrect). He is also tutoring the older children of an afternoon with Zidal.

While I was there, I also took in a 5 year old girl who was previously raised by her grandmother who passed away recently. S's elderly grandmother found her way to the town this girl was living in, picked her up and brought her back to live with her (I think in the hopes that I would take pity on her and take the girl in). Her plan worked, so 5 year old Mekedes has joined the gang! Mekedes is quite malnourished like Bereket was, so hopefully I will see her healthy and happy like the others, next time I return! It was too late to enrol mekedes in grade 1, so we enrolled her in Kindergarten, and although she is older than the other kids, she loves it & very seriously sits down to practice her letters with the other kids in the afternoon.

I also sorted out licensing issues once and for all, I went to Addis to apply for the license and was told by the gov. department responsible that Ethiopia is no longer granting orphanage icenses and is in fact in the process of shutting down some of the larger ones as a recent inquiry brought to light some unsavoury practices at some of the larger orphanages. We were told that in the future, licenses will only be issues for centres that offer temporary accommodation for kids in crisis, until a local foster family can be found for them. As for our orphanage, we were told that the fact that it is small and a family-like setting, means that we don't have to have any kind of license and can continue to operate as we are, however if we grow any bigger, it would be a different story. So as it is, Ashley Haven will continue for the forseeable future as it is, 11 kids living together as a family, going to school together etc and they will continue to do so until they graduate from High School and if they wish to study further, then I will make sure they have that opportunity by creating some kind of education fund for them.
But Ashley Haven will not stop there, it is very possible that in the future I will create a separate crisis centre that offers short term care and finds/trains local foster carers... but one thing at a time! Right now, I am primarily concerned with securing the future of the 11 kids Ashley Haven cares for. I have more to say about this, but will make a separate post on that.

Hope everyone reading this is well!

lately

2010-02-13T18:31:00.000-08:00

I do apologise for being a little slack of late in the blogging department, it may be a little cliche of me to say that I've been busy, but it's true! there is so much involved in the logistics of setting up an NGO and there just aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done. I will get there eventually though!
S tells me that the kids are all well, they had last week off from school as they just finished exams.
Other than that, not much else new to report. There are a million things to be done over there though, but they all seem
to be on hold until i get back- the mayor will not grant our license until he sees me back in ethiopia as they recently had a westerner open an orphanage then went back overseas never to be heard from again! I need to sit down and have another chat with him and prove I am very seriously committed to this project and it's longevity.
But i shall do this next week as I am making a very last minute trip back to sort out this issue with he mayor, as well as to hire more staff and keep things moving forward. I will be looking for land to build the permanent orphanage, as well as looking at ways to make the project sustainable. AT the moment I am considering opening some kind of training cafe/ restaurant similar to projects i visited in Asia. I need to investigate the viability of this option.
Most importantly, I will be taking needed clothes, books, shoes & learning materials & giving them all a massive big hug!!
We now have 6 full sponsors for the kids and only need 4 more to keep the orphanage running! Very exciting stuff.
Will update again soon with pics x

Still in Australia

2010-01-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

I've been a little bit slack with this blog of late, work at the cinema has kept me very very busy! Life goes on in Lalibela though and there have been a few new developments. The first is that just before Christmas, a lovely American couple visited the orphanage and were our guests for the weekend. This couple were kind enough to donate some of their luggage allowance to us and brought over some desparately needed diapers and baby things for Ytinet and Hillary, as well as backpacks for each of the kids, exercise books and pens, some clothes and games. S tells me the kids were very very excited about having a backpack of their own to wear to school each day, and Sabi is very happy to have nappies/diapers for the babies as it makes her job that much easier when she doesn't have to wash all the linen and blankets twice a day. I believe the babies are even allowed to wear dresses and pants now, instead of running around in t-shirts and jumpers only!

The second blessing we received was the return of valerie the goat. Valerie disappeared on December 30th and was gone for two days. The kids, S and Ayatil looked everywhere for her, S reported it to the police and we were sure that we wouldn't see her again because goats are very valuable in Ethiopia and there are far too many desperate people who would look upon the finding of a goat as a gift from God. So when Val came wandering back into our yard on New years day with a tiny version of herself in tow, we were all very very excited!!! Val's baby is a boy and has since been named Fred. The kids are very taken with Fred, so I am told.. and i can just imagine, as I saw firsthand how sweet they were with Val, finding all the nicest leaves and plants they could find for her- Temesgen often spending hours taking all the thorns off cactus leaves and then pulverising them into a sloppy goopy mess for Val to eat.

On January 7, Ethiopians celebrate Christmas and S tells me the kids spent days cleaning their best clothes and braiding their hair nicely for the special day. Lalibela is a kind of mecca in Ethiopia and thousands of pilgrims all descend upon the town for christmas each year. All the motels are booked out months in advance, school is disbanded for a week in order to make some temporary accommodation for pilgrims, though most stay in the vicinity of the rock hewn churches. There were so many people in town that S had to keep the kids in the compound for a few days for their own safety, but the day after the celebration, the town emptied once again and things are back to usual. During the celebrations though, S was tour guiding some Australian girls and at some point showed them around the orphanage and told them it was run by a young Australian girl and they were fairly impressed and went out and bought the kids a sheep for their big Christmas lunch. Prior to Christmas, Ethiopian Orthodox christians fast for a week, so it's a big deal having meat on Christmas day. S however, has already bought a goat at the Saturday markets which he had planned to have killed for the feast, but once I spoke to him and heard about the gift of the sheep etc, I insisted the goat join our ever increasing herd. So we now have 3 goats! This 3rd goat is eventually to start a breeding program at the orphanage. Ethiopian admin is very big on 'animal husbandry programs' and I am very big on animals and baby animals in general, so the more the merrier i say! and if it is educational at the same time and we can teach the kids about relavant skills in their hometown, then even better!

In other news, two of the boys beds collapsed in the middle as unbeknown to me, they were all sitting on temesgen and abraham's beds of a nighttime as the other 3 don't have a light in their room. So all the extra weight on the metal frames caused them to bow. so we're in the process of having those repaired and in the meantime abraham and temesgen are cosily sharing a bed. since the only electrician in Lalibela is never able to find the time to repair that light, I think we need to buy a lamp of some description to put in the other boys room, next time we are in Addis.

S also tells me that the kids are all missing me. I too miss them dreadfully!! I have acquired plenty of things that they need such as shoes etc and it kills me knowing that they are walking around in plastic shoes that have holes in them, or give them awful blisters, and here I have these lovely joggers and sandals for them, just sitting in my bag of things to take back. I plan to give the kids a belated christmas once I finally get back to Ethiopia, I have bought a christmas stocking for them each in the after christmas sales, and plan to fill them with 2 pairs of shoes each- a pair of joggers and sandals each, as well as a pair of pyjamas (the currently sleep naked) as well as a toiletry bag (that my nan and myself will run up) with soap and toothbrush holders as well as hairties for the girls etc.

Right now though, my main concern is the next three months rent. Rent is due on the
6th Feb and is $1200 that we don't have. I have complete faith that God will provide us with the funds to pay this, but I have no idea where the money is going to come from. If anyone was contemplating making a donation to the orphanage, now would be the time to do so!!
xx

life in Oz

2009-12-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

Life back here in Oz has been quite hectic. Not only due to the level of 'christmas crazy' which seems to descend at this time of year.. but also because of the increased work at the cinema (what i do when I'm not a) studying b) travelling or c) starting up charitable organisations). I've also had alot to do in terms of admin for the organisation. I'm in the process of incorporating as a non-profit, trying to gain tax exemption, working on this blog and trying to promote it, organising fundraisers, doing interviews for the local newspaper and radio. I've had no time for christmas shopping this year, which is just as well considering I have no money for gifts anyway. Gifts will be home-made this year! But that's ok, because a pretty important lesson that i've learned during my time in Ethiopia, is not the quantity or the price of a gift which is important, it's the act of giving itself.
When I was preparing to return home to Australia, i received several gifts from Ethiopian gifts. These weren't expensive presents or even new, they were just little tokens of their love for me, and for that I will cherish them more than if they had of given me the latest iphone or nintendo wii. These people have so little, but they are so ready to give it all away, it's very humbling.

I spoke to S and all the kids in turn yesterday. Last week we had a minor drama with one of the boys kicking another buy in the eye somehow, which fortunately did not cause damage to said boy's eye.. but resulted in punishment for the offender. Hillary was having problems with diarrohea again but it seems to be clearing up now that I have insisted on a total milk ban for her. Ytinet on the other hand seems to have picked up a bug or something and has vomiting and diarrohea which worries me, being so far away.. but our caregiver took her to the hospital yesterday and they prescribed anti-biotics so hopefully they make her better (i'm not entirely convinced though as she's been prescribed this same stuff 3 times already). Fortunately a lovely nurse from America is visiting tomorrow, so that puts my mind at ease a little!

S said that the kids all miss me and after hearing my voice, Gabbaeyaw ran around in circles for awhile she was so excited! I miss them all terribly, but know that i need to be here in order to help them.

The kids prior to Ashley Haven

2009-12-13T19:04:00.000-08:00

Winesnet- pictured with her very young aunt

Bereket- pictured with his aunt

Gashaw- pictured with his sister who is deaf/mute

Aesrasa and gabbayaew- pictured with their uncle

Abraham- pictured with a family friend

I just spoke to all the kids as well as S and it was so good to hear their voices! Hillary and Ytinet have been sick the past week with terrible diarrohea again and had to go to the health clinic to get yet more useless anti-biotics. Ytinet is a bit better now, but Hillary is still the same. Thankfully some lovely people are visiting in a weeks time and are hopefully bringing some much needed supplies for the kids!! There are some very kind people out there, I am discovering! A lovely lady from the United States sent me a generous donation this week as well and let me tell you, it couldn't have come at a better time! Our monthly bread contract ran out yesterday and we needed to renew it, our teff supply had run out and we needed to buy more for the kid's injera etc and I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to come up with that money right now, so thank you to that lovely lady!!

Sponsorship

2009-12-10T13:51:00.000-08:00

I've started a sponsorship program for the kids in Ashley Haven orphanage, as a way to generate the funds to keep this project running. Sponsorship costs are $80 AUD p/m for full sponsorship of one child, or $40 AUD for half sponsorship. I will mail out a folder with a photo of the sponsored child along with some info about that child. You will also receive periodic letters of update from the child personally. anyone interested can email me at sheridan.0hara@gmail.com
x

back Down Under and Pics!

2009-12-06T22:23:00.000-08:00

The kids (minus winesnet who was still at school)

Bereket (age 7-8) with Turet in their bedroom

Abraham (13)

Temesgen (12-12) with Hillary

Hillary (2)

Turet (15) with Aesrasa and Gashaw

Gabbayaew (7-8) with Ytinet (18months)

Aesrasa (age 10-11)

Winesnet (11-12) after her very first appointment at the hairdresser

Gashaw (13) with Ytinet (18months)

I'm back home again, or in one of my two homes anyway.. I am missing the kids and S terribly, but have alot to do in the way of fundraising etc so I will be nice and busy until I am able to go back to Ethiopia. Plus, I know everything that I am doing here is for the kids and this somehow makes it easier. All 10 kids need new shoes and I would dearly love to see them all in proper sandals and sneakers, but that wont happen unless I can raise some money and buy them here in Aus. At the moment they all own a pair of thongs (flip flops) or rubber shoes (similar in construction to crocs) except for Abraham who is wearing Winesnet's old pink rubber shoes! Even if I had the money in Lalibela, the selection of sneakers was very poor and those that were available were pretty cheap and nasty and likely to fall apart in 5 seconds flat. I made sure to trace each of the kids feet on paper before I left though, so once I have the cash, I will buy them all shoes in Aus and take them back with me next time I go. I'm soooo looking forward to doing some shopping for the kids, i have to stop myself from going into department stores because there are just soo many things that the kids need or would love, that I could spend hours in there!

I spoke to S the other night and will call him again in a minute and he said the kids are all missing me, Ytinet keeps wandering in and out of my room wondering where I am and Hillary asks S where I am all the time. All the kids are getting along much better now, we had a bit of a discussion with the two older girls before I left and I made it clear that I was not happy with their behaviour towards the boys (just some teasing etc) and they were very quiet the rest of that afternoon and since then have been on their best behaviour and S tells me that good behaviour has continued, so I'm very pleased about that! not that they were terrible before, just being 12 year old girls, stirring the boys up.. but it was enough to create some disharmony for a bit there, so i'm pleased we seem to have nipped it in the bud for now!

Valerie the goat still hasn't had the baby/babies (our cook Habtum thinks it will be twins, fingers crossed!) and they think it could be a few weeks yet.

home again

2009-12-03T16:01:00.000-08:00

well i left Ethiopia 43 hours ago and am now in Sydney airport (not so) patiently waiting for my flight home to my Australian family. It was really hard leaving the kids and all my friends and now colleagues behind.. our caregiver Sabi (or laza, her nickname) made me the full coffee ceremony the day before i left and was up all night long cooking for me, she made the most wonderful bag of goodies to take on my journey as a present- a bag of popcorn (my fave) and some intricate little biscuits.. amazing considering we only have a hotplate in our kitchen! she even sealed them properly in plastic like it was store bought- amazing because i have no idea where she managed to find plastic like that! she also made me this pasta i like and had it ready to eat for breakfast at 5am! so sweet and thoughtful, i'll miss her alot! our guard ayaltil bought me a couple of large bottles of water for my trip as a parting girft as well.. they are all so sweet and thoughtful, but i didn't like them spending their money on me. another friend ayusef gave me an old haille selassie coin as a parting gift! ethiopians are so incredibly kind.
i probably should update this properly when i'm not half delirious with lack of sleep.. will update more later and with photos!
xx

final days

2009-11-28T05:41:00.000-08:00

well it's my last saturday in lalibela, which is sad! i'm happy to be going home for christmas and to see my family, but i really love my life here and will miss the kids and staff tremendously!!
we have all been very busy here, we started our gardens last week and the kids and ayatil have really embraced the whole project. they all selected a couple of garden beds each and dug them all up by hand themselves, even the girls. the girls were lucky to find around 20 potatoes in their garden beds, leftover from the previous occupiers gardens. i helped them boil them all up and they had a very yummy feast of potatoes and salt, which they were pretty chuffed about! every morning at 6am they wake me up when they fill their watering cans and empty oil bottles outside my window, but i don't mind because i like seeing them so enthusiastic about watering their own little plots of earth :)
we also started a compost heap the other day, so hopefully we shall have some good compost by the time i come back.
oh! we acquired a new family member today! two, actually. we had been looking for a pregnant goat or goat with a kid because we want to start getting some milk, but all the goats we had priced were very expensive. so we were putting it off until we had the money- we don't even have a refrigerator yet due to lack of funds, so a goat was not high up the list of priorities.. but today the perfect goat kind of fell into our laps, so we had to buy it! S's brother buys a live goat for his family every saturday and today he bought a particularly fat goat thinking it would have alot of meat. however, when he took it to the butcher to have it slaughtered, they told him it was pregnant and they didn't want to kill it as it was due to have the baby anytime now. somehow he knew that we were looking for such a goat and long story short, we now have a pregnant goat at 1/4 of the price we otherwise would have paid! we named the goat valerie and the kids are all very excited about the new addition to the family and i think ayatil is secretly thrilled too, being a country guy. we had a photo shoot this afternoon and i am looking forward to coming home so i can post some pictures finally!
apart from agriculture, things are fine. there was no school yesterday and seems that when the kids aren't occupied, they fight like brothers and sisters.. and it always happens when im home and S isn't so i have no idea who the culprit is and usually comfort the wrong kid only to find out later that i had things backwards and was hugging the naughty kid and seding the wrong child to their room.. but it all works outn in the end. last night ayatil organised a meeting in the boys room with all the kids and he was giving them good avice about how to act decently. S and i spied on them through the window and it was very cute! he's so good with them all, and they all adore him.
ok must go
x

the bright side

2009-11-23T05:50:00.001-08:00

I had one afternoon of mild despair the other day when I last updated, mainly worried that I won't be able to sustain this project financially and everything seemed hopeless, but then I walked back up the hill to home and picked up both babies and i just knew that no matter what, I will make this work. I believe there are good people out there in this world who will help me sustain this, even if i can't do it all myself. So i'm just taking it as it comes. for now we have our little house rented for 3 months and the wages of our guard and cook and caregiver paid and we have food in our kitchen and most of all, we have big plans. and to me, that is the most important part because without big dreams and plans and hopes, none of this would be happening. but as it stands, i HAVE opened an orphanage, i HAVE given 10 children a family and clothes and a warm bed and food in their tummies and hope for a better future.
S and I have talked it over and we think the next step for the orphanage is to buy a 4wd van. it would serve many purposes. it would mean that during the day when S has nothing to do, he can either use the van as an airport shuttle (there's no public transport in lali, so it's the only way to get to town) or he can take tourists to the outlying rock hewn churches since he is a licensed guide. either way we estimate that we could earn enough income from a van to pay for at least a good portion of our daily expenses. the other good part about owning a van would be that it would save us alot of money with our flying to and from addis, and it would also mean that we would be able to drive the kids to dessie for things like dentists as we already know we need to make at least a couple of trips there. abraham may need glasses and temesgen really needs to go to a dentist and we need to buy a refrigerator which can only come from dessie etc. so a van is our first funraising goal. S estimates we need around 10,000 to buy a 4wd van that would fulfill all our needs, so when i get back to australia, that's what i will be trying to raise money for!
in the meantime, things here are going well, S managed to fix the bath yesterday so hopefully i will be able to have a warm trickle of a shower later! Hillary's darrohea is a bit better, our nanny is still tying rough scarves around hillary as a nappy of a nighttime and is still having to wash her at least once a night, but it's better than it was. ytinet has really warmed to me and only comes to me for comfort, which is very different to the early days when she would scream at the sight of me!! hillary is still S's girl and cries for him whenever he leaves the house. she eats nonstop and at the rate she is going will make a first class sumo wrestler. she's such a darling though, very sweet.
the sisters gabbayew and aesrasa have been fighting a bit lately and gashaw was in trouble for kicking today, but all of the got time outs and are behaving much better now. gashaw thought we were going to send him away though and was truly devastated, but we assured him that although we would send him to his room if he was naughty again, we weren't just going to send him away! poor kid came from a pretty terrible place, so its no wonder he was devastated. gashaw's parents are both dead and he was living in a truly horrible room with his deaf mute sister. the place he lived in was truly apalling and there is no way i would send him back to that life because it was pretty miserable.

our guard walked to his village yesterday for materials because we are building a chicken coop tomorrow and starting our permaculture gardens as well which is good! ayatil is a farmer when he's not working as a guard, so he is excited to have something constructive to do. im glad we will have a better supply of eggs as one of our kids in particular needs all the protein he can get as he has pretty severe kwashiorkor disease and looks about 9 months pregnant.

xxx

still here but bleeding ethiopian birr

2009-11-21T06:39:00.000-08:00

Alot has been going on here in sunny lalibela. The kids are getting settled into routines now, but they are also getting more familiar with us which is both good and bad. i love that they have all pretty much taken me on as mama, but you have to take the good along with the bad and the last few days they haven't been on their best behaviour. of course they dont speak much english, so most of it goes over my head but then S comes home and i find out they've been bad. nothing too terrible, just name calling and disobediance and it's stuff that we're getting on top of now that good behaviour reward systems etc have been introduced. but it's been a long past few days.
it kinda seems like it never rains but it pours here. everything broke down at once, hillary got a nasty eye infection and her diarrohea got alot worse, the babies somehow managed to dismantle part of the sink in the kitchen so we couldnt use it, the bath wouldn't drain, the kids broke one of the light switches, the lights in angelini's house wouldnt work and then we heard news that both of the babies mothers had cleared out of town. we went to investigate that yesterday and indeed they have left and noone knows where to. i'm sad for the babies as it means loss of contact with their birth mothers, but im hopeful they will resurface at some point. it means ive taken on the role of mama for real with them though and it's funny timing because all of a sudden, the babies really have adopted me as mama and only come to me for comfort whereas before they would go to S, and ytinet was terrified of me.
but anyways, we got the electrician and plumber in yesterday and got the house stuff sorted and were able to move our guard into the downstairs of angelini's and S moved his stuff upstairs. of course today the kids all decided to take baths despite our alternate day policy and surprise, surprise, the bath is now broken again.
but it's ok, i have faith things will work out. these are all just teething problems and at the end of the day, i take comfort in the fact that these kids now have a family and i will do everything in my power to make sure they can continue as such. it's saturday today and every saturday so far there has been at least one meltdown because on sundays the kids who have extended family here in lalibela go and visit them after church. there are 3 kids though who have literally no family left at all and when the others go to visit their aunts/uncles etc there are always a few tears. so tomorrow we will take those 3 (abraham, winesnet and turet) and go do something nice with them.
ok well someone is waiting for the internet so i shall have to go
xx

2009-11-13T03:48:00.000-08:00

Hi again from Lalibela!

I have been quite sick lately and unable to update this blog, sorry about that! Alot has been happening here meanwhile!!
We finally found a house we were able to rent, there was some difficulty locating an appropriate place as alot of places were reluctant to give out long leases as it is coming up to christmas and Lalibela is a bit of a mecca, so the owners know that they will make more money if they rent there buildings short term over christmas in the peak season. finally we found the perfect place- it's known as 'the palace' as it was built for king Haile Selassie's daughter. It's really just a lovely ramshackle old wooden house, but with the most glorious view i've ever seen! The house is perched right above the town on it's own little hill. There are actually two houses- the wooden main house and next to it; a two storey traditional stone tukul which is going to house our guard upstairs and a traditional kitchen downstairs since our cook- habtum prefers her charcoal stove to the electric one we bought with us from addis!
we spent the first day or two cleaning up and getting beds organised, buying more blankets etc and then the next day we spent walking around the villages meeting families who were housing orphans and it seemed that every person we talked to knew of another poor little waif who needed care and it got to the point where we took in 10 kids rather than our original planned 6. after that we had to say no and even now 5 days later, word is still going around the villages that there is a new orphanage opening in lalibela and we are getting approached by people multiple times a day asking us to take children. it's hard to say no to them but even if i wanted to take them in, i cannot. We sat down with the administrator (mayor) of lalibela yesterday and he said that whilst we can continue as we are until we get an official license, we can't take in any more kids. The kebele will like to have a hand in assigning the kids in the future, which i expected. so for now, our little family shall remain 10.
As for the kids themselves, they are:
Terut- 15 a boy who was living on the street and who has no family here. he's the sweetest 15 year old i've ever met, very much the protector of the family!
Abraham- 13 an orphan who was also homeless, he was staying with different friends before we took him in
Temesgen- 13 not an orphan but from a very poor family and was spending most of his time on the streets also
Gashaw- 11 an orphan, was living with his deaf sister who was very very poor
Bereket- 8 an orphan who was emaciated and living with his elderly grandmother. his family begged us to take him as they could not afford to feed him
Aesrasa and Gabayew -10 and 8 are sisters that are orphans and who were living with their very poor uncle. i met them last time i was in lalibela and was very happy to take them in as i knew their situation beforehand
wenisnet- 11 a homeless orphan. a local restaurant owner begges us to take her as she had noone and the local restaurants had been feeding her. she is very very sweet but quiet, very much a survivor
the babies are ytinet and hilary- 17months and 2 years today. daughters of local prostitutes, they are not orphans, but were very neglected so their mothers very happily placed them in our care. prior to living with us, the babies were left every night to cry alone in their rooms while their mothers worked. Ytinet is quite sickly, hilary is in better health. both have flu and chronic diarrohea and ytinet fits 00 clothes or 6-9 month old clothes while hilary is more the size of an 18month old. they are both walking and talking a little bit, but are very small for their age.

so far they all get along very well, they all walk to school together and come home together and play nicely and it is just amazing to see them smiling and laughing as they were a very solemn bunch the first day i met them!

I'm learning alot here in lalibela- the kids are very much habesha and reject alot of my western ways, especially my food haha. the first night before our cook started, i made them pasta with bolognaise sauce and they all ran to the bathroom and washed off the sauce in the sink! they didn't eat the pasta either! i also tried to give them peanut butter to eat on their bread for breakfast but they rejected that too telling me it was 'kaka' or yukky, instead they prefer to tear chunks of bread and dip it into black tea, which i find very strange. so i eat my bread with peanut butter and drink my tea with milk and they have their plain bread dipped in black tea and we agree that never the twain shall meet!
i've also never met cleaner ethiopians, they would happily bathe 5 times a day if i let them! to begin with i was a little more lax, but now i am getting tired of cleaning the bathroom a million times a day so we have set restrictions on bath time, much to their dismay :)

ok well i must go, ive tied the internet up too long!

x
--
Here's a sigh to those who love me, and a smile to those who hate, and whatever sky's above me, here's a heart for every fate.
- Lord Byron

lalibela finally!

2009-11-05T20:28:00.000-08:00

Well as you can probably guess from the title of this post, I'm in lalibela at long last! I arrived in Addis on Monday, S picked me up from the airport. he hired his friends car for 2 days which was a blessing because it was cheaper than taking taxis everywhere and meant we could go wherever we wanted and we needed to visit a few places in order to buy the things we wanted to take with us to lalibela. so that was great! we didn't do alot on monday evening, by the time we found a nice guest house (Da Liz Guesthouse) run by a very nice ethiopian couple from Boston, got settled and had a bite to eat, there was only enough time to go to the piazza area to price up some mattresses. We bought 10 mattresses at 160 birr or around $14 each, alot cheaper than i expected! I went to bed pretty early that night (actually i think it was still daylight) becaue i was pretty jetlagged. tuesday was a full day of shopping. we had to go back and pick up the mattresses and transport them back to my hotel room which was fortunately very large! we tied the 10 matresses to the roof of a taxi, squished them into my room and then went to the mercato (the largest market in africa) and haggled over sets of sheets, pillow cases, towels, a stove and bag to carry everything. then it was off to the supermarket to buy other essentials like cleaning products, milk powder, oats, some food stuffs that you cant buy in lalibela etc.
wednesday was up bright and early- and by that i mean not very bright, but very very early. S was at my guest house by 3:30 with a taxi and since ethiopian tme runs on a different system to european time, i thought he said 4:30 and so i wasnt reasdy and it was a big rush to shove stuff into my bags which meant that i was very unorganised and didn't think to put overnight stuff in the bags i was carrying onto the bus. which come into play a bit later..
so we got to the bus station and waited there for a good 2 hours along with a million ethiopians and eventually left at 6:30 on a very dirty, pretty crowded bus. there was noone standing or anything, but every seat was taken. so it was not exactly a comfortable trip. it was definately an experience though! it was great to experience travel the way that ethiopians do- rather than the nice short 1 hour plane trip i would otherwie have takn to lalibela. the days on the bus started out freezing cold, then got a little warmer until the sun came out and then it was boiling hot and stifling on the bus because ethiopians have a fear of fresh air and all of the windows are wired shut. so by the end of the day your bum and back are killing and you can barely breathe. i was pretty concerned about the toilet issue too because as my family know, i hav the bladder of a gnat. well i was relieved when we stopped after a couple of hours and s told me it was for a toilet break. that was until i jumped off the bus eagerly and discovered that by 'toilet' he meant a stand of very thin eucalypts. everyone was in the same boat, but still.. peeing in public takes a bit to get used to!! and that was only the start of my ethiopian public toilet education. by now, i can go anywhere. yesterday i went in a dark mud hut that was just a dirt hole.. gemma would have been horrified haha
enough about toilets though..
we stayed overnight in a place called dessie. it has a few large modern buildings but the roads are under construction so it was very very dusty and dirty. the nice motel was booked out, so we got 2 rooms at the next best option- the lalibela hotel. i was hanging out for a shower, but there were no towels and mine was on top of the bus along with my clothes so i settled for a wet wipe and dry shampoo- luckily i couldnt fit my toiletry bag in my backpack, so it was in my carry on! we met up with some of s's friends and priced refridgerators becaue you cant get them in lali. we found a small samsung that was pretty reasonable for $200 and organised to have it picked up sometime this week. we went to dinner with s's friend at the blue nile restaurat which was very nice- it was a fasting day so it was all vegetarian. did a bit more shopping as s had a bunch of requests from ppl in lalibela for gin and oranges and phones etc.
had an early night as had to be up by 4 again next morning for bus. i was devastated my sleeping bag was still on the bus becaus the motel was not very clean and i had no option bnut to sleep in the dirty sheets and just my luck- it was freezing and i had to cuddle up to them. but i survived and made it to lalibela yesterday afternoon and was able to get a room at the sven olives hotel again. of course my shower didn't work- they never do- but the manager found me a shower in another room that had a lukewarm trickle, so i made the most of it and washed my hair. felt a million times better once clean and in fresh clothes! i wouldn't take the bus again if given the option because it was verrry long etc but am really glad i did it at least once. the scenery was beautiful, ethiopia is very mountainous and it was fun stopping in at small villages for lunch etc or just slowing down so that villagers could quickly jump on and sell kolo (roasted grains like barley) or sugarcane for snacks.

last night in lali i had a lovely dinner with s at the hotel, laughed myself silly at his pronunciation of words like thick and silver and he taught me how to call a cat in ethiopia. there was a cat at the restaurant and i was calling puss puss or pss pssss and it totally ignored me, but he called brrrrrr and the damn thing came running!
slept very well last night all snug in my sleeping bag and am now waiting to go look at houses to rent this morning. we have 3 bunk beds being made up today as well. will update again with a rented house, hopefully!
there are alot of farenjis in lali at the moment (foreigners, tourists) and it's funny but i dont feel like a tourist this time around. all the hotel staff remembered me from last time, which i didn't expect!

okay well i should go have some breakfast. love to all xx

Introduction

2009-10-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

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.