AHOPE for Children News

August - September, 2005

Dear  Friends:

 

    THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT HAS APPROVED THE ARV MEDICINE FOR OUR KIDS!  WE PLAN TO BEGIN THE ANTI RETRO VIRAL MEDICAL REGIMES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.  The Barlow Clinic in Addis Ababa, established by our partner charity, World Wide Orphans Foundation (WWO), has been ready to proceed for several months.  And now the medications are on the way!!

 

     This is a letter I never could have imagined writing when we established AHOPE for Children.  At that time, we thought the best we could do for an HIV infected orphan in Ethiopia was to provide care and love for the happiest childhood possible and then have hospice care for the inevitable consequence of AIDS.

 

A couple of the new kids (aren’t they adorable)

     The first time I interviewed the children  of AHOPE Ethiopia, I asked each child what he or she wanted to be when grown up.  At that time, the probability of any of those HIV infected child to live to adulthood was practically nil.  What a change has occurred in just a few years. With the medication, the children have a very good chance to become productive members of the Ethiopian society.  With the help of WWO, we can begin a new focus to provide the best educational opportunities for our children while providing counseling that will help them understand and cope with all the tragedies of their lives, as well as social services to provide transition into successful adulthood.  We can move forward now with a reasonable expectation that we will raise the children to become caring, confident and capable adults. Just watch us, Ethiopia.  Here comes a new generation of doctors, pilots, ministers, teachers, social workers, truck drivers, musicians and motorcycle racers, to name just some of the hopes and dreams that the children have described as they think about the future that is now a realistic possibility for them.  

 

     Advances in medical treatment for HIV patients have changed the way that AIDS is being perceived in many ways.  HIV is now described as a chronic but manageable disease by the medical profession.  This new perception has changed attitudes towards adoptive placement of HIV infected children and there is now at least one Ethiopian orphan adopted and home in the States while at least two others, including an older girl at AHOPE Ethiopia, are in the adoption process. Congratulations to the new families.  We all hope that the children are home soon.

 

     Ethiopian government officials inspected AHOPE Ethiopia at its one-year anniversary in  July and were very favorably impressed. The audit of their books showed no irregularities.  We are now on the right track, thanks to the AHOPE Ethiopia board and, especially, to the talented and dedicated director of AHOPE Ethiopia, Sidisse Buli.

 

     AND NOW TO THE BOTTOM LINE:  AHOPE for Children needs to raise a lot of money to continue and expand our help to the HIV Ethiopian orphans.  In three weeks of late July and early August, seven new HIV positive children were admitted to AHOPE Ethiopia and we expect to grow to about 80 by year’s end.  But we need the money to do so.  In the past year there have been a benefit dance concert, garage sales, memorial donations, and donations in lieu of other gifts to honor weddings, birthdays, the arrival of a new child, holidays and in appreciation for something good that has happened.  We have wonderful and faithful sponsors that provide the backbone of the support for AHOPE, but we have to rely on the larger donors to make up about 2/3 of the money we need.  The People Magazine article brought only a handful of responses to both WWO and to us, a big disappointment—I was mistaken in reporting that WWO had a big response in the last newsletter.   We have applied for two grants and are doing research on other possible grant opportunities.  We would be very happy to hear from those of you who are grant writers or who know of someone who will write grants on a volunteer basis.  If you know of any corporations, organizations or individuals that may be willing to help support our projects, please let us know about them and/or please let them know about us. If you have expertise or ideas to share, please contact us. We are working on a new brochure and some improvements/additions to the web site. Our wish list includes a new building (and the money to purchase/build) that is more suitable than our present rented houses that were definitely not designed to be children’s homes. Any/all help is appreciated.

 

     Thank you one and all for your generous support, your encouragement and your prayers.  You have literally given life and a future to some of the world’s most needy children.  We can’t do it all, but we are doing SOMETHING, and that is a start.

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 Kathryn Pope Olsen