WINTER, 2007

 

Another season of gratitude and celebration is upon us.  2007 has been a year of incredible growth and change for AHOPE for Children and its partner NGO, AHOPE Ethiopia.  We again will be offering “in honor of” cards and sponsorships as a meaningful (and life-changing for the beneficiary children) holiday gift options

 

Susan Poisson-Dollar, our Development Director, is organizing our first AHOPE volunteer work trip.  From February 14-24, 2008, Susan and a group of about 12 volunteers will do a variety of short-term projects at AHOPE, assist the caretaking staff, and, of course, meet and interact with the children.  Normally our required minimum for volunteers is six weeks but we are hoping that this type of trip will allow supporters who don't have that time flexibility to experience AHOPE and return better educated about our mission and goals.  There are already eight firmly committed participants and a number of others who have expressed interest in joining the group.  Purchase of round trip plane tickets by mid-December will be required to confirm participation and the group will be capped at 12-14 participants.  Lodging will be in inexpensive but comfortable guesthouse-style accommodations.   For further information, please contact Susan directly at spdfish@nycap.rr.com. 

 

Barbara Kassler is our new Director of Volunteers, replacing Patricia Murray, who is stepping down from that post to resume her work with traumatic head injury patients for the Veteran’s Administration. Many thanks to Patricia for developing a standardized and professional screening and mentoring program for US volunteers working in Ethiopia, among many contributions to AHOPE.  Patricia isn’t leaving us altogether—she continues as a sponsor and is hoping to volunteer in Ethiopia when her schedule allows.  New Director Barbara served as a volunteer at the AHOPE Children’s Homes from December of 2005 to February of 2006.  She brings to our organization a wealth of overseas volunteer experience in many countries.  Enquiries about volunteering at AHOPE Ethiopia may be directed to Barbara at ahopevolunteer@gmail.com.

 

The Community Outreach Project/Child Development Center, which officially opened in September, already has about 40 children enrolled, with an expected enrollment of about 100 by early next year.  Full day care is provided at a rented compound consisting of a large house with lots of outdoor play area.  Having the children in day care ensures that they receive their meals, medications and education. Many of the children have never been to school so two teachers are providing catch-up classes on a daily basis for the various age levels.  The children are kept busy with planned activities and supervised play.   The children’s guardians, usually a grandmother or aunt who has assumed care for orphaned relatives, receive ongoing counseling and support.  The Community Outreach Project model created by AHOPE Ethiopia is being studied for replication in other parts of the country, where there is a desperate need for help to enable what remains of the HIV infected orphan’s family to care for that child. Orphanage care remains as a last resort.

 

Application has been made to the Ethiopian government for land on which to build AHOPE Children’s Village.  Although the November black tie fundraiser in Seattle had to be cancelled, we do plan to continue a vigorous capital campaign to build the village.  The capital fund has recently received an extraordinarily generous donation of $50,000 from the Ord Foundation and we give special thanks to Foundation Trustee, Caroline Treadwell. Pete and Andrea Kidd hosted a fundraising dinner at their Virginia country club in October and there have been many other events to raise both awareness and funds. We so grateful to have such caring support.

 

The Imagine AHOPE conference is scheduled for November 17/18 in Seattle, with 15 AHOPE supporters invited to represent the various “stakeholder” groups of AHOPE—donors, sponsors, grantors, board members, staff, adoptive parents, etc.  as we launch a project that will transform AHOPE for Children from a founder-led to a board managed organization.  We have arrived at the point where this transition is essential for continued growth and development.  The AHOPE kids are counting on us and we are dedicated to doing our best for them.  Participants are coming from Ethiopia, Canada and the USA.  There will be opportunity for members of the AHOPE community-at-large to have input and dialogue in the next two or three transition years. The Imagine conference is just the beginning of the process.

 

Welcome to Dr. Kalid Asrat, the new AHOPE staff pediatrician, working in-house about half-time to give checkups and routine medical care.  Dr. Asrat received his MD degree from Addis Ababa University with a specialty in pediatrics and child health.  He has received additional certification from Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University’s Bloomburg School of Public Health after specialized training in Bangladesh, South Africa and Ethiopia. He is a member of the Ethiopian Medical Association, Ethiopian Pediatrics Society and the Ethiopian National Association for the Deaf.  He is fluent in English, Arabic, Oromifa and Amharic and is conversant in Somali. 

 

Worldwide Orphans Foundation has established a new elementary school in Addis Ababa with 16 of AHOPE’s kindergarten age children enrolled in the founding class. (Many thanks to WWO for so many wonderful things for our kids!) The rest of the older children have returned to their various public schools and after school tutoring at the older children’s compound.  We have some remarkably talented scholars among the children and are looking ahead to college and vocational opportunities. 

 

Special thanks are also due to Ato Asnake Emanuel and the media center of Children’s Home Society and Family Service, Ethiopia Branch, for providing a remarkable DVD of the AHOPE projects in Ethiopia. A professional photographer on their staff spent several weeks filming all aspects of the children’s homes and the outreach project.   Hopefully we will have a version of this DVD available for fundraisers and interested donors by early 2008.  

 

We have our own coffee brand!  The Vashon Roasterie has developed a fair trade blend just for AHOPE for Children.  Coffee beans come in one-pound bags with AHOPE logo along with a card from AHOPE.  The cost per pound is $12.95 of which $1.50 per bag will be donated by the Roasterie to AHOPE.  To order coffee, contact the Roasterie at 206-463-9800 or order from their website www.tvicr.com to have coffee sent as a gift.

 

There is so much more news that won’t fit into this newsletter. For more frequent and detailed reports about the AHOPE projects and children, please join AHOPE’s Yahoo support group.  We receive updates from AHOPE Ethiopia about every two weeks, and much of the new information is then passed along to the members of the group by the facilitator, Director of Development, Susan Poisson-Dollar.  To join the group, send an email to Susan:  spdfish@nycap.rr.com.

Other Connections:

Erin Henderson, Supplies Coordinator: ahopesupplies@gmail.com

Barbara Kassler, Volunteer Coordinator: ahopevolunteer@gmail.com.

By-invitation-only Internet group for parents and prospective parents of HIV+ children:  contact the AHOPE for Children office.

 

ON BEHALF OF THE CHILDREN OF AHOPE, THANK YOU AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS! KATHY OLSEN