Dear Family, Friends and Supporters!

June was another busy month, especially so since it took us some time to complete the registration process for the new children. One boy had to be expelled from the project because his parents had registered him under a false name. Apart from the fact that I don’t expect people to lie to me if we are trying to help their child, this could also get us into problems: what if an accident or something happened and the police asked us for the names of the children? So although I felt sorry for the boy, I had to replace him with another child, Rediet, who is 5 years old and HIV positive. We also decided to quickly buy a set of second-hand clothes for all children; even though some of the children have decent clothes, others definitely don’t, and if we only buy for some the others will be disappointed and cry. It was quite a task to find that amount of children’s clothes in the market, guess the right sizes, and then fit them so that each child got one that fitted him or her. In the end they were all happy and showing off their new clothes.

Joseph, the boy who is mentally retarded, was absent for the first two weeks as he was sick and his mother took him to see a doctor in Addis Ababa. When he finally joined us, I won’t deny that it was difficult at first: he was very noisy and disturbed the new children a good deal. He obviously hadn’t been used to playing with other children, although he would allow grown-ups to play with him. But after a few days he started adapting to the other children and calming down considerably. I am still looking for persons qualified to teach mentally handicapped children to advise us on what to do with him; for the time being, we are giving him food and love and a lot of patience. His mother recently told me some of her story, and that helped me to realize fully how important it is for her that her child is in school now. First of all, she hasn’t been able to hold a steady job on account of having to take care of Joseph. She is very poor and has now started to work carrying stones at a local building site. She seems determined to try to better her and her son’s situation. She said that twice already some foreigners offered to take her boy to Europe to take care of him, but she didn’t want to give him away; after all, he is her only child.

Finally, I had to accept one more child, bringing the total number to 26. The mother called to me on the street as I was going from one office to the other finishing some paperwork. She reminded me that I had met her in the Kuyera Hospital ART ward when I was first looking for beneficiaries for our project. She then took me to her house, and although I have seen a lot in the last few months, I nearly cried. She moved to Shashamane with her three children when her husband died, and is making a meager living from selling araki, a local liquor. Her room is tiny and very dirty, the oldest son, who is about 9, is extremely thin and is not in school yet. Her second daughter, Sara, is 6 and HIV positive. The mother is completely uneducated and doesn’t know much about check-ups or CD₄ counts. She has got a little one about 1 year and 2 months old who hasn’t been tested yet. I thought that the situation merited making an exception and adding one more child.

I will be spending the month of July in Europe, get some long-overdue rest and do some promotion for the project. We had planned to close down for a month to allow the staff to take their yearly holidays, but I was told by the authorities that we are not allowed to do so. I had to quickly find one substitute teacher, Miss Yerusalem, who will be replacing Miss Tsehay in July and Miss Belaynesh in August, and asked a friend, Mr. Mesfin Marshall, a college teacher and academic coordinator, to take over my managerial responsibilities while I am away. The week before leaving was extremely stressful, I hardly got any sleep at all, but now I’m at least confident that everything will be all right while I am gone.

On June 25 we took the children on another field trip, this time to Langano, a crater lake with beach about 50 km north of Shashamane. Preparations included buying towels for all the new children and embroidering their names on them; buying the little swim trunks you’ll see in the photos and embroidering their names on those; and preparing a big pot of food early in the morning to take with us. When we reached after about an hour’s drive in a minibus, the children loved digging in the sand and splashing in the shallow water. We took lunch with us and some fruit juices, and the children were free to romp about for a while. We had to take good care at all times, as small children can drown even in shallow water, but everything went well, the weather was beautifully sunny (I have got a sunburn to prove it) and warm and the hotel area where we spent the day is well kept and full of trees and flowers. We found pumice stones that swim in water, the weaverbirds tried to steal the leftover food, and the children got to experience a proper water toilet, which was very fascinating to them. It was a beautiful day, and on the way back everyone fell asleep happily.

Financial Report:

Here the financial report for June. In most budget areas we are still within limits, even though the prices of items such as foodstuff have gone up dramatically. During the first month with the new children, we spent a total of 10,526.50 birr on the following items:

I’d like to reaffirm to our sponsors that although we do have administrative expenses including the salaries for myself, the guard and the accountant, we do not draw these expenses from sponsorship money. The money you give to sponsor a specific child goes towards recurring expenses such as food, hygiene and medication, the support staff salaries (for the teachers, the cleaner and the cook) and items such as teaching materials and clothes.

This month’s pictures show most of our new children as they play and learn and eat, and of course we have taken some photos at Langano. If you would like to become a sponsor of one of our children, we would gladly send you the info leaflet and the registration form containing the names and pictures of all children.

As I am looking forward to my holiday, I am already planning to improve our services even more when I return, especially in the field of education. For now, I’d like to again thank all of you for the great encouragement. Although I believe in our project, it means a lot to me when ones praise the work or comment on aspects that may have escaped my attention. Your moral support helps me to get going when I am tired and stressed. Thanks!

With heartical greetings,

Isheba Tafari

President

Positive Action Charity Organization