Yawenta Children’s Center

Dear Family, Friends and Supporters!

Last month there was no report, as I was on holiday in Europe. Well, not only holiday: I did some fundraising and a lot of promotional work for the project, too, but I did recharge my batteries on rest and Mama’s food. Since I was not here, all I have to report about the month of July is that the project was running as usual, with the help of the substitute manager/supervisor, Mr. Mesfin Marshall. Our 26^th child, Sara, joined the group and has turned out to be an exceptionally sweet, intelligent and helpful child.

On returning, one thing I noticed immediately was that many of the children had changed physically. Their faces had brightened, they looked a lot cleaner and healthier than before. The amount of food they now eat is quite amazing: we buy 9 kilos of potatoes, 6 kilos of carrots, 5 kilos of porridge and more every week, and there usually aren’t any leftovers at all. In spite of these positive developments, I also had to quickly take charge of the children’s health, as the rainy season had conspired with their living conditions to produce all kinds of illnesses. Jony was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis; I was initially very afraid for the other children as well as the staff, but Dr. Zebenay reassured me that children’s TB is hardly infectious at all. Consequently we decided to keep Jony at the project even while he started the medication.

Starting from the beginning of August, I hired a part-time social worker, Ms. Misa, who had been volunteering with our clients and their parents for years. She took on the dangerous task of taking Jony to the TB clinic at 6 o’clock every morning for 2 months, in order to get his injections. She and Jony both have to wear a face mask because the place is full of sick coughing people, some of whom are highly infectious. Misa has also been taking the other children to the doctor’s one by one, and they were found to have malaria, pneumonia (2 cases), chickenpox (2 cases so far), urinary tract infections (2 cases), giardia, amoeba and a variety of intestinal parasites including dog tapeworms (2 cases). We sincerely hope that when the children have finished all their medications and have cleared out these illnesses that undoubtedly have been with them for a long time, they will become more healthy and stronger.

Yosef, the mentally handicapped boy, is still a handful, but the teachers are saying he is learning new words from the other children, and he has adopted the sandpile which we had to put in our small front yard while the road is being fixed up as his personal playground. He loves mixing the sand with water and putting it in containers, then stirring the mixture and calling it ‘wot’ (sauce). A few of the ‘new’ children have proven to be very bright and quick to learn, especially Sara, Abiti, Abdurahim and Bereket. Others are demonstrating their own talents one by one, such as Cheri who is proving to be a talented artist who can paint anything with a brush neatly and beautifully.

The big event of August was a Drama Therapy Project planned, organized and executed by two exceptional volunteers: Binyam Solomon, a young drama graduate and film director from Addis Ababa, and Sis. Anna, a Rasta sister from Italy who had been volunteering for an Addis Ababa based project for the rehabilitation of sexually abused children together with Binyam. They both came to Shashamane for one whole week and raced through an entire program including exposure, mirror games, pantomime, listening exercises, rhythm, singing, and painting. The children helped to paint the backdrop, made stripes and dots on their costumes, decorated the props, painted the tails for all the animals, and learned two brand new songs as well as the text of the drama. We extended their class times to 5 o’clock in the afternoon for the week in order to manage the amount of work, and while Binyam, Sis. Anna and the teachers were busily teaching the children, I purchased materials for the props and sewed all the costumes.

The project, aimed at teaching the children self-confidence and self-awareness, concluded with the first performance of ‘The Leopard’s Drum’, with the parents as audience. At first the children were a bit scared of so many people looking at them, but then they remembered their text and performed nicely. Sara excelled as the leopard, Abiti was a fierce lion, Kalkidan a sly python, Sitota a big fat elephant and Dagmawit the slow-moving, clever little tortoise. It was a great experience for the children and we are very proud of their accomplishment. We are planning to put on at least two more performances in order to strengthen their self-confidence and stage presence even more.

Financial Report:

At the end of June we finally received the donation from our supporters in Germany which had been sent way back in April, amounting to 16,293.94 Birr. On my trip to Austria, I was given the following donations: € 100 from Christine Niemetz; € 250 from Birgit; € 240 from Ferry, George, Peter, Norman, Jutta, Boro, Peter F. and Geraldine, which were spent on musical instruments and toys as suggested by the donors; € 1,000 from Mr. and Mrs. Fischer; € 50 from Dr. Balluch; € 250 from Maria and Herbert Blazejovsky; € 120 from Nina and Udo; € 100 from Heide; € 250 from Juliane Knödler; € 250 from Mr. and Mrs. Rauscher; and € 500 from two story-telling circles. In addition, Barbara Staudinger donated a set of beautiful toys. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our very generous supporters from my heart. We pledge again to use these funds where they directly benefit the children.

Expenses for July and August were 23,889.- Birr on the following items:

In addition to these expenses within the country, while I was in Europe I bought materials worth € 444.79 from the generous donations given to me:

• Kitchen Equipment € 69.90
• Teaching Materials (Toys and Musical Instruments) € 197.36
• Medication (including high calorie food for Jony and Genet) € 177.53

This month’s pictures are all about the drama therapy project. I hope you’ll enjoy them!

With heartical greetings,

Isheba Tafari

President

Positive Action Charity Organization