Yawenta Children’s Center

Dear Family, Friends and Supporters!

This month’s report is late again; my excuse is that we’ve all been very, very busy, as you will soon see. As far as our 10 original beneficiaries were concerned, the month was rather quiet. Bethlehem’s mother left Shashamane with her daughter in the middle of the month, without informing us. We can only hope that she will be able to take care of Bethi properly, wherever she may be. Several of the children were sick with colds and consequently not at school for some time. This gave us the opportunity to work more intensively with those who were present, especially as our assistant teacher, Miss Belaynesh, joined us in the second week of the month. The children finished the mud house in the yard and put on the straw roof – it looks great! – sewed little bags all by themselves; and learned about the sun, moon and stars, as well as about their bodies. This latter theme will continue for some time; we started with bones, muscles, and the breathing and digestive systems, and will be continuing with other parts of the body, including the immune system, next month.

The major work this month was the preparations for the 15 – or rather 16, since Bethi has left – new children. We fixed up the kitchen to accommodate cooking for so many people, got a new table and 13 new chairs for the classroom, fixed up the second sleep room, and put carpets on the floor of the verandah. The second toilet was completed, a shoe rack built, and two more dolls as well as four new puzzles purchased. Miss Belaynesh has been learning about our way of teaching, which is quite different from what she’s used to. Finally, on the 2^nd of June, a committee made up of representatives from various AIDS and other social organizations, as well as members of the local administration, chose the new beneficiaries. It was not an easy task, especially when we went down to the market where the poorest of all people live – Jony and Genet’s neighbourhood. From there alone we selected 7 children, who are not HIV positive themselves, although most of their parents are. One of the children, Joseph, is mentally handicapped, the rest are just very poor and/or have lost their parents. One child, Haymanot, is actually being brought up by neighbours since her parents died; we are glad to be able to support those good people, who are struggling to make ends meet themselves.

The first day with the new children was quite hectic, the minibus we had arranged to pick them up didn’t show up, so I ended up carrying some of them from the market to the main road and packing them in ‘bajajes’ (motorized rickshaws) to get them to school. By now we’ve got another minibus, so things are getting easier again. Some of the children did not know how to use a toilet at all and did their business on the toilet floor instead; our ‘older’ students have now taken to showing them all kinds of things they only learned themselves 3 months ago. We had no problem however, with food: the new students were not picky at all but finished off everything we gave them. Miss Medhanit our cook passed her great test with flying colours. Our pots now are huge, going to the market or the fruit shop a major operation. But everyone has pulled together and that way we made it work. The most amazing thing to me was how quickly the new children got used to the discipline and program at our school; only the first two days were a bit confusing, now they’re learning just like the ‘old’ students. Jony and Genet’s mothers have spoken to the parents of the new children about hygiene, and they arrive a little less dirty now. Nevertheless, we’ve been giving them baths and have bought a set of new clothes for each child, which we’ll be giving to them next week. I’ll be telling you more about each of the new children by next month.

My main worry at this time is, once again, Jony. About three weeks ago he got sick, diarrhea and fever for which I haven’t had an explanation yet, and stayed home for a week and a half. I don’t think he got anything to eat in that time, and he lost 2 kg off his – extremely low – 12 kg. He came back to school very weak, sitting down frequently and barely smiling at all. After more than a week back at school he’s better again, and I’m bringing him extra food on the weekends as well, but I’m still worried because 10 kg is terrible for a nearly-5-year-old. I’m currently looking for someone to look out for him when I’m in Europe in July.

Finally, I’ve grappled with the authorities and got the extension for our license. I’ve also applied for funding from the Oromia HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office. They are supposed to come and assess the project next week.

Financial Report:

Our very generous supporter from Ireland, Sis. Emma, has sent in another donation of 17,842.50 birr – thank you! She’s also offered to get us more of those brilliant multi-vitamins that the children love so much. Expenses for May were 13,980.71 birr on the following items:

We’ve adjusted the budget somewhat to make room for the transportation, for field trips and for clothes for the children. This was quite easy as we haven’t spent much on administration at all, and don’t intend to do so if we can help it at all.

This month’s pictures are from ‘the time before the new children came’ as well as from ‘the time after’. You’ll see how beautiful they all are, and the joy that shows on their faces when they learn and play.

With heartical greetings,

Isheba Tafari

President

Positive Action Charity Organization