As promised, this is the song my daughter (5.5 years old!) and her friend wrote on the playground the other day. Their teacher heard them singing it and asked if she could transcribe it. I was pretty durn PROUD!!!

Of course, I’m not so whistfully naive to think that my girls just randomly happened along to the values of acceptance, appreciation and openess. We’ve tried really hard as parents to teach them to embrace others’ religions, cultural makeups and family structures. It is a pretty nice bonus that Sugar has found a friend who has the same values too, though! Good friends you can’t plan; they are a gift.

It was wonderful to hear yesterday that President Obama went on record supporting same sex marriage. I am not surprised that his wife and children played a role in encouraging him to evolve his views. My kids are completely cool with different family makeups (actually, Sugar wrote a lovely song the other day about it, and I’ll post it here soon..) and no doubt it’s the same none-issue for his daughters.

For any of our dear readers from the US, we in Canada have had same sex marriage for years. I honestly think “marriage rights for all” only has positive influences on our society. My only misgiving about the US moving forward (hopefully) on gay/lesbian marriage may be that we might lose our valuable tourism market! lol since we have a lot of US citizens coming to Canada to get hitched.

Way to go, Obama!

Today we spent several hours at Faya Orphanage. Read about our meetings with the director, how the kids are doing and cared for, and see pictures of the lovely children! We also have an important question for sponsors… You can answer the poll on the vulnerablechildren site, or leave a comment here, since the comments aren’t working over there for some reason.

Read more… http://vulnerablechildren.ca/2012/05/02/faya-orphanage-in-adama-question-for-faya-child-sponsors

When we were visiting our House 2 House families in Guder, we also met with two women, the secretary and treasurer from the local Sunrise Women’s Enterprise Association.  … It was awesome to see such enthusiastic young women taking leadership in their community to change their lives! Read more!

Mom and I just had a restful night in Seattle and we are on our way
this morning to Ethiopia. In case you are wondering about the picture
above, that is the only way I can sleep in the same room with my mother!
And I thought you would find it amusing. T left a day before us,
routed through China. We are both reminiscing about our last trip to
Ethiopia together and how different this one is. We have four huge
checked bags full of donations – thank you to everybody who donated
medicine, toys, toothbrushes and shoes! And Tawnya had a huge bag as
well, including the laptop we scored for Faya Orphanage from BC Tree
Fruits.

I think all of us have different goals for this trip. T said
she’s looking forward to meeting all the people she’s been working with
over email for the last 2 years. Mom is looking forward to meeting the
kids and their guardians in the House 2 House program. As our update
lady, she knows all their faces, but she is looking forward to seeing
their smiles in person. She is also very interested to meet the
guardians of the kids… She says that they are the real heroes in our
program, taking care of vulnerable children who are often extended
family. Mom says they deserve our respect and she’s excited about
meeting them, especially the grandmother who takes care of the little
boy she sponsors. Of course we both have personal goals for the trip,
but that’s another story.

As for me, I think I’m really happy about meeting with our Ethiopian
partners and figuring out so many details that are hard to explain while
on the phone. I’m looking forward to meeting the government officials
and the folks at the HIV clinic who refer our families, checking in with
the families and seeing what their needs are, and really understanding
the whole system. We’re also doing exploratory work on this trip- we’ve
been thinking of starting other programs like micro finance and small
plot gardening, and I’m very interested in hearing from the families
what they think would be most beneficial to break them out of the
poverty cycle and enable them to care for their families self
sufficiently. The other goal for the trip is to work out kinks with our
updates and to figure out some more Vulnerable Children oversight and
engagement measures as our projects and activities continue to grow.
We’re considering hiring a (very) part time administrator in Ethiopia,
and have candidate interviews planned for next week.

Well, we’re now off to the airport. We should be arriving in Addis Ababa tomorrow.

Thanks for following along! Read more about Vulnerable Children

Nicky

AIDS ORPHANS ABANDONED ON LESOTHO’S STREETS TO DIE ALONE

By Basildon Peta, in Nazareth Haphloane, Lesotho

From The Independant, Saturday 14 January 2006

In Nazareth Haphloane, straddling a picturesque valley in the kingdom of Lesotho, women till the rocky fields, men look after livestock and children attend school.

It seems a tranquil neighbourhood, at peace with itself. But most mornings, the village wakesto a grim reality: the death of another of its own. The tiny mounds of fresh gravel in the graveyard tell a chilling story.

“At this rate of dying, this village will soon be wiped out,” Liphapang Phafoli, a village elder, says. “We are burying a child or adult victim of Aids almost every day.”

In Nazareth Haphloane and other districts of Lesotho, perhaps an even worse reality has emerged: very young Aids orphans are being abandoned on the streets. Relatives are either incapable of looking after them or do not want to be “overburdened by someone’s HIV-positive child who is going to die anyway”, says Mphonyane Mofokeng, of Save the Children Lesotho.

Mr Phafoli, 70, is among the village elders who have now formed a community group to tackle Aids in a country where 30 per cent of the 1.8 million inhabitants are infected. Lesotho is the third hardest-hit country in the world. To head off the unfolding catastrophe, Mr Phafoli proposes drastic and immediate action. Everybody in the village must be tested for Aids. If they refuse, the government must compel them. If everyone gets to know the truth about themselves and others, more deaths will be avoided.

It is easy to see why Mr Phafoli and fellow support-group members have had to contemplate such desperate measures. Households headed by children are common in the village of 3,000 people.

Ntetekeng Makotoko was not yet 18 when her parents died of Aids. She had long before dropped out of school to look after them, and became the head of a household of seven. Her youngest sibling is four. “We survive by the grace of God,” she says.
Grandmothers such as Lorentina Mathosi, 75, can inherit three Aids orphans, and have nothing to support them with. Despite her age, she tills other people’s fields in exchange for food.

“Aids orphans have become a magnet for abuse,” says Mrs Mofokeng, whose centre helps dozens of abandoned children. “Everyone wants to take advantage of them to use them as sex slaves or for child labour.”

Two-year-old Lehlohonolo Malefane is lucky to be alive. After his parents died of Aids, he was taken in by an uncle who abused and nearly killed him. He was rescued by neighbours and police and is in the care of Save the Children Lesotho, which has put him in hospital.

“The uncle wanted to kill him, perhaps due to frustration,” Mrs Mofokeng says. “He seemed not to want to be burdened by a boy who was HIV-positive and whose parents had died of Aids. Such attitudes are common here.”

The government realises that Aids orphans are being abused. Relatives often accept orphans to plunder their parents’ property, then abandon them on the streets. Limakatso Chisepo, the government’s director of social welfare in the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, says: “Even some young mothers abandon their HIV-positive infants in hospitals soon after giving birth.”

She says growing numbers of relatives are not willing to carry the burden of the estimated 100,000-plus Aids orphans in Lesotho.

At the overcrowded Insured Salvation orphanage run by the Rev Mavis Mochokocho in the Lesotho capital, Maseru, eight HIV-positive orphans have just been left by relatives. The week before, 10 boys, who had been sexually abused after being thrown on the streets by relatives, were taken to the orphanage.

“Police bring the children here every day,” Ms Mochokocho says. “They pick them up in the streets or in public places. We can’t refuse to accept them even though we are overstretched.” Several children are severely ill and many infected ones die soon after arrival. The orphanage struggles to acquire coffins, so orphans are taught how to make makeshift ones so they can bury each other.

With only 200 children and 6,000 adults on anti-retroviral drugs out of more than 56,000 people in need, the outlook for Lesotho is bleak. Life expectancy is now 35 years although in 1991 it was 60, Unicef says.

Ms Mochokocho says impoverishment is the main cause of the widespread abandonment of Aids orphans in a kingdom with 50 per cent unemployment and almost no substantial resources apart from a crumbling textiles industry and water exports to South Africa. Only 10 per cent of the land is arable. Food shortages caused by persistent drought have worsened the problem.

The government is trying to raise awareness. Billboards read “Jesus Forgives, Aids Doesn’t”, “Avoid Sex, Your Youth is like a Flower”. But in a country with a high rate of illiteracy, the message is not sinking in.

me!!!

I’m super excited. I’m going on a whirlwind, jam-packed 2 week trip in the middle of April to check out all of our (Vulnerable Children Society’s) Programs and projects. I’ll also be meeting a couple of the children I sponsor, and meeting with directors of other NGOs working in Ethiopia.

And a super cool bonus…. On the spur of the moment, my mom has decided to come along with me. You may remember how, almOst three years ago, my mom up and got on a plane with me on 6 hours notice to pick up the girls. Heck – what are we going to do with a whole month to plan?!? Lol

I’m super excited , and will be sure to bring you all along for the ride. Hopefully you will stay tuned to see Vulnerable Children’s amazing work, and connect with some of the Ethiopian families in our programs. Stay tuned!

Folks – I am SO please to announce this! We’ve worked REALLY hard to get to where we are at, and I thank so many of you for sponsoring and donating over the past year and a half. If you have been waiting for Vulnerable Children to become a charity and start issuing tax receipts – the wait is over!!! Please consider making a donation or sponsoring a child today! ~ “Nicky”, aka President of Vulnerable Children Society

Reposted from: Vulnerable Children Society

Vulnerable Children Society is proud to announce that we are now a registered Canadian charity! This means that we are now able to offer tax receipts to our wonderful sponsors and donors.

For clarity on the difference between a non-profit society and a registered charity, click here.

Tax receipts will be offered for donations or sponsorships over $30 starting on March 1, 2012. As a small volunteer-run charity, we have decided to use CanadaHelps.org to facilitate our sponsorships and donations. This means a small increase in our internal administration costs, which we consider a very reasonable expense for the receipting service provided.

NOTE: Sponsorships and monthly donations must be made through CanadaHelps in order to receive tax receipts. We simply don’t have the people-power to keep track of all our monthly donations any other way. One-time donations over $30 received via “check in the mail” will receive a tax receipt on an annual basis.

Existing Sponsors

For existing sponsors, we are asking you to visit our CanadaHelps page (just click the link to the left!) to set up your current sponsorships on the new system.

Once we have received notice of your sponsorship set-up through CanadaHelps.org,  we will cancel your previous PayPal agreement.

Note: ONLY monthly sponsorships through CanadaHelps.org will receive tax receipts!!! The tax receipts come directly from CanadaHelps.

Instructions to set up your existing sponsorships on CanadaHelps:
#1 Click the box below

#2 Select “Repeating Donation”
#3 Add the amount of $35 for Community Child and Faya Child sponsorships, or $75 for Community Family sponsorships. You can only do ONE monthly payment to VCS through Canada Helps, so if you sponsor more than one child, please add the total of the sponsorship amounts together into one monthly amount.
#4 Add a start date of March 1, 2012 and an end date of “never.” Press continue.
#5 Complete your monthly donation. You will receive your tax receipts directly from CanadaHelps.

Note: Please click the button that shares your name, address and email with the charity, as we really want to know who you are and be able to send you updates on the child and newsletters!
Thanks so much!

We are SO grateful for your support to date, and so pleased that we can now offer you the benefit of tax receipts. Thanks a million times over!!! for your graciousness over the past year and a half.

New Sponsors / Donors

For new sponsors who have been waiting for Vulnerable Children Society to gain charitable status and be able to receive tax receipts, the wait is over! Please visit the following pages to learn about our amazing sponsorship and donation opportunities:

• Sponsor an Ethiopian child to survive and thrive in their own community, through the House 2 House program!
• Donate to Vulnerable Children Society, and enable amazing projects such as Faya Orphanage for HIV+/HIV- children, caregiver training, educational supplies for vulnerable rural Ethiopian children, food aid for drought relief, and much more!