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

Today we went shopping at the shiromet at the base of Entoto Mountain in Addis. We had lots of fun…But my mom still complained that I was a woman on a mission. I agreed! Not only did I have some shopping for the family to do, I also was buying lots of beautiful scarves, bracelets, hoodies, etc. for our Vulnerable Children fundraiser when we get home. T was also out shopping today, and she scored some roasted coffee beans to sell (to go along with the green beans I purchased in Nakemte. See a preview of our fundraiser sale here.)

The problem with traditional clothes is that they tend to (literally) fall apart at the seams. So today I was shopping with an eye for stitching.

I got two lovely dresses for my girls. Their others are falling apart, and they wear them several times a year. Spice, the white and black one is for you…just like mine! And Sugar, the yellow one is for you, it has the same stitching as your sister’s!

I also got a traditional outfit for a three year old boy… we still haven’t heard any news about our April matching meeting in Lesotho. But I thought it would be good for “the new guy” to have Ethiopian clothes when we go to parties, too.

I got a cool hoodie for myself…it’s a new style and it actually really suits me. I also got some bracelets. For Jrock I got the beginning of our coffee set. He wanted me to buy a traditional pot and these are the cups I chose to go with it. Cute, eh?

Lastly, I got two suits for the girls. They’re the latest traditional clothes style, and I thought they would e good for winter Ethiopian events. You girls can choose which on is for whom. They are the same except that they each have a different pattern on the stitching.

After shopping until we dropped (Thank you, thank you, Sintayehu, who negotiated for us and drove us around.) We tried to find my favourite tibs restaurant near the university. Well, I think we may have ended up in the wrong place, but it turned out that the sheep tibs (and I am NOT a mutton fan) were the second best meal I’ve had so far. Only second to the Nakemte Mate Resort omelettes. Tomorrow we have meetings and then we are off to Dukum to see my friend M’s family, and then on to Adama/Nazret. I can’t wait to see Meseret and the new Faya Orphanage digs!

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

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted anything about Vulnerable Children Society on my blog – but perhaps it’s overdue.

The truth is, even though we have had a WONDERFUL first year and a half, and been able to help many children, there are so many more waiting. I have their pictures… most of the kids are small and undernourished, and look sad or nervous. (They are such different pictures than the ones I have in our “already sponsored” folders – those children are smiling and healthy.)

One of our VCS directors recently visited Wonji, where we (through the goodwill of our awesome sponsors) are able to support extremely vulnerable children. She had been to the area a few times before, but was just aghast at the current need. There are so many kids who are either HIV+ themselves, or have parents/guardians who have HIV. The sad fact is, the ARVs (anti-retroviral medicines) they receive from the government DON’T WORK UNLESS THE KIDS ARE ADEQUATELY NOURISHED. So children in Wonji are dying of AIDS, not because they don’t have access to medicine, but because they are so malnourished that the medicines don’t work. They need food+meds to live.

This is a complete tragedy.

I know that we in North America have been hit hard by an economic recession. Many families have lost income.  I empathize with families feeling a crunch. In our home,  Jrock went free-lance in the fall, and has very little work in January/February. But we are lucky, and in no long-term danger. My income pays the bills and we never want for food or shelter. Our short-term strains are nothing compared to the absolute catastrophe that so many families in the Horn of Africa are facing.

So here’s my unapologetic request: if you have $35 a month to spare, please sponsor a child in our House 2 House program through Vulnerable Children Society. You know exactly where the money is going… and I can assure you that your on-going commitment will mean literally the world to a deserving Ethiopian child.

To sponsor a child, please visit www.vulnerablechildren.ca

You can also download our newsletter to see what we’ve been up to! This is all thanks to our amazing donors and sponsors, and super partner organization, Faya Orphanage.

PS: I’ll be putting my money where my mouth is today, too, and sponsoring another child.

Many of you know that I am the President of Vulnerable Children Society and an avid supporter. We work with our partner, Faya Orphanage, to support children living in four communities in Ethiopia: Adama (where the orphanage is located,) Wonji, Ambo and Guder.

Our House 2 House community support program allows children to stay in their communities, often with extended family members or neighbors. With sponsorship, the children not only go to school, but receive medical care, get registered for ARVs (many of the children are HIV+), and have access to proper food and a family home, thanks to our family-direct subsidy. We work with local governments to identify and monitor the children, so you know that there are many levels of oversight and the children are indeed some of the most needy and deserving.

If you haven’t considered it before, please consider sponsoring a child in our House 2 House program. We need 50 more sponsors by the end of the year, and we can’t do that alone. Each child deserves a future. Please sponsor a deserving child.

Can you help a deserving child?

1. Please consider sponsoring a child. You know who the board members and partner are – your money is in good hands and will make a huge life-altering difference to your sponsored child and their family. Click here to learn more and sponsor.
2. If you can’t sponsor a child, please clicking your support!
   1. “Like” us on Facebook! and repost our Facebook status updates
   2. Stay in touch! Sign up to receive our blog updates by email on our website homepage!
   3. Watch the video above on Youtube, “like” it, and post it to your own blog!
      You can also post our Youtube videos to your Facebook account – so helpful!

Your support is so very very appreciated!!!!!!

Vulnerable Children Society

Please Like us on Facebook!

Facebook has proved to be an invaluable tool for Vulnerable Children Society! Even though I was never much of Facebook person, there is NO denying that it’s been a huge help spreading the word about the awesome stuff Vulnerable Children Society, and our partner Faya Orphanage, do. I have BECOME a Facebook person just for that!

So a small ask today: Can you help us? No, I’m not asking for money! Just a simple click or two.

Will you help spread the word about helping kids in Ethiopia?

1. Please like us on Facebook!
2. “Like”, and then pass on any interesting posts to your friends and family by posting to their walls. We usually have new content and pictures out each Monday and Wednesday.
3. Post this badge (above) on your blog after liking us. You just go to and make a “Page Badge” and select Vulnerable Children Society. Then grab the code and post it to the widgets on your blog!

THANKS very very much!!!!

I was just looking at the new pictures of the lovely children at Faya Orphanage on the Vulnerable Children Society website.

It is so sweet – my girls were looking at the pictures too, and Sugar exclaimed “that’s my old favourite shirt!” Well, so it was!

You can see a picture of Sugar wearing the same shirt last February below.

Anyway, I thought you would find it comforting to know that your doantions actually do get there, are used and appreciated!

See the rest of the pictures of the kids here  (and maybe cosider sponsoring a Faya Child? We only need 4 more sponsors to acheive sustainable core funding!!)

It’s the ultimate gift of love that keeps giving year round!

And Vulnerable Children Society will send an ecard for you, right up until noon on the 24th!

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or Genna, a December gift of love for a vulnerable child is sure to delight and warm the heart.

Show your loved one that you care about them, and about the children in Ethiopia at the same time. Sponsor a child in your friend or family member’s name… or make a one-time donation to Vulnerable Children Society to honour your loved one.

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3! (Credit, debit and PayPal accepted!)
 JUST CLICK HERE!.

Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Joyous Kwanzaa! Melkam Genna!

Today is World AIDS Day – a day when the world (hoepfully) thinks of the milions of people suffering from the world’s largest health epidemic. Stephen Lewis was recently interviewed about the state of HIV/AIDS prevalence and suffering in the world today – I found the interview disquieting.

Q: The United Nations’ AIDS agency recently said that there has been a 20 per cent decrease in new HIV infections over the past decade. But there are still 7,000 new infections each day. How do you continue to find hope amid such staggering statistics?

SL: …it is true that we have more people in treatment and we have fewer infections, as they say, and fewer deaths and the pandemic has stabilized, albeit at very high levels in some countries. But the numbers of infections are still significantly outstripping the people we are putting into treatment to stay alive. For every person we put into treatment, there are two new infections. So it remains a terribly, terribly difficult situation…

Q: Of all the challenges – from lack of funding to drug access – what would you say is the single biggest obstacle to turning the tide on HIV/AIDS in Africa?

SL: …At the moment, the biggest single obstacle is resources, is the dollars. There’s just no question about that. [...] Read the rest of the interview here.

The Stephen Lewis Foundation does wonderful work. In our own small way, the volunteers and sponsors and partners of Vulnerable Children Society are also trying to ease the burden and help families and children affected by this terrible disease.

We’ve made big strides in the past month, (I say “we” because I’m the president of the society.” Thanks to gracious sponsors we’re close to reaching sustainable core funding for Faya Orphanage (we need about 10 more sponsors to reach our goal.) 

We’ve also expanded the number of children supported in the community thrugh Faya’s fantastic House 2 House Community program.

If you haven’t already, please check out the videos below and learn more about how you can help a child or a family affected by HIV/AIDS.

Here is our original Vulnerable Children Society overview video with Sugar and Spice acting as spokeskids:

This video is a detailed 13 minute video about the society:

And here are some of the headlines of what we’ve been up to in the last month! We have blog updates twice a week – and there will be new pictures of the kids going up on Monday!

• Grand tour of the NEW Faya Orphanage
• Shining Faces of Faya Children
• Poll: what values are most important to you?
• It breaks your heart…
• Board of Directors Meeting
• Sponsors Needed for the Community Kids
• Holiday Gifts for your family and friends

Thank for your support, friends. We couldn’t do it without you!!!

Over the past two months with Vulnerable Children Society, we’ve been really focused on building our sponsorship base, covering our monthly commitment with donations, reaching out to tell people what great work our partner Faya Orphanage does. Something happened today that reminded me WHY we do this though. WHY I stay up to 11pm+ most night and why I won’t rest until we have reached that 100% sustainable core funding goal.

The House 2 House community sponsorship program through Faya Orphanage supports children and families in the Adama community. There are 300+ kids and families waiting for sponsorship – the need is huge.

Today I got pictures from the Faya director of three families that I hadn’t seen before. Somehow knowing their names and the reason they are sponsored is not the same as seeing their faces. Pictures say so much more.

One family was happy – they have been sponsored for a while and trust that Faya Orphanage will help them get through. The little girl was bright and the mom was jubilant to be visiting. You can tell this sponsorship is making a big positive difference in their lives.

Another family is being sponsored for the first time. The two girls are unsure and afraid. Their parents have both passed and they live with their older sister. So much has changed and ransacked their lives; they seem uncertain as to trust the newfound source of support and income they will be getting through Faya and Vulnerable Children.

But it was the last family broke my heart. The two little girls are uncertain and wide-eyed; they don’t know why they are visiting the orphanage, and I guess, suspect the worst until proven otherwise. Their mother is frail, ill and wracked with tears. Her white shawl is yellowed and her eyes are streaked with red. I don’t know if she is crying because she is grateful for the sponsorship, ashamed of getting help, or worried for the future. I suspect it’s a lot of all of those emotions.

Thank you to all our sponsors. Your help brings hope and stability to lives torn apart. Never doubt that. I hope that if I write about the two new families in a few months, I will have a brighter story to tell. In the meanwhile, their hardship makes my late nights seem much less significant… and the cause that much more important.

It’s been a while since I’ve posted about the Vulnerable Children Society… it’s been a whirlwnd of a month and a bit to get the society up and running and providing that necessary care for some of Ethiopia’s most precious, yet vulnerable, kids.

I’m so grateful for the awesome amazing ladies that I am getting to work with – and so grateful to those of you who have donated and sponsored. Honestly, it keeps me up to 11pm each night just doing stuff.. but I know that every minute is paying off for this kids. I’ll sleep when we have 100% core funding secured! lol Thankfully we are half way there!

Here are some of the highlights.. please follow the links to read more!

We exist! Officially a non-profit society…

Finally! After lots of paperwork, sending papers for signatures across the country, and waiting for the BC government to process our application, Vulnerable Children Society is now officially registered as a (non-profit) society in British Columbia. Read more…

Tell your story of visiting Faya

To all those wonderful supporters who have dropped off donations or taken a tour of the orphanage… we would like to hear from you! Read more…

End of September Update

First of all, our sincere thanks to all the fabulous people who donated or sponsored kids… after just one month, we have :

• 21 Faya child sponsorships
• 5 community child; and
• 4 community family sponsorships! Read more…

Rebecca visits Faya Orphanage (June 2010)

Recently we have had the privilege of visiting Faya Orphanage in June 2010. When we arrived the kids were at the gate waiting for us. They came running to greet us with hugs and smiles. It didn’t take long for the young boys to grab my husband and take him to the yard to play football! Read more and SEE THE PICTURES…

Add us to your RSS feed

If you would like to help spread the word about the Vulnerable Children Society, one option is to add our blog posts as an RSS feed to your email or to your blog. Here is our RSS URL: http://vulnerablechildren.ca/feed/rss2/

Sponsorship Video

Please pass this video along to your friends… and consider being a sponsor through the Vulnerable Children Society.

You’ll recognize the spokes-kids… lol

Please pass this video along to your friends… and consider being a sponsor through the Vulnerable Children Society!

There is more than a new Faya Orphanage website. There is an entirely new non-profit organization providing support and managing donations for Faya Orphanage. Introducing…

I’m so happy to share this with you, and to inform the adoption community, who have been such good supporters of Faya Orphanage in the past.

I’m one of the board members of the Vulnerable Children Society…

…and you will recognize some of the others as well. Many of us are long-term supporters of Faya Orphanage, as well as active in the Ethiopian adotpion community.

We are now the exclusive sponsorship managers for Faya Orphanage.

Many of you had posted and emailed over the last few months, wondering where the Faya Orphanage website went. The previous non-profit, Faya Fund, is now on hiatus. But yours truly and the other board members have been busy like crazy bees to get a new non-profit up and running and ready to continue the good work that they started.

We are in real need of new sponsors!

There are children to feed and families in Adama to support… and we need your help. Please visit the website to find out more, and consider becoming a sponsor for the wonderful children in need in Ethiopia!

www.vulnerablechildren.ca

Thank you so much!!!!!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been getting more involved in supporting Faya Orphanage in Ethiopia. For those of you who haven’t heard much about this great home for HIV+ and HIV- kids in Adama, Ethiopia, you can see pictures in my previous post or on the Faya website. In the past, I’ve organized a fundraiser and contributed in my own small way.  But lately I’ve been assisted by some awesome people to start ferrying a couple of containers to the orphanage via traveling parents.

These containers will take wierd routes, since we are using friends and family networks to move them! But they will eventually end up where needed. 

One great lady R is taking a container with donations from Kelowna, from us and our Ethiopian friends. It’s mostly good quality used clothes, a few toys and toothbrushes, as well as some baby odds and sodds. Oh, and I can’t forget the two afghans knitted by my 93 year old auntie! My dad took it up to Northern Alberta with him on the plane this morning. R is actually in Ethiopia right now, but she’ll take this little rubbermaid when she goes to pick up her son in a couple of months.

Another great lady, S from Ontario, is taking another container shortly… if you are in the Kitchener or London area, please stop by her blog, connect, and you can send some donations with her. 

If you would like to assemble your own container to take to Ethiopia, please leave a comment and I’ll contact you!

Here are some of the things needed at the moment:
~ Kids multivitamins
~ A couple of thermometers
~ Diaper ointment – like Pentaten cream. Several containers of it.
~ Kid toothbrushes
~ Antibiotic cream, bandaids, first aid supplies
~ Shoes in smaller sizes. (Preschool down.)
~ A non-electric pump to pump up soccer balls, as well as a couple of balls
~ Twin and crib sheets
~ Art and school supplies
~ High quality, non-electronic toys for younger kids right up to 8 years old. It’s important that they are built to last since many many kids will play with them. They have two 7/8 year old girls living there, and then boys up to 4 years old.

Of course, if you would like to help Faya Orphanage generally, you can donate online at www.fayaorphanage.org with PayPal. Currently additional resources are needed to sponsor HIV+ children living in the surrounding community.