Yipee

I want to say a big huge THANK YOU to those wonderful people that sent us money to buy shoes! Today my friend and I got to go shopping for these shoes and it was a lot of fun. I get all giddy inside when I think about these kids seeing their totally nice new shoes and socks! I wish you could all be there to witness it! I absolutely cannot wait!!!
After buying the shoes, we still had extra money leftover! What are we going to do with that? We will donate it to the orphanage that our children are at. Let me tell you why we think this will be so helpful.
Our orphanage has mostly older children. Children that are not easily adopted. Some of these children have been in the orphanage for 4 years and the prospects of adoption are not too likely. The costs that this orphanage have each month include the following: The office staff pay, the nannies that are there full time, the rent for the property and buildings, the food for all the children and nannies, a guard that stays there all the time to protect the compound, schooling for all of the children (this is private schooling because the free public schooling is horrendous,) and any other care that the children need. So you can see that all really adds up! The income that the orphanage receives just comes from people that have agreed and committed to adopting a child/ren at the orphanage. When the children are taken from the orphanage to go home with their adoptive families, they lose that income. It's a big loss. When there are not many children being adopted out of their orphanage, they have a very low income. They are struggling. I would hate to see them close and move the children elsewhere! So we were hoping to bring them some money next time we go.

I have received quite a few phone calls or messages asking me how to help. I didn't expect this and so I have felt a little unorganized and not sure what to tell people. Some people I have left hanging because I didn't know what to tell them exactly. So I've thought it through and have come up with my list of how people could help that I think would be great. Of course there are many other ways to do good, these are just a few I came up with that would be easy to execute and causes that I personally feel drawn to. One thing to keep in mind, is that it is quite expensive to pay for extra baggage or heavier baggage over there. Otherwise, it would be very helpful to load up all of our excess stuff we all have to bring over there. Unfortunately, it just isn't cost effective. Already we will be bringing the shoes and hygiene kits this trip, so space will be limited! Nice tennis shoes, especially for children, is just one of those things you do not see in markets in Ethiopia, so getting them here was the only option.

I am in no way whatsoever asking for money or donations or help here. Just offering ideas to those that I've left hanging and those that really want to help. I love people like you TO DEATH! Love the rest of you too of course. No pressure here.

1- Donate for shoes. COMPLETE. Thanks everyone!!!

2- Donate to the orphanage. You could send us money and it will just be added to the pot of what we'll be giving to them. However, with what we are giving them, along with what we have from you guys, it will be a huge help to them already. So see below if this doesn't appeal to you or you prefer to do something different.

3- Sponsor a boy through "Where Love Is". This is the organization I had mentioned in a previous post. It costs $50 per month to sponsor a boy. How this works, is Jason, an American friend of ours lives there in Addis. He takes homeless boys off the streets ages about 6-teen and puts them in apartments. He's an honest, good guy, and really cares about these kids. He gets them their clothing and food. He pays for their education and he takes them to church. I heard that currently only half of the boys he cares for are being sponsored. Or if you would like to just donate a one time flat amount to his cause, you could do that too. We could bring him money next time we go. If you want to do the monthly sponsorship program, let me know and I can get you the information.

If you can think of anything else I have not mentioned here, I would love to hear about it.
So if anyone wants to do any of the above, decide what you want, how much, and let me know. You can email me at: amandastevebishop@hotmail.com
We do have a personal paypal account if that makes it easier for you too.