On January 17th, NPR Radio's All Things Considered featured a story about the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa.

Complications during delivery are a leading cause of death for women giving birth in developing countries. In remote areas, women sometimes languish in labor for days. Those who survive the ordeal often endure a lifetime of agony from severe internal injuries.

In Ethiopia, the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital offers a rare chance at treatment and respite for some women. One of the patients, Fantan Dere, is a young girl unsure of her age. She tells nurse Bethlehem Tesfaye that she may be 10, but the nurse thinks it's more likely Fantan is 12.

Fantan... more

Shana is leaving for Ethiopia tomorrow-- I am so excited for her. (Go wish her well, OK?)

I was emailing with her yesterday talking about my Rubbermaid packing solution and thought I'd mention it again here. Each time I went to Ethiopia, due to the generosity of friends and family I was able to bring a bunch of donations for the orphanages. Since I traveled with one of my older kids, we were allowed a total of four checked pieces of luggage (2 for each of us.)

I didn't think we needed to tote four BIG suitcases, especially... more

Heather and Avery just returned from visiting their children in Ethiopia. I've been meaning for a couple days to link to their blogs so you can go read the posts they've been writing about their time there. Today Heather shared a story of being scammed on the very first day there. You might want to read their Bunna Baet post so that you can avoid that particular scam.

All the travel guides caution travelers about pickpockets, especially in the Mercato area. Even if you're not planning to... more

Yesterday I found the following excerpt from my February 2004 trip to Ethiopia and thought you all might enjoy reading it. My teenaged daughter and I were there to pick up 20 month old baby Tsion and were staying at the Ghion hotel:

Saturday afternoon during Tsion’s nap, I did a bit more laundry, once again hanging it on my trusty coffee table frame to dry. My teenaged daughter and I played a few rounds of Phase 10---very fun, even though she whipped me! The weather was warm and sunny, around 80 degrees, and it didn’t take long at all for things to dry. Near the end of the afternoon... more

The BBC News reports this on Tuesday morning:

The US has carried out at least two air strikes in southern Somalia against Islamist fighters, who the US believes include members of an al-Qaeda cell. The targets were reported to have been tracked by aerial reconnaissance and then attacked by a US gunship launched from a US military base in Djibouti. The US says Somali Islamists sheltered al-Qaeda operatives linked to the 1998 US embassy bombings in East Africa.

It goes on to say that the mission was reported to be successful and was backed by Somalia's new interim President... more

Here's your news from Ethiopia this week. As always, links are only good for a few weeks, unless you subscribe to the news service.

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Ethiopia: Lions Clubs Performs 1,432 Cataract Surgeries

The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa)

The Lions Clubs of Ethiopia has successfully performed a total of 1,432 cataract surgeries in November here at Ras Desta Hospital and Quiha Hospital, Tigray State, all being Intra Ocular Lens (IOL), according to a press release Lions Clubs International sent to the Herald Monday. A crew of cataract surgeons, ophthalmologists... more

Timket is Ethiopian celebration of Epiphany. This holiday commemorates Christ’s baptism in the Jordan River. Epiphany is observed by Christians all over the world, but is celebrated with special enthusiasm in Ethiopia. The festival starts at Timket Eve, January 18, eleven days after the orthodox Christmas. Although the festival is largely religious, plenty of partying and match-making also goes on. For a truly beautiful series of photos of Timket, you may enjoy visting this site: http://www.peace-on-earth.org/Ethiopia/1st.pdf

According... more

Happy New Year! We've had a nice weekend of celebration and football and celebration over football and taking down the Christmas tree and staying up late and eating way too many little smokies. Tomorrow I'll be writing a post for folks eager to begin the adoption process but who, for whatever reason, can't jump in quite yet. I'll talk about things you CAN do to prepare, even before you send in that application. This year I am looking forward to doing lots more writing about Ethiopia and adoption. But for now - yawn - I am off to bed. May your new year fulfill your dreams.

Here are this weeks' news stories for you. Please note that the links to the complete stories do expire after about a month, unless you happen to subscribe to that news service and have access to their archives.

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Ethiopia: UN Backs Mass Measles Immunization Amid Concern At New Cases

UN News Service (New York) December 27, 2006

A mass United Nations-backed measles immunization campaign is currently underway in Ethiopia, targeting more than 5.8 million children aged under the age of 5 following growing fears earlier this year... more

Awhile back at my other blog I was puzzling over whether or not to give various adult family members the gift of a donation to a charitable organization in their honor.

My husband and I talked it over for quite awhile and decided to donate to AHOPE in honor of 8 adults on our family Christmas giving list. To each person who got the AHOPE donation, we also gave a small gift: chocolate or nuts or something along those lines.

For some reason I was more comfortable about doing this with John's side of the family, probably because for years mostly we... more