For those of you interested in AHope, the HIV+ orphanage, I thought I'd share some links with some good reading, as well as a video of five children from AHOPE who were recently given the opportunity to visit New York City and participate in a fund-raiser for AHOPE, showing contributors just how healthy kids can be when they get the antiretroviral drugs that they so badly need.

Please keep in mind that if you would like to make an AHOPE donation in someone's honor this Christmas, for $25 they will... more

In my apparent quest to own every book in the universe :) I got this book The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa by Marcus Samuelsson from Amazon the other day. I was really excited about this cookbook because it was written by an Ethiopian adoptee. Here's what Publishers Weekly had to say about the book.

Born Ethiopian, raised Swedish, and now one of New York City's top chefs, Samuelsson has written an exotic yet accessible book that... more

Here's your news from Ethiopia this week!

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President Says Gov't HIV/Aids Intervention Bearing Fruit The Ethiopian Herald (Addis Ababa)

December 2, 2006

President Girma Wolde-Giorgis said that HIV/AIDS intervention activities carried out by the government through coordinating various sections of the society are bearing fruit.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200612040644.html

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Ethiopian Leases New Plane to... more

Yesterday's New York Times ran this story: Sex Abuse of Girls Is Stubborn Scourge in Africa

The number of abuse cases is rising in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, Sierra Leone and other African countries, statistics show. Whether that means more children are being victimized or more are coming forward — or both — is impossible to determine, experts say.

Researchers cite various reasons that abuse is so common: poverty, which makes it harder for parents to keep children safe; a legacy of violent, oppressed societies, and... more

I found an interesting article on the New York Times the other day about a company that is working on developing an affordable laptop that can be given to African children to give them access to the internet that the amazing resources there. Here's a snippet from the article

A former Intel chip designer found a way to modify conventional laptop displays, cutting the screen’s manufacturing cost to $40 while reducing its power consumption by more than 80 percent. As a bonus, the display is clearly visible in sunlight.

That advance and others have... more

Today is World AIDS Day. Here are some links to various places around the Web that are doing different things to commemorate the day.

Here's a blog where an African woman named Mshairi wrote a poem to remember AIDS victims.

This blog post by my friend Brianna talks about how her family has been affected by HIV.

A BBC News Report shows how HIV has affected... more

Watching Nightline last night, I saw the interview with rapper Jay-Z. He grew up in the 'hood' in Brooklyn, where he thought life was tough. Recently he took a trip to Angola, which changed his view. There he saw open sewage running down a road on the edge of an improvised basketball court, and helped a young girl haul water back to her family's home that "has to be the size of a jail cell," he says.

A visit to a rural village in South Africa was more uplifting. Jay-Z donated a "play pump" that spared... more

Here's your Ethiopian news for the week. And I'm wondering...anybody besides me bothered by the Spanish newspaper on a blog about Ethiopia? I'd love a picture of an Ethiopian newspaper instead. Please, someone, send one to me...

Ethiopia: Lions Miss Out On Country's Tourism Growth

Business in Africa (Johannesburg) November 22, 2006

Despite Africa recording the World's fastest tourist growth for the second year running according to the UNWTO, and Ethiopia showing good progress too, one of the East Africa country's zoos has had to poison rare... more

Ooh, I'm so excited! I stumbled across the coolest maps on the internet this evening.

This first link: The Size of Africa helps you visualize just how huge Africa is in comparison to the rest of the world. Now, keep in mind that for some reason they did not include Alaska and Hawaii in this map when comparing the US to Africa. But still, it amazed me to see just how many countries will all fit inside of Africa.

This second map is a Connectivity Map, comparing all the countries in Africa on the basis of their phone and internet capabilities.... more

I just got this email from Oxfam. It looks like they got quite a few people to respond to their initial plea to put pressure on Starbucks to give Ethiopian farmers a fair price for their coffee. (My initial post is here if you missed it.)

If you haven't yet signed and are interested in helping to improve the lives of Ethiopian coffee farmers, please click on one of the below links and add your support to this campaign.

Thanks!!

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Dear Mary,

More than 70,000 Oxfam supporters like you have urged Starbucks to recognize Ethiopia's ownership... more