Children at Sister Donna’s in rural Ethiopia
Yesterday I received an email from Sister Donna:
“Hi Jamie, What a very nice surprise to hear from you!!!
Just now I’m at the Haile making good use of their free internet. When I see your pretty face, what lovely memories come to meand the magic days we were all here together in!
I am so glad to hear that the response is good for the diapers! I have often thought about it and wondered about what was happening. When you live in a non electric world, things come and go in the mind, but there isn’t such a rush to know as communication is at a Spiritual level very high and fast; Heaven to Earth, but other wise on an international level, we wait, hope, and send some prayers. There is one mistake I made in the sending address, his name is Kirk not Eric, I sent him a message to tell him about the packages, and we’ll get them, no problem.
Water filters are a great help to us, and James had begun some work, but the link in the chain had a bad man in it, so I stopped it.
We use 180- 200 liters or quarts of water a day for drinking, cooking, kitchen washing of fresh foods, and dish washing. There is more when we add body washing and a great deal more if we add clothes washing. The ground water is what we are using now from a shallow dug well of about 2 meters deep. We are at lake side so the ground water is high. It has a little salt in it, and lots of fluoride that is 8 times the human level needed, both of which would be filtered out if we had filters.We have had typhoid repeatedly during the last 2 1/2 months, Masame and I, and the kids at Heartland, also repeated malaria caught in our livers. Filters are a hope James started in our lives, but we haven’t been able to get them implemented yet. We could use 5 at Heartland to meet the use for kitchen and drinking, with 30 kids coming, it would be good!! The villagers are in a terrible need as we are the people who live on the lake shore. The town where we go to get pipe water, treated by the government, is 2 km away, and we go when it is running to get drinking water. This source was turned off for 2 months last year when the government demanded taxes for the water. The town refused, and the water was stopped, and the people told to drink the lake! We were sending donkey carts round trip over 50 km to get good water for drinking, and at 10 times the price!
If you could implement 50 filters, it would be a good start with the villagers. Last year and this one, there were 54 men at one time who were working for us, that means 54 families. All of them were local men, and neighbors. I would select them first as I know them, all poor farmers absolutely, but we can educate them on the use and need of a filter in some orienteering provided at Heartland. They know and trust me and the staff and what we are doing. If we add the filters to their lives, it is a great help to them right where they are. These people are on “Safety Net”, a relief program to keep famine away from these local families. They can’t invest even for their own good in filters, so it would have to be provided for them with no cost. Maybe they would be willing to provide some labor if needed in trade for a filter. How are you organizing this filter project? Let me know, I’m very interested!
Thank you for the diaper appeal, I look forward to getting them. Just last month, a new born’s mother got malaria and couldn’t breast feed the baby while she took the needed medicine, so I sent some of the things Dr Jay had brought, including diapers, pins, rubber pants, formula, and bottles. All are thriving now!
How is the home front and those boys of yours!! God bless all of you with His Great Love!,
Sr Donna ”
Once we get a headcount we will send everyone sponsor information (to link at the bottom of your post), as well as a blog button to put on your sidebar or in the post. This button will link to an area where individuals can donate.
100% of the money raised will be going to the Waves for Water: Awassa, Ethiopia Project.
*We will be linking to a 501(c)(3) non profit corporation where we can accept tax-deductable donations*
For non-bloggers:
There are so many ways you can help. Raise money in your community, help spread the word, help me write my post (I really only have experience with snap pockets!)
Any other ways you would like to contribute, please let me know!
