Happy Anniversary Ethiopia Program!
On April 3, 2007, Children's Hope International became licensed
to work in Ethiopia for the purpose of adoption and humanitarian
aid - upholding our mission to provide -Homes, health and hope
for children in need."
In
our first year, the Ethiopia program placed 28 children into
their forever homes with some truly amazing families.
"God has been gracious to us as we
started the program and learned the requirements for a
successful adoption process in Ethiopia. I am thankful to our
amazing in country staff as well as our incredible US staff who
have worked diligently with me, and our families, to see that
our program, and your adoption was successful," says Sharon
Turner, Ethiopia Program Director.
In Ethiopia, Children's Hope staff
celebrated the anniversary with cakes, sodas, popcorn, and a lot
of posters and songs of praise. The anniversary cake was blessed
by three people, an adoptive father staying at the House of
Hope, one of the young girls waiting for her family, and
Ethiopia's In Country Program Director Tsegay - celebrating the
unity of those who are a part of the mission of CHI to bring
-Homes, health, and hope to children in need?.
"To our pioneer families who
dedicated themselves to be our first several families through,
thank you for the confidence that you put in Children's Hope to
complete your adoptions. May your life with your new children be
all that you have hoped for and full of God's richest blessings.
And for all of the families who have so selflessly donated to
the House of Hope and other causes in Ethiopia, thank you so
much."
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Children's Hope International's Ethiopia US staff
celebrated their first year by providing a modified
Ethiopian coffee ceremony (the traditional coffee
ceremony is quite long), with popcorn and Ethiopian
bread for staff. Pictured: Erin Tilley, adoption social
worker; Toni Lynch, adoption consultant; Sharon Turner,
program director; Roxanne Wang, dossier review
specialist. |
|
"They serve the popcorn with
every coffee ceremony," says Toni Lynch, Ethiopia
adoption consultant. "It is traditionally made in oil
and sprinkled with both sugar and salt."
Toni experienced Ethiopian
cooking and culture firsthand last year as she traveled
first with her church to Koray, Ethiopia to minister to
Ethiopians suffering from leprosy and HIV/AIDS. Then, in
Addis Ababaa, she prepared Children's Hope International
- Ethiopia's transition home House of Hope, by painting
murals and purchasing furnishings. |
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The Ethiopia program received
another referral at the close of March, for a sibling group of
two, for one of our families and expects to receive more soon.
Congratulations to the happy family!
"We are looking forward to many more
great years in Ethiopia. I pray that the work there and the aid
that we are able to provide through our Development Aid
Department continues to grow and get better and better with each
passing year," says Sharon.
Children's Hope has been approved to
work in northern Ethiopia, Tigrey region, in the city of Mekele.
Work is now being done to hire staff, set up a small transition
home and contract with orphanages in the region for the purpose
of adoption. Our Development Aid Team is also establishing many
projects in Mekele to help those in need in the north.
"God has truly been faithful."
Development Aid
In our first year in Ethiopia,
Children's Hope International sponsorship program grew to 150
orphans. Thirty-eight children have sponsors and all of the
children benefit from their gifts. Sixty-eight elderly orphans
and disabled orphans are registered in education and skills
training. Thus, total number of orphans that the organization
does development work is 218. 36, 34
For more details about these
projects, visit our
Projects page and select Ethiopia from the dropdown menu.
In our second official year in
Ethiopia, our Development Aid arm seeks:
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to aid 100 children with their
medical needs in the suburban areas, near our transition
home House of Hope.
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to bring 130 children into the
sponsorship program, including 30 prison children. These
children accompany their parents to the prison when the
parent is jailed. Having done nothing wrong themselves,
these children can not receive care from the state or from
other relatives and remain in the custody of their parents.
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to keep families together. A
mother that may have previously relinquished a child, but
has children yet in her care, is in danger of losing her
family. These mothers and others in need near the House of
Hope will be given the opportunity for schooling or other
provisions to help family units remain together.
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to begin a child development
program in Tigray, modeled after our sponsorship program in
Addis Ababa.
Wait Times Increase
With the increase of families
applying to the Ethiopia program and transferring from other
programs and agencies, the wait time is increasing for new
applicants, from 3-9 months to 6 to 10 months. This
timeframe begins when a family's adoption paperwork arrives in
Ethiopia and concludes when the family receives a referral. As
Children's Hope begins contracting with additional orphanages
for the referral of children in Ethiopia, the hope is for this
wait time to remain steady, but this can not be guaranteed.
The wait time can (and will) change
at any time during the process, although referrals may be
received sooner than anticipated. Families who have already been
waiting for their referral for several months should still
expect the 3-9 months, quoted originally.
ETHIOPIA PROGRAM UPDATES
2008 Children's Hope International.
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