Follow us from Colorado to Ethiopia to China and back again!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Ethiopian School
Yonas is now going to an Ethiopian culture class once a week! An Ethiopian woman who has an ET restaurant in town has started it, and I love it! She is so gracious and truly loves these kiddos, and I feel like I am back in Ethiopia while we are there. The music, the language, the love, it makes me teary every week.
• One in ten children die before their first birthday • One in six children die before their fifth birthday • 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old • 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition • The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years • 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world) • 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia. • Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa • In the 90s the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%) • Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals) • Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school. • Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002. • Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000. • In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports.
2 comments:
This is so great. What a great experience for your family and Yonas!
What a wonderful woman to do this for the kids!!!! Yonas and the others (and the parents) will learn a ton from her!!!! Have fun at school, guys!!!!
Love,
paula
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