A Reflection by Julia George

I remember having lunch and Meeting noel for the first time, I went to lunch with work colleagues. Noel was talking to them about being more involved with Ethiopia reads. He spoke passionately about Ethiopia Reads, the country of Ethiopia and about these bracelets that raise money…. After 3 years of doing political and charitable fundraising, I felt truly inspired for the first time in a long long time. I listened to Noel, glanced at the pictures, my boss and life as I knew it, melted away. My life had just changed and it wasn't an explosion of wow, more like a nudge from the universe. An opportunity I had craved had arrived.

At the time I was working for the Democratic National Convention Host committee and in the process of raising $55,000,000 for that endeavor. In addition I was raising money for the Obama campaign in my personal time. A few close friends knew how frustrated I was with the huge sums of money for the convention and actually of the American political process as a whole. Each quarter extortionate sums of money were announced for each of the Presidential nominee campaigns; a necessary evil yet it was hard for me to comprehend an individual or campaign raising millions each quarter, surely that could build schools, solve the homeless problem. It was my world and yet it was incomprehensible.

I knew after meeting Noel and listening to him that I wanted to be a part of the passion he described. I formulated an email the day after that lunch and asked many of the wealthy people in my circle for money for Ethiopia Reads. 2 people responded. Many of these people had given $1000 and $10,000 for political candidates. I was not deterred. My disappointment motivated me. I knew Noel and Tammy were taking a group to Ethiopia, I had heard about it at lunch that day and wanted to go. It was the antidote to the excess I was surrounded with in my fundraising world.

The next piece of this puzzle in my journey to Ethiopia is............I knit. Its therapy. It’s a great love. It has taught me patience and it enables me to practice something that I find difficult. Finishing. I am sure there are a myriad of reasons why I find it difficult to experience completion in many things in my life but through knitting I can.

When my knitting skills were discovered by Noel and Tammy I was asked to teach knitting while I was there and help add another fundraising component to the Cunningham Foundation through the knitting of scarves and teaching kids how to knit scarves. Step one was to teach basic knitting, deliver yarn and knitting needles to Ethiopia, a lot more is needed but the first step has been made.

The next step in my journey was October 29th at strings at a lunch with Dr Hodes. I went to the lunch feeling great that I was raising money for a library, feeling I was ‘making a difference’ and the lunch on 10/29 brought me back to planet earth. Hearing Dr Hodes speak about the difference he was making, the kids he was adopting, the money HE was raising, the surgeries he was doing, this philanthropy floored me. As a human being, he is in a higher realm.

At this stage I knew I was going to Ethiopia. I had no fear, yet the lunch at Strings with Dr Hodes had made me realize the gift this experience could give me. The lunch did excite me even further about my upcoming departure for Ethiopia. I started to think about the possible poverty that I would see. Nothing really prepared me at all as it turns out.

Upon arrival in Ethiopia the sense of family there is evident and immediate. Ethiopians are very openly affectionate to the same sex, friends hold hands – their arms rested on each others shoulders. Hannah, one of the amazing girls I traveled has said "there is an easiness of love in Ethiopia". At the arrival gate I couldn’t believe the level of affection. It seemed that a whole village had come to greet just one person at the airport. It was a level of connectedness and unity I had not expected. This was my first revelation about Ethiopia, many more were yet to come during my time in Ethiopia.

We had been in Ethiopia less than 24 hours, we visited the Sheraton Hotel. Even though we had been in this new reality and environment, the Sheraton stands out so much it almost hurts. The opulence, decadence, western world excess and greed. It felt offensive to be there after witnessing so much poverty. It was a shocking reminder of how easy we have it. I ordered pizza for lunch, ate half and was full. The rest of the pizza went to waste. I felt overwhelming guilt. It was the strangest feeling to be at this place, this homage to western society, especially when you could see poverty just over the 12ft ornate fence.

Our arrival at the Mother Teresa Orphanage was unforgettable. Our drive to the orphanage was about 45 minutes, lots of poverty along the streets, lots to come to terms with having just arrived in Ethiopia. The huge gate peeled back and the compound revealed itself. Upon entering the hospital facility we were shown around their very limited medical facilities. The kids were extremely curious, vibrant and I wished I was able to speak their language so I could have understood the excited and animated conversations they were having. We were shown to the baby room, cribs with sick children, it was too much to bear – seeing IV's in the neck or head because they are so malnourished their veins are not properly formed. So alone. A room full of sick alone children – we had heard previous stories but it felt impossible to be seeing what my eyes showed me.

We walked down to the school, kids clamoring to the window to get a glimpse of the 'forengys' - one of the kids asked where we were from, we said America and I'll never forget one of the grade 4 boys shouting Obama's name. I'm in the middle of Ethiopia at an orphanage for children with HIV/ Aids and this kid knows who Obama is. Having just finished working on the Democratic National Convention for 3 years, this moment is not lost on me. I feel like writing to Obama and letting him know that not only does America and the rest of the world have high hopes for him, so does a 9 year old boy with Aids in Ethiopia. The lighthearted moment is short lived until we enter the toddler room. 40-50 HIV kids clamoring for physical affection. So many kids without parents. The feeling was jarring. As we walked out of the compound I reached for the small bottle of hand sanitizer in my bag. I felt like I was washing away any love or affection I had just given, it’s a feeling difficult to describe but there was definetly guilt involved.

Our journey moved further south of Addis Ababa, about 3 hours to Yetebon and Project Mercy. In many ways I felt like I was on my grandparents property. Sprawling, enclosed, natural and nurturing.

I have two enduring memories of the stay at Project Mercy. The first of which was one morning I was talking with some of the girls I taught knitting to in the afternoons; I told her that I would be coming by after school to knit again and she told me that was not possible because there was a funeral.

I asked her if the funeral was for a family member and she went on to tell me that the funeral was for the mother of one of her teachers – that the entire school and surrounding families/ villagers went because the more people that go to the funeral – it helps lessen the grief of the 'sad person'.

The sense of family at Project Mercy and in my limited experience in Ethiopia will stay with me forever, the Project Mercy Family, the Mother Teresa family and the family that Dr Hodes has created. The ties that bind are not blood but the recognition that we really are all one. The children of Ethiopia have an emotional intelligence and ease of love. Their life is so hard but they make it look so easy. Their smiles are as big as their hearts. Poverty, disease and illiteracy all need to be erased in Ethiopia – its simple, its cheap; yet the Ethiopians have something that can never be bought, a sense of community, family and connectedness that we have lost with blackberries, TV and internet.

During our stay at Project Mercy, one of my favorite things was to be in the kitchen when the kids came in for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Serving a cup full of porridge. Giving a piece of bread. My most poignant and powerful moment during our Ethiopian travels was serving lunch one day with Noel. The bread basket kept emptying and someone from the kitchen would come and fill it up. The basket emptied and no one came. I looked at Noel and the kitchen staff to discover there was no more bread. I handed out the last piece, with another 150/ 200 kids in line. It’s a moment I will never forget - the Bread running out is etched in my mind forever. No riots broke out, no crying and stamping of feet, it would have made it easier. Instead, the deafening silence of poverty. The loud shuffle of resignation. The silence was painful. The empty basket unforgettable.

Since returning I have a fire for change.

I question my laziness after seeing 12 and 14 year old girls up at 5:30am to study in quiet on a damp field.
I question my bad days at work after seeing a six year old a herding goat and a cow all day.
I question my spending habits knowing that the average wage in Ethiopia is $100 a year.

I don't question that I feel compelled to do something!! so that:
a kid can have a piece of bread for lunch
a child bent over with a spine so disfigured can have surgery to stand up straight
an adult can learn a vocation
and that a child can go to school to help lead their country to be all that mine already is.

Since returning I am working on the first annual Hope Ball. I am committed to building a legacy event/ annual fundraising stream for the Cunningham Family Foundation. I have been asked why? why the fire. And here is the answer. Noel invite me to Strings to meet with Dr Hodes 2 days before the lunch. He asked me to make a red and white scarf in time for the lunch, I never did. At the lunch I felt so small. Noels' disappointment. The guilt trip. Dr Hodes. Sick children. I had not realized the magnitude of what making one scarf could have done for that lunch. The red and white scarf may not have made a difference that day, but I was asked to do something so small that 'could' mean so much for one country or one child. I experienced that sensation again during the incident when the bread ran out. I can do something so small and simple to make a difference. Raising money for me is simple. Knitting and teaching knitting is simple. I want to be able to do all that I am able to, not because I should but because I can.

A Reflection by Natalie Villa

This year getting to go to Ethiopia was totally unexpected. I entered into the video contest not really sure if I wanted to go to Africa, but when they told me that I got to go I was excited. I wasn’t sure how to really prepare for that either.

Stepping off the plane in the Ethiopian airport was kinda crazy. It was so chaotic and busy. N my mind I was like great, I’m in this crazy place with a bunch of strangers, so going to the Ararat Hotel was interesting. I sort of got to see Addis; it really exceeded what I had gathered from the airport, I really thought that everyone lived in huts and walked around with no shoes. But I saw a city, a really modern city at that.

We then went to the first library, I was totally blown away. Although the library wasn’t to American standards it was still way nicer that I ever expected. After seeing the children I think I was really hit with “Oh my God, this is really real!” I don’t think I can fully explain how it felt to read to children from a totally different place. The best way to really describe it is by saying I was reading to this girl from another place but it somehow felt like I was readying to my brothers and sisters at home. It was just as powerful and meaningful as when I read to them.

The other thing that was also very powerful was seeing the children at Mother Teresa’s Aids Orphanage. It was crazy to me to see that these children wanted so much attention from us. I’ve never been to an orphanage in the United States but I feel like there are major differences in the way the children are I really felt like the children in Ethiopia were far more hopeful than those in America. I mean I know there’s no way to really tell but their demeanor is different. I don’t just feel that way about the children at the orphanage but throughout this country.

All the places I’ve been to it really seemed like the children want to learn. Just at the classes at Project Mercy, almost every hand went up to answer the question. Not to say children in the U.S. aren’t excited to learn, it’s just not as accessible at our schools back home. At times I felt like I could understand to a small very small degree. What it was like for them. Coming from one of the poorer schools, I know what it’s like to not have enough books for class or not be able to do experiments. As I was talking to the students from Cherry Creek I realized I had an advantage over them, I was able to understand some of the smaller challenges they face. I know that I still have it way easier than any child in Ethiopia, yet I can see why school work is hard to do.

I feel that I can take that experience of seeing the similarity between our school and how that to people at my school. I feel like the students at my school will understand some of the Ethiopian hardships through their own personal problems within the school. I think the idea that 60 students are in one class sharing books will hit home for them. Not necessarily to the same degree but still the same. I think the idea that there aren’t enough teachers will really make them see, I feel like the students at my school will understand how difficult it is at our school therefore they understand even more vividly, how absolutely difficult it is for children in Ethiopia.

I am so grateful I was able to go on this trip. I‘ve never in my life seen anything like this. I’ve never experienced the things I’ve experienced here. It’s almost like Ethiopia is a completely different world yet we have some similarities. I am truly astonished to see the type of life that is lived here. It was crazy to see how much one or two people can really make the difference. It exceeded any and all expectations. I was really touched to see that the video I made wasn’t for nothing, I can help Ethiopia and the children become better. I am so excited to see what else may come. I feel like me entering into the contest and winning wasn’t chance. And I plan to help change or improve some of what I’ve seen here. So be ready for Montbello to help in all that we can. Like I said, I am so grateful for this trip and the experiences I’ve had. I hope to keep some part of what I’ve experienced with me always.

Thank you so much

Natalie Villa

A Reflection by Laurie Maves

I am writing my reflections on the plane from Rome to D.C. – I decided this is as good as anytime.  First I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me this brilliant opportunity to travel with your group of 21 people this year.  What an amazing and diverse group of people who all seemed to embrace this special, special chance to learn some great lessons about themselves, about the world, about Ethiopians, and about grace.

I have said before, but I did have a deep knowing and understanding that I would be making this trip the night Tammy and I met.  Tammy you have been more than inspirational to me at this point in my life – when the student is ready, the teacher appears and there you were,  Noel, thank you for trusting Tammy in allowing me to join you all.  The art experiences the group art, experiences for all the children and sites involved, from the murals in the bead room, mouse room and the map, to the DECA Library – even to the small amount of time I was able to draw with the older girls at the Mother of Teresa Aids Orphanage, all these experiences were amazing gifts for the children as well as some of the best art therapy “work” I am sure I have ever facilitated and participated in.  Especially at the DECA Library to witness the open eagerness of the students to be able to handle brushes, paints and make their own personalized mark on a wall-showed that the mural work was not only therapeutic and gift giving in its process but also in its end product where hopefully thousands will benefit by meditating on the mural and coming to understand that there are others in the world working hard so that they can achieve the successes that are due to them in this lifetime.  

Tammy and Noel, I saw so many things that the trip was such a whirlwind sometimes, I don’t know what to reflect on.  I think each experience all has such amazing and differing values for the children and the future of Ethiopia.  The beads, the knitting, the education, the books, the art skills, they are all crucial elements that you, as The Cunningham Foundation, help bring to the world.  Your gifts to the children keep giving – but also the gift of this trip will inevitably keep giving to the team you selected this year in 2008.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart.  My commitment to you is to work on a way to make a small library happen from myself and my family and network of friends and to hopefully paint future murals with the children of Yetebon or beyond.

Laurie Maves
11/29/08