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

A Reflection w/ Photos by Carrie Besnette

Reflections from 2008 Ethiopia Trip with the Cunningham Foundation:

The best way to share my reflections is through photos. Included here are some highlights from this experience with brief descriptions. The faces of the children tell the story better than I can.

Additionally, I share an excerpt from a recent UNESCO article comparing the multi-billion-dollar response to save the banking industry to the urgency (or lack thereof) paid to "...ensuring social justice, fairness, and the right to educational opportunity for the world's most vulnerable population groups."

...The circumstances into which children are born, their gender, the wealth of their parents, their language or the colour of their skin should no longer define their educational opportunities and ending inequality's 'lottery by birth' is perhaps one the greatest global challenges of the 21st century. The challenge is one that concerns all nations, since in a globalized world poverty and suffering do not remain confined within borders, but spill over in the form of conflict for scarce resources, mass migration and environmental degradation.

The response to the financial crisis demonstrates what governments can accomplish when faced with extraordinary times. But if they carry on failing to tackle deep and persistent inequalities in education, targets set by the international community will be missed in some cases by spectacular margins. Most importantly, millions of children around the world will continue to be consigned to lives of poverty and diminished opportunity....

http://portal.unesco.org/unesco/ev.php?URL_ID=43974&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201&reload=1229753752

Thank you Tammy and Noel, for shining a spotlight on one special part of the world and lighting a fire under others to make a difference.

--Carrie A. Besnette, December 2008

A Reflection by Hannah Merten

I still remember the day just about a year ago that I was filing into a dark auditorium, content on settling into my chair and getting some math homework done. I sat there with my aerobics class; we were supposed to watch a presentation about the Cunningham Foundation, whatever that was. Of course I cared about Africa, I always had. But on that particular Friday, I was just happy to not have to get dressed for gym.

That short hour in the auditorium was quite possibly the most important hour of my life, for I see now that the Cunningham Foundation has completely changed who I am. After seeing Noel’s presentation at Creek I began feeling this inexplicable tug on my heart. It wasn’t even that I just wanted to help. It wasn’t a normal reaction. For some reason I had yet to discover, I began to NEED to help the kids I had seen in the video. I NEEDED to help Africa in any way I could. When I saw posters advertising a Four Quarters For Kids club at Creek I couldn’t have been more excited. I turned up at the meeting with a group of giggly friends who didn’t really truly get it. The group listened to Jordan Junge talk about Ethiopia and I began to feel that familiar tug, that need to help.

When I heard about the video contest I initially decided that it was a great idea, but that it was meant for someone else. After all, I had never been particularly video-savvy. But before I knew it, I found myself toying with ideas about a video for the contest. I just kept remembering something Noel had said during his speech at Creek : “For a student at Creek, a quarter might not even be important enough to pick up off the ground”. I guess the rest is history :)

The following months passed by in a blink. I remember telling countless family friends about this incredible trip I was going to take but never truly being able to explain it. After all, I had no idea what to expect—I had never even been to Mexico. I anticipated the trip for months and months without even really knowing what to expect. I even think I tried to make a point of not having any expectations. But eventually I found myself on a plane due to land in Ethiopia in about ten minutes. I turned to Noel and was delighted to see him with a huge boyish grin on his face, doing a little dance (it was a dance that I saw a lot of during the trip!). He turned to me, perhaps sensing my nerves, and said, “Your whole world will change as soon as you get off this plane”. Oh, it did.

Immediately upon stepping off the plane I began to understand what Tammy had meant by ‘Ethiopian time’. But after being hassled by customs, loading our luggage, and finally arriving at the Ararat, I felt ready to really see Ethiopia. I was ready to see the world as I never had before. And I did—that very next day, I was forced to confront my definition of wealth. In a material sense, I was devastated to see just how little these people could live upon. Really truly having nothing is just not something we can understand in America. Poor people in America are rich. On the other end of the spectrum, I was absolutely appalled by the grandeur of the Addis Sheraton. I still don’t understand how Ethiopia can justify such a palace in the midst of such desolate poverty. I also found, however, that Ethiopians have quite a different definition of wealth. I was amazed at the easiness of love in Ethiopia. Groups of children would just run up to me to smile at me and grab my hand. They weren’t asking for money. They weren’t asking for anything but love. This was especially evident at the Mother Teresa’s orphanage and Chavel’s library. At the library, I had been reading to a little girl for fifteen minutes before I realized that we had been holding hands the entire time. It is that easy flow of love that was so pleasantly surprising to me. I realize upon returning to the United States just how cool we really are to each other in comparison. It is that warmth that I think I miss the most :(

Though I learned a lot in Addis, I was thrilled to finally arrive at Project Mercy. Project Mercy is a beautiful place in so many ways. Again, I became very attached to the easy love of not only the Ethiopians but also the members of our group. We all really began to bond those first few nights at Project Mercy. For the first time during the trip, I really felt right, I felt at home. I can really see myself spending a year teaching English at Project Mercy at some point in the near future. I was just so impressed at how hard the classes really were. This is not some sort of a joke of a school—these kids really do learn complex things—the classes were just like some I would take at Creek. I was also so impressed by the work ethic of the students. These kids work so hard just to try to give themselves a future. Every day of school is a gift; it’s a chance for them to become smarter, a chance for them to pass that exam, a chance at a better life. Being home has been really hard in that aspect; I can’t even count the number of times I hear ‘I hate school’ in the course of a day. It just sickens me how little we appreciate the incredible gift that is our education.

One really hard realization for me was the bread at Project Mercy. In America, if you run out of something, there’s always more. Someone can always go grab a few loaves of bread from the back. At Project Mercy, it’s not like that. If they run out of bread, there is no more bread. At the same time, upon entering the lunch room, I was mobbed by kids who were trying to give me a piece of their bread, even with the knowledge that there is no guarantee of bread at the next meal. That is that easy Ethiopian love than I miss so much.

Awassa was another great experience. Seeing Gabe and Kelli so overwhelmed with emotion at the scope of their accomplishments was just incredible. They gave 4500 kids a library who had not had one for 45 years. THAT is amazing. I left Awassa so incredibly inspired. I know how great of an impact a library can truly have now. And I know without a doubt that we can do it.

Being home is bizarre, to be completely honest. I feel far stranger in America than I ever did in Ethiopia. The fact of the matter is that Ethiopia completely changed me—I look at everything differently now. There is a distinct pre-Africa Hannah and a distinct post-Africa Hannah. That is why being home has been so difficult. I am a completely different person, but I have been forced to return to my pre-Africa life. Needless to say, things don’t really fit anymore. This problem is particularly evident with my friends. Ever since Africa, I can pick an Old Soul out from a New Soul almost instantly and I’m trying very hard not to judge. It isn’t really their fault that they don’t understand it—they will eventually.

But more than anything else, I have felt such an overwhelming tide of gratitude for everything that I have that I never even appreciated. I have a warm house that doesn’t flood in the rain. I have my own car, and I don’t need to put a ‘no weapons’ sticker on the window. I have the opportunity to earn a great education and I don’t need to worry about having to leave school early to help my parents make enough money to sustain my family. More than anything else, I have a family that loves me. A complete family with both parents, two siblings, and a cat. And I have the knowledge that all of them will have a good life. And, lastly, I had the experience of a lifetime all thanks to the Cunningham Foundation.

We returned to America just in time to see this year’s speakers at Creek Human Rights Awareness Day. I filed into the auditorium once again, but as a completely different person than I was a mere year ago. This time, instead of settling in to hopefully finish a little math homework, I sat down with ears and heart open. I took a breath through my heart and listened to thoughts so much wiser and so much worldlier than those of only one year ago. Thank you Noel, thank you Tammy. Thank you Ethiopia. I have more love for the three of you than you can possibly imagine :)