The work of many hands!

On my recent trip to Layla House with a group of high school students from the Emma Willard School in Troy, NY we carried a number of donated supplies made by talented parents and supporters.   When it was reported that the kitchen workers really wanted aprons and the babies needed burp cloths, our sewers got to work and here are some photos of the results!  The kitchen workers in particular were so delighted with their beautiful, colorful new aprons that they literally started singing and dancing around together and insisted on posing for numerous photos.  It was such a pleasure for me to hand them out to such enthusiastic and grateful recipients.  Thanks so much to those of you who responded to the call for aprons and burp cloths. 

If you have a craft you enjoy doing and would like to make something for either the staff or children of Layla House, please let me know by writing to me at this link.  

Susan Poisson-Dollar
AAI Director of Development

a "before" picture of one of our kitchen staff making injera

The AFTER Photos!  

And here are a few of the cute new bibs and burp clothes on the babies.....

A wonderful supporter and donor from Oregon has kept us well-supplied with diapers and diaper covers.  The ones I brought on this trip were particularly fashionable so I couldn't resist taking this photo.

Books for Adua Honors High School!

Volunteers Brooke and Anoushka sorting books

One of AAI's most recent humanitarian projects has been collecting and shipping math and science books to Ethiopia.   The books are for the brand new Dr. Tsegaye Berhe Woldu Academy of Honor Students.  AAI Volunteer Barb Patton has done an amazing job of coordinating the shipping and storage of some very fine textbooks.   AAI also purchased a number of dictionaries for the school and more books are en route with upcoming travelers.  We are so pleased to be able to help with this worthy effort.

Traveling parents have been carrying boxes over for the last several months and at last count, we have at least 250 books.  Here are some photos of staff and volunteers inventorying the books as they arrive at Layla House.

Our accountant Addis helping out

The school is a project of Dr. Tseghuye for his hometown in a very poor area of northern Ethiopia, about 10 hours from Addis.  Once the books arrived at Layla House, we rented an ambulance to bring them to Adua so they could arrive in time for the opening ceremonies on March 1st which were reportedly attended by many dignitaries including the Prime Minister.  Temesgen, AAI's legal representative, was also in attendance.