Adoption Advocates International News

Let Your Voice Be Heard by February 14!

2012-02-13T14:51:00.000-08:00

PLEASE READ BELOW TO LEARN MORE ABOUT A VERY IMPORTANT SURVEY BEING CONDUCTED BY THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE. RESULTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY FEBRUARY 14th, 2012.

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The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has released a survey the results of which will inform U.S. government policy makers on adoptive families’ experiences when interacting with U.S. government officials during the intercountry adoption process. The survey seeks to collect responses from adoptive families, potential adoptive families and adoption service providers.

This survey respresents a unique opportunity for the adoption community to share their experiences and express their opinions regarding the services provided by the U.S. government. We strongly encourage all Joint Council supporters who have adopted internationally or who have facilitated intercountry adoptions to participate in the survey and to encourage others to do so as well.

Adoptive parent or prospective adoptive parent, please use the following link:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Surveyonintercountryadoptionparents

ADOPTION TAX CREDIT AWARENESS DAY!

2012-02-02T15:14:00.000-08:00

Adoption Advocates International founder, Merrily Ripley, recently shared this information. Thanks Merrily for your continued involvement and support! We love you!

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The First Annual Adoption Tax Credit Awareness Day will be Monday, February 13, 2012. The hope is that everybody in the adoption community will take part. Many adoptive families are not aware that this tax credit exists. It is our goal to help ensure that adoptive families who are eligible to receive this benefit are informed about how to claim the credit. We are asking everyone, including professionals, advocates, state agencies, families, and others to help spread the word on one given day (Feb. 13th) in hopes to broadcast the existence of the adoption tax credit. Details about how you can help are below.

Save the Date: Plan now to be part of the Adoption Tax Credit Awareness Day on Monday, February 13, 2012—a national effort highlighting the federal tax credit available to adoptive families.

Play Your Part: Join with adoption organizations, state agencies, adoptive families, advocates, and other interested parties to raise visibility of the adoption tax credit. Help spread the word collectively, through website postings, email blasts, newsletters, social media, and other informational outlets, so eligible families that may not be aware of this benefit can be sure to access the credit. Families who adopted as far back as 2005 may still benefit if they haven’t already. Be sure to include non-internet based strategies since some adoptive families do not have access to the internet.

The Facts:

Since 2003, families who adopted a U.S. child with special needs from foster care could claim a federal adoption tax credit even if they had no adoption expenses (as long as they met the fairly generous income requirements).

Children who receive adoption assistance/subsidy benefits are considered children with special needs. Even families who receive a deferred subsidy ($0 per month but medical coverage through the subsidy program) are eligible.

All adoptive families (except those who adopted a step-child) are eligible for the credit, but those who adopt children other than those with special needs must have—and be able to document, if requested by the IRS—qualified adoption expenses.

For 2010 and 2011 the credit was made refundable. If parents who adopted as long ago as 2005 had credit to carry forward into 2010, that amount of the credit also became refundable. In 2010 and 2011, parents can claim the credit even if they don’t have income or any tax liability.

The amount of the credit for 2011 is $13,360 per child.

The Information:

IRS Form 8839 Instructions: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8839.pdf

IRS Form 8839: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8839.pdf

IRS adoption tax credit FAQ’s: http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=231663,00.html

Voice for Adoption’s distributable postcard: http://voice-for-adoption.org/adoption_tax_credit

Tools & Resources from the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC): http://www.nacac.org/taxcredit/taxcredit.html

Please distribute this widely among your networks. Thanks for taking the time to make this count for adoptive families!

iGive to AAI!

2011-12-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

We are at the height of holiday shopping season! Did you know that if you do your shopping through www.igive.com up to 26% (but usually 1-5%) of your total is donated to AAI's humanitarian projects? It's true! These donations can add up to make a difference in countries like Ethiopia, Ghana, and Uganda.

If you aren't already a member and sign up now (adding a button to your toolbar) AAI will get $5 for your membership! If you share the link with a friend and that friend signs up, another $5 for AAI humanitarian projects! Click HERE to learn more about the 1 Million Buttons for Change campaign. The campaign goes through January 9th, 2012.

Thank you to all who remember to give back at this time of year.

National Adoption Month CHALLENGE Results

2011-12-02T10:18:00.001-08:00

During the month of November we challenged everybody in the AAI family to think of ways they could (1) promote adoption and (2) give back to organizations that advocate for the orphaned child. We are pleased to share that many AAI families stepped up to the plate with wonderful results! Earlier this month we shared some of your great ideas. Here are some others.

*Bryana and Jodi Slaback shared, "On Nov. 6 I presented the Operation Christmas Child project through Samaritan's Purse to my church. It is going well and shoe boxes with gifts for needy children around the world are already coming in. We will take our two adopted boys (Guatemala and Ethiopia) shopping to fill a shoe box each for boys their age. They love it and it raises awareness of needs around the world and challenges them to give out of their own wishes of what they would like to receive themselves."

*Tiffany Bryner made a display at the public library in Sitka, Alaska where she is employed.

*An AAI family shared, "Every time I shop at Costco I purchase a can of formula to take with us..(I shop there a lot with my brood). I have asked and encouraged my friends to do the same."

*AAI Counselor Marilyn Weaver took part in an adoption conference at a church in the Tri Cities on November 4. She spoke in a breakout session on homestudies. The theme she chose was “The Homestudy is the Heart of Adoption.” She referred to AAI and passed out information about our agency.

*Carol Gilliom shared, "Every year, including this year in October, my daughter Anna Gilliom (16 years old now), and I talk with all 80 students in the 7th grade at our local school about adoption. We talk about how Anna came from India as an infant, what adoption means to our family, and about Indian culture. We give our talk in the Social Studies classes during their unit on India."

*An AAI parent shared, "I am also going to a third grade class where some of my friends children go and I am speaking on adoption. The class is going to ask parents to donate needed items for our upcoming trip."
*Kris Adam helped raise funds for plane tickets, etc, for a family in her church that is adopting 3 children from Ethiopia. Everything she sells until mid Dec. goes directly to their fees. Kris states, "I am making necklace charms and ornaments. I know it won't be much, but every drop in the bucket helps!"

*Gina MacConnell purchased 100 devotionals about adoptions from Show Hope and has been handing them out to anyone who shows interested in adoption.

*One AAI Parent shared, "We are hosting a Adoption Info Meeting and a Help Us Fill Our Suitcase Party before we leave for our court trip in December. My plan is to have empty suitcases at our front door as our guests arrive(I have sent out a list of the things that AAI in Ethiopia needs). I am going to show the Cry of the Orphan video and have informational materials available."

*Several AAI families ate very simply the week before Thanksgiving, then donating the money they saved on food to various programs at AAI.

Thanks to ALL who participated this year, and shared your activities with us!

AAI Family Quilt--A Longstanding Tradition

2011-11-29T10:32:00.000-08:00

The AAI Family Quilt is coming along nicely! If you have made a donation to AAI and would like to see your name on a leaf, star, butterfly, or other items that will adorn the quilt, just contact us!

Did you know that fundraising quilts are a longstanding tradition in the United States? Recently, an AAI supporter wrote a blog post about these quilts, and featured the AAI Family Quilt as example. You can read the entire (very interesting) blog post HERE.

AAI Volunteer trip -- Join us in February!!

2011-10-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

2012 Short-term Volunteer Trip
2/26/12--3/8/12

Chris Little and Susan Poisson-Dollar, AAI Board President and former AAI Director of Development respectively, will be leading a short-term volunteer trip to Ethiopia for a maximum of 14 participants. The dates for this year’s trip are February 26^th – March 8^th, 2012. Chris and Susan have each visited Ethiopia numerous times and also have significant experience hosting volunteer groups both in the U.S. and Ethiopia. They enjoy sharing their love for and knowledge of their “adopted” country with new people. We had a wonderful experience in November of 2010 and you can read more about it at this link.

The land cost for the trip is $1300 and includes airport pick-up in Addis, lodging (single occupancy, discount for sharing), transportation and some meals in Addis as well as a donation to Adoption Advocates International’s humanitarian projects in the country. Flight costs will depend on the participant’s home city but are currently ranging between $1400-1700 round trip from most parts of the country. Participants will have the option of joining either of the group leaders on their flights or of arranging one independently. Depending on the interests of the group, excursions outside of Addis can be arranged and the travel agent we are working with can also help organize add-on tours to other parts of Ethiopia.

All participants will be expected to get a criminal background check prior to the trip or submit one received in the last two years. They will also be asked to carry supplies for AAI’s partner orphanages and other nonprofits as well as to make a commitment to do some fundraising prior to or after the trip. A non-refundable deposit of $500 is required by January 15, 2012 to secure a spot on the trip and participants are also required to have health insurance and to purchase a travel insurance plan (generally very inexpensive). Please contact Susan Poisson-Dollar for more details or to reserve your spot on the trip.

There will also be opportunities to tutor children, teach English, work at our facility for developmentally-delayed children (Opportunity House), and to experience Ethiopian traditions by visiting typical families. We may be asked to paint rooms and do other similar projects at partner orphanages. Excursions will include trips to shop for fairly-traded handicrafts, visits to other nonprofit projects serving orphans and vulnerable children and a dinner at a cultural restaurant featuring traditional dance and food.

Temesgen and MOWA official visit Port Townsend, WA

2011-10-12T11:33:00.000-07:00

Last week, AAI lawyer Temesgen and a MOWA official visited Port Townsend, WA and had dinner with a number of AAI families. Chris Little, AAI Board President and adoptive parent of many, sent these pictures in and reported that everyone had a great time. In addition to joining local AAI families for dinner, Temesgen and the MOWA official also visited a school, several private homes and the Port Townsend courthouse where many adoptions are finalized.

The bidding is on!!

2011-10-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

2011 AAI Holiday Project Auction

Open for Bidding!

Head right over to this link to get a look at 100 beautiful gift items that benefit AAI's ongoing humanitarian efforts in Ethiopia and Ghana. Jewelry, artwork, clothing and household items and vacation opportunities await you there. Get your holiday shopping done extra early this year and your gift recipients will also appreciate that your purchase did "double duty" and helped an orphaned or vulnerable child in one of our programs. The items were all donated by friends and supporters of AAI, many of whom are adoptive parents.

Holiday Project Auction Starts October 1!

2011-09-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

Check out all the great Holiday Gift Ideas!

Wouldn't you like to get your holiday shopping done early this year and benefit a good cause too?! The 2011 AAI Holiday Project kicks off this year with a silent auction of over 80 beautiful items. The online auction starts October 1 but you can start previewing the items now at this link !

As the saying goes --"Bid early and bid often." All proceeds from the auction benefit AAI's Humanitarian Projects. Read more about them at our website under "Humanitarian" and elsewhere here on the AAI blog.

Thanks for shopping! We will still be having our annual Holiday Project Fund Drive after the auction and offering you the opportunity to have a special holiday card sent to someone special who will love knowing that your gift benefited an orphaned or vulnerable child in one of our programs. Great gift idea for the many people on your list who already "have everything."

Read the latest AAI newsletter here!

Password-Protected Waiting Child Page on AAI Website

2011-09-21T05:49:00.000-07:00

Help spread the word!

We just added a new feature to the AAI website -- a password protected page with photos and information about waiting children in all of our international adoption programs. The first page features a healthy 11 year old boy from Burkina Faso, a pair of young brothers from Ghana, and a little girl in our Republic of Georgia program among others. We plan to put up new pages every few weeks so once you obtain your password, please keep checking---maybe you will find your child there one day! Contact Johanna in the AAI office to find out how to obtain the password.

Feel free to post this link to any adoption groups you are involved in, your blog, your Facebook page etc. Many of the children we will feature have special needs and we want to find families willing to help them develop to their full potential.

*** NOTE: We have just learned that some browsers and computers are experiencing difficulties with accessing the page. If you can't, please email Johanna above (click on the link) and she can send you the information directly. Thanks--we're getting lots of interest already!!

Help Us Expand Opportunity House!

2011-09-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

AAI's Opportunity House Project in Ethiopia currently provides loving care and individualized therapy and training for thirty children with serious disabilities. Twenty of the children reside on the Layla House compound and another dozen live at Kibeb Tsehaye, a partner orphanage cooperating in the project. Our agreement with the Ethiopian government involves expanding OH's services to include fifty or more children over the coming months. To achieve this, we need YOUR help!

There are two easy ways to contribute to Opportunity House and know that you have helped to make a child's life infinitely better. Please consider sponsoring an OH child with a recurring donation of $35 a month or more. In return, you will receive a photo and child report on a specific child at least twice a year. We also need one-time donations for the purchase of needed equipment (as seen in these photos), the salaries of trained professionals and to pay for the staff training sessions we are doing for the children's caregivers. If you would like to know more about specific OH needs and how you can "sponsor" a physical therapist or staff training workshop, please contact Merrily Ripley.

Thanks to AAI parent Mike Erickson and volunteer Sophie Brill for these nice photos of children benefiting from Opportunity House services.

AAI Child is "Community Hero" in Utah

2011-09-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Recently an AAI adoptive mom shared with our listserve community that her son Phile was chosen as a Community Hero this summer. Phile has multiple special needs and spent time at our Opportunity House program. Her story and some pictures are below.

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Our son, Phile, came home exactly two years ago. He spent about a year at Layla House but most of his time was at Opportunity House. Phile is seven years old and has been diagnosed with mild cerebral palsy, autism, severe developmental delays and a seizure disorder called Lennox Gastaut Syndrome. As my mom once described, our family went through a pretty big "storm" that lasted well over a year after Phile came home. We spent a lot of time in and out of hospitals, doctors, offices, therapies, counseling, schools, etc. trying to find help for our son and our families "new normal."

We live in a small town of about 20,000 people in Utah. Each summer, our community has a week long celebration including a parade, carnival, rodeo, concert and a variety of other activities. As a part of the celebration, a community hero is selected based on nominations. To kick off the celebration, the "Hero" is announced. Phile was secretly nominated by a neighbor and was chosen by the city as the Hero. The city got in contact with members of my family to get more information about Phile and our family. We had no idea any of this was going on!

One afternoon my sister told us she had a surprise for our family and that we needed to go for a short drive to get to it. So we all got in the car and followed her a little over a mile from our house to a new park the city was building. When we pulled up, over a hundred people were there cheering and chanting Phile's name. There were family, friends, teachers, nurses - all people whose lives have been affected and hearts touched by their interaction with our son. It was incredible and we were completely shocked and overwhelmed! It turns out that the park the city was building is unique in that it is a handicapped accessible, special-needs park...and it was named after our son. There is a plaque on display with a picture of our son and his story which was written by my mom. The mayor was at the "reveal" and honored our son and our family. Our family was invited to ride in the parade and to be special guests at the Clint Black concert that weekend. It was also announced that all the proceeds from the city's celebration would be used to fund a rec program for the 200+ special needs children in our area. We were speechless! The park is nearly complete and we have asked to the city if we can add a handprint mural so Phile's park can honor all the special needs children in our city.

Where Phile lacks in "ability" he more than makes up for in heart. He has truly taught us the meaning of unconditional love. There are days where I find myself in a bad mood or feeling upset for one reason or another. Then I see my son who, in my mind, has every reason to be frustrated at life but is so happy and just smiles, laughs and finds joy in the simplest things. I am so grateful for his example, for my neighbor, the community that I am a part of, and my family who take the time to find the rainbows in the storms of life.

-Becky A.

wife to a fabulous man and mom 4 beautiful bio girls and 2 amazing boys we were blessed to find

AAI Thailand Program -- Recent staff visit

2011-08-25T07:23:00.000-07:00

AAI Thailand/China Coordinator Ky Bower recently visited Thailand to visit orphanages and attend events for adoptees from that country. You can read more about our Thai adoption program at this link. Here is a report from Ky's trip to this beautiful country.

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Ky and Mrs. Anchalee at Pakkred Baby Home

I am back from my trip to Thailand and had a wonderful experience as part of the Nativeland visit program. AAI was the only agency from the US that was represented and I was very grateful for the opportunity. I highly encourage Thai adoptive families to participate in this program in the future. It is a wonderful experience for the children to return to the children’s homes, see their caregivers again, and really get to experience the culture and traditions of their birth country. The tour really focuses on the children and the love that their birth country has for them. No matter where their new lives and families have taken them, the tour organizers believe it all started in Thailand and they try very hard to help the children realize how loved they are by their country. The Nativeland visit takes place about every 2-3 years and we will send out information about the next one when it is made available.

The Child Adoption Center

I was able to meet with our Social Worker Ms. Anchalee for a meeting prior to one of the activities. She informed me there are special needs files ready for our agency and that we should expect to receive those within the next few weeks. It is my understanding that these are completed files of special needs children- medical, child history, photos, and possibly video as well. AAI will review these files and match them with families who have completed dossiers. Depending on the number of files we receive, we will then advocate for the rest of the waiting children who in need of families. I will update the list of waiting children and notify families in the program once the information has received and processed.

Welcome music and dancing at one of the children's homes

We will also be notified later this year if the Thai healthy child program will re-open. We hope to know this fall if AAI will be able to submit applications for healthy children for the 2012 year.

One of the children's homes that Ky visited

I was able to visit the Child Adoption Center as well as the US Embassy and to get familiar with the offices and the processes there. It was very clear how busy the Child Adoption Center is with the workload each social worker has because they work with many adopting countries and many different children’s homes. After meeting with several different social workers I can tell you their hearts are in the right place and they too want to see these children home with their adoptive families. The biggest news to report about my meeting with the US Embassy is how valuable Ms. Oh is in that process. She has a wonderful working relationship with the staff members there and will see to it that families complete the process as quickly as possible. The lines at the embassy of people applying for visas can be very long can be long of people and adoptive families take priority. Families are told to go to the front of the line and notify the officer that they are there for adoption. I was happy about that because they day I was there the lines were very LONG.

l-r, Mrs. Oh, Janelle and Ky

The highlight of my trip is my visit to one of the children’s homes. The director of the home was very welcoming and a lot of preparation took place for our arrival. Seeing how excited the caregivers were to see “their” children again brought tears to my eyes and gives me goose bumps as I write this. It is very clear that these kids are loved and well cared for. The love the children returning to the home have for their nannies was obvious and they couldn’t wait to be in their arms again. It was a special reunion that I am honored to have witnessed. This home in particular had several sections to it; a room for the babies under a year old, a room for the toddlers and then a room for the older children up to age 6. Playrooms and reading rooms were also included in each section. The home was beautifully maintained and the feeling that I had while touring it was a positive one.

Often when we think of children being in orphanages we think negatively of the conditions but I can tell you that this particular home was gorgeous and very child-friendly---with beautiful bright colors, lovely landscaping and an abundance of toys and play equipment. From what Janelle, AAI’s former Thai coordinator and my traveling companion on this trip, tells me, this is the general condition of most of the homes she has visited in the past within Thailand .

Ky and social workers

Overall, it was a very successful trip and I feel optimistic about future Thai adoptions. During the visit the social workers at the Child Adoption Center hosted a dinner for the representatives of the agencies that attended. This was another highlight of my trip as it was comforting to speak to other agencies about their experiences with Thai adoptions. It was a wonderful time to connect personally with the Child Adoption Center workers as well as to make new friends with agencies from around the world.

Another AAI family story

2011-08-11T10:36:00.000-07:00

Recently we received the following story and pictures from an AAI family, the Bossleys of Ohio, that adopted two special needs children years ago from our Taiwan program. It is so inspiring to read success stories like this and we thought we just had to share it more widely.

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Peter and Ben

When our oldest son went away to college, it left an empty spot in our lives - both physically and emotionally. I had always wanted another child or more. We had 3 biological children and one adopted daughter with some severe emotional issues. We were stressed almost beyond our limits with her. I think emotional issues are tough ones and dealing with them takes a lot of real time, wisdom, and love.

I wanted another child as we had been married young and still had child rearing time but my wife had gone through a tubal ligation at the time of our third child. To compound the issue, we were not wealthy - not at all. When we decided to adopt, I went through 12 agencies that turned us down until I finally got a photo and information about a 2 year old boy from Taiwan who had been blind from birth but was as cute as a button and seemed to be a normal bright boy. I had friends who were blind so I did not have a problem getting past the lack of vision. I had a vision for that child and so did Sister Rosa from the orphanage.

The greatest problem I had was getting my wife's signature on the papers. She was not sure about adding another child because of what we were going through. I never believed it possible but six months later we were at the airport waiting for our newest son. Peter was soon enrolled in a preschool for blind children. Three days a week I also took Peter to the Cleveland Sight Center and waited with other parents - all mothers of blind children. As I watched Peter at normal tasks and at play, it was clear to me after a year that he would have a much easier time if he had a sighted sibling.

I wrote to Adoption Advocates again - just to drop a hint that we would be interested in adopting again. I did not think that anyone would allow a second adoption but again Sister Rosa surprised us and responded that she had "just the right child for us." This was a child whose photo would bring a shocked look to anyone I shared it with because the little 17 month old boy had a huge " hemangioma" on his entire lower left jaw. These blood tumors are red because they are filled with blood and this one was fully the size of the rest of the toddler's face. This child had been hospitalized (mostly kept on his back) for his entire young life.

Ben before surgery

I wanted to be certain that the rest of my children could deal with the comments and interactions of others when seeing him for the first time, so I had the children each take the photo to school to show it to their friends and to deal with the comments. The family members each handled the comments and questions and I tried to learn about the remainder of his medical conditions. We had heard that one family had turned him down. We decided to accept him but my hesitation was that there was no real indication of his mental ability. I could handle most handicaps but I was uncertain about how I could do with a child with limited mental growth.

Benjamin, as we named him, would take only formula through a bottle and was only 12 pounds at 17 months old . His legs were especially shocking as they were still as he had been as a newborn. Both Peter, and Benjamin came into this world weighing less than 2 pounds each. The percentage of babies who survive at this low birth weight at the time was 10% The Early Childhood Intervention program in our area was just beginning to get underway and I was one of two parent representatives for our county's program.

I began Benjamin in the program for children under 3 years for 2 days a week and then the other 3 days a week, I took both of the boys fifty miles into Cleveland for Peter to go to the class at the school for the blind. For some of the time, while Peter was in class at the children for the blind, I took Ben over a few blocks to a speech specialist as he was almost 4 years old and still did not speak.

Over the next two years, surgeons worked in nearly 30 surgeries to remove the tumor on his face. He had 4 other surgeries to correct other problems. Both boys went to the local elementary school. I remember in 1994 when I took Peter to enroll him in kindergarten

the principal of the school looked at me and said "There is a place for kids like him" (referring to the schools for the blind). I said "I know - this is one right here" ---affirming my decision to have Peter mainstreamed. This law was 20 years old and yet I still had to battle fervently to have things done in a practical way for him to learn. "Braille and Speak" notepads were coming out and Peter got his first one in the fourth grade. He really took off academically then and even learned to fix it himself so we didn’t have to send it away when it need servicing because that took many weeks. During their school years Peter and Benjamin were involved in wrestling for at least one year and Peter also participated in Model UN.

Peter

Peter was able to take university classes in his last year of high school and began studying on the Ohio State University campus to be an Information technologist for the Office of Research. Benjamin graduated with honors from high school and followed a couple of years behind Peter also at Ohio State University. Ben received a bachelor’s degree in Speech and Hearing and then went on to graduate school at Kent State University. He is now licensed as a teacher in Early Childhood Intervention and specialized in three to five year old children.

Ben

Having Benjamin go from a class of children in an early intervention program to directing a class of the same made me think of the days I was waiting for him to finish the class and reading the books on degrees of mental retardation - and wondering what I had gotten myself into. Both boys live independently in their own condo and put themselves through school. My motto is now “Teach a child to fish and you will be envious of his trophy catch."

July 2011 Families for Children newsletter

2011-07-26T17:37:00.000-07:00

Click here to read!

Report from AAI-Ghana

2011-07-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

Our Ghana Coordinator, Anita Gillispie, traveled to Ghana for two weeks in June. It was a very busy trip, with visits to around 15 orphanages and non-profits in 5 regions of Ghana and Togo. In this part of the world in-person relationships are of the utmost importance. Culturally, some things must be communicated in person rather than by email or phone.

Thanks to generous donations by AAI families and friends, Anita was able to take over 300 pounds of donations, and give over $2500 in food and supplies to orphanages and non-profits in Ghana.

AAI helped a group foster home receive 12 new mattresses for the children.

Directors of the group foster home choose donated shoes and clothing for their children

Earlier this year families raised $5000 for the construction of a new dormitory at Nyame Dua Foster home. Anita was able to tour the dormitory that is now nearing the end of construction. When finished, the addition will have a new sitting area, 2 new bedrooms, a western-style restroom, and a storage area.

construction of the Nyame Dua boys dorm

The current restroom facility at Nyame Dua--a new one is planned.

Family Preservation is a significant part of our program in Ghana. Anita was able to observe these programs in action when she went along to deliver food to vulnerable families and to visit the sponsored children in school.

The trip was very fruitful, in part, thanks to the private vehicle Anita was able to use during her time in Ghana. Unfortunately, The Ripley Foundation (our primary NGO sponsor in Ghana) is in dire need of vehicles to be able to effectively do their work in Ghana. Currently, they are borrowing one vehicle (to be returned in August) or using public taxis/buses. Please consider a donation to our Ghana Vehicle Fund to help put this program back on the road.

The roads are sometimes almost impassable even for a 4X4 SUV, so you can imagine how difficult it is for TRF Humanitarian Director Muna Saeed to do her work hiring public taxis each day. Many times she can only take a taxi to a certain point before she is left to walk the last few miles on foot (often with donations in hand and her son on her back). This is, at best, an inefficient way to accomplish the work that must be done on behalf of orphans and vulnerable children.

Muna, walking with a mom whose children are sponsored through AAI

Joha, TRF's Director of Development, often takes a public bus from Accra to Bolgatanga--a 17 hour ride--in order to work on adoption cases in the Upper East Region.

Joha (in brown shirt) settles in for the 17+ hour bus ride

Without access to a dependable SUV, Anita would have been unable to visit at least 5 of the orphanages she visited during the last trip. The SUV barely made it through the muddy road below.

In the coming months we hope to assist The Ripley Foundation in purchasing two used vehicles--one for city travel and one for "rough" travel. The organization is doing its best to raise money within Ghana (including their own personal funds) to meet this need, but they ask that we come along side them. The fact is, at this point, AAI adoption and family preservation work is being inhibited by the transportation problems.

Thank you for your continued support in Ghana.

Anita Gillispie

Adoption Advocates International

Holiday Project Kicks off with an Online Gift Auction!--Items needed now.

2011-07-19T13:41:00.000-07:00

This year we are trying something new and different for our annual Holiday Project. Coordinator and volunteer extraordinaire Mandie Doak just sent this message to our country yahoo groups and I'm sharing it here for those who read the blog. And wow--look at some of the items she's already received--they would make great gifts!
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Hi All! I know its hard to believe that I'm posting about the Holiday project and its only the middle of July... but I have to tell you, I've already been thinking about it for a month now, and today I saw aisles and aisles of Christmas decorations out at Hobby Lobby.... so apparently, I'm not the only one!

The reason I'm typing is because I am putting together a silent online auction (and possibly an event in Kansas at its end...) to raise money for this year's Holiday Project. The auction will take place the beginning of October, but I wanted to get the word out early so that those of you who are crafty and quilt or knit, or do some other great thing that requires a bit of time to put together, could have time to do it! I'm asking for donations from all of our AAI Africa families , since this project will touch children and caregivers in Ethiopia, Ghana and Uganda this year!

My name is Mandie Doak, I'm an Ethiopia adoptive parent, volunteer with AAI, and I have
been organizing the Holiday project for the past 5 years.... I put the word out, beg for money, do the shopping, beg for more money, remind you all that we still have money to raise, and finally carry all the gifts to Ethiopia and oversee that portion of the project. You can visit this link and see photos from last year's projects in both Ethiopia and Ghana.

I'm very excited to be including AAI's new program in Uganda in this year’s project, and I can't wait to see the photos of their celebrations!

Last year’s project brought in more than $20,000... Half of which went to AAI's humanitarian aid projects. The remainder of the funds went to provide gifts for all of the children in AAI's care, special Holiday party and foods, modest bonuses for the caregivers, special treats for our sponsorship kids, and holiday meals for several of AAI's partner orphanages. The project will touch more than 500 orphans and caregivers in all three countries.

Please help us to make this year’s project a HUGE success! If you are able to donate an item or two, please let me know and I’ll send you my shipping address! If you are crafty and you know it...raise your hand! Calling all quilters, clothing makers, bow makers, photographers, jewelry makers, artists, etc.! Travelers, you can help out too! If you are traveling soon, and would be willing to pick up some souvenir type items (drums, baskets, scarves, clothing, coffee, spices, jewelry, etc...) to donate to the cause, let me know!

The auction is not limited to physical items.... If you own a salon, how about' a do? Own a restaurant or have a friend who does? How about donating a dinner for two? Maybe you can donate a weekend getaway or charter fishing trip? You can see where this is going! If you can offer a good or service that someone else could bid on, let me know!

You don't have to be a crafty-traveling-business owner to participate, either! If you have an item, or want to purchase an item to donate to the cause, that would be welcome too! Just as a reminder, donations should be new or like new items that you would want to give or receive as a gift during the holidays... We are hoping that folks will use this auction as a place to do some of their holiday shopping, so please keep this in mind!

I have the Holiday Project FB page up and running, and have started posting previews of the items that will be offered for auction! I will update it as I receive the items. Stop by, "Like" it, and get ready to bid! Please be sure to check out donor's websites, many of them work with organizations in Uganda, Ghana and Ethiopia.

If you have a website associated with your goods, I would be happy to link it to your items. They will also be linked on our Facebook page, where I will have a preview of the items as I receive them. Take a look; there are some beautiful things already that will make great gifts for a special someone on your list.

Please feel free to contact me with questions! Items need to be shipped to me by Sept. 16th.

Looking forward to hearing from you! Thanks so much for your help with this!

Mandie Doak

Fun in Wenatchee!

2011-07-11T13:42:00.000-07:00

A group of AAI families gathering at a state park in Wenatchee, WA over the past Fourth of July Weekend. By Saturday evening, there were over 150 people there attending a cookout planned by Chris Little, the event organizer and AAI Board President. A highlight of the weekend was a panel discussion featuring about a dozen older Ethiopian adoptees discussing and answering questions about their unique experiences. Families also enjoyed games, marshmallow roasting, swimming, bike-riding and hanging out with old and new friends. Below are some photos of the weekend taken by Marta Little, Jessica Alderson (AAI Volunteer) and Susan Poisson-Dollar (AAI Director of Development). Director Merrily Ripley and her husband and grandchildren were also in attendance.

Oh, yes there was Ethiopian dancing!

And doro wat cooked on a campstove...

the older kids fielding questions and talking about their experiences

more members of the panel

AAI Volunteer Jessica enjoyed seeing some old friends from Layla House

Impromptu hair-braiding sessions went on all weekend

Old and new friends enjoyed each other's company

The games Chris planned were a big hit and helped keep us all cool in the hot weather.

Hula-hooping contest with the AAI Family Tree Quilt in the background

The teen set could not get enough socializing in!

There was always a line to try out this cool bike that Chris brought

Report from AAI- Uganda

2011-07-08T07:43:00.000-07:00

Our Uganda program is less than a year old but is making fast progress in lots of areas. Coordinator Salem Richards just returned from a trip there in June and sent us this report and photos.

children at one of our partner orphanages

This was an extremely busy, exhausting trip to Uganda. It was an eight day trip but due to flying time and layovers I was only in Uganda for six full days. They were busy days!!

I arrived in Uganda on Monday morning and we got right to work visiting orphanages and evaluating new places. We delivered donations to each of the homes, purchased food and got information on waiting children. We had meetings with officials, orphanage directors and lawyers and were on the go from sun up to sundown every day.

Each day we visited multiple orphanages. We met most of the wonderful children being adopted by AAI families and were able to get updates on them. We were able to deliver care packages to the children and pictures of their new families. It was so fun to introduce the children to their families and see their expressions as they took in these new faces for the first time. The idea that someone across the world loves them, wants them and is coming for them is so exciting for most of these kids!

Supply delivery to partner orphanage

We had the opportunity to not only visit with children currently matched with AAI families but to meet children who will potentially be adopted through AAI. We got lists of new children that need families and our in-country staff will be working hard over the next few months to get orphan investigations done and determine the best interest of each of these children. Each investigation is started with a list of three questions: 1) Can this child be reunited with family, relatives or community members?; 2) If no, can they be adopted within Uganda?; and 3) If no,is international adoption in their best interest? These investigations are slow going but so important to our program! We continue to see the trend of very few healthy infants referred to our program. Most of the children we met that will need to be adopted are over toddler age and a good number of them are boys.

children sponsored by AAI

One highlight of the trip for me (there were so many!) was getting to see two of AAI’s sponsor children. Many of you might remember them as “Maria’s kids”. Theresa and David are doing phenomenally well at the boarding school they now attend. They look wonderful and seem happy. Placing them in a boarding school was not something we took on lightly. We have full responsibility for their upkeep now. The monthly fee we pay the school pays for schooling and three meals a day but we must also provide them with clothing, books, snacks, toiletries (including toilet paper!), eating utensils, laundry tub, sheets, shoes, etc. For two children that came literally with the clothes on their backs, this has been a big job to keep up with! But their progress, safety and happiness has made it all worth it. They are doing amazingly well!

Another highlight was being able to meet the three AAI families currently in Uganda. Seeing children that were living as orphans on my last trip now in the arms of their loving families was so amazing. These families are currently going through the court processes in Uganda. We are keeping them in our thoughts and hope we’ll have news of homecomings soon! (update!--first child home, pictures coming soon)

Many Ugandan-American adoptive families were kind enough to send me photographs of them home in America with their children. I can’t begin to tell you how much it helped having these photos. I had a whole photo album full of them. The moment we showed them to people in Uganda you could see their countenances changing and their hearts softening. It was an amazing thing to witness. People were starting to get it….they said things like “wow, they really love these kids!” Exactly what we want to continue to show them!

Overall, this was a very successful trip. I always wish I had more time, but we did almost everything on our schedule and I feel made some real progress in the development of the program as a whole. My heart is always stretched and stirred with each visit I make to this beautiful country. I feel grateful to be able to work with this program and that we have been given the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of some of the children we meet.

AAI needs new vehicles! Can you help??

2011-06-24T05:10:00.000-07:00

Children piling in the van for another trip to the doctor's office

If you've visited Layla House in Ethiopia, you have undoubtedly seen and probably ridden in one of our old red vans. Each day when they are not "in the shop," these vans travel miles and miles with children, staff and visiting parents. They go to medical and dental clinics, the airport, the U.S. embassy, passport offices, the Mercato for food and supplies, and often to small villages in remote areas. They carry social workers to visit children in our sponsorship program, adoptive parents to meet birth family, and staff to visit our partner orphanages all over Addis and well beyond. At this point, they are really on their last legs with engines, bodies, seats and upholstery falling apart. They are spending more and more time in the repair shop which wreaks havoc on the schedule and prevents us from operating as efficiently as we'd like. As our staff there informs us, it's finally time to say goodbye to the oldest red Toyota van and to thank it for serving us well all these years!

Although the situation with our present vans has gone from bad to worse these past several months, we have GOOD NEWS to report. New vehicles are usually very expensive in Ethiopia but because of our recent official agreement with the Ethiopian government to operate and expand Opportunity House, our home for special needs children, we have special permission to import a duty-free vehicle. That means we will be able to purchase a vehicle for about $10,000, a deal we don't want to pass up but also a cost we don't want to pass on in increased adoption fees. A generous adoptive family has already come forward with a $5000 challenge grant----if we can raise the other $5000, they will match each donation dollar for dollar. So every dollar donated to our ETHIOPIA VEHICLE CAMPAIGN, is actually $2! Make your donation count twice.

Abraham, one of our drivers, embarking on yet another trip with a full van of kids

Our Ghana program is also in need of a new vehicle. The Ripley Foundation, our affiliate in that country, has had no van for months now and families and stuff are increasingly reliant on taxis and public transportation to get around Accra and to travel to other parts of the country. As our adoption program in that country has grown, we able to do more and more humanitarian work and reach out to more orphanages delivering food and supplies donated by our families and supporters. The lack of a reliable vehicle is the biggest impediment to improving our work there and to giving visiting families a quality experience in that country. Anita Gillispie, our Ghana coordinator, is in-country right now and she reports that sometimes it is very difficult to find a taxi big enough to take three or four kids and a staff member to a medical appointment and that without their own van, they are having to forgo many important errands. So we are also starting a Ghana Vehicle Campaign and welcome any of your donations to get the Ripley Foundation staff moving again!

Rock for Layla House

2011-06-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

Adam Ezra and percusionist Turtle rock the house!

In March, AAI Director of Development Susan Poisson-Dollar led a trip to Layla House for 12 high school students and 3 chaperones from the Emma Willard School in Troy, NY. One of the high school girls, Hayley Kohler from Westwood, MA, was so moved by her experience that she and her parents organized a fundraiser for friends and family with Boston Area rock musician Adam Ezra who often devotes his considerable talent to good causes.

Haley (left) with 2 friends

Haley's June fundraiser brought in $2000 for Layla House and Hayley has chosen to help the Grace Fund, the Good Neighbor Fund and a medical fund for the children of Layla. Her family recently sent these photos of the event. Hayley did a fabulous job decorating with pictures she took in Ethiopia and also gave a short slide show during the intermission so that her friends and family could learn more about our work!

Thank you so much Kohler family. We hope it inspires more people to do something fun for a cause.

Melissa Fay Greene comes to Seattle on her book tour!

2011-06-13T07:37:00.000-07:00

Merrily looks over Melissa Fay Greene's shoulder as she signs a book

Post submitted by AAI parent Susan Denning

When Melissa Fay Greene’s book tour for No Biking in the House Without a Helmet hit the Seattle/Tacoma area, local adoptive families enjoyed a great evening out. Co-hosted by the Ethiopian Community Mutual Association, the event took place at the ECMA’s new facilities in South Seattle and attracted a sell-out audience of over 200 people. Melissa enthralled the crowd with excerpts from her very entertaining new book and was joined onstage for a panel discussion by author David Guterson who shared his views as an adoptive parent. Members of the local Ethiopian community were present and they contributed to the Q&A discussion, offering their own views on international adoption. Many adoptive parents seemed to value the opportunity to hear this frank and open dialog.

Merrily and Ted Ripley and Barbara Patton attended, bringing along the AAI quilt for display. Eliott Bay Book Company, another co-host of the event, donated 10% of the proceeds from the evening’s book sales to the ECMA. And most touching of all, even the local Ethiopian teens who provided childcare for the evening quietly donated their takings to ECMA. This was a truly wonderful community event.

Bright Futures Fund Girls--an update

2011-06-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

The Bright Futures Girls

Just nine months ago, we learned that all of the girls pictured above were too old to receive US Visas and therefore ineligible for adoption. Birthdates are not generally recorded in rural Ethiopia and children are often smaller than a typical child that age would be here in the U.S. Therefore it is always a bit of an art to guess the ages of children who arrive at Layla House. We rely on both doctor's reports, relatives' recollections and technology like wrist x-rays that can show at what stage of puberty a child is in. Even though these girls had been at Layla House for some time we had hoped that they would still be eligible but it was not to be and other plans had to be made to assure that they would still have a "bright future." Thus the Bright Futures Fund was born and the girls were enrolled in a boarding school outside of Addis so that they could continue their education and begin preparation for a life in Ethiopia.

Recently Merrily and Susan Holmgren were able to see the girls on their trip to Ethiopia because the entire group were on a weekend visit to one of our partner orphanages--Sele Enat. Merrily returned with photos and a social worker's report about how the girls are doing. Here is an excerpt from that report:

It has been nine months since the girls have joined the school. At first, though they struggled a lot so that they can adjust themselves to the new environment, gradually they have been becoming acquainted with the school system, surroundings and with the other children whom they learn together. At this time they are also doing better day after day and following their schooling courteously. I have been able to see some of the class exams they have taken in the past nine months and they are all doing acceptable. The last semester of this year is at hand and they are doing their best to prepare themselves so that they are getting good result. They are going to have a final exam that starts from June 13-17/2011.

Many people have met the girls over the years and have have received some donations to help us with this project. The cost of boarding school, books and necessities comes to about $1300 per girl/per year. If you would like to help ensure that these girls do indeed have a Bright Future, click here. Please contact Brooke Cole, AAI Sponsorship coordinator. Donors to the Bright Futures Fund will receive periodic updates and may send letters to the girls via the AAI office in the U.S. Let's encourage them to do well and succeed!

Let's be Good Neighbors!

2011-05-31T09:10:00.000-07:00

simple latrine constructed by a charity in an Addis neighborhood

We are excited to announce the development of a new humanitarian effort in Ethiopia. AAI is calling it the "Good Neighbor Project" because it will be a series of undertakings in cooperation with local government officials and citizen groups in the area around Layla House. For those who've been to Layla, it's impossible to miss the striking contrast between the opulent three story mansions for embassy personnel and other wealthy people sitting right next to poor neighborhoods with no running water or sanitary facilities and very inadequate housing. According to city data, approximately 61% of the people in Addis Ababa must rely on public latrines but that over 80% of existing facilities are grossly inadequate, causing severe environmental impacts.

The local officials approached our Ethiopian Country Director Temesgen earlier in the year and asked if we could help with some small scale projects to improve the lives of the people in the area. In their first discussions, it seemed as if building some public latrine facilities similar to the one in the photo above in several neighborhoods would be a very good place to start and a project that has been done successfully in other areas of Addis.

AAI Staff Temesgen and Tsegenet on left with kebele officials

AAI Development Director Susan Poisson-Dollar was in Ethiopia in March and accompanied Temesgen on a "latrine tour" with several of the local officials eager to start the project. These photos were taken then of a latrine built by another nonprofit and then of several of the neighborhoods that desperately need a waste facility. Once the latrines are built with donations raised by AAI, the neighborhood contributes labor and also designs a system for keeping the facility cleaned and properly maintained. Generally the latrines are locked and families are issued a key and asked to pay a "user fee" that helps with cleaning and maintenance supplies.

neighborhood near Layla lacking latrine facilities

The cost to construct one latrine is approximately $4000US and we are hoping many of our friends and supporters will hold fundraisers etc. to help us provide several of these to the community. Please contact Susan Poisson-Dollar if you are interested in helping and she will be happy to help you with a fundraising event in your area. To donate to the Good Neighbor Project, click here.

AMY FERRELL WON!!!

2011-05-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

Update: Amy Ferrell has WON the Macy's Million Dollar Makeover Facebook campaign. Amazing news for one of our own adoptive parents. Amy and her husband Chester have two biological children and 3 children adopted with the AAI-Ghana program. We are all so happy for her. Thanks to all of you who voted!

Here's a link to the original post with Amy's story!

And if you want to experience Amy's win with the whole town of Wenatchee, WA, click HERE.

2011 AAI Summer Gathering---Join us for the fun!

2011-05-14T11:14:00.000-07:00

2011 AAI Summer Gathering

June 30 to July 4

Wenatchee Confluence State Park

Wenatchee, WA

Download your registration materials here on the AAI website!

We are excited to announce the AAI Summer Gathering in Wenatchee, WA at the beautiful Wenatchee Confluence State Park. Gatherings offer a unique opportunity for AAI adoptive families to spend time together making new friendships and renewing old ones. This year's gathering is designed to include lots of casual fun enjoying park activities as well as a group barbecue and continental breakfast. There is a required $50 registration fee and nominal charge for the group meals. Camping is available at the Confluence State Park and there are many motels in the surrounding areas for those who prefer not to camp.

A scene from the last gathering at Wenatchee

Update!: Amy made it into the final TWO for her Macy's Makeover!

2011-05-09T07:55:00.000-07:00

Wow, AAI mom Amy Ferrell made it into the final two for the Facebook Macy's Million Dollar Makeover. If you are on Facebook, please head on over and vote for her as many times as your fingertips will let you. Amy has big plans to help with older child adoption and family preservation in Ghana if she wins. We are so proud of her. Be sure to watch the wonderful video about her Leonardo Da Vinci afterschool program as well.

Recently, Amy's family was the subject of a local newspaper profile and you can read it at this link.

If you missed it, read the earlier blog post about Amy and her family with all the details about the Macy's contest and the link for voting.

Vote early and vote often!

Happy Anniversary Merrily and Ted!

2011-05-02T07:01:00.000-07:00

Merrily and Ted Ripley, AAI's founders, recently celebrated their 50th anniversary. Merrily submitted the following post and pictures of the happy occasion.
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Merrily, Ted, Seneca and Raven

Yes, 50 years of marriage this year! The wedding was in 1961. We were very young and had many challenges ahead but we were committed to being together. Eventually Ted graduated from law school and I graduated as well; we gave birth to kids, adopted even more kids, moved to Port Angeles, started AAI and much more. All the while we enjoyed life, did lots of traveling and have felt all along that we were very fortunate people.

The next generation and cousins

Last week we celebrated with a party which included many of our kids, other relatives and long time friends. Seven from our original wedding party attended as well as friends I have had since 4^th grade. My brother came from Thailand and our son Nate, his wife Mesky and our grandson Adam came from Ethiopia. We are now sharing our lives with two grandchildren, Seneca-6 and Raven-9 whom we have adopted. It was a joy to have them there to meet everyone. There were flowers, good food, and lots of laughs and memories. I had made a display of wedding gifts still in use after 50 years; folks were very interested.

Ted had a lot of stories to tell!

The AAI Family Tree Quilt hung at one end of the room and we had a display telling of the need for sponsorships for orphan children to remain in school in Ethiopia. I am very happy to say that a total of $785 was raised at the party.

Layla House Playground is Fixed!

2011-04-27T07:59:00.000-07:00

The deteriorating quality of the Layla House soccer area has been a big concern for quite some time. Almost two years ago, we raised what we thought we would need to fix it only to have skyrocketing construction costs outpace our budget. Finally though, we are happy to report that the necessary repairs have just been completed thanks to a number of generous gifts from our AAI family. The soccer/play area is in constant use of course and the deepening cracks were a safety issue. The photos below show the area under construction (drainage being added for help in rainy season) and the the beautiful smooth surface that is now present.

Thank you!! On to the next project....new seat covers for our aging vans, anyone???

AAI Gathering in Salt Lake City

2011-04-23T05:40:00.000-07:00

Recently, AAI parents organized a family gathering in Salt Lake City, Utah. About 70 people attended and brought many items for donation to Layla House. Many thanks to Amy Brandt and Kristie Wilkins for doing so much to put the gathering together. Below is Amy's description of the event:

children doing crafts at the kids' table

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Several AAI families and friends gathered in a Salt Lake City area church on Saturday, April 9 to meet Merrily and Ted Ripley and support AAI’s humanitarian projects in Ethiopia. Merrily and Ted were in town to visit family, and it was wonderful for adoptive (and prospective and waiting adoptive) families to be able to put names and faces together and to share conversation with the agency’s director.

Children of all ages, from babies to teenagers, were in attendance and the younger ones enjoyed impromptu games of ball and tag while families met the Ripleys and each other. Several families only knew each others' names from the AAI listserve, so it was great to be able to meet in person.

As people arrived, the donation table for Ethiopia overflowed. Families brought formula and cloth diapers for Wanna House, and school and art supplies for Layla and partner orphanages. A family traveling in April offered to transport the donations; hopefully they had lots of room in their luggage!

After families shared a potluck dinner and conversation, Merrily began her presentation about adoption and humanitarian projects in Ethiopia. She showed a video of waiting children created by Emma Dodge Hanson, photographer for the book Faces of Layla. She also spoke about Opportunity House, AAI's facility for special needs children at Layla House and other humanitarian projects. AAI's Family Quilt Project in the photo below helps fund all these efforts. Families at the gathering were the first to see it in person. It's starting to look so beautiful as leaves, stars and animals are being added when people donate to honor a loved one!

Thanks to Merrily and Ted for being the impetus behind this gathering. Salt Lake City area families are planning a fall fundraiser for AAI Humanitarian Programs on September 17, at Washington Park in Parley’s Canyon, with Ethiopian food, children's activities, and Ethiopian items for auction. Anyone in the area is welcome to attend!

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We are always happy to help people organize gatherings. If you would like to do one in your area, please contact Susan Poisson-Dollar, AAI Director of Development.

AAI mom Amy Ferrell in line for a Macy's Makeover---Vote for Amy!

2011-04-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

Amy Ferrell and family in front of their house

One of our own--Amy Ferrell, mom to three children from our Ghana program and 2 more, is a finalist for a very exciting prize on Facebook---a Million Dollar Makeover from Macy's. Read her story below and if you are on Facebook, please head over and vote for Amy. She has big plans to give back to children in need in Ghana and here in the U.S. Good luck Amy!

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I have always felt blessed. I have a wonderful family, thanks is huge part to AAI for connecting us with a wonderful sibling group of 3 from Ghana. Ellen, Elizabeth and Yaw joined my husband and 2 biological sons nearly 3 years ago. We couldn't be happier with our family. Being both teachers, finances are always a concern and over the winter break I entered a contest- Macy's Million Dollar Makeover with the prize being a "Life Makeover" from Macy's and Clinton Kelly (the co-host of TLC's What Not to Wear). We have a pretty serious housing concern, so I thought why not!

Out of 19,000 people I was chosen as one of 8. What!? Me?! YUP! I was flown to NYC and got a makeover from Macy's and Clinton Kelly! How fun! My makeover went head to head with the other finalists' and I was lucky enough to get enough votes to move on to the final 4. My next video is one that thoroughly excites me because it connects to my love of children (wish I could say more, but I can't!). It will be up to vote on starting April 25th for the entire week. Voting is unlimited and every vote enters you for a chance to win a $500 Macy's gift card! If I get enough votes, I will be in the final 2!

Amy with the show's producer after her makeover

I also have spoken with Macy's about my hope to help fund adoption for older children and sibling groups, as well as family preservation projects. They seem very excited about that as a possibility and so am I! If we win, I plan to do some wonderful things in adoption and also in creating after-school programs for at-risk youth, in addition to hopefully having a forever home for my family. Please visit Macy's Million Dollar Makeover Facebook page at http://apps.facebook.com/springmakeovervote/?ref=bookmarks&count=0 You do have to allow the application, but Macy's is just following Facebook rules for running a sweepstake and they DO NOT share your information. Feel free to spread the word, if you are so moved, and please vote often. Our family appreciates the support and we can't do this without you!

Amy Ferrell

"We can do no great things, only small things with great love." ~ Mother Teresa

Mama to Luke (11), Ellen (9, Ghana), Elizabeth (9, Ghana), Yaw (7, Ghana) and Jonah (6)

Amy and her daughter Ellen

The work of many hands!

2011-03-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-03-02T07:42:00.000-08:00

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.

The GRACE Fund

2011-02-17T11:25:00.000-08:00

Check out this YouTube video about how families are created by AAI's GRACE FUND. The fund helps families who want to adopt our longest-waiting children but need financial assistance to do so. The photos are by professional photographer and GRACE FUND founder Emma Dodge Hanson with "welcome home" ones at the end submitted by recent AAI families.

Read more about the GRACE FUND here and make a donation at this link.

AAI Family Tree Quilt

2011-02-14T10:30:00.000-08:00

Help us fill up the new AAI Family Tree Quilt!

Make a donation to

AAI's Humanitarian Projects and an

animal, branch or leaf will be placed on this beautiful quilt

in honor of your family, an adopted child or another loved one.

Your generous donation will support:

Student sponsorships in Ethiopia and Ghana
Our partner orphanages in Ethiopia, Ghana, Uganda and Burkina Faso
Opportunity House--our program for special needs children in Ethiopia
Building a boy's dorm at one of our partner orphanages in Ghana
Supporting a housing project for vulnerable children in Uganda
"Good Neighbor" projects to improve sanitation and literacy in the poor neighborhood near Layla House in Ethiopia
Specialized medical and dental care for orphan children in our programs
And many other projects benefiting orphan children in the countries where we work

For the past few years, AAI volunteer and quiltmaker Barb Patton has made an annual quilt for us with the drawings of Layla House children. The quilt was then raffled off and the proceeds supported our humanitarian mission. This year we are trying something unique and different---Barb's quilt, shown above, will grace the walls of AAI's office in Port Angeles, WA. It's just waiting for one thing to be complete---the names of our families and supporters---on the leaves, branches, trunk or background! When you make a donation to the AAI Family Tree Quilt, Barb will add your name or that of someone you wish to honor to a section of the quilt. Help us "leaf out" this beautiful tree with a generous gift today!

Donation levels:

$1000 and up: Name on an animal or star to be added to the background (see examples below)
$500-$999: Name on the trunk of the tree
$250-$499: Name on a branch of the tree
$100-$249: Name on a leaf to be added to the tree

Donations can be made online at or by check to the AAI office. Unless an honoree is otherwise specified, your family name will be added to the tree. If you have a special request or questions, contact Susan Poisson-Dollar, AAI Director of Development.

AAI helps a very special Princess in Ghana....

2011-02-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

This post and pictures were submitted by Anita Gillispie, AAI Ghana coordinator. She worked hard to ensure that this little girl, named Princess, received the care she deserved and now can look forward to a bright future.
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Baby Princess with items brought to her in the hospital by AAI families

In late 2010 I received an out-of-the-blue email from Martha Osborne (from Rainbow Kids). It's very common for adoption agencies and advocacy groups to be contacted by people in foreign countries who claim sad circumstances for "orphans" who need help. Most often these emails are scams. It's easy to become calloused and assume they are all fake situations. However, Martha received an email that she said she had a feeling about. She didn't erase it immediately. She thought there was a possibility it was genuine. Could AAI check it out?

I responded to Dr. Y, who is a resident at a hospital in Ghana. Very quickly it was obvious that this was a real situation. Dr. Y had come to know Baby Princess. This baby had been abandoned at her hospital. The hospital had been giving her care, but nothing extra. Dr. Y arranged for her to receive the life-saving shunt surgery Baby Princess needed. She went even beyond that, reaching out to those in America that might be able to help find Baby Princess a family. Babies with this condition in Ghana simply do not have a very good chance at long life.

Baby Princess with Dr. Y post surgery

Our team in Ghana began to work with Social Welfare, the hospital, and Dr. Y to be able to legally "free" Princess from the hospital. However, finding care for a baby with her special needs is not an easy task in Ghana. Princess needed a home with caregivers who understood her special need. She needed a home with clean surroundings and better-than-average resources for her care. AAI could provide financially for Princess, but we could not give her the hugs, and tummy time, and developmental challenges she would need to thrive.

I began putting out the word that we were in search of a foster family for a very special little Princess. For weeks I searched. People came together and told me of one person, who knew of another person, who might be able to care for Princess. During that time I made some great connections with people who are able to care for children in Ghana with more severe special needs, but nobody was able to take Princess at that time. We expected Princess to be released from the hospital "any day." Where would she go? I can tell you that during this time it was hard to find sleep at night!

I went to a social networking site, looking for any connection to anybody in Ghana who might be able to give this deserving and precious baby a home. On a whim I contacted City of Refuge Ministries--an organization that is focused on rescuing children who have become enslaved in the fishing industry in Ghana. I had heard good things about the home, but didn't "know" them at all. I sent the email with very low expectations. However, after a few days I received the email I had been hoping for! City of Refuge had conducted a board meeting and decided they would be happy to welcome Baby Princess into their home!

What transpired then none of us could have predicted. All of a sudden the "rush" to find a home for this child was put on hold as red tape kept her from leaving the hospital. Many weeks passed by. City of Refuge, Dr. Y, and our team in Ghana continued to advocate for Baby Princess. Finally, on Friday February 4th, Baby Princess was allowed to leave the hospital and join her new foster family. Our Princess has found her "castle!"

In the next several months we expect Baby Princess to become available for adoption. All of us invested in her life so far are waiting in anticipation to see how the rest of her story turns out. We know that this is a special child, with a special purpose.

AAI-Ghana---good news for large families!

2011-02-02T16:33:00.000-08:00

Ghana Gives Go-Ahead to Larger Families

We are happy to share that Social Welfare in Ghana has recently become more open to accepting families with more than 5 children. At this time our Ghana program can accept a handful of families who have 5-10 children, and who are hoping to adopt children 6 or older or children with chronic special needs (HIV, Hep B, CP, Sickle Cell, etc.). The program typically takes 6-12 months from child match to homecoming, with 1 or 2 required trips to Ghana. If your family would like to pave the way for other larger families to adopt from Ghana, please contact Anita Gillispie for more information.

More photos from the Holiday Project in Ethiopia!

2011-01-19T06:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks to AAI parent and volunteer extraordinaire Mandie Doak for these photos. Mandie traveled to Ethiopia and organized the holiday celebrations for Layla House and our partner orphanages. We couldn't do it without her dedicated efforts!

All the older children received a new toy and a traditional outfit as gifts from Santa.

New fancy cars for the KG boys were very popular items!

Mary, Joseph and Jesus coming "on stage" for the annual Christmas pageant.

The drama "chorus"

Kindergartners enjoying their new clothes and toys

Here comes Santa!

The little girls loved their new dolls!

and...Holiday Project in Ethiopia!

2011-01-12T05:44:00.000-08:00

Post submitted by Rita Radostitz, AAI parent of Hanna and Sabella. They were visiting Ethiopia and helped out with the Holiday Project celebration at Layla House last week. The pictures are small because they were sent from Ethiopia---hopefully we'll have bigger ones soon! Suffice to say though, our 2010 Holiday Project was a great success and will benefit our humanitarian projects all through 2011. We are deeply grateful to all who donated this year.

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Thursday -- Christmas Eve -- in Addis

Just like on Christmas at home, my twin daughters got up early with no prompting (an unusual event for teenagers!) so that we could get to Layla House and help set up for the Christmas activities. We slammed down the pancakes that the cook at the Ritmo prepared for us and grabbed our bags and headed out. (Christmas is celebrated a day early at Layla so that the staff can participate and then are able to spend Christmas day with their families.)

We arrived at Layla to find the kids excited about the morning activities -- though the excitement ranged from full on anticipation to wariness -- depending on whether the child had been at Layla for Christmas before. Since Ethiopian Christmas is mostly about going to church (and in Orthodox churches, the service lasts 3 to 4 hours…) and eating with relatives, for children new to Layla, the idea of Santa Claus and presents is not entirely clear. But they did know, from the other children, that it would be fun.

The children had been working on their version of the Christmas play for weeks. Teacher (as the beloved head teacher is known by) was dressed in a beautiful suit and scuttling around getting the actors into their costumes and rehearsing their lines one more time. The older kids moved the Christmas tree from the dining room to the play yard where the activities would be held, and spruced up the decorations.

Mary and Joseph eat while babies and toddlers look on

As with most things in Ethiopia, the planned 9:30 start was delayed…the cakes weren’t quite ready, and Mandie had to run up to Churchill street to get two more traditional outfits for children who hadn’t been on the original list. But by 10, the process of gathering all the children into the play area had begun. And a process it was -- first, all the babies were brought out -- and I mean ALL the babies…from the tiniest child to 18 month old Mikias, they were carried one by one by the volunteers and the staff and laid out on mattresses set out in the play yard.

Once all the babies were settled, the toddlers came out -- two or three at a time, holding hands with a volunteer and settled onto the steps. Then the KG kids, then the older children all gathered and settled on the steps. As they waited for the actors to put the final touches onto setting the scene and pinning up costumes, they sang Christmas songs in Amharic and listened to a Christmas mix album that Addis, the wonderful AAI accountant and full time Christmas fan, had put together (rumor has it that Addis has been playing Christmas music while he works since mid-November J)

And then, the play began. Although there was no curtain to raise, the audience did settle (though Opportunity House child Yohannes thought that the chairs set up for the scene were set there just for him and he ran out to sit in one before a quick staff member corralled him and got him settled back on the steps.)

The angel announced, Herod was ferocious, the donkeys brayed on cue, lines were remembered and forgotten, and scenes changed fluidly. The children did a fabulous job telling (in English!) the story of Joseph and Mary and the birth of Jesus. The kings brought their gifts of gold, myrrh and Frankenstein. (yes, that is a difficult word for even a native English speaker!) And in the end, the real live baby who played baby Jesus was held high by the priest and we all were awed by the miracle of Christmas.

After a few more songs, cake and soda was served and then the children were again seated in the play area, waiting for the arrival of Santa Claus. One of the guards, Mesfin, played Santa this year, and he was fabulously jolly. The children did recognize him, and some tried to pull off his beard, and poke his big belly -- just as you would expect.

Names were called one by one and the children came up to receive their gift directly from Santa -- and they tore open the wrapping with whoops of joy as they found a traditional outfit (which I think they expected) and then the unexpected - a ball or a car or two (yes, TWO) Barbie dolls. No matter what the present, the children were thrilled and played with them all day.

Enormous kudos go to Mandie Doak who did an amazing job -- mostly all by herself -- organizing and wrapping the toys for the children and then measuring and shopping for their outfits. Every child had a gift, every child had an outfit (and one that actually fit!) and the smiles of gratitude were genuine. The babies looked darling, the older boys handsome -- and she took photos of every child in his or her outfit.

It was a fabulous day and I know that the staff appreciated seeing the joy on the faces of the children and also appreciated the special gifts purchased through the generosity of donors.

So, as the story goes -- Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

The Holiday Project in Ghana!

2011-01-10T09:56:00.000-08:00

post and photos submitted by Anita Gillispie, AAI Ghana coordinator

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Afishapa! Merry Christmas, from Ghana!

This year the AAI Holiday Project was able to provide a very merry Christmas for over 75 orphaned or vulnerable children (and their families/caregivers) in Ghana! Christmas is a major Christian holiday in Ghana, celebrated by church attendance, caroling, feasting, and giving small gifts. Fruit trees may be decorated with paper ornaments, and the most traditional gift is new clothes for a new year.

Our goal this year was to provide small gifts, new traditional clothing, and a nice Christmas dinner (including goat) to foster homes and orphanages who care for children in our adoption program. The children and families in our Family Preservation programs also received food for a Christmas meal, as well as other necessities and gifts.

Our Holiday Project donors were so generous this year that we exceeded our fund-raising goal! Thanks to that generosity, we are able to give a large donation to a group home whose boys' dorm is literally being eaten away by termites. The donation will assist in rebuilding the dorm with concrete blocks that will withstand the elements in Ghana.

The Two Trip Rule---Make it a Real Adventure!

2011-01-05T08:12:00.000-08:00

The following blog post and photos were submitted by Dakota and Brent Corey, waiting parents to Ashagre and Elsa. They turned the news that parents have to travel twice to Ethiopia from disappointment and financial stress into the chance to have the trip of a lifetime to their future children's birthplace. I had the great fortune to meet this adventurous twosome when I was in Addis during November and made them promise to do something for our AAI blog. Here are their travel tips for adoptive parents and you can read more about what they did on their great blog The Perfect Space.

Thank you Dakota and Brent--I hope you will inspire more parents to get out and see more of Ethiopia.

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I’ll admit, when we first heard about Ethiopia’s new requirement to travel twice during the adoption process, we were bummed. I quickly started doing the math in my head, calculating how much our total adoption expenses had just gone up. However, as I read the threads on AAI’s Ethiopian Adoption Yahoo Group about the new two trip rule, my disappointment faded and I quickly embraced a point made by many adoptive parents that had gone before us – What a great opportunity to really TRAVEL and learn more about your child’s birth country before you tackle parenthood!

My husband, Brent, and I are travelers. We each separately spent several months backpacking around Western Europe in college. We have seen 49 of our country’s 50 states and parts of Mexico and Canada. A cornerstone of our relationship is a 7 month trip we took around Southeast Asia. Five years ago we put our backpacks in the hall closet. They haven’t come out much since, except for the occasional trip to the Mid- or Northwest to visit our families. We traded our wandering, seasonal lifestyle for grad. school and “real jobs” that have allowed us to pursue other dreams, like starting our family through Ethiopian adoption.

As soon as the idea sunk in, I ordered Lonely Planet’s guide to Ethiopia and starting planning possible itineraries. Choosing a route in a country with so much historical and cultural significance wasn’t easy. Should we check out the ancient ruins in Gonder? Island monasteries on Lake Tana? The rock-hewn churches of Lalibela? Gelada Baboons and unsurpassable beauty of Simien Mountains National Park? The maze-like streets of Harar? Or should we head south to learn more about the varied cultures that live there? The opportunities seemed endless, but our budget wasn’t and our time was even more limiting.

Girls playing near a mountain of teff

Ultimately, the choice was easy once we found the right perspective. We decided to base our travel around the regions of the country our kids were born in – Sidama and Addis Ababa. In the end, our court trip consisted of the following itinerary:

· 4 days in Addis Ababa solely dedicated to our court date and spending time with our kids

· 4 days in Awasa with daily trips around Sidama - the birthplace of our son

· 5 days horse trekking outside of Bale Mountains National park in Oromia

· 1 night in Wondo Genet to relax and clean up after horse trekking

· 5 more days in Addis sight-seeing, shopping, and trying to learn more about our daughter’s past

Despite the short time frame, it was an epic trip. Not only did we have adventures equal to those of past trips, but we learned a wealth of information about Ethiopia and its people that we can share with our kids as they grow up in America.

Traditional home in Sidama

Maybe you’ve got some wanderlust too or maybe the idea of traveling in Africa absolutely frightens you, but the opportunity to learn about your child’s birth country seems like an opportunity you can’t pass up. Either way, I’ve put together this list of “tips” to help you make the most of your own epic journey around Ethiopia.

· Get a good travel guide. I am a huge fan of the dry humor of Lonely Planet.

· Realize that things are changing extremely fast in Ethiopia and your travel guide that was written 2 years ago is already very outdated. Fortunately, our experience indicates that things have only gotten easier for travelers.

· Don’t under-estimate how long it takes to get from Point A to Point B. Ethiopia is still a developing country. It’s better to add some extra padding into your itinerary and find you have extra time to linger somewhere rather than stress that you won’t be able to fit it all in.

· Be realistic about what you can do with your timeframe. You can always come back. We have found that our travel experiences are much richer when we take some time to actually experience a place rather than just check it off our “I’ve Been There” list.

· Don’t forget to take a deep breath, relax, and smile.

· It might be easier to plan some parts of your trip once you arrive in Ethiopia.

· When weighing the costs of taking a trip or not taking a trip, consider that it is very inexpensive to travel in Ethiopia outside of Addis. You’re already paying for the plane ticket to Ethiopia; the extra cost to travel is relatively insignificant.

· Don’t leave home without travel insurance. You likely won’t need it, but you don’t want to be without it if you do.

· Realize that accommodations and food outside of Addis are simple. See how far you can push your comfort level. In the end, the experience will far outweigh the discomfort of sleeping in a shabby room without a hot shower or eating food you’re not used to.

Sampling the local Bale Mountain cuisine - kocho - tasty, really!

· Be flexible with your itinerary. Time operates differently in Ethiopia. Consider unexpected changes part of the adventure rather than a setback.

· Be open to strangers. Unlike anywhere else we have ever been, we found the people of Ethiopia to be extremely open, warm, and helpful. I don’t know how many macchiatos we drank with relative strangers that just wanted to learn more about the farangis they spotted walking down the road.

Impromptu hair braiding session with children from a local village.

· A great guide or driver can be your best ally – they can serve as a historical/cultural guide, interpreter, and friend. Ask other adoptive families for suggestions (we can provide several).

One of our amazing guides and now a true friend, Yusuf.

· Try public transportation at least once; it’s easy to figure out. Just tell people at the bus station where you’re going and they’ll get you on the right bus. The ride is cramped, hot, stuffy, and noisy, but it will give you a true feel for Ethiopia.

· Don’t forget to take a deep breath, relax, and smile.

· Knowing a little Amharic will get you a long way. We always found people that spoke English well wherever we were; however, the smiles we were able to elicit when we rambled off the limited Amharic we knew were golden.

· Don’t get bent out of shape about paying the farangi price. Bargain with a smile and realize the few extra birr you will inevitably pay for things is very little to you and sizable to the person you are paying. I consider it just part of being a tourist.

· Remember you are representing America and adoptive families as you travel. Ethiopia is blessing us with the opportunity to raise some of its children. Let’s show them how grateful we are.

· Putting yourself in such an unfamiliar environment can be frightening. Remember that Ethiopia is a safe place to travel with very low levels of crime toward tourists. Don’t let your fear hinder your ability to enjoy yourself and gain as much as you can from your experience.

· Getting flustered, raising your voice, and demanding things will get you very little. A smile and flexibility will open doors you didn’t even know existed.

Enjoy the journey of a lifetime. Think of how fun it will be to share stories of your adventures with your kids down the road!

Reason #1 to see Ethiopia -- our daughter, Elsa.

Equally as important--Reason #2 - our son, Ashagre.

Thank You!!

2010-12-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to announce that with your help we have reached our Holiday Project goal of $20,000! Mandie Doak, our Holiday Project coordinator, is now in Ethiopia helping to prepare for the celebrations on January 6th. Each child at Layla House will receive a small gift and a traditional outfit and the staff will receive gift certificates to help with their own holiday celebrations. The whole compound will enjoy a festive day with a traditional meal. Plans are being made to provide goats for the meals at our partner orphanages; most of them have far fewer resources than Layla so meat for the holiday is a special treat. The families of our sponsorship students will receive extra money and the students themselves will get small gift bags with toiletries and treats that a volunteer group brought over in November.

Our Ghana adoptive parents met and exceeded their holiday goal this year! The celebrations there happened on December 25th and we hope to put some pictures up soon. We work with several orphanages and have a number of families enrolled in our Family Preservation Programs. All of them were able to have extra-special holidays because of the generosity of our parent group and their friends and relatives.

Half of the money collected each year for the Holiday Project supports our ongoing humanitarian projects such as Opportunity House, our facility for special needs kids and the new outreach program in DireDawa. We are so appreciative of the adoptive parents who choose to give back to their childrens' birth countries through remaining loyal to AAI. In addition, we have many other friends and supporters who donated generously to help us reach our Holiday Project goal.

We hope you keep following this blog as we have lots of exciting plans for 2011!

With sincere gratitude,

Susan Poisson-Dollar
Director of Development
on behalf of the staff and children of AAI

Yay! Erin Henderson finishes her first Marathon....

2010-12-13T16:52:00.000-08:00

and in the process raise much needed funds for the AAI Holiday project. Thank you to everyone who sponsored her after this blog post. Erin ran the Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll Marathon in a very respectable time of 4 hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds. We at AAI are so proud of her and hope everyone will check out her blog posts about this amazing experience. Erin's run also raised money for her dad's foundation that helps families adopting special needs kids. Enjoy these great photos---her wonderful husband Josh is right beside her in the photo above--he finished the half-marathon.

The Holiday Project needs YOU!

2010-12-02T07:54:00.000-08:00

The annual AAI Holiday Project is on

and we need your help!

Each year your gifts to our Holiday Project provide a modest celebration for all of the children in our care and our hard-working staff in Ethiopia and Ghana. The children of Layla House and our partner orphanages in Ghana each get a small individual gift and a traditional outfit or new t-shirt. Staff and children also enjoy a festive holiday meal with special treats and even a visit from Santa (the photo above is one of our good sport adoptive dads last year!). Our sponsorship students get a gift bag with needed toiletries and treats as well as some additional money for their caregivers to spend on holiday food and clothing.

In addition, your gift to the Holiday Project also provides funding for AAI's ongoing humanitarian projects in Ghana and Ethiopia. Those efforts include expanding our school sponsorship program for orphaned and vulnerable children and a new project in Dire Dawa to provide leadership training for sponsored children and to help trafficked children return to their families. Holiday Project donations also benefit our Opportunity House program which provides medical care and therapy to special needs children in Addis Ababa. In Ghana we have initiated a family support program which helps vulnerable children remain in their birth families whenever possible, keeping orphanage care a last resort.

Giving to the Holiday Project is easy with our online Donate Now page. For a gift of $30 or more, you can have a special ornament card with a beautiful photo sent to someone on your gift list! They are the perfect present for a teacher or grandparent or just someone who doesn't want more "stuff" this year but would appreciate helping a child in need. Just make your donation and enter the name and address of the recipient in the space provided. For multiple ornament cards or special requests, send the list of names and addresses directly to Susan Poisson-Dollar, AAI Director of Development.

Thank you for helping us brighten the season for hundreds of children!

November Volunteer Trip to Layla House

2010-11-28T10:38:00.000-08:00

the whole gang in front of the King's Hotel

Post and photos by Susan Poisson-Dollar, AAI Director of Development
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I just returned from leading the first AAI-sponsored volunteer trip to Layla House in Ethiopia. Ten brave souls joined the group and we all had a wonderful time for ten days being with the children, seeing the country and accomplishing some needed projects on the compound. It was especially nice to have 3 people on the trip who had previously had their children escorted home and had not yet had a chance to experience Ethiopia. Each of them was able to see the place their child lived before coming to their family and one of them was even able to establish some very meaningful birth family connections. The married couple on the trip's adoption dossier arrived in Ethiopia the same week they did. Though they have a wait yet for a referral, they appreciated the chance to experience their future child's country and culture and now can envision his/her surroundings when they finally get "the call." A dad brought along his two teenage daughters and they were enthusiastic, lively members of the group and also had the chance to spend a lot of time with the birth family of their three Ethiopian siblings back home in Montana.

Lots of kids got some special, individual attention while we were there

The group did far more than just come on the trip. Between us, we collected enough money to purchase all the gifts for this year's Holiday Project and carried them and lots of other supplies in our bulging suitcases. One participant raised over $3000 for the AAI Sponsorship program and created a special fund for the social workers to do additional things for some of our neediest children. Her elementary school students also created beautiful laminated alphabet books and cute board games for the kids at Layla House.

This boys' room got a very special mural to inspire their dreams

We hope to be able to offer this opportunity to more people in the future. If you are interested in volunteering at Layla House, please contact our volunteer coordinator Brooke Cole. For individual volunteers we have a one month minimum requirement.

Some of the older kids even helped out with the painting projects

We got used to being mobbed by toddlers whenever we entered the Wanna area.

Always nice to have extra hands around when it comes to baby-feeding time

Our group raised money for the Layla Field Trip fund too.
One day we took all 16 toddlers to the Sheraton Hotel playground
for fun and french fries at the cafe afterward.

Whew, we all napped well that afternoon!

There's always a ball game going on somewhere at Layla.

One afternoon our project was to get all the baby and toddler footprints!

It required a complete assembly line of baby-fetchers, foot-inkers, stampers and washers to get it all done. See the results below--a card was put in every baby's file for a future mom or dad to find and treasure.

And of course we shopped too! Here we are checking out the gorgeous scarves at a shop that benefits women who carry huge loads of firewood down the mountain.

One night we joined parents in town to pick up their kids for a lively evening at a local cultural restaurant that features dancing from all over Ethiopia.

After a tough day with the kids, one volunteer dances up a storm.

Run, Erin, Run! Let's help her over the Finish Line

2010-11-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

Our very own Erin Henderson, AAI Coordinator of Special Needs Adoptions, is running the Las Vegas "Rock 'n Roll" marathon on December 5th. She really wants to "run for a cause" and has chosen to help the AAI Holiday Project this year . Let's all urge Erin on in her first marathon by sponsoring her per mile. Marathons are 26 miles long so please use our online donation page-- and check the box marked "Erin Henderson's Marathon" to give her a big boost as she does her very first marathon.

Read here about Erin's passions for running, her family and her amazing work to help place HIV+ and special needs children with loving families!

Dire Dawa Sponsorship Students

2010-11-01T08:24:00.000-07:00

Merrily with sponsorship boy

AAI Executive Director Merrily Ripley traveled to Dire Dawa on her recent visit to Ethiopia. While there she was able to meet with and interview some of our sponsorship students. We've had about 40 children in that program but now plans are in the works to increase that number to 100 in the coming months. Our sponsorship money helps keep orphaned and vulnerable children in school in this very poor area of Ethiopia. We are also providing leadership training one Saturday a month to help boost the childrens' self-confidence and give them much-needed knowledge about reproductive health, decision-making strategies, etc. Please consider sponsoring a child through AAI---your monthly donation of $25-30 helps keep several children in school and provides their families with supplemental assistance and help from a social worker. Contact Brooke Cole here to help set up your sponsorship.

sponsored girl above with Merrily and in bottom photo with her mother

About Mekdes, the girl in the above photos, Merrily writes:

Mekdes is 14 years old and has been in our sponsorship program for two years. She is at the top of her glass of 65 students, but without a sponsorship the social worker says she would not be able to continue in school. She and her mother live in one room with walls made of mud and straw. Outside the door under a shade made with a plastic sheet, her mother sits in the dust waiting for customers to buy her tomatoes. They greeted me warmly and borrowed a small stool for me. Mekdes is a charming girl, poised and very able to communicate in English. Her favorite subject is biology and she would like to be a doctor. With money from the sponsorship she is able to buy a school uniform, books, pay school fees and go to the library which is not free.

And about Wagaye, a boy in the program, she writes:

Wagaye is 13 but only in the 4^th grade. He is an HIV+ child and has been an orphan for three years. He lives with his grandmother’s brother’s wife; they share two rooms in a compound with three other families. All of Wagaye’s siblings have died of AIDS and he fears he will die too, but he is receiving medication and is actually physically quite healthy. He was so depressed, however, that last year he had a very hard time focusing on school work and so he is repeating 4^th grade this year. He is doing better now and says he loves school and is now determined to continue and to work hard.. His guardian says he is a big help around the compound and loves to run errands. His guardian expressed gratitude for the sponsorship making it possible for her to continue to provide for Wagaye.

Leadership Project in Dire Dawa

2010-10-31T10:55:00.000-07:00

AAI-Ethiopia recently sponsored a leadership training program for 40 of our sponsorship children, all promising students, in the town of Dire Dawa where we are initiating several programs to benefit orphaned and vulnerable children. Often our sponsorship students have poor self-esteem both because of poverty and also frequently because of the stigma of perhaps having AIDS in their family. This program is designed to help boost their self-confidence at school and in the community. The children meet one Saturday a month for the workshops on different topics.

The facilitator said that the workshops covered how to be a good leader, decision-making strategies, and overcoming obstacles. The children and staff were very appreciative and looking forward to the next session. Here are some nice photos of the event. We were so pleased to see so many girls participating as well.

We are expanding our sponsorship program in this very poor community and could use your help! Please contact Brooke Cole, our Sponsorship Coordinator if you would like to sponsor students in this program. A monthly donation of $25-30 will help keep several children in school and part of the leadership training program.