Why Ethiopia?

*Life expectancy in Ethiopia 39 years for males and 42 years for females. The leading cause of death is communicable diseases such as malaria, typhoid, meningitis, cholera, AIDS, tuberculosis, yellow fever.
* One in ten children die before their first birthday
* One in six children die before their fifth birthday
* Woman have an average of 7 children and the maternal mortality rate is 1 in 14
* Ethiopia's neonatal mortality rate is one of the highest in the world - 49/1000 births with tetanus infection being the second major cause of infant/neonatal death.
* Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Over half the population lives on less than a $1 a day. The average income in Ethiopia is US$100 a year. Almost 82% of the population lives on less than $1 a day.
* Malnutrition levels are among the highest in the world.
* Ethiopia is home to 4-6 million orphans, or 12% of all children.
* That is the same number of children under age 18 who reside in Massachusetts, New York State, and Washington DC combined. If every parent in those places died tonight - that would be similar to Ethiopia’s orphan crisis.
*More than half a million of these were orphaned as a result of AIDS.
*Only 42.7% age 15 and over can read and write.
*Only 18% or children reach grade five. That means 82% of children don’t.
*44% of the population is under 15 years old.
*60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition.
*Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000
*Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any other country in Africa
*Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) declined 40-60% from 1998-2002
*Severe drought struck the country from 2000-2002: first year no crops, second year no crops, third year no animals

Every time I read these stats I want to cry! I can’t even imagine what their world is like, how hard it must be to live a life where your chances of dying are almost greater than living. I start to think about the poor children and then I start to envision our child (or children) being the ones that don’t make it to five…or even worse, they don’t make it to their first birthday. This just breaks my heart. Adoption isn’t enough, I NEED to do more. What you might ask? I have no idea! Right now God is calling us to take step 1 with adoption and that is what we are doing!

"Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means that we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us" ~ James 1:27

Do you feel the NEED to help? Well you can! Not everyone is called to adopt but every Christian is called to help! We are called to be His hands and feet. A few ways you can help are:
Sponsor a child! Check out Compassion.com or Worldvision.org

Donate to water charity! Check out charitywater.org or Living Water International (water.cc)

Donate to an adopting family OR adoption grant organization: ShowHope.org or Lifesongfororphans.org

These are just a few quick places I can think of but there are sooooo many ways you can help, all you have to do is a little bit of research!

-Abbey

P.S. I "stole" all these stats from an awesome blog I have been reading, http://www.pureandlasting.com/ A couple who are in the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia...Thanks Jenn for letting me use these!