WORLD AIDS DAY 2008

MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2008 is WORLD AIDS DAY. I just got my winter update letter from AHOPE and I thought I'd share one of the stories.
Seble is a six year old girl who lives with her grandmother in a very impoverished neighborhood in Addis Ababa. Her father was a soldier who abandoned his family before Seble was born and his present whereabouts are unknown. Seble's mother died of an illness, probably AIDS when Seble was two years old. Seble's grandmother struggled to provide for Seble working as a day laborer with occasional help from other relatives that did similar work. Seble had many health problems, including TB, and was diagnosed as HIV+ when she was five years old. Her grandmother loves her orphaned granddaughter, but she needed help to give Seble the care necessary for a person living with HIV. Seble enrolled at the AHOPE Ethiopia Child Development and Community Outreach Center on September 17, 2008. Since then, Seble and her grandmother have received all the services necessary to keep Seble healthy and to allow her to remain in her grandmother's care. Seble is receiving medications, nutritional support and education. Her grandmother, who has suffered so many loses in her life, is receiving psychosocial support and education in nutrition and HIV issues that will give her confidence and skills to provide a better life for herself and her beloved granddaughter. Seble is now thriving. She participates with enthusiasm in the activities at the Center, enjoys playing with the other children, and returns every evening to the loving arms of her grandmother.

This is just one of the programs that I will be able to help with while in Ethiopia this summer. I am hosting a breakfast at school tomorrow for World AIDS day-- pumpkin, banana, zucchini bread and Ethiopian coffee-- What can you do to help spread the message tomorrow??

What are you thankful for?

Hi Friends,

Today, on our American Thanksgiving(as opposed to my mom's Canadian Thanksgiving last month),what are you thankful for?
I'm thankful for:
My family and friends,copious amounts of coffee and wine at dinner
a five day weekend,the ability to travel -- especially my upcoming trip to Addis Ababa, all the books I have sitting in my bedroom begging to be read
and the fact that I live in a place where as a single woman, I can vote, speak up,own my own home, have the job I want and am able to support myself. It is amazing that if I were born in many other places, I would not be able to do these things as a woman and that makes me sad.
Have a very happy Thanksgiving!!!!

I wanted to say a great big thank you to two recent supporters.

My friend Joe Farace-- you rock!!!

Jane and Alan Hoffman
a little background here-- Mr. Hoffman is my high school biology teacher and sponsor of the Downers Grove North Outdoor Environmental Club. He is personally responsible for getting me in a canoe, in a tent and on a raft. He took us to meet congress people in Washington D.C. and through the woods in Arkansas. I cannot say enough times, what an amazing teacher and friend, Mr. Hoffman was and is to so many of us, his former students. And having met his wife-- I imagine her students feel the same way about her. I hope you and the horses are doing well-- thanks for your continued support!!!!

Barefoot Books and my kids at school!

Last Thursday, my friend Claire and I hosted a Barefoot Books party. If you've never seen the books, they are super cute, full of multi-cultural and diverse children and teach about all kinds of places. They are reasonable and well-made. I think everyone had a good time and it was great to see many of my friends who I don't get to see enough.

I got some new books on Africa as well as a wonderful CD-- called Putumayo Kids Presents African Playground. I love it!!! It is full of songs from Kenya, South Africa, Ethiopia and the Congo amongst other countries in Africa. I played it in one of my third grade classes while we worked on our diversity activity packets. The kids loved the music and I found it so happy and uplifting.

DONATE A DOLL!!!

As the holidays rapidly approach, I am offering a way to donate to my trip, the children at AHOPE and come up with a holiday gift for the person who has everything. For $30 dollars, I will purchase a doll for a child at AHOPE, provide your friend or family member with a certificate announcing the gift and send them a photo of the children with their dolls in August!!! If you are interested, please contact me. Happy early holiday shopping/planning.

VOTING DONE!!!!

At 6:02, I left my house, walked across the street and got in line at the Priory. There were more people then ever at my polling place which houses three precincts. Thankfully, my precinct is the red headed step child of River Forest, so my line was pretty short. I voted, got my sticker and walked home in a total of 35 minutes. I hope you have all voted today. My principal even told us that if any of us were still stuck in line when it was time for conferences to not get out of line, but to stay and vote. Well, nothing else I can do, I have made campaign phone calls, knocked door to door, donated money and voted-- must get ready to go to Parent/Teacher conferences and just wait until the polls close this evening!
GO OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!

GET OUT THE VOTE!

Today, I went to Indiana. My friend Silvia and I went to the Michigan City, Indiana- Obama for America office and got our list of voters. We went door to door in a small, lower economic neighborhood, knocking on doors to see which homes had voted. If they had not done early voting, we asked them if they were voting on Tuesday, if they needed a ride and if they knew where their polling place was. Almost everyone was friendly and a bit amused by us. It felt good to do something other than simply watch MSNBC.