In Ethiopia, one in ten children will die in infancy, and nearly double that number will die by their fifth birthday due to tetanus,infections or diarrhea. At present, 13.2% of children in Ethiopia-–3.8million–-are orphaned. International adoption touches only a tinyfraction of these orphans; in 2006, only 731 Ethiopian orphans wereadopted by American parents.
Wood and I watched a CNN special a short while ago called "The Survivorship project - One Child at a time". It focused on the needs of children in several countries, including Ethiopia. The large number of children who do not make it to their 5th birthday in Ethiopia is shocking. Access to clean drinking water is a tremendous issue - most children in Ethiopia do not have access to clean drinkable water - a basic need for survival. The CNN program showed how only $5,000 could install a water system for a village of several hundred people. Child mortality dropped dramatically just from having this need fulfilled. We were amazed at how little is costs. $5,000 really is such a small amount of money. We easily raised almost $700 for the Walk for Water with very little effort on our part. How much could we do if we organized and really put some effort into this?
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