Water damage and sickness: a widowed mother and her eight children need you.

Dinagde Tolosa is an eight year old boy living with his mom and seven other siblings. He is the youngest of the family. The father passed away some time ago. Their mom makes traditional alcohol for a living but the income from this is not enough to feed all of them. Dinagde's favorite color is yellow and he attends a government school where he is a grade 1 student. If he were to travel outside of Ethiopia, he would go to Germany but he couldn't tell us why. He was very shy when we went on the home visit. When asked if he would be scared to go to the moon, he said he would not.

When he is not in school he helps his mom by cleaning the house. When he is not doing that, he likes to play soccer with his friends. He also likes jumping. If he had a sponsor, he would tell them about how he likes school and studies. The family is an Orthodox family and when I spoke about Jesus and part of my story, how they find a friend in me as I too lost my dad 10 years ago and part of the reason I am in Ethiopia is to help other kids like me, pointing them to the Father, they were really quiet. I could tell we were reaching some sensitive areas as their own sadness from the reality of their own experience was creeping in on their faces.

The entire family shares one mattress, if you can imagine how hard that would be. The home is also is need of repairs as when it is rainy season, there are many leaks and water damage as the back wall of the house is not attached in places. I asked the mom if her kids were getting sick because of this and she said last time they did get sick with a cough. If we were to buy another mattress, it may not be of great help to the family as the space is limited.

What you see in the above photos are evidences of their need. These are two opposite corners of their bedroom area. The photo on the left is the wall next to where they have their bed. The photo on the right is of the corner across from their bed. At the time of the visit, one of her older children was laying down sick on the bed.

I want to help this family get the food they need and to repair the home so the children have less of a risk of becoming sick. However, I can't do this on my own so if you are interested in helping me help this needy family, please contact me for more information.