Faya News

Currently, there are 11 children in the orphanage, 4 are living with HIV, 7 are HIV negative. 5 children have come home from Ethiopia to the USA, and many more to Canada. Faya continues to work with 2 adoption agencies to bring children home to loving forever families! The government officials have asked Faya to take in more children, and unfortunately the house is full. There is a need for a larger house and at the moment the funds most definitely are not there!

More and more families are coming to Faya asking for support from the community. Currently we are supporting 11 families in the community, with many more waiting for sponsorship on an urgent level.

Two members of the Faya Canada team are planning to return to Ethiopia in the early New Year to bring donations to Faya orphanage and the community families, and do do updates.

We are feeling overwhelmed by the amount of families and children relying on our fundraising efforts, and we are attempting to regroup. If anyone has any ideas or is interested in getting involved, please email or leave a comment!

More updates to follow!

Faya update!

Things are going very well at Faya Orphanage. I am happy to report that a new office in Ambo, Ethiopia has been opened to support HIV positive children living with relatives. The goal is to support children living with HIV in their homes and community. Things like food and health care, and school fees and supplies are the needs for these children. Currently there are not enough funds to support these children over the long term. We are looking for sponsorship for this project! Here are some photos of some of the children and their families:

Allrighty...

So as you may notice (or not) we have a new address. Our new site address is

FayaOrphanage.org

We also have some fancy new addresses to go along with our new domain.

If you would like to contact us regarding donations, fundraising, or any other questions about Faya, email info@fayaorphanage.org

If you are interested in sponsorship of a child, or any information regarding child sponsorship, email sponsorship@fayaorphanage.org

Update

As you may note, there have been some changes to the blog. There may be some future changes in our contacts, but as for now the email addresses to contact us are the same:

if you have any questions about Faya, please email info@fayaorphanage.com

and if you are interested in sponsoring a child, or have any questions regarding sponsorship, please email sponsorship@fayaorphanage.com


Keep watching our blog for more changes, and more updates!

FAYA Orphanage Clothing Drive

During the month of July we will be doing a Faya Orphanage Clothing Drive. This means that people will be welcome to bring new or gently used children's clothing donations (and/or monetary donations) for Faya Orphanage. We will be holding a clothing sale on August 1st, 2009 (Saturday) and all proceeds from the sale of the children's clothes will go to support Faya. The remaining clothes will be taken by families going to Ethiopia this year, together with the monetary donations.

Children clothing donations will be clean, undamaged, and reasonable wrinkle-free. Clothing will be folded and packed in sturdy boxes or bags. With a label of the age group and boy/girl clearly on the outside. We will avoid hangers. Items that come in pairs (shoe, gloves, socks) will be kept together (shoe laces can be tied together, gloves and socks can be stuffed inside each other). We will keep pockets emptied and any belts should be securely fastened to their appropriate items.

Clothing Sale (from donations):
Where: 549 Rocky Ridge Bay N.W.
When: Saturday August 1st, 2009
Time: from 8AM til 3PM
All proceeds from the sale of the children's clothes will go to support Faya Orphanage

Wonji Commuity Outreach Program

Here are some pictures and list of the children that are registered with the Wonji program available for sponsorship.

Children Available:

1. This is Yohanis Manu. He is 11 years of age. He has one sister and his mother is also HIV. Currently is on medication for his illness.
2. This is Eyob Melonin. He is 11 years old. His parents are diseased due to HIV. He is on medication for his illness. He has no known siblings.



3. This is Mamo Mantose. He is 10 years old. His parents are deceased due to HIV. He is on medication for his illness. he attend school and has no known siblings.




4. Samuel Chala, 11 year old male. Health good. Parents deceased due to HIV. Attending school no known siblings.


5. Tsion Solomon, 3.5 year old female.
6. Habtamu Tuji, 5 year old male.
7. Nibret Shalo, 6 year old male.
8. Emahoy Getacheal, 5 year old female.
9. Metasebiya Solomon, 4 year old female.
10. Yasin Warku, 7 year old male.
11. Liyu Tefera, 4 year old female.
12. Dechasa Fekele, 6 year old male.
13. Habtamu Chufamo, 2 year old male.
14. Habtamnesh Chala, 13 year old female.
15. Addisu Belete, 10 year old male.
16. Tewoderose Tesfaye, 16 year old male.
17. Yonas Girma, 9 year old male.
18. abebech Alemayenu, 12 year old female.
19. Bekelu Demissie, 14 year old female.
20. Tesfayenesh Hawas, 8 year old female.
21. Fitawek Abebe, 2 year old female.
22. Bezawit Tsegaye, 3 year old female.
22. Habtamu Aseta, 3.5 year old male.
23. Fivaol Sisay, 2.5 year old male.
24. Mihret Mesfin, 1.5 year old female.
25. Miky Ashenafi, 7 year old male.
26. Abenezer Aklilu, 4 year old male.
27. Woinshet Mesfin, 7 year old female.




I have small black and white photo's of some of the children. The information on there files is all written in Amharic and we are working on getting them translated. Please bare with us:)

Community Outreach Children Available for Sponsorship!

Faya Community Outreach Program:
This is the mother of the Habtamu boys. She also has twin girls age 7. Askale &

Simegn Habtamu where in school that day and we where un able to get there

photo's. They are also in need of a sponsor. This mother is very ill with HIV she is

unable to support her children and if her health goes unattended she will die

leaving them orphans. We would like to help her personally through sponsorship

so she can get the medication she needs to survive. If you are interested in sponsoring her please let me know asap!

Faya Community Outreach Program:
Demissu Habtamu is a 17 year old boy. He lives with is mother and five siblings in a one bedroom house. Demissu was forced to leave school so that he could support his family. He works for less than 50 cents a day. He is in need of a sponsor. His mother is HIV and unable to support her children. His father is deceased.

Faya Community Outreach Program:
Muleta Habtamu is a 8 year old boy. He lives with is mother and five siblings in a one bedroom house. He is in need of a sponsor. His mother is HIV and unable to support her children. His father is deceased.

Faya Community Outreach Program:
Gemechu Habtamu is a 10 year old boy. He lives with is mother and five siblings in a one bedroom house. He is in need of a sponsor. His mother is HIV and unable to support her children. His father is deceased.

Faya Community Outreach Program:
Getahun Habtamu is a 11 year old boy. He lives with is mother and five siblings in a one bedroom house. He is in need of a sponsor. His mother is HIV and unable to support her children. His father is deceased.

Trip news!

Hello all! We are back from Ethiopia with fresh information for all! My husband and I made our journey to Ethiopia on April 5th and made our return April 15th. We had several last minute donations some of them being 6 hockey bags for all our donations. We also like to thank all those who purchased granola bars for us to hand out! The children loved them and it made there day I'm sure!!! We where able to transport a total of six bags of donations over the the orphanage. During our stay we had the wonderful opportunity to spent three full days with the children at the orphanage, it was amazing! They are all doing well and are happy to have a warm and clean place to live! We have 11 children that are new to Faya House and some are still in need of sponsorship asap!!!! We also had the opportunity to visit the families and children we support through our community outreach program. It was an experience I will never forget! Our community outreach program is growing fast. We have six new children that are available for sponsorship through this program! I have posted a picture and information about them below, if you are interested in sponsorship of these specific children please don't hesitate to email myself!!! Out on our community visits we soon discovered that there was a great need in Wonji. We spoke with a lady that founded an organization called Wonji Berhan Women Who Lives With HIV. As we sat and spoke with her it was so apparent of how many women and children where registered with her organization living with HIV and have no support for medical expenses let alone basic needs such as food. As we sifted through the piles of files of the women and children that where registered, we decided it was time to do something more for these children! As part of our community outreach program we would like to help support her organization through sponsorship of these children and there families. We would also like to help support the director in her efforts to educate the people of Wonji about the deadly effects of HIV. Currently she prepared 29 files of children living with HIV. Most of these children are living as orphans and struggling to survive. If you think you could help us support this organization we would love to here from you! We concluded our trip with an in depth meeting with our Ethiopian director. Discussing the challenges of running the orphanage. Currently to keep the orphanage running smoothly and provide the best care for the children it is costing approx. $2500.00 to $3000.00 monthly. We will be planning several fundraisers in the near future to help alleviate some of the cost to run the orphanage. We appreciate your continued support and would love to here of any fundraising suggestion you may have! Thank you!

Children in FAYA House needing sponsorship:

3 Year Old Male : Health is good. Mother is alive. Father unknown. Has two brothers.

18 Month Old Male: He is under weight & was malnourished his whole life. Mother is alive. Father unknown.

3 Year Old Male: Health is good. Mother is alive. Father unknown. Has one brother.

8 Month Old Male: Health is good. Was abandoned & slightly malnourished. Mother & father unknown.

I will post our community & the Wonji children in my next post later on today so please come back for a visit! Thanks again!

Our Mission Trip to FAYA!

On April 5th, 2009 my husband & I will make our way over to Faya HIV Orphanage for two weeks! While we are there we will be updating our files/photos of the children in the orphanage. We will also be touching base with the families in our community outreach program. During our stay there we plan to take a trip around the country side to clothe and feed families along the way. We are looking to collect items such as these specifically for this trip: cash offerings, shoes, children's clothing and boxes of Hidden Valley granola bars as these are high in protein and can fill an empty stomach! I look forward to hearing from you!Thank you!

Chantal Andreas

Director of Sponsorship

An update at last!

We have been very behind in updating this blog. Things continue to go very well at the Faya orphanage. In fact this week there have been 8 children referred to families in Canada from Faya!! Plus the 2 referred to a family in the US, which is so exciting! 10 children will have forever families and that is such an amazing thing! We are so very thankful to the adoption agencies who have taken a step working with Faya! We hope that continued good relationships will mean more and more children are able to be adopted!

Also, we have several new children. There are 11 children in the Faya hom at the moment, and 5 are completely new since others have left for their adoption agencies foster homes. We are also sponsoring 6 children in the community, so that they are able to remain with their families.

We have a very generous family who has donated half of their luggage space to take faya donations, so we are in full force of sorting and packing. They will deliver them at the end of the month for us! We have had a number of families visiting Faya and some even visiting their sponsor children, which is exciting!

Current needs at the orphanage are for shoes, older kids clothes and medical gloves.

Thanks for checking in!