For Mothers Day, Honor Your Mother by Empowering Another

Dear Friends,

In May 2009 MotherstoMothers went for a month long stay in Ethiopia where we visited nine different villages to understand mothers' needs at this time. In Amacho Wato Kebele, a very poor village, many mothers have no choice but to have their babies with them as they make pottery in their homes to sell at the market for .50 to survive. Children are exposed to so much dust that many of them have severe bronchial illness. Most also have bacterial conjunctivitis… so bad that many babies simply have their eyes shut.   And, many of the children have signs of severe malnutrition. 

It became apparent in Amacho Wato Kebele, HOSSANA that a Day Care Center would be the answer to many of the problems mothers and their children faced. 

• babies will have a safe place to stay while their mothers work 
• toddlers will attend pre-school and have one meal a day so hunger isn't an everyday concern
• mothers will be free to work and receive workshops on health and sustainable skills for their themselves and their family  
• and girls who watched babies will now be free to attend school. 

In February 2011 we opened the doors to the Day Care and Learning Center built by the men and women of Amacho Wato Kebele! 

When we opened the door to the Learning Center we were expecting 100 children instead 300 toddlers came running. We then opened the Day Care Center and instead of 40 babies there were 100.

We need funds for the additional food and books and medical care for the extra 200 children and 60 babies.

Your gift of $200, $100, $50 or any amount will ensure we can sustain the two centers until we build a food market next year. The mothers will then run their own destiny and their children will survive and thrive!

Please make a donation today and download a card to send in honor of your mother, or you can send your donation payable to MotherstoMothers to , 451 West 50th Street, New York, NY 10019.  

Your generous support will secure the future of the Day Care and Learning Center as we prepare to bring this successful model to other villages and other countries. 

Thank you for caring  

Pamela Parlapiano 

Founder and Director 

MOTHERtoMOTHERS A 501©3 non-profit

JOIN US FOR A SPECIAL EVENING TO HONOR YOUR MOTHER WHILE EMPOWERING ANOTHER MOTHER

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THE VILLAGE OF AMACHO WATO FINALLY HAS WATER!

After months of negotiation, after 3 solid hours on skype speaking English with a translator to the man who owned property, the municipal, the water gentleman, the pipe fitters.....today the Day Care and Learning Center in Amacho Wato

400 babies and children and 100 mothers have water!!  

Like a political figure trying to work my way around many people with different agendas...everyone agreed because all i could do is remind them that all their points of view were correct all of them had valid concerns but not one of them could argue that the mothers and children and the future of this village was not the most important agenda of all.

the MOTHERS OF AMACHO WATO KEBELE OPEN THE DOOR TO THEIR DAYCARE

The MOTHERS OF AMACHO WATO KEBELE OPEN THE DOOR TO THEIR LEARNING CENTER

BRAVO! and HELP! We expected 100 in 2 days there were 300 children ready to learn.. .if you would like to donate to get books and bread please click the donate button to the right

A Farewell with Mixed Emotions

what do you do after you see 300 children learning

 

babies in a crib playing

 

and mothers running the show

 

you say goodbye to each other and cry and cry and cry

 

dance and dance and they say i must come back as their guest to visit or live

The Mothers of Amacho Now Have a Day Care

today mothers left us their babies peeking through the window of the Day Care not knowing how to walk away from them but i told them to stay long enough to see their comfort

 

it didn't take long

 

need need more cribs need more mattresses need..

 

and yet what worried me is done

 

it is a hugh success run by mothers for their children

 

To help us get the cribs we need click here

A Dream becomes a reality in Ethiopia

i still don't have the words to describe a dream in reality

 

we thougt we would open with 20-30 pre-school students

 

we have 150

 

I thought we would have two teachers we have 4 amazing teachers

 

i thought 150 children would not all sit still

 

they are learning by the minute

 

i thought people would have to learn about possibility

 

instead they knew it all along and have simply run with it

 

i still do't have the words

 

THE MOTHERS OF AMACHO WATO KEBELE

Now that i am going to Ethiopia to be the guest of the mothers of Amacho Wato as they open the Day Care Center and Learning Center that they built all I could think of was the Day they waited for me to return in the middle of the rode to tell me yes!! yes!!! we want a Day Care 


though I explained as best i could what a  Day Care Center was and what it could do to keep their babies safe and fed while they worked....free of the pottery dust that was making them sick or worse than that
what they were sure of is that they had a chance to change their desperate situation

..i don't think any of us knew to what extent they would grow with this challenge.. become builders accountant, Professional Care Givers, pre-school teachers, and an administrator.......meet the mothers of amacho wato kebele on DAY ONE that i have had the priviledge of working with and for