Rock To Wind A String Around

(This is a reprint of today’s EOR post)

That’s this year’s theme for International Women’s Day.

Each year around the world, International Women’s Day (IWD) is celebrated on March 8. Hundreds of events occur not just on this day but throughout March to mark the economic, political and social achievements of women.

Organizations, governments and women’s groups around the world choose different themes each year that reflect global and local gender issues.

IWD has been on my radar for frillions of years.  As a teacher, I was quick to add women’s history to any unit we studied in class.  I loved sharing anecdotal histories of women as well as information about notable women of the past.  I never thought to discuss the politics of gender though, to visit much beyond yesteryear or my own backyard.    Now, with my thoughts firmly tethered to Ethiopia, I spend a great deal of time thinking about the women and girls there, not in the past tense, but today.

Those of us thinking about Ethiopia know that it can be a challenging place for women and girls.  Women are less likely to be educated or become literate,  they marry early, give birth to greater numbers of children (more than 7 on average) than in other parts of the world, and are more likely to die in childbirth.   The statistics are far more grim for the orphaned girls of Ethiopia.

That’s why I’m happy to share with you the mission of our partner, Children’s Heaven.

“Our mission is to embrace and empower the precious orphaned girls entrusted to our care in an effort to minimize their socio-economic vulnerability. We provide essential services to our children along with compassionate care, love, hope, security and religious guidance. We also equip them with the necessary skills, knowledge, opportunity and self assertiveness that will enable them to lead healthy and productive adult lives.”

Ethiopian Orphan Relief Inc. is proud to partner with Children’s Heaven.   You‘ve helped to move the program from a few shipping containers into a beautiful furnished building with room to grow and you are continuing to help Hanna meet the needs of more than 100 girls in Ethiopia.  Today, International Women’s Day, is a great day to make an additional donation to EOR’s partner, Children’s Heaven, to further the health and well-being of the girls of Ethiopia. With your support, EOR will be able to develop a full service feeding program so that Children’s Heaven can provide nutritious meals to the girls in care every day of the week.

My donation is made to honor my own well fed, well educated Ethiopian girl, Astrid Meklit.  Who is honored by your gift?

DoNaTe NoW

Waiting at the Subaru dealership for some recall work to be completed.  It’s kind of nice to be here–free wifi, decent coffee, quiet waiting area.  Know what would make it better though?  The chance to get a pedicure or seated massage.  Seriously, I would pay big money to walk away with a car repair AND freshly polished tootsies.

Just sayin’…

We’re on our way home after 4 nights in Georgia, one in Tennessee and 6 in Florida.  Poor Kentucky felt left out, so we’ll stop in Lexington tonight and drive home tomorrow in time to turn the heat up before we leave for choir.

My initial plan was to arrive home late tonight, but the thought of a cold house with no food in it is wholly unappealing, so tomorrow it is.

Our trip to Florida was terrific–we were there to prepare for my grandmother’s surprise party (she  turns 90 on wednesday).  We had a great time, and she was well and truly surprised, which made every painful part of the drive worth (although first class plane tickets would make it all worth it too, but whatever…)

Here’s a picture of sweet Meklit, enjoying the Savannah sunshine on Valentine’s Day while simultaneously demonstrating the laborious nature of our journey.  AM is a multi-tasker extraordinaire!

The tots and I hit the  snowy road today–we left Cowtown  (with it’s 12-16″ of snow) and are hanging in Chattanooga tonight before meeting Albert in Hotlanta tomorrow.  The plan was to get up tomorrow, do something cool here (Ruby Falls, anyone) and then make the speedy 2 hour drive to Hotlanta tomorrow.  Except, Atlanta will be receiving 2-4″ of snow tomorrow.  Arrgh!  2-4″ isn’t much in most places, but it’s quite a bit for Atlanta to manage.  I can’t decide if I should leave for Atlanta early and hope to make it in before most of the snow, or do something fun and then regret it after while it takes 5 hours or more to drive 100 miles.

Please, please, please, no flurries in Florida–that would close the interstate.

Ow!

Saturday night rolled around and it was time for dinner.  Albert took Elliott to a fencing lesson, so that left the ladies at home to chat and cook.  Astrid Meklit usually cooks in her kitchen while I prep dinner in the big one, but on Saturday, she helped to make our sweet and sour curry.  While I made the sauce and chopped tomatoes, Astrid readied the beans:

a quick ‘how-to’ from mama and she was ready to chop

good idea, close your eyes so you can’t witness the imminent digit removal.

Much better form–the curry will remain meat-free

46 long minutes later, the beans were trimmed and snapped, and my girl beamed with obvious pride.  She was SO proud to share the delicious dinner she made with Elliott and Albert.

If you would like to draft your own small fry to make this meal, it can be found in Simple Suppers:  fresh ideas for the weeknight table.