Well it's been far too long since I've updated the blog, so here's the latest news:
An Incorporated Association has been formed in Australia which will oversee orphanage business, manage funds, fundraise etc. The corporation is called "The Ashley Haven Project" and I am in the process of opening a new bank account in it's name so that any donations or sponsorship monies can be paid directly into this account. I will have those details tomorrow and will let people know the new account number then. Next goal is a new website! I am also looking at options for a fundraiser to be held later in the year, so stay tuned for that..

As for news from the orphanage itself, the kids have a month left of their 'end of year' school holidays and they were getting more than a little restless (I don't like the term 'bored'..)and requested a school tutor be hired to teach them for the rest of the holidays. Of course I was more than happy to oblige them, so a tutor was found and hired for the month on the proviso they focus particularly on studying english (as well as Amharic and maths)because they really are quite lazy when it comes to learning english despite the many fun english learning aids I've bought over for them!

I think I updated last time that our main full-time caregiver Sabilah left us, sadly! Sabi was only 16, despite looking a LOT older and she didn't want to be tied down to such a demanding full-time job, which I can understand. Sabi has been a huge help to us over the past 8-9 months particularly when the orphanage first opened and we couldn't afford a second caregiver. So it is sad to see her go, but fortunately when I was in Lalibela in February/ March I was able to hire a second caregiver Zidal who has turned out to be the most delightful, trustworthy, genuinely kind hearted girl and after Sabi left, Zidal stepped up into her role as main caregiver and has been wonderful! We have now found another caregiver though, an older lady named Tesfa who so far has been working out just fine. I haven't met Tesfa yet and am quite keen to, however, our manager's grandmother recommended her to us and this lady has not yet steered us wrong!

So we have our quota of staff once again and I have since asked the orphanage manager to ensure that each staff member is assigned one rostered day and night off per week on top of the time off here and there they all take when needed. Hopefully this will improve staff working conditions and morale etc and we will be able to keep staff longer. Of course it's all a matter of trial and error and we will work things out as we go!

The other thing I wanted to include in this update is some financial information about the working of the orphanage for those interested. I know when I was researching the prospect of opening an orphanage in Ethiopia, I found it very difficult to find this kind of info.

A basic breakdown of our costs per month:

Food
bread- 780 Birr
shiro- 100 Birr (ground spicy chickpea powder made into a stew)
lentils- 200 Birr
teff- 750 Birr (to make injera, the national bread)
sugar- 320 Birr
tomato paste- 100 Birr
Pasta- 400 Birr
Vegetables- 300 Birr
meat- 1000 Birr

Food total of approx. 4000 Birr ($295 USD/ $330 AUD)

Rent 4500 Birr ($335 USD/ $372 AUD)

Wages 2900 Birr ($212 USD/ $235 AUD)

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All up per month the orphanage costs $842 USD per month/ $937 AUD per month to run.

This bare figure does not factor in the kids clothing/ shoes and school equipment 9pens, books etc into consideration as I don't send this money over on a monthly basis, I take as much clothing and school equipment as I can carry whenever I go to Lalibela (aiming for twice a year where possible!!) as the stuff you buy there is very poor quality and wears out far too quickly! If I can't make it over though, or someone else I know isn't heading there, I send a couple hundred dollars over and get the manager to buy them what they need. Oh the other thing I haven't listed is soap- the kids go through A LOT of soap. soap for washing themselves and their clothes.
I send around $550-$600 a month to cover the expenses of food and wages plus incidentals (hospital, clinic, medicine, pens etc) and I send over the rent every 3 months as I can scrounge it up!! So far we have 5 kids fully sponsored and 1 half sponsorship per month which provides $440 of the monthly cost of running the orphanage, but there is still a $500 deficit per month. A lovely American family have been helping us cover some of this shortfall by paying the last 3 months rent, which has helped a lot!! However, what we really need is to get every child fully sponsored to ensure that we can continue to provide for them adequately each month. If anyone reading this would like more info on sponsorship, please email me at [email protected] or if you know of anyone who is interested in joining with you to collectively sponsor a child, that is an option too! Just send me an email and I will happily talk to you about different options.

Well that is all for now, will update again soon with new banking details and hopefully a new web address!

Sheridan
xx