Hi all,

Hope this finds you well as the winter starts to thaw off. We even have some rare sunshine here in the Northwest. I wanted to update everyone on our recent Ethiopia Project as well as minor updates on our other programs.

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Ethiopia:
Our recent Ethiopia Project was our first project in Sub-Saharan Africa. Working with 2 orphanages for children living with HIV/AIDS, 1 HIV/AIDS clinic, 2 Children’s Homes and 4 schools, we were able to provide clean drinking water solutions which will now benefit more than 3,000 children annually. A huge round of thanks for the staff at WorldWide Orphans who assisted us at every turn. Our project was so successful that we are scheduling our 2009 project for September with 10 installations targeting more than 5,000 children. For an overview and a few photos from the project, please see: www.a-childs-right.org/projects.html

Thanks to the Gibson Foundation, WorldWide Orphans Foundation, Mothers Fighting for Others, the Russell Family, Children’s Home Society and Family Services, and Wide Horizons for Children for their support of our Ethiopia Project.
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China:
Our China Project is in full swing and we have now done installations for all orphanages in 6 provinces. By October of this year, in conjunction with Western Kentucky University, USAID, and the Russell family we will have added all orphanages in 5 more provinces! We also have some tremendously exciting news on the China Project and will announce this soon- stay tuned as it is rather incredible.
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Cambodia:
ACR’s newest addition to the team, Lisa Jones (our Development Director) is currently in Cambodia working on licensure and registration to open our offices this Spring. Thanks to an incredible donation by Dion and George Russell and the Laird Norton Family Foundation we are scheduling more than 40 clean water installations in Cambodia this year. Our Country Director, Kamal Uy, has been hired as well as our primary technician in country so we will be moving swiftly by summer of this year with projects assisting tens of thousands of vulnerable children in 2009.
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Nepal:
Nepal is still a very difficult country to work in. With current power outages, lasting as long as 16 hours per day, and frequent water shortages, it is tough to do our work. However, with the support of local Rotarian engineers in Kathmandu, we have put together a solid team here in the US and within Nepal to deal with the common difficulties. We will undertake our annual Nepal Project the first week of April and will be supporting 9 schools and 1 rescue home.
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Please let us know of any questions you may have. And keep your eyes out for a follow up email regarding our China Project. Amazing things are in motion.

Best, Eric

Eric Stowe
Director – A Child’s Right
www.a-childs-right.org
Work. 253.238.8766
Cell. 253.225.8703

every child has a right to clean water

I was so very excited to receive the email and see all the amazing photos that were taken on this project. I would like to thank all of our amazing donors that came together and played a part of the Ethiopian Clean Water Project.

This will always remain a passion of mine. I hope in our future we will be able to assist A Child’s Right once again. If you are interested in donating to A Child’s Right 2009/2010 projects, you can contact Eric at acr@achildsright.org.

Thanks again to all our donors and good luck Eric on the new projects!

In contemplating what motherhood has been and continues to mean in my life, I wonder whether it is most appropriately defined as a noun or a verb? Is mothering merely a biological function which allowed me to carry life within my womb and sustain it through child birth?

Or is it more aptly described in the context of mothering?  As descriptive of the ongoing nourishment of life that transforms the giver and the receiver in much the same way that the physical stretching of the skin confirms the fact that something has happened within one’s body.  A process which has placed it’s one peculiar branding of ownership… guaranteeing that one will never be the same.

The success of motherhood may be highly dependent on some factors which are totally outside of a woman’s control. Take for instance….where one becomes a mother. Where one becomes a mother determines many things about the success of the process. If a woman is fortunate to enter into motherhood while living in a Scandinavian country, a 2006~ 2007 report by Save the Children indicates that she has done so in the best place in the world!

The worst place to become a new mama according to the report is the sub Saharan African continent. Incidentally, the place of my birth. In a cruelly unforgiving way, grim statistics indicate that being a mom in sub Saharan Africa, may literally entail a brush with death; either within the process of pregnancy or through the miracle that is entailed when bringing forth an emerging new life.

Every minute, someone on the planet is literally putting her life on the line to become a new mom. It is a fact. Every minute in time, a woman meets her death as she struggles to bring forth life.

The chances of survival to the one year birthday are equally stark….2 Million newborns will die on the day they are born and even more before they reach their first birthday.

But, what is most striking is that 6 of the 10 Million children who die every year could easily be saved by preventing the conditions which kill them in the first place. Prevention which involves clean water, proper sanitation and vaccinations.

This does not have to be expensive. There are many wonderful organizations around the world who are doing their part to mitigate this vale of tears which shrouds the joy of motherhood in so much suffering for women and children around the world. One such organization is Save the Children, an organization dedicated to helping people in some of the world’s most difficult circumstances.

I think that the highest use and definition of the word motherhood is in life giving action. The action of sustaining, caring and loving life. The action of fighting for the rights of those who cannot yet defend themselves. The action of giving of one’s self sacrificially for the welfare of another. Motherhood is not mere physical activity, its’ highest calling is the embrace of the enduring spirit of courage, strength and grace which resides in women from every tribe, people, race and tongue. A spirit which celebrates life even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

A few months ago, Mothers Fighting For Others started the Clean Water Project. Our original goal was to raise $30,000 to put in 10 water purification units in schools and orphanages. But due to Kenya’s post-election violence, we here at Mothers Fighting For Others have decided to join forces with the ongoing Ethiopian Program with A Child’s Right and Worldwide Orphans Foundation. Read about the work that A Child’s Right has done in China, Nepal, and Cambodia. We feel honored to be able to assist in a small way to help contribute to the Ethiopian Program. WWO is run by Dr. Jane Aronson, one of the preeminent international adoption pediatricians in the world. Here is a little information about WWO:

“In January 2007 WWO, in partnership with AIDS Health Foundation (AHF) which treats adults with HIV/AIDS, opened the WWO-AHF Family HealthCare Center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Center is a full-service care facility for treating and monitoring the care of orphans and children in families with HIV/AIDS, and for the treatment of adults with HIV/AIDS. The Center helps to bring orphaned children into the mainstream of community life.”*

You can read more about Worldwide Orphans and the amazing work they do for Ethiopians children. We look forward to helping any way we can to help WWO get this project funded.

If you would like to help, write all checks to A Child’s Right and write MFFO in the memo. Eric, the Director, at A Child’s Right will distribute the funds to the Ethiopian Project.

I would just like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone that has donated already. It’s truly amazing what can happen when we come together for a greater purpose!

It’s pretty simple.

All you need to do is PRINT YOUR CLEAN WATER PROJECT LABEL and place it on a wide mouthed small water bottle. Pass out the bottles to co-workers, friends, and family members. Ask them to fill them up with change, dollars, even checks (remember, checks are written to A Child’s Right) and send them on back to MFFO!

This is just an easy way to collect donations for this great project. We need $28,000 more to reach our goal. Remember, this project will help over 3,000 children get the clean water that they need and DESERVE!

Let’s Do It!