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A thousand meetings: Slow and steady progress for our programs
Our last few days have been full of meeting and meetings. Tawnya, Nicole (when she was here) and I (Arnica) have met many times with Bisrat from Canadian Humanitarian, and our consultant, Birhan, to...
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Horse riding in torrential Wenchi
From guest blogger, my mom Rita: Today we left Addis and went by a different route to Ambo. What a glorious drive. The country was fascinating with a series of clean villages, fatter animals and varied...
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My favorite things: Boston day spa
As I am dictating this blog post, the bottoms of my feet are being worked over by a pomace. After a wonderful massage in the grotto downstairs, I am having my first manicure and pedicure for years. Of...
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A thousand meetings: learning to do business in Ethiopia
I feel like I could write book on doing business in Ethiopia, although, really I am still a rookie. The book would be called “A Thousand Meetings.” All of us Vulnerable Children Society directors, we...
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Great Guest House in Central Addis Location
After one false start at a bad location, we managed to find a great guest house in an amazing location in Addis: DS Guest House. Previously, we’ve stayed at the Weygoss Guest House for extended stays,...
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One tattoo: adopting again from Ethiopia!
That’s right folks! We are excited to announce that we are now focusing exclusively on adopting again from Ethiopia! Most of you know that we have been waiting for over two years to be matched with the...
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Preparing a “Dist”– an Ethiopia casserole
Many people return from Ethiopia with various pottery casseroles and coffee pots, and then have no idea how to get them ready for use. Or worse, they just throw some food in them and wonder why the...
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NGO Visit: Hope for Children in Ethiopia
Last month in Ethiopia, Tawnya and I (Arnica) had the opportunity to visit several other NGOs (non-governmental organizations, non-profits.) We learned how they ran their programs, shared tips and...
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Help a deserving Ethiopian get a Kidney Transplant!
Tezera used to work with our very good friend and neighbour Haile, and Haile is organizing a campaign to help Tezera be able to continue his life of helping others. I hope you will all consider...
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Ethiopianness, Africannness and Blackness in Canada
A mom from the US posted this article on one of the Facebook groups I belong to, written by Kuukua Yomekpe about the invisible cloak of “Blackness” that people with dark skin or African heritage wear...
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All we want for our birthday is… a Coffee Ceremony!
Like many Ethiopian adoptees, our girls have more than one birthday. In Ethiopia birthdays are not as important as here. They simply aren’t celebrated. I remember I gave my friend M her first birthday...
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Major Announcement from Vulnerable Children Society
As many of you know, I serve as the President for Vulnerable Children Society, a registered Canadian charity that helps kids and families in Ethiopia. Well, this week I was SO GLAD to be delivering...
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The perfect holiday gift! Ethiopia ABCs book
Two years ago, I was driving west of Addis Ababa towards Nakemte. I was struck my the amazingly beautiful scenery, and the fascinating rural culture of the Oromo people in that area. En route, I...
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A little Ethiopian Trip under the Tree
For the past couple of years, our lives have been on hold… Waiting and waiting for our business to start and our adoption to pan out. It was almost five years ago that we brought the girls home from...
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Giving Tuesday: Support Deserving Children in Ethiopia
Well, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are over, and now it’s Giving Tuesday, the day to give back. If you would like to support an incredibly effective organization helping some of the most vulnerable...
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One month countdown to Ethiopia
Only one month to go in till we leave as a family for our first “homecoming” trip to Ethiopia. Who is on board? Me and daddy Jason, Sugar and Spice as well as Grandma and Grandpa. The six of us will...
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One week until Ethiopia…
Well, it’s only one week to go… And we will be taking our girls back to visit eat Ethiopia for the first time. It’s funny because they are seven years old, and their priorities for this trip have...
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Sharuba: Styles for our Homeland Trip to Ethiopia
For the next two weeks, our family will be traveling in Ethiopia. We are visiting family, volunteering, swimming with hippos and climbing trees with the monkeys. You can imagine there are a lot of...
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On the Road to Nakemt
Hello, jet lag. The girls were first awake at 1:30am. I managed to get them to go back to sleep until 3:30, when the rooster started crowing next door. They snuck out int the living room to whisper at...
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The big big day: visiting our Ethiopian family
Yesterday was a big big day for our family. We don’t share the details of our girls’ Ethiopian family publicly, but suffice to say, we have an open adoption, and huge extended family in Ethiopia. With...
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