Who are these people and how in the world is Kansas involved with something going on in Ethiopia? I posted this on my blog and my Step-Dad sprung into action. He was able to contact Stan & Le Ann Clark who are very involved with Ethiopia Reads. They receive, organize, and ship the books to Ethiopia. They also live a few minutes drive from my parents! Now my parents live in a small rural town, so this is a HUGE coincidence! Ever since my trip, my Mom has been helping LeAnn organize the books.
Earlier today, Jane Kurtz came to town to speak about her latest books. She wrote the books for American Girl's doll of the year, Lanie. Jane grew up in Ethiopia and is highly involved in Ethiopia Reads. All of the donations from today went to this great organization. Jane was SO nice and I immediately felt at ease talking with her. We've been hearing about each other for quite awhile and she made me feel as if she was just as excited to meet me as I was to meet her. She is a huge inspiration to me, it was great to talk with her for awhile! In addition to buying books for myself, I got a signed book for my AHOPE kids. It has both English and Amharic on each page. I think they'll really like it!
Ethiopia Reads works hard to provide children in Ethiopia with books. They help add libraries to schools and also started numerous DONKEY mobile libraries! See one in action here (First pause the music on my page on the Ipod):
Ethiopia Reads - Donkey Mobile Libraries from Brent Weaver on Vimeo.
If you are looking for a great organization to support, I highly recommend Ethiopia Reads. See their website here: http://ethiopiareads.org/home.
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