After the event in April, I met with the president of The Fregenet Foundation . Tafesse told me all about his wonderful school, and asked me if I knew any adoptive parents who might want to help him keep the school going strong. He really does have an incredible foundation, and he could use a family or two to become his school's cheerleaders. In an incredible, full-circle, crazy, kind of coincidence, Tafesse's dreams of a school came after the death of his only child- Leeza. Leeza was Dana Roskey's (of the Tesfa Foundation) fiancee. The grief following this young woman's death has spurred ripples of goodness and hope for thousands of Ethiopians.
Tafesse has run his school for many years and had some very wise words of advice. He told me that individual sponsorships had proved disastrous in his school. Those who were sponsored received visitors, sometimes new uniforms, letters, etc, and those that weren't did not. It was upsetting to students and parents alike. His school is a little different than ours will be (Fregenet is in Addis Ababa), but I can't help but think that we should consider being a unified group of sponsors. Yes, it is fantastic to get assigned a specific child and to see that picture and to make that connection, but really that is a gift for the sponsor not the sponsored. If all of you who pledged to take on a student agree, I think we should form a group and not count on having our own personal student.
Sponsorship for the Kololo school is $21 a month, or $252 a year.
Thoughts? Concerns? Who is in our group? Who wants to help a city school?
Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
