Where in the world is Ethiopia?

I was an African Studies major as an undergrad and one of the first things I had to for one of my classes was memorize the map of Africa and all of its countries and their capitols.  Now that I have a direct, lifetime familial connection to Africa, I wanted to brush up on my geography.  I found this game that lets you test your knowledge of African geography and thought I’d share it with you.  I was happy to know that I had retained some of my geography knowledge– I scored a 70%– but still have a ways to go!

I also wanted to give you an update on the Mocha Club.  If you missed the earlier post on the Mocha Club, here’s the story: 

 The Mocha Club’s vision is to provide a way for people who don’t have hundreds or thousands of dollars to make a difference in Africa. We do this through a community-based website where members can start a team and invite friends to join them in giving $7 a month – the cost of 2 mochas – to support a project in Africa. 

I started a team (Team Inspired) specifically to provide orphan care in Africa and several of you have joined (thank you!).  I received this update on their latest orphan care projects and I thought I would share it with you: 

 From the Mocha Club:  We wanted to introduce you to some of the orphans in Kitui, Kenya who we’ve been able to help support through Mocha Club. There are 21 children between the ages of 4-18 in this area. They are considered orphans since both of their parents have died of AIDS and they have no other relatives who can provide for them. Through Mocha Club and African Leadership, we are also able to help provide support for a social worker there who reports back to us on how the children are doing! Your support helps provide things like school fees, uniforms, shoes, and medical attention when necessary.

Meet Rose and her grandchildren…

Rose Musunza in Kitui, Kenya lost her husband about 20 years ago, and 8 years ago, she lost her son with his wife to AIDS. Her son left behind three children under the care of their 79 year old grandmother who was a housewife in a very poor Kitui village. The three children are Rose (11 yrs old, in class 6), her brother Mwania (10 yrs old, in class 5) and brother Musunza (9 year old, in class 5). Two years ago, Rose was desperately looking for someone to take the children because she could not care, feed, or even clothe them. Rose is now the happiest women in the village to see her grandchildren not only being fed, clothed and taken care of, but also in school!

It’s so powerful to watch the way that micro-donating joined by mass effort can make such a substantial difference!