January 31st, 2009
January 28th, 2009
It’s been 11 days since i’ve even touched the internet. oh how i’ve missed thee !! I was welcomed by 400 unanswered emails. whew. that’s a lot to get through so please be patient with me.
I am right now in a hotel in Addis Ababa. For the past two weeks i’ve been traveling all over the country and seeing some of the most beautiful areas of Ethiopia. Spent most of my time in the areas of Tigray and Dembi Dollo and saw everything from elementary schools, to hospitals, to water projects, to vet clinics, to colleges and universities. All projects were done by A Glimmer of Hope Foundation and I must say, I was most impressed with everything i’ve seen. Dembi Dollo is practically a growing little Glimmer of Hope City. You can’t turn your eyes without seeing something they have built or funded. AMAZING ! I met with so many people and heard how their lives were changed and listened to their dreams. I cried as women stood up and told me that she use to walk 6 hours a day to fetch muddy water and now she has clean water in her village and can take care of her children. It’s stories like these that need to be heard ! CHANGE is HAPPENING ! Every single person has a right to clean water, food and to LIVE their DREAM. I want to see this happen for these people. We just happen to be born into the families we have, just as they just happen to be born into poverty. They didn’t ask for it, but it’s their’s and we can do something about it. We can help these people and it takes something so simple, donating our time and money to the organizations that are making the difference and making things happen. I get so many emails about how one can get involved and help.. Get creative. We have all been given minds to invent and create things that dont exist. Is there something that is stirring in your heart that you think could help another human being ? Is there some idea that you’ve been sitting on and keeping putting it to the back of the list ? TAKE action and do it ! help those around you who are in need. You have the breathe you are breathing right now.
I am so thankful for each of you who continue to walk with me on this journey. I can’t wait for you to hear the stories of the people i’ve met on this trip and i know they can’t wait for it either !
-Esther
January 16th, 2009
today and today only on Wall Blank you can purchase the image ” Into Her Soul” and all 100% of proceeds will go to Water Wells funded thru :
Wishing Well Africa – Water for the World
Click their name to check out their new website that Launched today.
January 16th, 2009
So my Family is from here. My Mother was born and raised in the Hague and I have have brother and sister who were born here. My brother stayed in the US, but my sister came back to live here and now has a happy little family in a small town called Woerden about 30 minutes from Amsterdam. I am so blessed on this trip to have a layover here for a day. I took the train from Amsterdam to Leiden and then to Woerden this mornig before the sun was even peeking. Coming back here always reminds me of my time I lived here with my sister in 2000 for a semester. I learned how to get around so well that year. Not much has changed, except that the canals still look a bit frozen. Last week they had the coldest week it’s been in 12 years and helf the national Ice Skating Races on the Canals all the way across Holland. Do you remember Hans Brinker and the silver skates. Yeah, that’s the story about the Ice. So wish I could have been here for that but at the same time not, since I didn’t bring a coat on this trip This evening my Aunt, Cousins and Sister’s whole family gathered for a good dutch meal of Kroket and Patats.
I’m About to catch a few hours of sleep before boarding the next flight to Ethiopia. till then.
My sister Jennifer and me.
Oliebollen stand only around during the New Year
Woerden grote kerk
Jennifer, Sharon and Marjon
brown cafe in the centrum
my cousin Sharon
dutch family dinner
organizing files next to the wooden shoe
January 15th, 2009
Tomorrow I am headed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to work on stories for A Glimmer of Hope Foundation you can find out more about them by clicking that link. I will be traveling to areas all over the country for the next two weeks.
Charity Water has funded many water projects with Glimmer of Hope. They have an incredible team on the ground in Ethiopia that are making change happen in their beautiful country. I will keep you posted on the Journey as I travel and hear the voices of these people and how their lives have been touched by the programs Glimmer has started. You can follow me on twitter and I will do my best to post on that as I travel from village to village.
Thank you all who continue to support and pray for the Journey’s I am on.
-Esther
January 13th, 2009
Doretti, age nine, and Natoretti, age nine months, live with their mother and Father in a small hut in Eastern, Rwanda’s Kayonza province. The water source for the entire community is right next to their house and it’s a murky brown, stagnant, 5×5ft pond.
listen to the audio file when I was photographing them
www.estherhavens.com/doretti_rwanda.mp3
