Wednesday, June 15, 2011

A Glimmer of Hope...

Interesting news from our agency this week. It seems staff members in Ethiopia have expanded their horizons and are now researching the needs of children in the Afar region, which is in the northeastern part of the country.
The Afar region of Ethiopia
Of course I immediately emailed our case worker and asked her about this new development and she said “we are hopeful that it will mean more referrals coming soon. And we haven’t seen any major issues with MOWA (Ministry Office of Women’s Affairs) at this point, despite all the rumors of doom and gloom.”

Finally… a little bit of good news.

I did a little digging around about this region – and it seems like an absolutely fascinating place.


One British tourist, who spent his vacation checking out the one-of-a-kind landscape dotted with surreal salt plains and volcanoes, described it like this:

“It's a harsh environment full of strange smells and sights. But it's like nowhere else and an amazing and different thing to see. The whole place is made up of colors and views you get to see on a scale like nowhere else. The heat can be almost unbearable. But it was all worth it.”

You never know… maybe Ken and I will be making a trek there someday in the near future.

Dallol Volcano
Photograph by Carsten Peter
Sulfur, salt, and other minerals color the crater of Dallol, a volcano in the hottest place on Earth, Ethiopia's Danakil Depression. At 157 feet below sea level, Dallol is also the world's lowest land volcano.








2 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting on my blog. I have to agree with you is that I feel this pull towards Ethiopia. It is hard since I feel in love with the idea before domestic. But I think that we will adopt from there at some point just not for our first adoption. I am scared about domestic adoption. It is all scary and heartbreaking. please feel free to email me. kalaweinstein@yahoo.com. I don't want to take so much room here ;)
    Good luck! and it will all work out some way or another. I keep telling myself that!

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  2. I, too, am encouraged that WHFC is expanding its work in Ethiopia to include another region. It's important that they are keeping an eye on where the need is, and of course it should in theory help those of us who are waiting, too. :) Good to "meet" you via the blogosphere. I'd be lost without all of the connections I've made through blogging!

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