The boys say THANK YOU

Thanks to the donations of friends and family one hundred families received d-Lights.  The process of choosing the families was carried out by the four social workers at Operation Rescue Ethiopia, and their manager, Anteneh who is going over the list with Eli, below:

Eli goes over list of the 100 families most in need of d-Lights.

Signing the check.

Once the donated money had been transferred to Operation Rescue Ethiopia's bank account, there was still a lot of paper-work to do to make the purchase official.  Here, Netsanet (Assistant to the manager) signs the check for the d-Lights, while Eli, Micah, and Getachew (Operation Rescue Ethiopia's manager) look on.

At the d-Light office

Eli and Micah deliver the d-Lights to ORE

Above, Eli and Micah are delivering boxes of the solar lights to Operation Rescue Ethiopia for distribution.

Below, Eli explains to the mothers how the d-Lights work.  He gets translation help from Anteneh.

Eli and Anteneh explain.

Teame, a social worker at Operation Rescue Ethiopia helped translate Eli's instructions, as well.

Teame and Eli

Finally, the d-Lights were distributed.  Below, Birho (social worker and Operation Rescue Ethiopia nurse) signs each d-Light to a family while social workers Alem and Anteneh look on.  Micah is handing out the lights.  In the background, the final social worker at Operation Rescue Ethiopia, Merid, is taking pictures.  These kinds of activities can be encouraging for other international donors to see.

From left to right, Alem, Anteneh, Micah, Birho, mothers receiving lights, Merid in the background.

THANK YOU to all of you who donated.  Your kindness and generosity is making a direct impact on people's lives.  Even we have a d-Light, and with frequent power outages, it is a very useful thing for families to have.

Even though we gave out 100 lights, it was hard for the social workers to choose the right families to receive them.  And other families came forward and asked if they could have some, too. 

It is not too late to donate to this project.  Even if your money doesn't go to d-Lights, it will go towards supporting some of the most desperate families in Mekele by providing food, hygiene facilities, school aid, clothing, nursing care, and social care support.  In fact, one of the best ways to support the work of caring for vulnerable families at ORE is to sponsor a child, using the link below.

You can donate (or sponsor a child) at: http://www.fieldsofpromise.org/?page_id=72   We understand that it is not easy to provide a note to make sure your donation goes to the Woodward Family Project.  Don't worry, every time a donation is made, it is reported to us by the US administrator of that website.

Thank you again.  We boys will be departing to the US in three short days after almost a full year in Ethiopia (our parents leave a few days later).  We are so grateful you have supported us along the way, and that you have also supported the work of Operation Rescue Ethiopia.