More Quilts for Ethiopia's Cancer Kids in 2015!

This is a photo from my trip to Ethiopia in 2018. Except for the green bag, the suitcases and large bag were filled with quilts and toys for the Mother Teresa Home in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for children with cancer.

Many busy quilters from the Southern Comforters Quilt Guild (SoCo) and the committee of Community Quilts have been diligently working on 20 quilts to send with Dr. Aziza Shad to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the first part of May. I've been actively quilting many of them, as well as several other guild members. Jane McKinley, a dynamo quilt advocate, maker, and connector with Community Quilts and its members, has done a large part of the work to create cheerful quilts for the kids in the US and abroad. These beautiful quilts are for the cancer kids in and around certain areas in Ethiopia (Gondor, Jima, and others). Dr. Shad and her team of physicians, nurses, and staff at TAPPCO in Ethiopia are under the umbrella of The Aslan Project.

In 2018, I was lucky to accompany Dr. Shad to Addis Ababa and deliver 35 quilts to the then Mother Teresa Home (now renamed TAPPCO) in Addis (near a few big hospitals where the kids are treated). I was also fortunate to travel solo from Addis to Lalibela to Axum and back to Addis before heading to Dubai.

I want to stress that the time I spent with the cancer kids and their one parent at the Mother Teresa home was the best part of the trip, hands down. The kids and their families were all facing overwhelming challenges, including food insecurities, no money, and a very sick child, yet I detected joy with many of them. Some families walked miles to the capital of Ethiopia to find hope and treatment for their children because they simply do not have the means to pay for transportation.

At the “reveal” party for the quilts, Dr. Shad and Julie Broas (the executive director of Aslan) and staff at the home gave money to the house mom to buy bananas for the kids. Thirty minutes later, she returned with the most bananas I’ve ever seen in huge baskets, to the squeals and delight of all the kids. Those golden bananas were like distributing $100 bills to the crowd; it was that fun and profound!

Sew, the bright and happy quilts on all the beds brought, and still bring, gladness to the kids and families even though they are dealing with rough situations each day. In a week or two, more quilts will be spread out on more beds to bring even more joy to kids, most of them in the fight of their lives.

A HUGE SHOUT-OUT of THANKS to Diane Kuell and Jane McKinley of SoCo for organizing this wonderful endeavor!

It's the little things, and Manufacturing Sunshine for others that makes me truly happy.

bSoleille!

Terri

Photos: 1st row - Bill helping me roll all the quilts really tight to fit into the bag to take to Dr. Shad's; 2nd row - The Reveal Party in Addis Ababa with Dr. Shad and Julie - 2018; and me at the Mother Teresa Home playing and singing with some of the children.