Bringing Macy Home: baseball

Why Ethiopia?

• One in six children die before their fifth birthday
• 44% of the population of Ethiopia is under 15 years old
• 60% of children in Ethiopia are stunted because of malnutrition
• The median age in Ethiopia is 17.8 years
• 1.5 million people are infected with AIDS (6th highest in the world)
• 720,000 children have been orphaned by AIDS alone, and there are 4.6 million orphans in Ethiopia.
• Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa
• In the 90s the population (3%) grew faster than food production (2.2%)
• Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals)
• Half the children in Ethiopia will never attend school. 88% will never attend secondary school.
• Coffee prices (Ethiopia’s only major export) fell 40-60% from 1998-2002.
• Ethiopia’s doctor to children ratio is 1 to 24,000.
• In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

"Take me out to the ballgame..."

Aidan is playing Little League baseball this fall - and this mommy just couldn't be happier! This is our family's first experience with any kind of organized sport, and I gotta tell ya, I just LOVE a kid in a baseball uniform! I mean seriously...be.still.my.heart. Could he possibly LOOK any cuter? I mean, before the dripping sweat and Gatorade mustache and all. He had a HUGE cheering section - like 13 screaming, cheering family and friends - and that was his FAVORITE part of the experience. The fact that he made a couple of hits was just a bonus.