From Melissa Fay Greene's blog

Dear Friends,

By now you may have learned the shocking news that Mrs.
Haregewoin Teferra has died suddenly after a short
illness. We don't know what caused her death; she felt
sick for a couple of days, went to the doctor,
came home without a diagnosis,
felt sick again, laid down, and that was the end.

We are grieving, yet we have no time to spare: 59 children
survive her, many of them toddlers and babies,
the majority HIV-positive.

Worldwide Orphans--the New York-based organization
that has provided pediatric care to Haregewoin's
children for many years--has stepped into the breach.
They have assumed full custody of the 42 HIV-positive
kids and are prepared to take responsibility for
the 17 HIV-negative children, as needed, most of them babies
and toddlers. Those small children are still at
Haregewoin's foster home; their caregivers have
stayed on; and the Atetegeb board has taken charge of their
well-being for the present.

These heroic measures come at high cost:  it is
estimated to require about $4,600 per child to cover food,
healthcare and medicine, education, clothing, and
caregivers. Once the children's basic needs are secure,
their paperwork will be sorted out: some may be eligible
for adoption, others may have extended families in a
position to take them in; others may find new placements.
No one knows, at this moment, whether Haregewoin had
made financial plans for the children in the event
of her death.  All that can be sorted out in the future.
The crisis is NOW: keeping the children fed and clothed,
paying the salaries of loving caregivers to act as
stand-ins for their late parents and long-devoted
foster mother, and making sure there is no lag-time
in their life-saving medical treatment.

At Little Atetegeb, for positive children

Haregewoin lived with these children seven days a week,
24 hours a day,for ten years.  She is irreplaceable.
The youngest children, of course,have no idea what has
just happened. Please let us work together to act
as foster parents in absentia for them and to
provide financial sustenance to the adults on the
ground in Addis during this transitional time.

Thank you in advance for any amount you can give.

Online contributions can be made at  
https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2669/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=2749



     Checks may be sent to:
WWO
511 Valley Street
Maplewood, New Jersey 07040

Sincerely,
Melissa