Ethiopia!

Me and Huggies made a big decision last night, to take our relationship one step further: we now have a child together.

:P

Jokes aside, we are now sponsoring a wee lass from Ethiopia named Mehdir. She is 7 years old and GORGEOUS. She lives with her mum and 3 sisters, and she likes to run and jump rope.

Here are some facts about Ethiopia:

- Ethiopia has yielded some of humanity's oldest traces, making the area a primary factor in the origin and developmental history of humanity, with recent studies claiming the vicinity of present-day Addis Ababa as the point from which human beings migrated around the world. - ooooh...

- It was brutally occupied by Benito Mussolini's Italy from 1936 to 1941, ending with its liberation by British Commonwealth and Ethiopian patriot forces.

- famous for its Olympic distance athletes, rock-hewn churches and as the origin of the coffee bean.

- Having converted during the fourth century AD, it was the second-earliest country to officially adopt Christianity, after Armenia. Ethiopia also has a considerable Muslim minority, dating from the earliest days of Islam. The country has been secular since 1974.

- In the Human Development Index its place is 169 of 177.

- In the beginning of 1980s, a series of famines hit Ethiopia that affected around 8 million people, leaving 1 million dead.

- In May 1998, a border dispute with Eritrea led to the Eritrean-Ethiopian War that lasted until June 2000.

- Ethiopia has eighty-four indigenous languages. English is the most widely spoken foreign language and is the medium of instruction in secondary schools.

- Ethiopia's population has grown from 33.5 million in 1983 to 75.1 million in 2006.

- According to the 2007 National Census, Christians make up 62.8% of the country's population (43.5% Ethiopian Orthodox, 19.3% other denominations), Muslims 33.9%, practitioners of traditional faiths 2.6%, and other religions 0.6%

- there are about 2.6 medical doctors per 100,000 people


Ethiopia is also exciting because, amongst other countries, it shares borders with Kenya (Sarah's place) and Sudan (my thing).

Hopefully we will find out more about Mehdir soon!

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In other news, we went to see Shooting Stars last night and met some cool people at All Saints Ngaio. Fun times!