Actually in her mother's words...
The face you see above is precious. She's our daughter and she is alive and well today because of one woman, her Birth Mother. While this amazing young woman struggled daily, our family anxiously waited on the other side of the world. She was sick, impoverished and forced to walk daily for the basic needs that we have quick and easy access to. While we took for granted these very needs, she, without hesitation, walked daily to provide clean water for herself and the life she was nourishing. Her struggles were met with incomparable determination. Though sick and alone, she bravely faced each day working to earn less than $10 per month. Through the last months of pregnancy and the unbearable heat of southern Ethiopia, Semenesh's Birth Mother continued to walk daily for clean water to provide for herself and her growing baby.
As I follow the same timeline of pregnancy day by day and through the summer (expecting our third child the day after Semenesh's second birthday), I try to imagine walking in her Birth Mother's foot steps. Barefoot over rocky, hot terrain, eight months pregnant, exhausted and alone. I can't imagine, I try, but in all reality I have no idea what she went through. It is impossible to comprehend the hardships she faced everyday. Through the heat of summer, without easy access to clean and safe drinking water, pregnant, and without any hope of change, she carried on.
The people of Ethiopia want change. Our family wants it for them. We dream of young pregnant women, children, and mothers having quick and easy access to clean water. We dream of less illness and less hardship. We dream of them having more time to devote to their lives, families and school, and less time spent walking to find clean water. We not only dream of it, but we know it's possible. We can imagine a better future for thousands of lives.
In honor of Semenesh's birthday this September, and her Birth Mother, we want to raise money for other lives in Ethiopia. We are her family now, but Ethiopia will always be her original home and we love those people. THEIR LIVES MATTER. Watch the video to see how charity water will use your money in Ethiopia this year. Join us in the effort to give them what we take for granted everyday. To them, this is an amazing gift.
Happy birthday to our lovely daughter. You are extremely loved and your story will help change lives.