If you are willing to put together and send a bag of gifts to your sponsored family, or to a family you don’t know but we could identify, this would give them a memorable day that they will enjoy reminiscing about for years to come. Here’s some advice for what to send and how to send it. Thank you.
Suggested gifts:
- umbrella – an essential possession in the rainy season (June to September) that can be used as a parasol during the dry season
- plastic containers – useful for food storage
- clothes
- soap, talc, towels
- toothbrushes and toothpaste
- nail-clippers
- apron and tea-towels
- picture posters and world map
- wind-up torch
- sweets and nuts
For a family:
- school bag, toys cars, doll (dolls with long hair are particularly popular as girls love to plait the hair in the traditional Ethiopian styles), football, simple card games (Snap, Happy Families), picture books and simple story books in English, crayons, balloons, plastic animals, deodorant sticks
For a young adult in full-time training or education:
- English dictionary and easy-to-read books, notebook, pen
- for a young man: football magazines (the English Premier League is popular in Ethiopia), cap, pack of cards, deodorant stick
- for a young woman: women’s magazine, hair accessories, headscarf, jewellery, sanitary pads, deodorant stick
For an elderly person:
- woollen scarf or shawl, hat, bed-socks, blanket (it can be chilly at night in the Ethiopian Highlands
Protect delicate gifts with bubble-wrap and put them inside plastic containers. Place the gifts in a lightweight, plastic, zip-up shopping or storage bag (it will act as wrapping during transit as well as being useful to the recipient) and secure the end of the zip by tying or sewing it tightly with string or wool. Label the bag using adhesive labels and labels tied to the handles. (In the past donors have sent clothes and toys using zip-up bags and they have always arrived intact.) Without wrapping it in anything else, post the bag to Kate at the address below.
IMPORTANT! On the labels please indicate who this is for: your sponsored child’s name, or the category (FAMILY or YOUNG MAN orYOUNG WOMAN or ELDERLY PERSON). This is essential as Kate will not open the bag, but simply pass it on to the beneficiary.
- Please do not send very expensive gifts.
- Please do not put your name and address inside the bag, but do include sender’s details on the outside of the bag (or on the label attached to one handle of the bag) so that safe receipt of the bag can be acknowledged – these details will be removed from the bag before it is given to the beneficiary.
Please post your gifts direct to:
The Kindu Trust – Ethiopia
PO Box 1500
Gondar
Ethiopia
Thank you for giving some of the poorest people on Earth a day to remember.
Growing up poor in America is tough. Expectations from others is even toehgur! My family was very poor, we lived in a house that was once a chicken coop on a farm. My grandparents purchased a new Suburban for my parents because my brother’s wheel chair would not fit in a regular car (he had CP.) This was back in the days when no one owned an SUV.I found out later how much grief my parents received for driving this brand new car and living in a ramshackle house. No one new the circumstances behind the purchase. Some poor people use their money to buy what they can afford & try to get the biggest bang for their buck. It’s much cheaper to purchase a new TV, xBox, etc, then it is to afford the mortgage on an average home in a nice community or take a nice vacation, sign your kids up for sports & other treats, etc. I remember when my parents traded in our goats for a nice sized used TV (we didn’t own a tv for most of my childhood.) It was one of the only middle class comforts’ we had. We would get sox and underwear for christmas and had a Ben Franklin stove in the kitchen to heat the house.I also remember my mother taking in people from our church and friends who were even poorer than we were. It used to drive me crazy as a kid, but now I see that no matter how poor your are, there are many who are even worse off and could use a helping hand.I feel very blessed to have escaped poverty and am able to afford to adopt. I see now that being poor in America is a combination of bad choices, lack of education, missed opportunities and events out of your control (sickness, losing your job, accidents, etc.) Many once middle class families are living below the poverty line due to divorce or a death in the family. 3 br houses & large Tv’s may be reminants of a former life.Thanks always for the interesting posts! Lynn
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I had a very small business. My stock was tea and tea bags, also other items like food and tobacco accessories. I was not really getting much cash from my business.
I thought of a brilliant idea. I had heard from people a number of years ago that people in very poor countries can have trouble getting tobacco accessories. I thought I would send my tobacco rolling paper stock to people in Addis Ababa along with a bit of tobacco. I thought this was a brilliant idea. I did send some tea but the postage cost was expensive.
PEOPLE SHOULD SEND ITEMS OFF THE NORM.
Extremely good post and straight to the point. I don’t know if this truly is truly the best place to ask but do you folks have any ideas on where to hire some pfnerssiooal writers? Thanks