We went to A-Hope, an orphanage for HIV-positive children in Addis Ababa, with no other goal than wanting to share some hugs with the kids. I never expected to meet a comedian.This little guy, being held by the Amazing Eva, was in the infants and toddlers room. He saw me come up to him with my glasses on top of my head. Immediately he reached for them and put them on top of his own little bald head and laughed right in my face! I couldn't believe it, it was so unexpected and hilarious. Then he put them on his face, looking all about the room to see who noticed. He looked just like Erkel, that little kid on the old TV show "Family Matters."
A-Hope (http://www.ahopeforchildren.org/) was founded ten years ago to provide a home and a means for adoption for some of the eleven million children orphaned by HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia. It is often the only refuge from a life spent begging on the streets. At A-Hope, the kids get an education, their own bed, good nutrition and most importantly, the anti-retroviral medication (ARVs) needed to save their lives.
ARVs are free in Ethiopia now, thanks in large part to legislation passed in the US in 2005, and through generous donors like Bill Gates. But patients cannot receive the medication unless it can be shown they are also getting good nutrition.
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