Hope for Clinton's Clean Cookstove Initiative

Politics is a tricky subject to talk about at best. But if there is any place on Earth where politics need to receive the world's attention, it's Ethiopia. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be visiting Addis Ababa this week. Ostensibly, her focus will be Ethiopia as an ally of the United States. We have a shared interest in keeping Al-Qaeda in Somalia from spreading.

But it's not too much to hope that Secretary Clinton, when speaking with Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi, will address her support for the Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. This potentially life-saving initiative has the very achievable goal of providing women in developing nations with alternatives for traditional wood-fired cooking. http://cleancookstoves.org/overview/what-is-a-clean-cookstove/

In order for clean cookstoves to benefit urban Ethiopian women, President Zenawi will have to free up fuel sources. At present, women in Ethiopia must use wood since alternative fuels are not readily available. Hopefully, Secretary Clinton will persuade President Zenawi to take the high road. This will benefit family health (fewer inhaled toxins), the local economy (making fuel affordable) and the environment (keeping trees intact). Keep your fingers crossed.

Grace, the Amazing Kind

It's impossible to imagine a life that exists solely because of grace. But for the moms of the students at Fresh and Green Academy, amazing grace is what provides for their existence. Let me explain: these women experience life on a level that few Americans have witnessed, much less have imagined. Poor and uneducated, they came from rural areas of Ethiopia to the "big city" of Addis Ababa, only to find that jobs were nonexistent.

Homeless, they survived street life by selling the only thing they had: themselves. But some of the lucky ones chose to live northeast of the city in the neighborhood called Kotebe. There, one woman, Muday Mitiku took them under her guidance. She provided a free school for their children called Fresh and Green Academy. And she founded a Mothers' Cooperative so that these women could make crafts to sell, have food to eat for themselves and their other children, and have a roof over their heads. And most importantly, by providing the mothers with regular food, she has made them eligible for the life-saving medicine that changes HIV from a lethal into a manageable disease.

And all of this -- the school, the food, the rent, the education is funded by donations. The mothers exist solely on the sale of the crafts they make and donations made by complete strangers. People they will never meet.

Tonight, some strangers stopped by a crafts fair and bought and donated enough money to keep two families off the street for two months. It can only be chalked up to grace. The amazing kind, that is.