My friend Jason from graduate school was in Africa recently, in the process of adopting another child. He took with him some Fair Trade Sports gear to share with thechildren of Ethiopia. While at the Catholic Missionaries of Charity in Addis Ababa, Jason was able to hand out a few of our Fair Trade Sports balls and snap a few photos, such as the one pictured here.
The Good Samaritans at the mission care for over 1000 sick, malnourished, and disabled children – over 500 of which are orphans. So I could understand when Jason explained he could barely get this boy to sit still and pose for this picture because he was so excited about the gift!
While the kids at the mission are no doubt well taken care of, they undoubtedly lack the simple things most of us took for granted as children – like a good sports ball to play with or a safe place to play. This is one of the reasons that I started Fair Trade Sports; it is gratifying to see one of our sports balls in the hands of a youngster in far-off Ethiopia.
What a great visual reminder for everyone on the FTS team – that includes you, too – that our work is worth it.
