Weekly Goal #8 and Support for Ethica

Please consider donating to this very good cause. Your help would be greatly appreciated. I got the following message from Voices for Vietnam Adoption Integrity

Ethica, Inc. has received troubling reports of severe, cold weather in northern Vietnam that has taken a toll on orphanages in Hanoi, Bac Giang, Hay Tay, and Bac Ninh provinces. We understand 3 children have died in the past week and 10 more less than a year old have been hospitalized. In the past two months, 9 of 19 infected infants have died.

Government officials at the National Fund for Vietnamese Children are concerned that many more children will be vulnerable to a virulent form of rhinovirus that has in some cases, progressed to pneumonia. This fatal for institutionalized infants and children already vulnerable to illness. The officials have met and given Ethica’s representative in Hanoi permission to secure and deliver much needed blankets, heaters, warm clothing, and formula on March 7th and 8th. We estimate that $9,350 USD will be needed for this emergency relief fund which will assist 469 children under 16 years old and 152 babies from 1-7 months old.

We only have 3 DAYS TO FUNDRAISE.

Currently, Ethica’s involvement in Vietnam has been to evaluate irregularities in international adoption processes and advocate for ethical and transparent adoption policies and practices. As our mission is to assist all adoption community members, we are providing short term emergency care as we determine long term policy objectives.

Our hope is that in a month’s time, we will be able to transition the children’s needs to more permanent funders through a coalition of local and international NGOs.

You can make a difference in the lives of the children we serve by making a 501-C-3 tax deductible gift to Ethica, Inc. We cannot help these children without your contributions.

$30 donation will provide an infant with formula for one month.
$300 donation will buy 100 baby blankets.
$300 donation will buy 100 warm baby outfits.
$500 donation will buy 100 warm children’s outfits.
$600 donation will buy 100 children’s blankets.
We are currently awaiting estimates for heaters, medicines, and delivery costs.

To donate please visit this link and follow up with a note to info@ethicanet.org that your donation is to go towards the Blankets for Babies Fund.

http://www.ethicanet.org/item.php?recordid=donations&pagestyle=default

Additional information on this effort with notes, updates, and photos of each orphanage will be posted at www.ethicanet.org and our blog http://ethica.ning.com/ . We are seeking graphic and web savvy volunteers to assist us in creating a blog button and page for this fund. Please contact Linh at lsong@ethicanet.org for more details. Thank you.

I really believe that we can make a difference by donating to this cause.

My personal goal of the week is to not lose my patience with Lucy during her meal time. I try time and time again to come to peace with her birdlike eating, but it drives me crazy when she throws or swats almost everything I offer her. I just want her to eat. I worry so much about the nutrition that she is getting and I end up frustrated when she refuses almost everything at every meal. I try and think about the fact that she is clearly healthy and getting enough to grow, but it still worries me. I am having a hard time thinking of things to feed her, since most of my efforts are rejected. My other goal is to read the book Magical Child by Joseph Chilton Pearce. I started it a couple of weeks ago, but have made basically no progress. I just have had no urge to read. I want to get motivated to read this book again.

I can't believe I don't have any pictures. It was really cold today, so we have been locked up inside all day. We actually got snow tonight, which is very rare for us. Of course, none is sticking, but it is still fun to see.