The struggle begins at birth. One of 10 children will be stillborn or will not live long after the birth process. The "lucky" ones who live will see 30% of their siblings or friends die before the age of five. They die from AIDS, hunger, malaria or other opportunistic diseases that result from malnutrition, poor sanitation or neglect.

The family structure is weak at best. The parents frequently cannot find legitimate means to eke out a living in the city of Addis Ababa. If they do work, the typical pay is equivalent to fifty cents a day, barely enough to provide for even the most basic needs. Fathers, ashamed of their failure to support their families, often abandon them. The mothers are forced to provide for their children by extreme means. They may become streetwalkers or beggars. The mothers who beg will sometimes maim the infants or toddlers, who accompany them, in order to increase the sympathy and size of the offering from would-be donors.

If the child has a surviving parent, the chances are one in 20 that the parent is HIV positive and has a very short life expectancy. (The number of AIDS victims is growing exponentially in Ethiopia. It now has the third largest AIDS population in the world.)

By age five, these children have become accustomed to going to bed hungry. The older the child, the more likely it is that the child will learn the necessity to beg or to steal to help provide for the family. By age eight or nine, children have learned their survival skills and are already adept at stealing or worse. Some girls at this age are sought out by men for sex, and in turn are rewarded with a few birr (the U.S. equivalent to 20-30 cents).

Can we change this? Education would seem to be the answer. Then, ultimately these youngsters would learn skills to make them employable. However, education is not an option for most youngsters as there is only enough room for 35% of the population. Thus, schooling that would begin for youngsters at age six, is often denied to the most needy. And so, the cycle of poverty continues.

The St. Francis Children's Care Center intends to make a difference for these children. Their approach is to offer an option to earn money to a mother who would otherwise become a streetwalker, while providing for an early intervention education program for her child. Mothers are given the wherewithal to sell inexpensive goods or food on the street. The children are given instruction in the basics of pre-reading and math, in both English and Amharic. These children will then have a much better chance of being accepted in the government school than children who have developed no literacy skills, thus breaking the cycle of poverty.

If the day-to-day life experience of the children in Addis Ababa seems bleak, it's probably because it is. But, the St. Francis Children's Care Center offers the hope that change can happen, that the children and their mothers may have a chance to rise above their current struggle. But little can be done without the financial support of benefactors who are willing to bring hope to the children of Addis. Your donation, large or small, offers the hope and promise that change can and will come about.