Ethiopia Interesting Facts

They say that once you visit Ethiopia, it is forever "burned into your heart." It becomes a part of you like you never could have imagined.  When people return from Africa they often feel that they need Africa more than Africa needs them.   I think that's beautiful.  What a testament to the people, the countries, the culture!  I keep thinking, "Light my fire, Lord... I'm ready to go!" :)

I have been spending a lot of time learning about Ethiopia.  Our adoption agency has sent us a few DVD's, I've read lots of blogs, and I enjoy reading books too!  I recently came across some fun, interesting information about Ethiopia.  I'm not entirely sure if it's 100% accurate or not, but I thought the info was fun never-the-less:

* Ethiopia is almost twice the size of Texas.
* It is the birthplace of coffee!
* Ethiopia has 63 airports, but only 17 of them have paved runways. (Oh dear! I do hope we get to one of those!!)
* Ethiopian television consists of just 1 channel.
* The Ethiopian calendar has 13 months.  Each month has 30 days, but the last month of the year has only 5-6 days.
* All of Ethiopia is vegetarian 2 days per week.


And now to some not-so-fun facts, but so important to know:


* Ethiopia has a population of about 80 million people.
* The average life expectancy is between 49 - 55 years
* Only 12% of the population has access to safe water.
* 23% of the people live on less than $1.00 per day
* Only 26% of children will attend secondary school
* Average annual income = $180 USD
* Of every 1000 children born, 123 of them will die before the age of 5
* Approximately 5 million orphans
* Ethiopia's annual health budget is $140 million, but what is needed to take care of the orphans is $115 million per month.


I love this quote of Mother's Teresa's...

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."

And so I have to ask myself, 'Who's truly impoverished?'

Today is August 27th.  This is the date that Mother Teresa wrote as her birthday because it is the day in which she was baptized.  (Weird that I know that? I think it's weird that I remember the fact from Mrs. Moore's 7th grade English class! I chose to write my report on Mother Teresa.  And I did double-check my memory... today is apparently the birthdate that she claimed!)

Is it a coincidence that this quote came to my mind tonight? I think not.