Ethiopia...Here We Come!: February 2011

Monday, February 7, 2011

Our Court Date...

...is March 17th! Yep! Just got the email this morning. We have to be in Ethiopia no later than the Monday the 14th and prepared to meet Baby L March 15th! If all goes well and we pass court, we then return to Ethiopia 3 to 6 weeks after to pick up Baby L. We're so anxious to go back to Ethiopia. Gotta start making plans...

Facts About Ethiopia

Ethiopia's official name is Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. It's capital is Addis Ababa. Ethiopia covers 437,600 sq miles, roughly 5 times the size of the U.K..
The total population of Ethiopia is approx 76,500,000. Approx 2,500,000 people live in Ethiopia's largest city, Addis Ababa.
The local currency is the Ethiopia Birr, made up of 100 cents. The official language of Ethiopia is Amharic.
There is one physician per 34,988 people, and one hospital bed per 4,141 people.
Per 1,000 people there are 200 radios, 9 telephones, 6 televisions, 2 motor vehicles, and 0.01 internet hosts per 10,000 people.
In 1993, after 30 long years of war, Eritrea broke from Ethiopia and became an independent nation leaving Ethiopia landlocked without any major seafaring ports.
Drought struck the country from 2000-2002 (first year no crops, second year no seeds, third year no animals).
The story of coffee has its beginnings in Ethiopia, where the coffee plant still grows wild in the forest of the highlands. Ethiopian coffee has earned itself a reputation as one of the finest, most flavorful coffees in the world. The Ethiopian coffee ceremony takes roughly 30 minutes to prepare and consists of each guest drinking a minimum of 3 cups of coffee.
Coffee is critical to the Ethiopian economy (Ethiopia’s only major export). Unfortunately, coffee prices fell 40-60% from 1998-2002.
Per capita, Ethiopia receives less aid than any country in Africa