We are planning a Yoga Retreat in September and want to support your work.

Your brother for eternity with you always, time to go back to Washington D.C. and finish what we started.

Michael

As a child, I was raised with family 12 young children.
you talk about mama I just lost my mom,
how is very hard in foreigner country especially if you are new,
I will share with you. you are so kind.

you make me cry ,you an amazing and kind.
we proud that we are so kind Ethiopian.

My name is Gezahgn Wordofa, and I was born in a small village called Doukem, Dalota out side doukem. which is just outside Addis Ababa – the capital city of Ethiopia. I come from a “small” family of eight brothers, and four sisters – I am one of the youngest. When my wife and I celebrated our wedding in Ethiopia a few years back, we had over 1,000 guests – and that was only half of my family and community (I also had another cousin who was getting married on the same day!) My mother just just passed , on one of our farms in Doukem. It is because of her life’s example, that I have a strong faith in God and give my life to helping others in need. Even to this day, she always ensures that people surrounding our farm have work and food, collected from the year’s harvest. To everyone in our community – she is simply known as abaye, “mother”.

As for myself, I earned a scholarship to study in Russia for university. There I completed a degree in Agriculture, and then continued on to complete a PhD in International Relations. The focus of my study was the plight of refugees – and the impact that they have on the countries that take them in. I have visited or worked in 52 different countries, and have spent the last 19 years working in Russia with refugee families. There I also expanded my work to include orphan and street children, and any other person in need of help. As a result of my work there, I was honored with the title of Goodwill Ambassador for Peace.

Today when you hear different story , and kindness , hard working and giving for needy , it brought a tear to my eyes. I remember a time back in 2000; I was trying to collect food for refugees and orphan children with the help of my friend Michael, who was the general manager at one of the big hotels in Moscow. We set up a brunch.– with one big difference. When people started arriving at the hotel with their donations of food, the Russian security refused them entry or told them that they were at the wrong hotel – all because I had refused to pay the security their “share” of the event. Over 500 people were invited, and the only ones that made it through were a handful of Canadians who very smartly had brought the food in bags with the Canadian flag on them. The security thought that they were foreign guests of the hotel and let them all in – no questions asked.

And you may ask what happened to all that food the hotel had prepared for our breakfast guests? We quickly got the refugee, homeless and orphan children who were waiting for this donation, out side. dressed in some t-shirts Coca-cola had donated to us. We snuck them in through the back door of the hotel. The children were so very happy that they were able to have a good hot breakfast. However as a result of the day’s events, my friend at the hotel had lost his job.

But this story does have a happy ending too for Michael. Even though he lost his job in Moscow, he was blessed with a new job – a position as head chef for a very famous actor in Hollywood – where he continues to help children.

Living and working in Russia, one is continually faced with challenges and set backs. Many a time, just as we were making progress in helping the refugee families and children, something would happen – a library of children’s books packed up and taken away or a racially driven fatal attack on an Afghan colleagues. But through it all, what always inspired me was the generosity of some every day expat friends who believed in what we were trying to accomplish, and always found new ways to help.

I would like to thank you for your time and sharing with you.

You are a good Example. It is such a pleasure and an honour to be part of community where faith and kindness is respected. Unfortunately this is not always so in the world, but if there is one thing that I have learned, it is that with a little faith – faith in others, faith in a cause, faith in that we all have our own purpose in life, faith in something bigger than ourselves – anything in life is possible. We are all pieces of one large picture – and through simple acts of kindness and faith, we can all make that one picture a reality.

Miss Zewdi, said

we have the power to make the negative into positive. The sad face into a happy face.
Good calling for everybody.
Thank you.
you are inspiration to anyone that has dreams, and goals….powerful!