“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
– Nelson Mandela
“Home is where one starts from.”
– T.S. Eliot
“A person’s a person, no matter how small.”
-Dr. Seuss
Welcome to Aerie Africa
Aerie Africa, founded in 2002, is a US-based non-profit organization, dedicated to providing a home for orphaned and vulnerable children in the Wolaita Soddo, region of Ethiopia, located about 200 miles south of the capital. Through sponsorship and fund-raising activities, Aerie Africa provides the funds necessary to provide caring support for children and young adults. From its founding, Aerie Africa has partnered with Children’s Cross Connection (CCC), an Ethiopian charity. CCC is the local implementing partner for our home.
We provide three stages of support to our Ethiopian family. The central component of our project is the CCC Children’s Home, long-term care housing for children ages 3-18. All but a few of our youngest kids attend local schools within walking distance. The second component is a transition program for our young adults. For three years, from ages 18-21, these young adults receive full support, but live in rented rooms in town. It’s a period designed to help them develop some independent life skills and integrate into the community. The third component involves higher education support for kids who have grown up at the home and qualify for Ethiopian university and vocational programs.
We would love to hear from you if you are interested in supporting our home and our children. Some donors like to Sponsor a specific child, others like to provide support for specific projects or general expenses. Each year we also co-ordinate back to school care packages for our children.
In order to provide the funding necessary to operate the CCC Children’s Home — to ensure that each child has loving care in a clean and safe environment with proper clothing, nutritious meals, decent education, and appropriate heathcare — each child is paired with a sponsor (or sponsors) who makes an annual financial contribution to Aerie Africa. Sponsors also correspond with their sponsored child, providing, albiet from a distance, mentorship and care. Sponsorship donations cover about 60% of the annual budget for the home. The Aerie Africa Board of Directors fundraises the rest of the donations to ensure the home is appropriately funded. All donations are tax deductible and all but a very small percentage of the money raised is spent in Ethiopia. We appreciate all our many talented volunteers who keep our organization running with minimal administration costs.
A vital component to the care and success of our children are the letters of encouragement and small packages sent by their sponsors. The children look forward to hearing from their sponsors throughout the year. Our sponsors love to get letters and pictures from their child, to hear about their lives in Ethiopia and to watch them grow and thrive.
Interested in becoming a sponsor?
Please e-mail us at info@aerieafrica.org.
Already a sponsor?
Sponsors are encouraged to send one annual small package (4 lbs. or less) as a back-to-school gift to their sponsored child in September. Letters and photos can be sent at any time throughout the year.
Mailing address for the Orphanage
Your child’s name
C/O CCC
P.O. Box 264
Soddo, Wolaitta
Ethiopia
Kids in Soddo go back to school after the Ethiopian New Year on September 11th. This is a great time for them to receive a small package from their sponsors. Below are a few suggestions of appropriate items for packages. Remember, it can take up to 6 weeks for a package to arrive in Soddo, so plan ahead with your mailing.
The package should weigh around 4 lbs. We encourage this weight and ask that you stick close to the above suggestions in order to provide some consistency to what each child receives. You can watch a short video with instructions on mailing packages here.
The children enjoy writing the sponsors and we encourage them to do so after receiving letters and packages from sponsors. These letters provide an opportunity for the children to share about their life in Ethiopia and to practice their English. Sometimes a letter gets neglected in the daily life of the home. If you don’t receive a letter within 8-10 weeks after sending a letter or package yourself, please let us know and we’ll follow up.
You can send at email to info@aerieafrica.org
If you would like to make a tax-deductible (to the fullest extent allowed by law) donation to Aerie Africa to support the children, please click on the following link to securely donate by credit card or via Paypal.
If you would like to learn more about our organization and the children of Soddo, please contact us at: info@aerieafrica.org
US correspondence
Aerie Africa, Inc. – 17 Belamour Drive – Washington Crossing – PA 18977 – USA
Make checks payable to Aerie Africa, Inc Email: info@aerieafrica.org
Ethiopian correspondence
Child’s Name
C/O CCC
P.O. Box 264 – Soddo, Wolaitta – Ethiopia