Karen, Ruby and Shamida

I have a young Aussie friend who lives in Addis. 

It has been wonderful to connect with Karen

 and her daughter Ruby at weekends.

I became friends with Karen when she was working at Bible Society with Mal 20 years ago. We have been friends ever since. Karen was at our wedding in 1998 and when she was back from Dubai to visit family in Sydney in 2009, she flew down to Melbourne for a few days and was able to farewell Mal when he was in the hospice.

Karen trained as a lawyer in Sydney and practiced in Dubai for eight years before adopting Ruby and then moving to Ethiopia.

I've stayed with Karen and Ruby a couple of times at weekends since I've been here and time with them has been a special gift to each of us.

After Karen adopted Ruby four years ago she knew that her future was in Ethiopia helping to bring hope to orphaned children and giving them the possibility of a loving family, an education and a future.

She's started an orphanage in Addis Ababa.

It's called Shamida. You can read more about it here

 It's a place where kids are wonderfully loved

 and cared for as they wait to be adopted

 or as they live with disability.

Shamida is light

and open

and really well resourced

thanks to Karen and her amazing team of friends, family and supporters in Australia, US and UK.

Karen and the nannies obviously enjoy what they do

 and care beautifully for these kids

who seem to be thriving here.


This place looks nothing like my image of an orphanage!

Karen is doing an awesome job of giving these little ones possibility for a bright future.