TAB: Ethiopian Family Fund

19 Feb TAB: Ethiopian Family Fund

[click "Play" button to hear Susan's interview with EFF's Melanie Robbins]

Telluride AIDS Benefit supports Ethiopian Family Fund

The young girls the Ethiopian Family Fund has rescued from a lifetime of sickness, poverty and monotonous labor indirectly have Mother Teresa to thank, and two girls in particular, the Telluride AIDS Benefit.

Melanie Robbins and Marla Hodes, EFF’s co-directors, took a trip to Africa several years ago to visit Marla’s brother Rick, a full-time doctor at Mother Teresa’s Mission in Addis Adaba, the capital of Ethiopia.

The original plan was to help Dr. Hodes, but it turned out his piggy bank was full and the Mission was in great shape. The boys there, many dropped on the doorsteps by desperate parents, were doing fine thank you. But where were the girls?

Melanie and Marla discovered most of the girls were treated as second-class citizens or not at all. The ladies became their champions through their nonprofit, EFF, born in 2005.

EFF is committed to the development of sustainable education and healthcare programs that positively impact children, especially girls, and their families while respecting the cultural integrity of communities in Ethiopia.

Melanie and Marla chose to focus on Ethiopia for a number of reasons. At the top of the list is the fact the country is friendly and peaceful: Muslims, Christians and Jews live in harmony and the government, communist in name, behaves democratically and seems to care about the people. In this environment, an anomaly is war-torn Africa, the two women do not doubt funds from TAB and other non-profits reach the children in need.

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to Melanie talk about her nonprofit and TAB.