Friends-my neice and her husband have been working under a teaching contract
in Ethiopia, and are expecting a child. They sent me this note, and it was so
touching, I had to repeat it for you. They refer to the 500,000 children who
die each year in that country from preventable causes, because the health
care is so limited, and the country so poor.....

....the Ethiopians are constantly asking us about the pregnancy. "Are you
strong?" they ask her and rub their stomachs.  Strangers in stores will
insist on carrying any items she may have in her hands; a bar of laundry
soap, rolls of toilet paper, a kilo of mangoes. They smile when they see her.
They tell her she is small yet, that she is beautiful.  We are constantly
watched, often helped.  The kindness of the people is boundless, and our
contacts with them often leave us feeling blessed. There is a benediction
taking place here, a hundred hands touching our heads, telling us to be well,
to be at peace.  Ethiopians revere pregnancy; they adore it.  The miracle of
a new life seems to give them the greatest joy.  Her pregnancy makes them
happy, friends and strangers alike, and they reach out to express that
happiness, in the same way they will reach out to touch a child, any child,
as if that tender contact can bring them peace.  And perhaps it does.
Perhaps, even within the enormous sorrow which hangs over the
five-hundred-thousand deaths, they find peace and joy in children, any
children, all children, no matter what color their skin or hair.  They love
children. They love life and the promise of life. Look at a baby's smile.
Feel it take your finger in its tiny hand. Is such love really any wonder at
all?

Denise