100 for Adama

Many of us have read moving articles in the paper or books that really affect us.  Stories of other’s hardships or plights that make us stop and think that we should do something to help.  But how many of us actually do?

After reading the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn, eleventh graders Caroline White and Anna Cate Peeples were motivated to act on what they had read about fighting oppression against women worldwide. 

“I was glad they read the book and saw that many women in the world are faced with so many challenges, and we are so fortunate here in the United States,” said Jorja White, Caroline’s mother.

Shortly after the girls had finished reading the book, the Peeples family heard of an opportunity to help girls in Ethiopia. Anna Cate’s family has sponsored two girls in Adama, a city in central Ethiopia, for years through Hope Ranch. Like many children growing too old for orphanages, they were being targeted by people involved in sex trafficking. Members of Hope Ranch who are on the ground in Adama were hoping to save these girls from such a fate.

Over the course of a weekend, Caroline and Anna Cate made a video explaining what they wanted to do, planned a fundraiser, and invited friends to a Christmas party where they were asked to bring a donation of $100 to be collected for the girls in Adama. 

The girls had discovered that a safe house situation for four children for a year would cost $6000.

“The ultimate goal would be to provide permanent safe housing for them,” Jorja White said. “$200,000 is enough to create a dedicated building, home and school for girls.”

In addition to their Christmas party fundraiser, the girls also sent out letters to friends in the community asking for their support for 100 for Adama through a $100 donation.  They have also created a website, www.100foradama.com, to provide information and collect donations.

For the month of the December, 100 for Adama partnered with Church Street Coffee and Books.  Carrie Rollwagon and Cal Morris, owners of the store, committed to donate 10 percent of any sale during the month when the customer mentioned 100 for Adama.

So far, Anna Cate and Caroline have raised $13,600.

“We just couldn’t sit back and know that kids our age, all the way across the world, didn’t have a safe place to go home to each night,” said Anna Cate and Caroline.  “We wanted to do what we could to change that reality for them.”

Along with their parents, Jorja and Andy White and Nancy and Mark Peeples, the girls met with Hope Manifest over the holiday break.  This firm specializes in advising non-profits in how to be successful. 

“We are incredibly blessed girls and live in a community that has been blessed as well. We really do believe that this is our injustice to fight,” said Anna Cate and Caroline.

To learn more about 100 for Adama or to donate, visit www.100foradama.com.