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Maps: Ethiopia, Hamar communities

Ethiopia

Hamar woreda (the Hamar homeland) (approximately 1,500 square miles) is a two-day drive from the capital, Addis Ababa. It is a beautiful but arid area, laced with acacia trees and thorn bushes. Little grows in the dry sandy soil. In most of the woreda, there are few roads, no electricity, no cell phones and no internet service.

Lori's Story

"I was lucky with my career, but I failed retirement..."

In 1984 I was a single mom with two little girls and a brand

new software company. I got lucky and sold the company at the height of the tech bubble in 1999 and tried hard to be retired. But by 2006, I had reached a crossroads. I needed to either ramp up my consulting business, earn tons of money and give it away to address the terrible problems I was seeing in Africa, or I needed to work in Africa myself for free. What I saw in Niger convinced me to work for free.

We were in Timia, a miserable nine hour drive from the capital, when a girl of about 6 came up to me, her 3 year old sibling on her hip. Flies crawled across both their faces. My granddaughter, Ella, was 6 that year and, looking at this little girl, I saw Ella. I realized that this child had done nothing "wrong" to be born into a desert teaming with flies, and Ella had done nothing special to be born into a US suburban home with running water. In a flash, I knew I was going to spend the rest of my life working to get flies off the faces of children.

I knew nothing about development work – but I was an entrepreneur and I knew how to analyze needs, create strategies, motivate people, and make things happen. So over the next year I learned everything I could about development work in Africa. Then, in July 2007, while on a medical volunteer trip to Ethiopia, I met the Hamar tribe.

I fell in love with the Hamar – with their beauty, their resilience, and their tragic awareness that traditional practices, passed down from the ancestors, were no longer keeping them alive. I became determined to help them adapt to their changing world.

I started GTLI in 2007. Since then I have spent much of each year living with the Hamar, learning about the tribe, talking with elders, forming relationships, and building trust. Together we are planning and implementing programs that are enabling this tribe of 66,000 to maintain their culture while leading healthy lives.

I invite you to join us!