AWAA Ethiopia Updates

We had one of our monthly conference calls today.  Here are the highlights:

• Seven families have passed court so far in July and MOWCYA is currently writing about 15 letters a day.
• Some orphanages in southern Ethiopia have been closed by the government.  None of these are orphanages working with AWAA. 
  
• Recent trends show a wait time between referral and passing court to be 12 to 16 weeks.  From passing court to clearing embassy (coming home) another 4 to 8 weeks.
• Courts still plan to close August 7th and reopen at the end of September or early October.  MOWCYA will remain open during the court closure.
  
• The drought is effecting areas of Ethiopia closest to Somalia.
• Referrals will continue to be given out during the court closure until all of the children in the transition home have been referred to families.  There could be a time near the end of the court closures when referrals slow down because all of the children will have been referred to families and no new children will be coming in until those children go home.

So there is hope that we will still receive our referral in the next few months.  We are currently tied for #5 (so we might be #7) on the unofficial waiting list.  We've been tied for #4 since March 31st until we recently moved down the list, because another family ahead of us changed their request.

As far as when we will receive our referral, we feel about as optimistic as River at the carnival.