News
News
Published Fri, Feb 01, 2019
On Thursday, January 24th, Mike Adams was privileged to share his testimony about Ethiopia as the Keynote Speaker at the 15th Annual Governor's Prayer Breakfast in Pierre, South Dakota. Mike was introduced by the newly inaugurated first female Governor of South Dakota, Kristi Noem. In her introduction, Governor Noem shared that at the age of 13, she had a very poor self-esteem. Her mother sat her down and shared with her truths from the Bible, scriptures that helped her see herself as God sees her. This was a critical turning point that lead a young tomboy to one day take...
Published Sat, Jan 26, 2019
A Friendly Rivalry
Each December, a team from Adams Thermal Foundation travels to Ethiopia on a joyful mission. The central focus of the trip is to celebrate Christmas and and honor the hard work and successes of the staff at the schools in Hosanna and Ottoro, as well as the offices in Addis Ababa. Parents and families of the students are encouraged to attend the festivities as well.
This is the only time each year that all of the staff and teachers in Ethiopia are together, and everyone takes full advantage of the opportunity to provide feedback, make suggestions...
Published Sun, Jan 20, 2019
In 2013, when Adams Thermal Foundation (ATF) initially took over the operation of the school in Ottoro, they discovered the spring-sourced, gravity-fed system that had supplied water to the school was dried up and the infrastructure degraded. This marked the beginning of the Ottoro Water Project. A temporary solution was put in place when an alternative active spring was located and the infrastructure repaired. While water was once again flowing to the school, the supply was limited and would need to be upgraded further and stabilized.
Adams Thermal Foundation retained a water engineer and, working in conjunction with local government...
Published Tue, Dec 11, 2018
The school which is now Adams Thermal Academy Ottoro was opened in 2007 with a water source in place and some electrification. Having these resources was new to the community and the regular maintenance necessary to keep them operational fell behind. Eventually, the water valves and other system apparatus corroded and failed, leaving the school with no water for sanitation, consumption or any kind of a food program.
Initially, the Adams Thermal Foundation vision for the school in Ottoro was to add a grade-level every year until students could ultimately graduate high school. In...
Published Tue, Dec 11, 2018
Like many African countries, parts of Ethiopia face severe water shortages, poor sanitation, and lack of access to clean water. A study conducted by Water.org concluded that only “42% of the population has access to a clean water supply” and only “11% of that number has access to adequate sanitation services”. In rural parts of the country, these figures are even lower, resulting in health problems in the villagers as well as their animals.
Drought over the last 20+ years has led to wells, streams, ponds and lakes drying up or becoming very shallow. Many people living outside of the...
Published Tue, Dec 11, 2018
For the FIRST TIME E-V-E-R, we have 12th-graders at Adams Thermal Academy in Hosanna, Ethiopia. In just a few months, these students will become high school GRADUATES! These are lives that have been redeemed and forever changed. These young people are breaking out of the poverty cycle and they are university-bound in the fall of 2019!
Among the world-wide population of children helped through sponsorship programs, it can be difficult to find the success stories. Every sponsor hopes that they've permanently impacted a life for the better. But as children grow up and drift out of these...
Published Tue, Dec 11, 2018
Every summer, churches all around the country hang up colorful signs letting the neighborhood know that Vacation Bible School is coming up. Publishers of religious curriculum crank out new creative themes every year to capture the attention of parents and grandparents seeking to fill-up the idle days of perpetually-bored kiddos. Church coordinators do their best to wrangle up enough volunteers, baked goods and popsicle sticks to fill up a four-day program filled with the right balance of activities and lessons. Some churches do it better than others. But everyone seems to be competing for the ultimate neighborhood...
Published Tue, Dec 11, 2018
(Photo) Precious food at Adams Thermal Academy Ottoro in Ethiopia. The children are not playing with their food as it appears. Rather, in Ethiopian culture, it is an act of love to feed another person and to share what you have.
When Adams Thermal Foundation launched its child sponsorship program in 2013, photographs of children...
Published Tue, Dec 11, 2018
"I didn't want to go to Ethiopia" confessed Pastor Doug Bartel from Hillcrest Church in Sioux Falls, SD. "I've seen plenty of poverty and I knew what I would see in Ethiopia. Plus, the trip is long and I wasn't looking forward to that at all," said Bartel. Still, the reluctant pastor couldn't escape the voice that kept telling him he should go. Not only Pastor Doug, but Associate Pastor Brian Stroh was feeling called as well, potentially leaving the church with no leader for 10 days or longer.
Finally, the lingering thought...
Published Tue, Dec 11, 2018
Living an hour’s walk from the mountain village of Ottoro, the Demeke family and the Bufebo family each live on less than a dime per day. With nine children to raise between the two families in an area of land too small to produce adequate food to feed them all, life is a struggle. The mountainous region isn’t ideal for farming, but crops are essential in the families’ survival. Each family has a few false banana trees, which look nearly identical to banana trees, but do not actually produce bananas. The trees are nevertheless...