In November 2010, I travelled to Ethiopia for a week to help some of the poorest people on the planet.  Before I went, I surpassed my fundraising target of £2,000.  However, the sights I encountered out there have inspired me to continue raising money for the people of Ethiopia on an ongoing basis.  Please read on...

... as you know, I've recently returned - along with 22 other people - from the 2010 Ethiopiaid trip to Addis Ababa. I wanted to say a BIG thank you to those of you that donated to Ethiopiaid before my trip, and to give you a flavour of what we did out there.

It was a massively eye-opening experience. The poverty we saw was extreme and at times heartbreaking. At the same time, to see the difference that can be made by the money donated via Ethiopiaid to the various charities out there was also very rewarding.

We visited charity-run schools in some of the poorest areas where kids are getting an education. Families have to pay to send their kids to the Government-run schools and most can't afford it. So without these charity-run schools many children wouldn't get an education at all and would be begging on the streets instead. Just giving these kids - who have nothing - a small thing like a colouring book or a bouncy ball made them happier than our kids at Christmas. It really made me re-evaluate just how lucky - and spoilt - we are here.

We visited a 7-year old girl with cerebal palsy in her home - a tiny shack with no windows - to see one of the visits she gets from a physiotherapist. There is no NHS. It's paid for by a charity. Much of the rest of the time she is left laying on the floor in her shack, with flies buzzing round her face. She was ostracised by her community as disability is often seen as a curse, but the physiotherapist has helped to change attitudes a bit. (Many disabled children in Ethiopia are left in their shacks alone all day whilst their parents go to work or go out begging.)

We visited a prosthetics centre that charitable money funds 30-40 people a month to go through. A disabled person can get a new leg and the physio that goes with it - getting their life back - for less than £100. Nothing!! (I saw many people on the streets with missing legs pushing themselves round on skateboards.)

We worked at a centre for 'the desititute and dying' run by nuns who have given up their lives to do good. There were orphaned children and rows of orphaned babies in cots - they just wanted to be picked up and cuddled. There were rooms with disabled children who had been abandoned by their parents, and wards of sick adults with HIV, TB and cancer. Without the money provided by charities such as Ethiopiaid, most of these children and adults would be left to die on the streets.

We worked at a soup kitchen where we fed around 700 homeless people bread and soup at the cost of 4p a person - without this food, many of these people will die.

All these things have inspired me to carry on raising money for these
people.

Having now seen it first hand, I can honestly tell you that a few pounds (or even pence) can make a major difference to someone's life.

Could you make do with one less beer over this weekend, and donate the money instead to Ethiopiaid?

So please help to make a difference and donate.

Thanks,
Simon