Making a difference in children’s lives

Marianne Stabile couldn't forget the pain in the eyes of many orphan children from Ethiopia she had seen in magazine articles and the Internet.

Since she started her research a year ago on how to adopt a child from a Third World country, Stabile, an elementary school teacher who lives in Framingham, has been haunted by the sorrow in those children's faces.

Hoping to alleviate their pain, Stabile has begun a campaign to raise money to work as a volunteer at an orphanage for HIV-positive orphans in Ethiopia.

A country of 77 million, Ethiopia has nearly 1 million children who have lost their parents to AIDS. One of many countries in Africa that have been ravaged by the AIDS epidemic, Ethiopia has nearly 1.5 million infected with AIDS and HIV. By 2008, deaths caused by the disease are projected to number 2 million.

"When I see the pictures of children in Ethiopia, I see the children I teach," said Stabile, who teaches fourth-graders at a Waltham school. "On the surface, the Ethiopian children may be different from my students, but when you look closer, they look the same. Kids are kids."

Stabile, 25, who is pursuing a master's degree at Brandeis University, plans to travel to Ethiopia in the summer of 2008. She has started her fundraising campaign in advance hoping to gather close to $5,000. So far, she has raised nearly $500, and though she has a long way to go, she's optimistic.

Among her plans to raise money are holding bottle- and penny-drives. In her extra-time, when she's not teaching, Stabile babysits and saves the money for her trip. All she raises will go to pay the airline ticket and her living expenses in Ethiopia. If she raises more than she needs, she will donate it to the orphanage, where she'll spend two months.

The orphanage where she plans to be, AHOPE, located in Addis Ababa, the country's capital, cannot pay for volunteers' living expenses though it welcomes volunteers. There, Stabile plans to teach English to the children, some of whom may eventually be adopted by American families. Ethiopia's national language is Amharic. But Stabile said she plans to do more than teaching English.

"What's touching about these children is that no one wanted them," she said. "There are still many misconceptions about the disease. No one wants to touch them or hug them because many people still think they can get the disease."

For the 1999 graduate of Wayland High School, the trip to Ethiopia combines all her passions in life: children, teaching, traveling and experiencing other cultures. Before going back to school, she lived in South Korea, where she taught English to children.

But going to Ethiopia to do a good deed is the right thing to do, she said, not only because it will change the way she looks at things, but mainly because it will help make a difference in the lives of others.

"It's going to change my life," she said. "But my real goal is to help change the lives of children."

For more information on Stabile's project, check the Web site www.ethiopiateacher.com.