Changes!

We know we are throwing a lot of information at you today- but we wanted to update you on some exciting program improvements that IAN is implementing immediately.

We currently have excellent communication with Ethiopia, in that we exchange emails daily with both our head facilitator and one of our assistants. Because of language barriers, many emails need a clarification or follow up. Since Ethiopia is 10 hours behind us here in CO, it isn’t until the next day where the issue is clarified for us. Unfortunately the phone is no more reliable. Sometimes the communication on the phone is difficult, and other times the phone system in Ethiopia presents its own problems. These are things we have learned to expect when working with a developing nation.

That being said, we are scheduling weekly phone calls with our in-country staff to discuss any issues that remain unresolved. We will be able to clarify answers to many of your questions and verify whether or not rumors are true. We will also be calling our staff on the day of your court date to find out the result. We will no longer wait for an email.

We are more than happy to announce issues affecting the Ethiopia program (like the TB announcement below), but we will never announce any information that has not been verified to us by a government source or from first hand experience by our in-country staff.

On a monthly basis, families who are matched with a child will receive an update including height, weight and new developmental milestones. We hope that this helps those families who have to wait a long time between match and travel. You can stay up to date on how the child is progressing and when you travel you will have a better idea of what size clothes to bring!

Whew! That is a lot. We hope that you like these changes…and if you have any suggestions just let your coordinator know!