GTLI Child Sponsorship Program has three objectives:
1) Intervene, care, support and reunify mingi children with birth families;
2) Facilitate eradication of Mingi Harmful Traditional Practice (HTP); and
3) Build capacity of local government to assume management of project with technical backstopping provided by UNICEF.

Among the many tribes in So Ethiopia, GTLI works specifically with the Hamar. According to government estimates, approximately 40 children are abandoned to die each year in Hamar woreda (locals estimate 100+). These children are labeled “mingi,” which means unwanted, not needed, the cause of misfortune, unlucky and associated with bad occurrences. In accordance with Hamar social values and norms, parents are forced to abandon or kill their “mingi” child as a prerequisite to stay in the community.

Among the many tribes in So Ethiopia, GTLI is working with the 23,000 member Hamar tribe, one of the world’s oldest cultures and one of the most endangered.

Film proceeds to benefit GTLI Child Sponsorship Program. Tribal custom forces the Hamar to abandon and kill “mingi” children, who are believed to bring bad luck to the community. GTLI intervenes, cares for these children, and works to eradicate this Harmful Traditional Practice.

In 2006, Ethiopia began construction on its largest infrastructure project to date, the Gibe III Dam. The Omo River is a lifeline for 500,000 indigenous people living in eastern Africa. If completed, Ethiopia’s Gibe III Dam will regulate and reduce the Omo River’s flow, increasing hunger and fueling conflict throughout the basin. The dam will bring major hydrological changes to a very fragile ecosystem, to which local people have adapted over millennia.

Gibe 3 Hydropower Dam is the largest investment project ever implemented in Ethiopia. Once completed,at 240 meters high and with a capacity of 1,870 MW, the dam will block the south western part of the Omo River, creating a 150 km long basin which will jeopardize the river’s fragile ecosystem forever and dramatically affect the life of about 500.000 people living in southwest Ethiopia and northern Kenya. Sign a Petition to Stop Gibe III.

Drawn from Water musical score by award-winning Hollywood composer Eric Hester with lyrics and performance by Lale Labuko – receives honorable mention in the International Songwriting Competition (ISC) with over 15,000 entries from 115 countries.

Drawn from Water musical score by award-winning Hollywood composer Eric Hester with lyrics and performance by Lale Labuko – was the finalist in the “World” category of John Lennon Songwriting Contest. The song not only received the honor of winning the “World” category, but was a finalist in the competition for Best Song of the Year.

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