Sunday 3rd August

On Thursday last week I had the first – and I certainly don't expect it to be the last – moment of feeling 'Oh God, what have I done? What am I doing here?'

I was missing London and my friends, and was mourning the fact that in London I can go around the city without people pointing and laughing, and without what feels like 30 children following me shouting 'You! You! You!'. I thought I'd made a big mistake.

And then I went to the orphanage and remembered exactly why I came here! Hanna Teshome, who runs the orphanage and was the reason I got involved, came to meet me and took me to the new orphanage premises. Sometime last year, while we were busy fundraising in the UK to replace the orphanage's kitchen, the landlord of the orphanage (nearly everywhere in Addis is rented, and it's very expensive) decided that he didn't want so many children using his property, and raised the rent. Luckily, Hanna and the staff managed to find another place only 10 minutes walk away which is cheaper and bigger – and has a decent kitchen!

So the money we raised isn't needed for a kitchen – but their new premises are perfect! There is a big place for the children to play, with a volley ball net, a basket ball hoop, and enough room for a very small, very well behaved game of football (using the footballs we bought for them, and normally wearing the tee shirts CSV donated!). There is also a Fuseball table (think Joey and Chandler in Friends), which seem to be popping up all over Addis! There are several just on the side of the road in Wollo Seffer, and teenage boys congregate around them at all times of the day. The play area is surrounded by classrooms, the library (stocked with books we have provided) and the computer room. Then there are offices for the accountants, for Hanna, and for the social workers and psychologist who work with the children.

It was great to see all the children again (some who remembered me and were keen to say hi, some who weren't the slightest bit interested!) and even better to be able to talk to Hanna about how we can continue to help. Some of the money we have raised for the kitchen will now – as per the updates on our myspace page – go towards creating an education centre which will provide a safe and productive place for the children of the orphanage and the surrounding community to study.

However, some of the money will now go to support the Prisoner's Children Programme, one of the new ways Hanna has found to help the children of Ethiopia. In rural Ethiopia there are quite a number of women in prison, serving long sentences for murder or similar crimes. These crimes are frequently the result of domestic violence and family problems, and there are often no relatives to look after the women's children. Consequently, their children have to go to jail with them, meaning they suffer the horrible prison conditions whilst completely losing their chance of a childhood.

Hanna has been working with the prisons, other NGOs and social services in Ethiopia to try and solve this problem. They have opened a 'children's centre' in Jimma, a place about 350 kms from Addis. This centre is similar to the orphanage, and it's a place where the children can grow up while their mother serves her sentence and still get education, care, medical treatment, food (there is rarely enough food in prison) and, most importantly, the chance to be a child. The mother and children get time together during the week, so the bond is not broken, and when the mother is released they will be given help to build a life together.

So, another donor has paid for the first year's rent of the children's centre, and the money we have raised will pay for the second year's rent. A few people have donated money to us to buy animals for the children, so that will go towards three sheep for the centre. Animals are very useful for any branch of the orphanage; as well as providing food and other things such as milk, looking after the animals teaches the children responsibility and discipline. It can also be the beginning of a small business for some of the older boys – they were able to sell chicken eggs and baby rabbits at the local markets. Sadly, any chickens we bought for the Wollo Seffer orphanage keep dying (apparently that's what happens to chickens in Addis – nobody here can give me any other reason!!) but the ones in Shiro Meda are still going strong!

I hope to be able to put some pictures up on here soon, so that you can see directly where your money is going. Thank you for all you have given over the last two years, and all your support!

I'm off to eat Injera …