Metti Duressa, '07

This is the award winning original oratory delivered by Metti Duressa during St. John’s Oratorical Contest (organized by parishioner and volunteer speech coach, Ann Morris). The speech contest coincided with St. John’s spring fundraiser Nothing But Nets,  (organized by Anne Salter, physical education instructor). Children gathered pledges, played volleyball, ultimately raising funds to buy nets for African families.

No one had prepared me for what I was about to see…or hear. One morning instead of waking up to the ringing of my alarm clock, I was alarmed by the “COCK O DOODLE DO” of a rooster. It took me a minute to realize I wasn’t home lying on my bed, in fact I was about 11 thousand miles from home in a city called Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. I was in Africa, little did I know back then, which would change every way I once viewed the world.

As soon as I left the large gate that surrounded the warm, cozy house I was staying at, I immediately entered a whole new reality. Walking down the streets of Ethiopia I studied the things around me: streets were narrow, crowded with cars and people, crippled or pregnant beggars barely clothed and nearly starved, barefoot boys kicking rolled up socks which was their idea of a soccer ball, people of all ages carrying goods day in and day out hoping to sell, young girls carrying babies in order to gain sympathy from bystanders. For them everyday was a struggle to survive, to make ends meet in a place they called home.

Poverty occurs all over the world and specifically in 3rd world nations where citizens face incredible odds. According to Children and Poverty Campaign “Of the 57 million people worldwide who died last year, 10.5 million of them were children less than 5 years old. The majority of these children-some 98%-were in developing nations.” Diseases like HIV AIDS have created more than 14 million orphans and 92% of them live in Africa. Treatable illnesses such as pneumonia, malaria and malnutrition can be difficult to cure cue to the complications posed by poverty, poor sanitation, and inadequate health care.

It’s difficult to put yourself in their shoes, but imagine everyday the same routine, sleeping on cold solid concrete, no roof over your head but the pitch black sky, constant honking of cars speeding by and by day time you are awake, coming up to cars asking for change. Imagine knowing by tomorrow you could be dead because of a simple disease that could’ve been easily cured with a bottle of medication or imagine everyone of your family members dead and you happen to be the only survivor…alone and scared. If you feel frightened at this point…you should be because that’s how some people in Africa feel all the time.

Three years ago 5 siblings, my cousins in Ethiopia, became orphans when their mother died of AIDS. No one was willing to take them in so they learned how to fend for themselves. They had no money, no shoes, and no one to watch over them. One day a riot occurred and a few kids from my older cousin’s school, who happened to be demonstrators against the government, started throwing rocks at school buildings. In order for them to be identified, the government asked everyone to come to school the next day without their uniform. Though my cousin did not take part in the demonstration, he was so afraid of being beaten by the police or arrested that he didn’t come to school the next day. Sometimes poverty can lead to scary things and frightened people.

I’m not asking for an end to world hunger or prevention to all diseases, but I am asking for your help. One by one we could make a difference in someone’s life so let’s start with Nothing But Nets. Nothing But Nets is an organization created to raise money for mosquito nets. These nets will be sent and distributed to families all over Africa. The purpose of the nets is to protect the people from mosquitoes carrying Malaria. Malaria is a disease caused by the blood parasite Plasmodium which is transmitted by mosquitoes. African families lose a child to this disease every 30 seconds. One way you can help is by going on-line to NothingButNets.net and buy a net or start a net raiser team. This may be one disease, but one disease can affect a lot of people and a lot of families. So let’s send a net to save a life so their homes of survival can become  homes of love.