(15 October 2011, Reverside, PE)--After 11 years apart, Serkadis Amare Krohm tracked down the older sister she called “Mama Selam” during their childhood in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian officials have cleared Selam for a medical visa, but Krohm, a graduating senior in psychology at UC Riverside, must prove she has the resources to care for her sister. Besides money, wheelchair-accessible housing and furnishings, Selam’s survival depends on pro bono or inexpensive medical, legal and rehabilitation services.
The Child Leader Project in Riverside, a nonprofit that organizes youths to raise awareness of social justice issues, launched the Selam Fund recently. Since then, donations have hit $8,000, said the group’s founder, Samantha Wilson, 24, a UCR alumna. Earlier this month, the Citizens University Committee honored Krohm for her involvement with the Child Leader Project and for her volunteer work in an orphanage and with activists in India last summer.
At the awards ceremony, Krohm spoke movingly of her family. “We have been hurdling obstacles our entire lives,” she said. “Just when we thought we were getting a break, this happened. I understand life is not always fair, but it seems it has been especially unfair to us.”
Afterward, Chancellor Timothy P. White was so moved by her story that he sent out a letter urging the community to connect to a fundraising and informational blog, www.selamfund.blogspot.com. Krohm, a painfully private person, shares her life of love, loss, abandonment, abuse, escape and hope on the site. Read the full story at The Press Enterprise »
Ethiopian officials have cleared Selam for a medical visa, but Krohm, a graduating senior in psychology at UC Riverside, must prove she has the resources to care for her sister. Besides money, wheelchair-accessible housing and furnishings, Selam’s survival depends on pro bono or inexpensive medical, legal and rehabilitation services.
The Child Leader Project in Riverside, a nonprofit that organizes youths to raise awareness of social justice issues, launched the Selam Fund recently. Since then, donations have hit $8,000, said the group’s founder, Samantha Wilson, 24, a UCR alumna. Earlier this month, the Citizens University Committee honored Krohm for her involvement with the Child Leader Project and for her volunteer work in an orphanage and with activists in India last summer.
At the awards ceremony, Krohm spoke movingly of her family. “We have been hurdling obstacles our entire lives,” she said. “Just when we thought we were getting a break, this happened. I understand life is not always fair, but it seems it has been especially unfair to us.”
Afterward, Chancellor Timothy P. White was so moved by her story that he sent out a letter urging the community to connect to a fundraising and informational blog, www.selamfund.blogspot.com. Krohm, a painfully private person, shares her life of love, loss, abandonment, abuse, escape and hope on the site. Read the full story at The Press Enterprise »
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