I Call Him My Brother

About the Book

The tragedy of HIV/AIDS in Africa has let several million orphans in Ethiopia, many of whom face an impoverished and desperate life on the streets, a life defined by hunger, lonliness, fear and despair. Without help, many street children don’t survive.

About the Author

Robel Alemu knows this life well. He survived on the streets of Addis Ababa for five years before he joined the Selamta Family Project. At Selamta, orphans and other vulnerable children become part of a new family. A group of eight or nine children join a well trained, caring “mom” and “auntie” in a clean, safe home and are surrounded by love and support. Robel and his new siblings at Selamta attend school, have plenty of healthy food to eat, have access to health care and an opportunity to grow up in a stable, permanent and “real new family. Chris Morse, currently a student at Yale University, left his comfortable New Hampshire home at age 18 to go to Ethiopia. After working to raise money to buy a van for the Selamta Family Project, he boarded a plane to go to a country half a world away. He became friends with Robel, who included him in his current life at Selamta, and with him to re-live his life on the streets. This is their story.