Guest Post by Amelie LaPorte-Manahan I was adopted from Ethiopia as a child and have grown up in the Seattle area. My family first got involved with Open Hearts Big Dreams (OHBD) when I was a baby. They have been connected with OHBD ever since, but over the last few years I have been actively […]
Why do you volunteer with OHBD and what impact has it had? Read More »
Keeping Learning Alive Through 1,000+ Days Without School A Community Story from Rural Ethiopia Yohannes Bimrew When the sun rises over the Choke Mountains in Gojjam, children used to begin their long walk to school. They followed narrow paths, crossed rocky ground, and faced cold, windy mornings just to learn. Birtukan was one of them.
Keeping Learning Alive Through 1,000+ Days Without School Read More »
Guest Post by Eleni Athanasopoulou It was late summer 2021 when I watched a video of a young girl (Leyla) reading aloud from a bilingual book about Ethiopia. An idea immediately sparked in my mind: what if we created a paired Ethio-Greek book from the #ReadySetGo book series? It was late summer 2021 when I
ANDROMEDA, from GREECE to ETHIOPIA and back again Read More »
BOOKS BY AND FOR ETHIOPIANS WIN MORE INTERNATIONAL AWARDS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: IBBY Ethiopia: Yoseph Ayalew / phone: 251 965 696 969 / 911 227 650 / email: yosephopenheartbigdreams@gmail.com OHBD: Ellenore Angelidis / phone: 425-295-8841 / email: ellenore@openheartsbigdreams.org December 2025 – Open Hearts Big Dreams (OHBD) started because a little girl named Leyla
LITTLE GIRL’S BEAUTIFUL DREAM BECOMING A REALITY Read More »
Yeggy Michael, artist and designer of our logo, yeggysworld.com My vision is to provoke questions about natural cycles, provide a sense of place and to reflect on the movement of time. My paintings, I consider personal works though they are for others. They are positive contacts for vibrant thoughts and spiritual moment. I use mosaic to
Some Words of Inspiration from our Logo Designer and Artist Yeggy Michael Read More »
by Mesfin H. Beshir In the quiet town of Shashemane, Ethiopia, there lived a parent named Shewangizaw Tesfaye. He had two bright children who loved stories but had never owned a book of their own. Most evenings, Shewangizaw would gather them under the shade of a big sycamore tree and tell tales he remembered from
The Gift of a Book Read More »
by Michael Angelidis Giving back is very important to any society and volunteers are integral. Today we all lead extremely busy lives and it can be hard to find time. However, the benefits are enormous; providing important support to organizations, like OHBD, dedicated to worthy causes all over the globe. One of the more well-known
Volunteering is a Two-Way Street Read More »
Guest Post by OHBD Supporter and Artist Eyayu Genet. I have always been a strong believer in the role of art to change society in beautiful and creative ways. For me, art is not simply about producing an image, a painting, or an illustration. It is about creating a language that allows us to communicate
Art is not Just a Personal Gift; It is a Responsibility Read More »
I have done a lot of reflecting over the years on what ways of giving back are most impactful and motivating for me. I believe, since I have had a measure of success thanks to the support of many, I have an obligation to pay it forward. When my daughter Leyla was young, I started to
Board Members Are Critical to the Success of Any Organization Read More »
In 2024, we celebrated seven years since publishing our first titles. Back then, we believed the most important thing we needed to do was create the content, big, beautiful early readers in heart languages celebrating the stories and culture of Ethiopia. We were right and we were wrong. The content is at the heart of
Making Big Dreams Happen with Rotary Read More »