Ideas – Open Hearts Big Dreams

Keeping Learning Alive Through 1,000+ Days Without School

Ellenore Angelidis — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 23:09:55 +0000

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. Every day, she and her friends made…

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ANDROMEDA, from GREECE to ETHIOPIA and back again

Ellenore Angelidis — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 05:57:42 +0000

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 watched a video of a young girl (Leyla) reading aloud from a bilingual book about…

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LITTLE GIRL’S BEAUTIFUL DREAM BECOMING A REALITY

Ellenore Angelidis — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 17:43:01 +0000

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…

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Some Words of Inspiration from our Logo Designer and Artist Yeggy Michael

Ellenore Angelidis — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 18:30:40 +0000

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 illustrate the unity and lusciousness of diversity.

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Volunteering is a Two-Way Street

Ellenore Angelidis — Sun, 31 Aug 2025 20:07:59 +0000

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 benefits of volunteering is the impact on the community which…

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Board Members Are Critical to the Success of Any Organization

Ellenore Angelidis — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 17:47:55 +0000

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 think about ways I wanted to give back besides writing checks to worthy organizations. I felt I had more to…

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Making Big Dreams Happen with Rotary

Ellenore Angelidis — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 18:40:59 +0000

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 our mission, but the books must also get into reader’s hands. Given that our self…

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Conserving the Beauty of Ethiopia — A Legacy of Love and Working Together

Ellenore Angelidis — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 18:27:46 +0000

Ethiopia is a country full of animals that can’t be found anywhere else in the world—and other amazing animals as well. But many of those animals could easily disappear forever. Majestic black lion populations, for example, have declined almost 90%, with only small populations clinging to life in pockets of Ethiopian wilderness. One conservationist who studies them says, “It’s not just the lions…

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Books As Instruments of Peace

Ellenore Angelidis — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 18:15:22 +0000

by Ellenore Angelidis, Executive Director/Founder Peace is an enormous and important concept. It encompasses peace within, and peace without. Looking at the definitions again reminded me that it is really about so many different things at the same time. Peace: 1. a state of tranquility or quiet; 2. freedom from civil disturbance; 3. freedom from disquieting or…

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Spreading Book Joy in Ethiopia

Ellenore Angelidis — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 04:38:02 +0000

This is a guest post by Samara Alazar, one of volunteers about her experience leading a project to fundraise for locally printed books and distribute them in Ethiopia. Over the winter break of 2022, I traveled to Ethiopia. My goal was increasing literacy amongst underprivileged children. I have been working with Open Hearts Big Dreams to translate children’s books into Spanish I also sold…

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