Opportunities – 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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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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Art is not Just a Personal Gift; It is a Responsibility

Ellenore Angelidis — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 15:56:23 +0000

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 more deeply, to connect across differences, and to inspire people to see life from a new…

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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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Advice from a OHBD CS Grad: Let’s build a future that the next generation will be thankful for

Ellenore Angelidis — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 19:00:49 +0000

In late 2020, we were awarded a grant from the American Corners to run Computer Science and Entrepreneurship Boot Camps along with a series of leadership talks. It was the most challenging of environments with conflict and the virus each presenting what seemed like insurmountable challenges. The OHBD team had to consistently reinvent and reimagine to support our students from Dire Dawa…

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