Published: Friday, Feb. 19, 2010 / Updated: Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 02:35 PM
Aim of Tega Cay woman’s trip to Ethiopia is making action speak volumes
TEGA CAY --
Two years ago, Alexia Galakatos, owner of Tega Cay Speaks, traveled to Ethiopia to pick up her adopted son, Engeda.
While there, she noticed children with speech delays and impairments and knew she could help them. After returning home and settling in with her new son, Galakatos contacted the adoption agency she used to adopt Engeda and asked how she might be able to use her skills as a speech pathologist to help the children in Ethiopia. The adoption agency, Children Home Society and Family Services in Minnesota, sends volunteers to Ethiopia frequently and support several schools in the country.
This weekend, Galakatos will become one of those volunteers, traveling nearly 24 hours by plane to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to spend three weeks helping the children in the agency-built school.
Galakatos isn’t sure what to expect when she arrives, but hopes to work on a comprehensive speech-language program for the children of the community.
“It’ll be very much a learning experience,” Galakatos said. “I could be working with infants with feeding problems to high school students learning English.”
Her interest in the country began long before Galakatos adopted her son.
“I was inspired when I was really young, in the ‘80s when information was coming out about Ethiopia and the poverty and famine. It stuck with me,” Galakatos said.
While in the country, Galakatos will stay in a guest house set up for volunteers. She’ll have to travel to an Internet cafe daily to get online and isn’t sure whether she will have mobile phone service when she arrives – all of which will make staying in touch with Engeda, now 4 years old, and her 10 year-old very difficult.
Leaving them wasn’t something Galakatos took lightly, but she knew that she could make a difference in the lives of the children in Ethiopia.
“I thought, ‘I can’t pass this up, I may never get this chance again,’” Galakatos said.
Galakatos, a Charlotte resident, bought Tega Cay Speaks in January. The practice offers speech, occupational and physical therapy to clients of all ages.
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