Ethiopia Part 2: A Father of the Fatherless

In the afternoons each day, we would visit different ministries. Today I am going to share about our time at the city and countryside orphanages, that we visited on two separate days. One afternoon, we visited a city orphanage that was in Addis Ababa. This was the toughest day for me on the trip. I heard stories about what it was like, what to expect, but I just was not emotionally prepared (nor could I be), for what I was about to see. We were not allowed to take any pictures at this orphanage, though I'm not really sure why.

This orphanage had probably around 200 kids, and was over crowded, ranging from babies that looked like they were only weeks old, until about maybe 10-12 years old. After the kids outgrew the orphanage, they are moved to a boys and girls orphanages, until their mid teenage years (I could not get a consistent answer on the age, but somewhere between 15-17 I think), then they are put out on the street. Some of the kids were brought in to the orphanage by their guardian, others left on the street and picked up by the police. There are a lot of 'street kids' in Ethiopia, so I'm not really sure how to distinguish the circumstances, but they are not good at all. 

When we arrived at the orphanage, we were greeted with hugs and smiles by the older kids and played with them for a while inside. They were sweet and very happy to see visitors. We then met with the Director, who talked to us about the orphanage. She has been with the orphanage for a long time, and has really improved conditions over the years. It hard for me to imagine what the place may have been like, from the conditions I saw.  One very sad fact is that international adoptions in Ethiopia have been closed for several years due to government corruption, and domestic adoption is almost non-existent. Knowing that most if not all of these kids will likely never be adopted broke my heart.

We then moved outside to play with the bigger kids, and they had fun playing with stickers, bubbles, and singing songs. Next, we went to another building to visit the toddlers and infants. There was a room where new babies were processed into the orphanage, then another infant room.  When we were in the in-processing room, I don't think I will ever forget the image of seeing 4 practically newborn babies sleeping side-by-side, they could not have been more than a few weeks old. I'm not sure if any of them were siblings. There were probably 10-15 cribs in this room, and most had at least 2 babies in them, and a few had only 1 baby.  The older infant room that had probably double the number of cribs, and only a few cribs had 1 baby, most of them had 2. It was feeding time, so I got to feed a sweet boy while he sat in his bumbo seat. Then a set of twins, maybe 1 year old, caught my attention and I held them for a while. It broke my heart to hear them cry when I put them down, not knowing what the future held for all of these children,  and knowing they have a very low chance of ever being adopted. There was 3-4 workers in this room holding, feeding, and changing babies. They orphanage is incredibly understaffed for the amount of children there, but they do the best they can with the resources they have. The workers I saw genuinely seemed like they cared for these children. And this apparently is a big improvement from the years past, where there was maybe 1-2 workers in each room. I truly thank God for these tireless workers with huge hearts to love these children. 

The last building was the toughest part of the day, the kids special needs room. When we walked in, you could see the slight increases in movement, and the smiles on the faces of the kids, who were physically able to smile. There were maybe 20 cribs in this room, and each child had their own bed. As I walked past each of their beds and played with some of the kids, I prayed that these children one day know that God does have a special plan for each of their lives. So many emotions were going through my mind about what will the future hold for these children, and all I could do was cry.   This place absolutely destroyed me, but I needed to see it and will never forget this experience. I pray every one of these children learn to know Psalm 139:14. "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well." It is amazing to think about the complexities of our bodies, that God created. God made all of us knowing the physical and emotional struggles we will face, and He designed and created us exactly as he knew was perfect. And he will provide exactly what we need each day. Visiting this orphanage was one of the hardest experiences I have had, but when I think of the alternative for these kids, which is living on the street, I am so thankful for this orphanage, and for the needs it meets for these children.

On another afternoon, we visited a country side orphanage in the town of Sululuta, which is about 1 hour north of Addis. The drive to this town was very scenic with farm land, clean air, and lots of mountains. As we drove up the mountain, we saw a lot of women walking down the mountain carrying hundreds of pounds of eucalyptus trees down the mountain. The women are paid very small amounts of money to carry these large loads down, and literally do back breaking labor to support themselves and their families. It is too dangerous for them to go back up after dark, so they typically sleep down at the mountain, and head back up early in the morning to do it all over again.

Entering the town of Sululuta.

Entrance to the orphanage.

The orphanage is run by an organization called Hope for the Hopeless, that also runs a child development program and drop-in center for street children and orphans in Addis, and foster-care homes where children learn to trust, learn the truth of Jesus, receive food, clothes, and medical care, and education. Finding Ethiopian families that are capable of caring for another child is difficult, even with financial support received through sponsors, and there are more than 300 kids currently in foster care that is facilitated by Hope for the Hopeless.

The orphanage houses 45 children ranging from 6-17 (though I recall meeting some kids as old as 20) years old on a several acre property. It was a very peaceful setting, and there was a lot of space for kids to just be kids. The kids were very happy to see visitors, as they come even less frequently to the countryside orphanages. To my surprise, the kids spoke very good english. They were very sweet and well-mannered.

Shortly after we got there, this sweet boy named Estibel struck up conversation with me. I don't remember his exact age, but believe he was 15 years old, and he told me he has been at this orphanage for 2 years. While we were talking, the group began taking a tour of the facility. And he was so sweet to give me a private tour with a little boy named Abraham, so we could keep talking.

This is the kitchen and staff who work so hard to feed these kids every day.

And this is the new kitchen/dining room/meeting room, that is should be finished in a couple of months and will be such a blessing to the children and staff!

The children are enrolled in school, and there is also a K-4th grade school that was recently completed inside the orphanage. Kids used to be bussed into Addis for school, but there was a tragic accident last year and two kids from the orphanage were killed, so they no longer go to Addis. The kids at this orphanage speak Amharic, the national language, but the language of this region is Oromia, which most of these kids do not speak or understand, and thus cannot pass classes. Please pray for these children and for their futures. Pray for wisdom for the decision makers so these kids are given the best chances at education, so they can support themselves when they leave the orphanage.

Looking back towards the kitchen and dining areas.

After the tour, we played soccer...on your head. I'm not very good at it and it hurt my head. When you dropped the ball, you did push ups. They were more gracious with us, but we all did our fare share :).

And we had fun playing fooseball. My partner was really nice and I was glad he didn't drop me for not holding my weight! I met some really sweet older girls while I was there too, but for some reason I cannot find their pictures. They were reserved when we arrived, but as the afternoon went on, really warmed up and we left giving big hugs.

As we were getting ready to leave, this sweet boy, Behaylu asked a few of us standing together if we had a few minutes and to come with him. He took us to his room and showed us an Evangecube, which I had never seen before. As you unfold and re-fold the cube, it has a series of pictures that reveals the gospel of Jesus Christ, to share the salvation message. I was so humbled and touched that this teenage orphan boy was sharing the gospel message with us, and just wanted to tell us that he is saved.

It is sad knowing in my heart that these children have a very small chance at being adopted, but to see the love and community amongst these children left me feeling much more comforted, especially compared to how I felt at the city orphanage. I know that God will protect, care for, give tenderness, mercy, grace, and provide for their every needs. Praise God that He is our Father, a father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. Psalm 65:8.  

Stay tuned for one more post, about our time at different drop-in centers.