I apologize it has taken me a while to write this last post, it has been a busy past couple of weeks for us. The last post on Ethiopia will be about our visit to a children's home and a drop-in center, a women's rehabilitation center, and a cultural dinner.
Within Ethiopia there are thousands of children living on the streets that every day suffer hunger, extreme poverty, and violence. There are many reasons why children are forced to live on the streets. Some choose to because it is a better alternative to their current living situation, others may have diseases, extreme poverty, or their family just can't take care of them. Some of these children have been trafficked or abused. The thought of children living on the streets tears at my heart, but it is a reality in Ethiopia, and in many other parts of the world.
The first place I will talk about is a children's home we visited in Addis, called Shalom. The home was founded by a woman named Tenagne, who has an amazing story of how she felt called to minister to children living on the street. The children living in Shalom came from the streets and have endured a lot of suffering. I believe there was about 25 children living there full time, and they are shown the love of God by having a safe place to live, food, schooling, medical care, and meeting other basic needs. The home is supported by TJ and Leah, a family we got to briefly meet at our guest house. A couple of years ago, they moved their family to Ethiopia to enable them to better help the children they are serving. It was an amazing ministry to visit.
I'm really not sure what the range of ages were for the kids in this home, but every one of them came from the streets. This sweet boy Emannuel was found on the street when he was just days old. Tenagne has legally adopted him, and he is now about 6 months old, and a very sweet little guy.
Moses is about 2.5 years old and he was found on the streets when he was 1-1.5 years old. I do not know his story, and I can't begin to imagine the circumstances these children have endured.
Moses was full of smiles, and would hold my hand and walk me around the house.
We stayed for several hours and played with the kids.
This is Kristina, one of my roommates for the week. She showed such an amazing example of Christ's love in everything she did. I loved getting to know her during the week, and am thankful for my new friend :).
Most places we visited we brought Mission Balls, which share God's plan for salvation on a soccer ball. They come in many different languages, and these were all in Amharic, the local language of Ethiopia. Many kids wanted to play soccer when we gave them the balls, but this boy just wanted to read the ball. Many of the older children we met during the week were followers of Christ and would share that with us. It was such an encouragement to see that these children knew that even in their times of trials, that they found refuge in Christ. "He who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." John 6:35.
It was a good afternoon being with these kids. It was sad to say goodbye, but I left feeling thankful that God provides for these children through the Shalom house, Tenagne, TJ, Leah, and other workers who care for, love, and protect these children.
The next place I am going to talk about is a drop-in center we visited called
Onesimus, who seeks to rescue at-risk children in Ethiopia. They work with two types of children, those on the verge of 'streetism' and full-time street children. Theirs goals are to rehabilitate street children and reintegrate them with their families, prevent children on the verge of streetism from becoming full-time street children, and outreach to educate families to better care for themselves. Onesimus is run by a man named Nega, who has such a love for these children, along with an incredible staff who are devoted to the children. We had the opportunity to meet some wonderful people during the week, John and Jess, and Joe and Karyn Bridges, who run a non-profit organization,
The Forsaken Children, and they partner with Onesimus. They also run a working farm in Chencha, a town several hours south of Addis, that is moving towards supporting the street children ministry in Addis. Both families live in Ethiopia, which enables them to amongst the people they love and serve.
Onesimus is in the process of moving the street children ministry to a new location, so we spent the day painting, leveling dirt, and moving rocks. Between the staff and team, a lot was accomplished and we were excited about moving the facility closer to being ready for the children.
Three of the 'kids' that were once part of their street ministry and now working for Onesimus. Their stories were amazing, as was watching them synchronize shovel to move dirt!
Taking a painting break from the upstairs room.
I had the honor to paint upstairs with Dessie. Dessie was one of the first, if not first, children at Onesimus. I believe he was about 7 years old when he began coming to the drop-in center. He is now 20 and trying to go to school for possibly automotive training. It was such a pleasure to get to know him over the couple of hours, and he painted a room faster than anyone I (or others who painted with him) have ever seen.
The benches were also repainted a fun blue color and looked great when they were done.
This is one of the kitchen staff ladies who was so sweet. I walked over with hands and arms completely covered in oil based paint. She scrubbed me with gasoline, paint thinner, ajax, then soap.....I thought I got a chemical burn when it was all said and done, but the paint came off! And while she was diligently scrubbing, I heard her talking in Arabic. When I responded back to her in Arabic she was so excited and quickly found the other ladies who spoke Arabic too to come talk with me. My Arabic is poor and broken, but she (and I) was so excited to be able to communicate with each other.
Erica designed and painted the Onesimus mural and it turned out amazing!
Afterwards, they had a coffee and bread ceremony for us. Coffee ceremonies are a part of their culture, and is considered a sign of friendship. With the coffee, you are served a typical snack of...popcorn!
They had a bread ceremony for us too, to wish our team a warm farewell.
Brooke had the honor to cut the bread.
It was a nice time with their staff, and we shared words of encouragement and prayer.
One of my favorite parts of the day was hearing from the kids that were part of their program and how being a part of Onesimus over the years has changed their lives.
And lastly, Stephanie being presented with a trophy for her commitment to this ministry.
It was such an amazing day serving together, and getting to know the staff and some of the kids in the program. It was very exciting to bring Onesimus one step closer to opening its new facility for the kids to enjoy soon!
That night, we had a cultural dinner at the guest house. Ephrim and Yeshi own and run the guest house, and they have two beautiful children, Noami and Sami. They are true servants of God, and were absolutely amazing on so many levels. It was such a pleasure getting to know them throughout the week. Eprhrim also drove us throughout the week and was with us each place we visited. Yeshi was an amazing cook, I think we are all missing her cooking about now. And the most impressive thing about her cooking, is that she did it without power for most of the week. She had a whole menu planned for us, but because of the power situation was able to cook hardly anything she prepared to cook for the week, but it was all amazing. Between the African Union being in town the first part of the week, and a major drought in the country, we did not have power until I think Thursday evening, except for maybe a couple hours on one of the other nights. But the cultural dinner was on Friday, and there was power for her to cook amazing traditional Ethiopian food.
I wish I knew the names of what she cooked, but all I know is injera, the spongy brown bread that is used as a base for your food, and you tear it off in pieces, grab some in your food, and eat it.
The day day before the dinner, we picked up a goat on the way home, and that night it was slaughtered. I watched for a few minutes, since I have never seen it done before, but I didn't last too long. Kathy and Linda, two of the ladies on our trip, sat in plastic chairs eating popcorn and watched the whole thing like it was a sporting event, it was hilarious! Anyhow, here it is, cooked and absolutely delicious.
And here he is, the amazing Ephrim.
And his beautiful and talented wife, Yeshi.
Naomi and Sami
Two amazing women, Michelle and Stephanie.
After dinner there was the traditional coffee ceremony outside.
This is Jon Bridges, Jess's husband. His family lives in the town of Soddo, several hours south of Addis, working to establish an apple orchard, that will one day be a source of sustainment for Onesimus. Jon was in and out of town during the week, and his wife Jess and two kids, Dawit and Carter, spent most days with us at the guesthouse. They are doing amazing work in Ethiopia, and it was a real honor to get to know them during the week.
I came to Addis a day early to visit with my friends Natalie and Briggs and their family. Ironically I met them in Riyadh at their last posting, when I was there on a business trip. They took me in and were so hospitable, and Natalie and I have kept in touch since then. This time was no different, and it was fun to visit with their family, and have them over for the Ethiopian dinner at the end of the week. Unfortunately, about a mile from the guesthouse they got into a small car accident, someone side-swiped their van (at a very low speed so nobody was injured), and took off their side view mirror. Thankfully Ephrim and another friend were able to communicate with the police and translate and were a tremendous help. It ended with an Amharic gentleman's agreement written on paper and a handshake. Finally at the house and enjoying Yeshi's delicious food!
On our last day in country, we visited a place called Bethel Women's Center, that I will talk about below, that was about an hour outside of Addis. On the way, we drove past the Korah trash dump, that began as a leper community many years ago, and now is also home to people who suffer other diseases and have become outcasts in their communities. Many people who call Korah home, spend their days going through trash, in desperation to find not just food, but anything they can find to sell for money. There are a growing number of ministries at Korah to love these people and bring them hope. As we drove past, you could see people out on the hills picking garbage, and the dump was on fire in many spots. It was an sad and eye-opening site to see and to learn that so many people lived under these conditions.
We drove through the countryside and eventually made it to the little village where Bethel is located.
You cannot tell from the picture, but the road conditions were too poor for this van to continue and we had to walk the remaining couple hundred meters. Eprhim managed to get his van down the road.
It was a very small village and the kids stopped to watch us as we all walked down the street to the entrance. Bethel is a large enclosed eucalyptus forest area, that rescues women out of prostitution. Women go through a rehabilitation and wellness program, live on the compound, and are trained to make pottery, woven textiles, and grow plants to sell to visitors. It was such a beautiful and peaceful setting to be.
We enjoyed a packed picnic lunch and the beauty of the place for a while
Ephrim and our other driver.
And no visit is complete without the famous coffee ceremony. Many of us enjoyed lots of Ethiopian coffee that week.
The sweet lady who made our coffee.
I loved the beauty of this place, and was so grateful that these women had Bethel to rehabilitate their lives.
At the end of our visit, we shopped for pottery and textiles.
The village kids must have been waiting for us to leave the center and quickly started grabbing peoples's hands. Throughout the week, children gravitated to Colin and Victoria, my other roommate, and I just loved seeing the way they loved on these kids while we walked to the van.
Brooke greeting the sweet children.
More Victoria and the happy children.
I will never forgot this week, and pray that I can return again one day.
'Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. ~1 John 3:2
