The week has flown by and our final day 7 in Ethiopia has begun!
We headed over to Korah, the trash dump community, and where Project 61 headquarters is set up.
We first met up with Emily, who runs the P61 clinic there in Korah.
We were able to deliver a couple of sponsor gifts, above, and then we were able to deliver a bunch of clinic supplies, pictured below, thanks to Sarah Williams,from Florida, who hosted a party to supply the P61 clinic with new supplies.
Thank you, Sarah, for taking time to have a party and collect supplies for P61! They were all delivered and added to their clinic!
We visited the Mission Ethiopia site where women without jobs are given jobs making jewelry. It is located within the P61 site. Jordan immediately saw a sweet mother whom she met on her last trip.
The women had our group sit with them as they showed us how they make the jewelry.
They all joined together and sang a few praise and worship songs. Their voices were beautiful and their thankfulness to God shown all over their faces as they remembered how far God has brought them and blessed them from their former life of struggle.
Jordan saw one of her favorite little girls that she bonded with last summer.
She was so thrilled to be able to see her again!
I met up with one of my favorite guys who used to work at the Leprous Hospital making straw mats with no fingers. He is amazing. He is now working, making the mats for Mission Ethiopia.
This man lets nothing stop him from working and does it all with a big grin on his face!
One of our best buds, Maste, helped us for the day! We all love Maste and all he does to help others in need, as he, himself, grew up in the Korah community.
After we left the P61 site, we decided to go on a home visit in the community.
Bira and Maste led the way as we were able to show the team how families live in Korah.
We then headed over to the other side of Korah to serve a church we have partnered with and give out 100 sheep to people in need in the community in order for them to have Christmas dinner.
We arrived at the church and they were all ready and waiting for us.
Tesfaye, below, is a great guy with a big heart for his community. He has some amazing people that attend his church.
After we all got into the church, sheep just started coming out of nowhere, ha!
We were able to line up and herd the sheep in and pass them out one by one...all 100 of them!!
These sheep are thanks to all of you who purchased them for children and families in need through the OH store. Thank you!!
There were many happy faces, after receiving their sheep! :-)
After we passed out the sheep we headed out with the blind and the lepers who were unable to carry theirs home. One of us led the blind while another helped carry the sheep to their house.
I was privileged to able to lead this sweet blind man to his home. When I asked if I could have a picture with him, he stopped and took off his hat and smiled. So sweet!
For most of my team it was their first time at sheep carrying, ha! It became quite the task.
We loved being able to carry them to the homes of the blind to ensure that they would have a nice Christmas dinner with their family.
This sweet woman had leprosy and was so grateful for her sheep that she wanted a picture with all of us after we helped her carry it home.
We said goodbye to the Korah community and headed out to the countryside to say goodbye to the kids at Hope 4 The Hopeless. We first stopped at their church. Some of our teams in the summer helped supply the materials for them to finish the construction of it and they wanted to show it to us.
It looks great! They bring the children here for church each week.
We arrived at H4H just as the kids were getting home from school.
We couldn't stay long but we all had our little friends that we wanted to say goodbye to before we left for America.
They prepared a coffee ceremony for us.
Our entire team had a blessed week in Ethiopia!
We were able to find a child a forever family by being there to advocate on his behalf, we were able to pass out 200 sheep and 54 donkey for families to have Christmas dinner and women who walk miles carrying heavy loads to relieve their burden, we were able to give many blessings through our Blessing Bags for children in need, and........
MANY THANKS to all of you who purchased chickens during our Grant Giveaway this past week!
We gave 40 chickens to children and their families for Christmas!
We have also gotten a testimony update already from one of the women we gave a donkey to from the program director...
"On December 17 we have distributed donkey for poor women that collect firewood and fetch water. One of these women came back the next day to express her gratitude. She said she made 25 birr the same day she got the donkey. This woman was carrying water containers of 25 liter on her back for living. Now, she is fetching water on the back of the donkey. It carries two water tankers, 25 liter each, at a time
the woman is so grateful."
Thank you to an awesome OH team! And thank you to all of you who covered our team in prayer this past week while we were in Ethiopia. It truly makes such a difference and is a huge blessing to know we are covered.
Lastly, we could never do what we do in Ethiopia without our amazing team of strong men of God on the ground who take care of us and share in our blessings!
Thank you, Bissy, Gecho, and Maste for being such amazing Ordinary Heroes!!
We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!