The days in Ethiopia seem to run together. We do so much that days seem to pass by and before you know it, we have only three days left.
Monday morning we awoke still talking about how incredible
the previous night was. After showing the team the short video I threw together
of our van ride, we loaded up and headed to Korah.
Korah is the poorest area of Addis and one of the poorest
communities in all of Ethiopia. It is also many times a favorite location of
Ordinary Hero teams.
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| Some of the faces of Korah |
Our plan for the day was to meet up with Pastor Tesfy, who
pastors a church in Korah that Bizzy helped start, and do home visits with
seven families.
The night before, the team had packed up bookbags full of
clothes, toiletries, food and blankets to give out to these families.
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| One of the families we visited in Korah |
Michelle also brought with her ziplock bags and put note
cards with verses on them in Amharic (the native language here in Ethiopia) and
English, along with some other blessings.
As Pastor Tesfy lead our team through Korah the poverty and
need is obvious. Each home we stopped at we asked a few questions about the
situations that they faced daily. Through our translator Salom (who works at
the guesthouse) we asked about what the families do to live and what their
biggest needs are.
Every home we visited one of the biggest needs was paying
for rent. Even in this poor community with homes that are more accurately
described as rooms, there is still rent that they must pay.
When we would give the family the bookbag full of supplies
we would also show them the ziplock bag with the verse and other blessings in it. At
every home when we showed them what we were giving them their demeanor
instantly changed. It was as if someone had taken a heavy weight off of their
shoulders.
One family that we visited there was only a teenage girl and
her younger sister, her mother was crippled and had crawled her way to the
street to beg. Pastor Tesfy said that of all the families this one was probably
the biggest answer to prayer.
The mother had been at his church for three days crying and
asking for help. As we were being told this the impact of what we were really
doing hit the team. It was incredible to be an answer to someone’s prayer.
After our time in Korah we loaded up the van to head to an
orphanage that is run by nuns. This would be the first orphanage where we would
get to hold small babies, much to the delight of the team.
We spent over an hour playing with the kids and holding
babies. Becky had to have one of the kids she bonded with literally pried away
from her as we were leaving.
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| Destin enjoyed the babies |
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| This little guy walked right up to Kenya and wanted to be held |
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| Becky and her buddy |
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| Some of the boys teaching Lorrie how to play marbles |
We all enjoyed getting to play and interact with the kids.
Monday night was a night I personally will never forget, I
went back to Korah and spent the night in one of the homes we had visited
earlier in the day.
To read about my experience you can check out my blog here- https://the29elevenblog.squarespace.com
Tuesday was the day we visited Entoto mountain. Our first
stop on the mountain was near the top where we stopped and ate lunch as a team
and then got the chance to give out many of the blessing bags and candy we had
brought to the children.
The thing that always amazes me about Entoto mountain is
that kids will suddenly appear out of nowhere and surround the team. Kids will
start coming out from the woods and start running towards you. It’s always fun
to see.
We spent some time handing out candy and beads to all of the
kids then headed off to find one of the women who carry huge loads of sticks
down the mountain. A team member from the previous team, Ashton, had left
Michelle money to purchase a donkey to give to one of these women. Our mission
was to find a woman to bless.
We traveled all the way back down the mountain before we
spotted an elderly woman carrying her giant load of sticks.
We quickly jumped out of the van and told her we’d like to
buy her a donkey. She smiled and agreed to leave her load on the side of the
road where we were (don’t worry, there was a local man who agreed to watch it
for her) and jumped in our van for the ride back up to the top of the mountain
where we had arranged to buy a donkey.
On the ride up we gave the woman a blessing bag full of
clothes, toiletries and new shoes. We also gave her a ziplock bag from
Michelle. This woman was so grateful for everything. She kept thanking us and
kissing our hands.
At the top we washed her feet with wet wipes and gave her
socks and new shoes.
Once we gave her the donkey and took some pictures we
noticed another woman watching what was going on who also had sticks on her
back. We offered to take her down the mountain.
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We tossed (I use that term lightly) her load on top of the
van and headed our way back down. As we drove down we gave candy and a few
blessing bags to kids who were on the street.
This day was many of the teams favorite day so far. Lorrie especially
enjoyed giving. We’ve discovered her love language is gift giving. You couldn’t
wipe the smile off of her face every time we gave a
bag to the women we helped.
After we dropped the woman off and unloaded her sticks we went
shopping for jewelry at Entoto Beth Artisan. This place employs women from Mt.
Entoto who are affected by HIV/AIDS to make beautiful jewelry.
After buying some jewelry we then headed to Fashionable and
the Women at Risk non profit. This is where they take women out of prostitution
and teach them to make beautiful scarves. The team loved shopping here as we
bought many of their scarves.
Tuesday night the team (minus Michelle who was unfortunately
sick) went to a cultural restaurant along with our special guest for the
evening, Teddy.
Most of the team got a chance to try their first taste of injera (a traditional Ethiopian bread that they eat for almost every meal). The
restaurant we go to also has traditional music, singing and dancing so you not
only get dinner, but a show.
The team has been experiencing so much that Addis has to
offer, it’s been a great team so far and will only get better these last few
days!
-Ryan
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