Hope For The Hopeless Ministry To Street Children in Ethiopia

LET ME TELL YOU A STORY......

DIVE IN...THIS POST IS WORTH THE READ!

Until last summer I had only heard about the 150,000 STREET CHILDREN that live in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and surrounding areas. I had never met one for more than the time it would take for them to shine my shoes or sell me some gum, which is what they do for income. They are often a sea of children that get lost in the crowd of the more than 4 million people that live in Ethiopia alone. 

My eyes were opened last summer.

My eyes were opened, BIG TIME!

Our OH team took a trip out to the countryside for a daytrip. We stopped in the middle of no where for a potty break at a hotel that basically had a hole in the ground we could use that most people opted out of when they saw it. When I walked back outside, I noticed that our driver Gecho, and my husband, Shane, were talking to a young boy. Somehow Gecho struck up a conversation with him and discovered that he had been living alone on the streets for quite a long time. He looked sad and shy, yet was willing to tell us his story as several other boys stood around and watched us talk to this young boy. 

 My heart went out to him as I could see a look of desperation in his eyes. We offered for him to hang with us for the day just to give him some encouragement and food for lunch. Our young, Jr, OH friend with us took this young boy under his wing and encouraged him that everything would be ok. He was his friend for the day. It was awesome to see our young Jr Ordinary Hero befriend this young boy, as he himself, was someone we took under our wing just a year or so before this as a sponsored child. Now he is learning to give back, himself, as he befriended this young, lost, boy. 

 This young boy was thin, and dirty and looked as if he had lived a rough life for quite some time. His jacket had holes in it, and it appeared that all he had, was the clothes on his back. 

 Several on our team just showed our new friend love and offered him encouragement. 

 We fed him lunch and offered him some new clothes from a blessing bag that someone had. 

 As our day came to a close we drove him back to the spot where we had found him. The team was giving him what food they had and also handing him money. He had acquired quite a bit of money to get him by for a while, but he stopped and handed the money back to us. He told us that the other boys would beat him if they suspected he had money and take everything he had. As he handed it back to us, he simply said, "Maybe if you ever come back by this way again and see me then you could just give me 100 birr at a time." which is basically $5. Our hearts broke for this boy. What help could we offer him if he couldn't even accept money to buy food with? 

I suddenly thought of the ministry Hope For The Hopeless!! They take in street children off the streets to give them a better life and offer them help. We had just met them for the first time a couple of days before this. They had explained in detail how full they were and how there were no more beds available for any more children. They had explained how they were struggling financially to take care of the children that they had and couldn't take any more. 

BUT I JUST HAD TO CALL AND CHECK!!

I stood on the side of the road with this scared, lonely, young boy and frantically called Fekadu, the director of Hope For The Hopeless. I explained the situation with this boy and asked if they could possibly take one more street child. 

I held my breathe....

 He said, "Well, we did just happen to move one child to the countryside orphanage today,  so there is ONE bed available." He gladly said they would take the boy into their drop in center to evaluate his situation!! 

OH MY GOSH!! 

THE WHOLE TEAM JUMPED FOR JOY as we were SO glad we did not have to leave him on the side of the road in the middle of the countryside, alone to fend for himself anymore. 

He bonded on the way to Addis to one of our team members, named Ashley, who was on the team with her two sons. She quickly started comforting him and telling him everything would be ok. He was very nervous and scared, but said he wanted to go to the shelter, all at the same time. 

His little face was that of one scared little boy when we left him there. Our hearts just broke for him, as we could only imagine what it was like for him to be in this strange, new environment. We prayed for him and told him we would come see him tomorrow. 

The next day we couldn't wait to get back over there to check on him. 

We were worried because he was sad when we had left him. 

But now.....

 he was ALL SMILES! 

The scared little boy was now smiling and showing us his new bed and loved the stuffed animal that Ashley had given him. It was like overnight that he had transformed. 

He was so proud to show us his new bed. 

MY GOSH, HOW WE TAKE A BED FOR GRANTED!! 

The director said he was doing really well there with them. 

 In an instant, Ashley and this young boy created a bond, as she simply showed him the love of a mother when he didn't have one. His smile was precious and so full of hope now. 

 Our team bonded with this young boy and rallied around him to show him love and encouragement.

HE LITERALLY HAD THE WHOLE TEAM IN HIS CORNER. 

 This team witnessed the rescue of this young boy off of the streets and were now watching hope come back in his heart each and every day. 

His smile said it all, as we watched him go from scared and lonely, barely able to look us in the eye,... 

to a smile that would light up the room, simply because he had people who believed in him, and a ministry that said "YES" to helping him! 

I personally have returned several times to Ethiopia and gone to visit him at the shelter over the past year. He would run up to me and have only one word to say to me....

"Ashley?" 

I kept telling him all year that she would return in the summer time.

HIS LITTLE HEART LONGED SO BADLY TO SEE HER AGAIN.  

You see, he now knew that for the first time in his life someone thought he was special and believed in him. He had hope, and he found that through God showing up in Ashley, because she simply showed him love in his greatest time of need. 

I just think how much God loves this little boy, and must have heard his prayers as he was alone in the middle of the far countryside of Ethiopia, feeling like he had no one in the whole wide world. 

In all reality, he would seem unreachable.....

and then there we came out of no where 

by stopping for a potty break. 

Our steps were guided, and his life was changed forever. 

 Now fast forward one year later to our team this June, and you see Ashley and this precious young boy reunite! Yes, his life was changed.....BUT SO WAS HERS! She could not wait to return this summer to see this precious young boy who has become so special to her! She could not get out of the van fast enough to run and give him a big hug!  

 All he could do was just hug her and cry. Ashley brought her daughter back this summer to meet this special boy whom she had talked about for the past year. It was a special time for all of them to see each other once again. 

 The hardest part about coming to Ethiopia is having to say goodbye to the kids that are so special to us!

On the teams last day in Addis these two had some tear filled goodbyes that broke everyone's heart as we watched. But Ashley's love for this boy has given him hope that will carry him through another year. He now knows that there is someone who cares about him and who thinks about him. 

He is no longer alone, hungry, and cold, living on the streets, desperate to find food, and shelter.

He is no longer desperate to find love.

 STREET CHILDREN.

Yes, those children do exist! 

We met one, first hand!

They have dreams and goals in life. They have talents and skills. 

They have all the dreams that any other young boys would have 

but they need a chance to live them out.  

Hope For The Hopeless is giving this young boy that chance!

They are giving him a chance along with the others that they have taken into their drop in center. 

Sometimes these boys and girls live in the center for up to three years as they work with them to restore their lives and pull ALL of the street out of them and fill them with the love of God. 

At that time, if they cannot find any family to reunite them with then they send them to live in their orphanage in the countryside. 

This ministry has changed the lives of children

 in unbelievable ways! 

We are not sure how they do it, but we have never seen such love pour out of children like we do at H4H.  

We are so thankful to have found this ministry right when we did. It was the Lord's hand as he guided us to this small life that was living on the streets in the middle of the countryside of Ethiopia. 

What are the chances? Only the Lord could orchestrate that.

Now we see a life transformed...NO, actually, we see two lives transformed!

Thanks to donors who saw the great need for a new drop in center, Ordinary Hero was able to surprise the kids and move them to a new home to live in this summer! This created much better living conditions, and much needed space to be able to take in more children, which we are so excited about!

BUT, with that, comes more expense. 

This ministry is doing such unbelievable things to transform these children's lives, 

but they need your help! 

We saw their needs first hand this summer. 

They need partners to stand with them in order to make sure the basic needs of these kids are met. They are paying for everything from food for up to 80 children in the drop in center and orphanage, school, living expense, staff salaries, as well as managing a sponsorship program for the children in the surrounding community. There are times that the staff goes without pay in order to make sure the children's needs are met first. 

They are all very devoted and have been trusting God 

up to this point to meet their needs each month. 

LET'S BLESS THEM for the work that they do! 

We are starting a $20 giving challenge to bless this ministry!

We would love to see everyone who reads this post, to give $20 toward this ministry if it is pressed on your heart to do so.

If you can give more, give more. 

If you can give less, give less. 

Every dollar is being used to care for these precious kids.

Our teams have met them all, and seriously can't get them out of our heads and our hearts. 

EACH CHILD HAS A STORY. 

EACH CHILD HAS A DESTINY. 

Enjoy this video which shows Ordinary Hero surprising the children with their new drop-in center! 

Their hearts are so thankful and pure as gold. 

Thank you for your consideration in partnering with this awesome ministry! 

CLICK HERE TO DONATE AND LEARN MORE ABOUT 

HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS! :-)
OR
YOU CAN DONATE THROUGH ORDINARY HERO BY clicking here. Put H4H IN THE MESSAGE BOX.
EVERY DOLLAR WILL GO TO THEIR MINISTRY.

(Click the title of the video in the box to go to youtube to watch if the video won't play.) 

New H4H Drop in Center and Last Day for Team 3

 I am going to try to get caught up on our many adventures with our teams in Ethiopia. Lack of internet left us with a whole teams worth of life changing adventures to get caught up on. All of us who have traveled there this summer, and have now returned, are left with images replaying in our minds that are hard to process. I want to recount a joyous day for the Hope 4 The Hopeless Drop in center kids, and the last day for our Team 3. Thanks to a family of donors who saw the need last December on an Ordinary Hero trip, Ordinary Hero was able to help move them into a much needed, brand new home. It was an exciting day, yet a day that these kids said goodbye to the place they have called home for 12 years. They were busting at the seems in the old building, with no room left to take in any more street children. H4H is a ministry that pulls street children in off the streets and gives them a future and a hope. They transform these children unlike anything I have ever seen. They are the most amazing ministry to partner with! 

 We arrived to help them gather the last of their belongings and say goodbye to their old home. 

It was bittersweet. 

 While there, the staff arranged for Nicole to meet her sponsored child. One thing that H4H also does is help find sponsors for children in the community. At any time they can arrange for you to meet your sponsored child on one of our trips. They are still in great need of child sponsors for their program. Please consider sponsoring a child through H4H. Visit the H4H website to see pictures of children waiting for sponsorship and for more information. Sponsorship truly changes lives! 

Theirs...

 ....and yours

It was amazing to help all the kids get moved from their old building......

....to their new building!!

...to see them go from very cramped quarters with no room left for any more children....

...to now plenty of room and space to add more children from the streets. 

The team really helped get the place prepared for the children. 

We decorated it and made it feel like home for them. It was so much fun to get it ready and surprise them with it! 

When we brought the kids in they were running through the building and laughing with joy! They were so surprised to see their new building, their new beds, and their new home! It was such a joyous day!

We celebrated by having a sheep slaughter and great big meal for the kids in their new home.

 As excited as the kids were to have sheep, I'm not sure how much you can prepare an American team to witness it. It is all a part of their culture, but very eye opening for ours, ha! 

(her hands are red from scarf dye from another ministry...fyi :-)

Sheep is always a blessing and joyous meal for them to eat. They do not get it very often. 

 It brought lots of smiles! It was a great first meal for their new home. 

At the end of the day it was time to say goodbye to the kids that many on our team have bonded with in such love. For some, these are their sponsors that they consider like family, and for some these are their special friends that they consider like family. As this team had to say goodbye on their final day in Ethiopia, it did not come without some tears. 

 The hardest part is having to say goodbye, not knowing how long it will be until you see each other again. 

We all joined together in a circle for one last prayer and blessing. It touched all our hearts how they asked us all to go to the middle while they prayed for us and gave us a blessing when we traveled all that way to bless them. 

 Our time with these kids and this ministry is always a treasure! We hated to say goodbye!

What an awesome TEAM 3 we had in Ethiopia this June! 

Many hearts were changed, many friendships made, and many lives touched forever! 

I have a feeling we will be seeing many of these same faces on our teams in the future. There is a reason our teams double each year. Once these kids of Africa get into your heart, there is no getting them out and you can't wait to get back! There are 11 states represented in this team of thirty. Nine people from this team returned from last year. :-) 

We will be adding an October and a December team to our site later today. 

Visit our missions page for more info if you would like to join a team. 

Please consider partnering with Hope For The Hopeless! They are transforming lives and could really use the extra financial support to care for the needs of these children. We can guarantee your money is going to an unbelievable, life changing cause. 

June Grant Recipients

We LOVE to give away grants to our top selling affiliates every month. This month our three recipients are all raising funds for their adoptions.

First place is AMY WILLIS from Kentucky! Amy had $1900 in sales, so the 40% she earned off that combined with the $1,000 grant means she earned $1,760 in just one week!  Here's why she is fundraising with OH. "We are currently a family of six from Lexington KY, with our youngest two being 3 year old twin girls from Ethiopia.  We are waiting for a referral for a little boy from Ethiopia.  We signed up to be affiliates and a Forever Family fund last month in the middle of the May grant contest.  We worked hard those last few days and won the second place grant.  This month we wanted to mobilize friends and family, not just to fund our adoption, but also bless others..."
And mobilize they did! Amy's friends and family bought 76 chickens!!! Congratulations Willis family!

Second place is APRIL SEYMOUR from Tennessee! April sold a little over $1400 in merchandise and received the $500 grant. With her grant earnings and sales, she earned a total of $1,082 in just one week. Here's a little of her story..."We are raising money for our 2nd adoption from Ethiopia (4th Child overall). We have two biological kiddos (10 & 11) and one ethiopian treasure (4). We tapped out a lot of our resources with the first adoption, so we were really needing to see some money come in from other places this time around. This contest was the perfect way to get people involved and to get our need out there! Not only did we end up with $1,082 from the contest, but someone who saw our support raising efforts on FB put $5,000 into our fund as well! It was well worth a few days of blasting people's email and FB pages! Thanks so much for this opportunity!! The $6,000 that came in this week gets us on the waiting list for our next little treasure!"  Woohoo! Way to go Seymour family!

Third place is HOLLI WILLMERT of Illinois! Holli had $300 in her affiliate account (40%) from just TWO sales, which made her the recipient of the $300 grant...so she doubled her money! Holli went on an OH trip to Ethiopia in 2011 and went to China to Maria's Big House of Hope last September.  Her adoption happened sort of unexpectedly.  On the way home from China on the plane one of her team members behind her was talking about the agency she was adopting through.  She wrote down the agency name thinking she would just look at their website.  She got home and saw the most precious little boy and knew he was meant to be her son. She will be leaving July 19 to bring him home!  Woohoo Holli!

Congratulations to all three of our top affiliates and grant recipients! Remember, as an affiliate you earn 40% on every order your name is selected as an affiliate for, ANYTIME! Grants are just ways to boost the amount of money you raise in a short amount of time. Watch for dates coming soon for our July grant, and click here to read more about our fundraising opportunities for adoptive families and those traveling on mission trips. If you have any questions about our fundraising opportunities, email beverly@ordinaryhero.org. Questions about our store or products you see? Email kim@ordinaryhero.org

Also...we have a team on the ground in Ethiopia RIGHT NOW! They have been without internet access the entire time, so we wanted to make sure to let you know they are safe and working hard. Pictured below is about half the team. Please continue to keep them in your prayers! Hopefully we will see an update soon.