Team 1, Day 4 Ethiopia....Headed South to the Country

Today was our day to head South. There is a VERY rural, country village that has stuck out in my mind since my very first visit last July. There is an orphanage I visit out there, but the kids outside the orphanage have caught my attention more than anything. They are so poverty stricken that they had no clothes or shoes and the children ranging from around age 6 and up carry babies around on their backs. BUT, their smiles will melt your hearts. I made a promise to myself last time I was there that I would come back and help that community somehow. 

So off we headed south for the day.

When we arrived I immediately spotted one of my favorite little girls. There are at least three sisters that look alike. One of them is with me on the header picture of my blog. They are simply precious. The children in this community barely have clothes that fit or don't have holes in them. Most babies are naked. None of them have shoes on. 

Before we left Amy, from TN, brought a boy in from the street and gave him a new pair of aqua shoes and Vanessa made a little friend as well.

We first arrived out in the country at one of the orphanages I help advocate for the children in. I brought along my adopted son's sister, Hewit, with us throughout this week in order to show her the importance of giving. She has been so great. She knows a bit of English and has helped translate for us to the children. She has really enjoyed giving to the children as well. It was only one year ago that I found her living in a mud shack, herself. Now she is giving back to those who are just like her. All of the team loves her. I had handed her a bag of bows to put on all the girls in the orphanage and you can see Clay, above from TN, has gotten a laugh out of her.

I found some of my sweet little friends I had met on my last trip here. If you all purchase items from our OH store, these little ones are the children featured on our thank you insert.

These children just break my heart with their dirty, torn clothes.

I have found that the very young girls are the ones that care for the babies during the day while their mothers are out doing some kind of hard labor. The babies have no diapers and are dirty, but the sweet little girls just love them and care for them as if they were their mother.

We went in and did some crafts with some of the kids in the orphanage. This orphanage is a little bit outside of the city and rarely gets visitors. They love it when we break out the crafts.

Chris, from Illinois, brought along bible stories that played on a recorder, spoken in Amharic. What a great idea! The kids sat and watched in amazement. I'm not sure if they had heard about Jesus before as this is a Muslim community.

Hewit enjoyed painting nails for some of the older girls. It so blesses me to see her serving those in her own country.

We pulled the babies over to the side and washed them off and put cloth diapers on them. Some of them cried and were afraid of the Fringe (white people), but at least their little booties are covered now.

Everyone on our team made a new friend.

The most amazing thing for me in ALL that I do for OH is to advocate for the waiting children. I had the privilege on this trip to tell one of my little buddies that has been waiting for years to be adopted, THAT HE HAS A NEW FAMILY!! This little guy is 10 or 11 and has been on our wait list for the longest time, simply because he is older. We have continued to advocate for him and one of the sweetest families ever has fallen in love with him. He will join their family soon. This little guy has the sweetest spirit and my heart has always broken for him and another boy that are left in this orphanage because I watched them wait. With each visit I had here there they sat and waited. Now this little guy is going to go home to his forever family.....and the best part is that we will be neighbors! He is coming to TN. He was really nervous when we asked him to sit next to us off by himself. He didn't know what was going on. I brought the translator over and began to talk to him. I said "You know how you have been wanting a family, and you have been wanting to be adopted?" He said, "Yes". I then pulled out the photo album of his new family and flipped open to the picture of all of them with his new Mother, Father, two sisters, and two brothers and they were holding a picture of him, and I couldn't even get the words out as tears were filling my eyes. I sat there and gathered myself and then finally the words came. "You now have a family." I introduced him to all his family members and then at the end I pointed to him and said his name. He had the biggest smile ever and it was the most precious thing. All those on our team standing around and watching were crying. I can't even tell you what joy this brings me as I see this little boy out in the middle of no where, thinking that everyone has forgotten him, feel God's love and favor as he now knows he will not live there the rest of his life. There is one more older boy like this one that we are still advocating for. He is simply precious!

We finished up at the orphanage and went for a walk through the outside community where they are so poor. Some of them guided us through and we were able to go on a few home visits.

Of course I had to get a pic with one of my favorite little sweeties.

We found this Grandmother sitting in a mud hut on some blankets on the floor and that is all that was in there. She was tell us that God sent us to her. She was Muslim and we explained that Jesus loves her and is the reason we were there and she just smiled and said "Thank you and thank Jesus". She gave me a kiss before I left.

The flies that swarm these children is almost too much to look at. They are so used to them that they don't even swish them away. I can barely stand to look at them on that precious face.

This little girl below couldn't have been more than 6 years old with the responsibility of caring for her sibling.

Many children have no clothes at all.

They were very gracious to invite us into their homes.

This woman below lived in a mud hut with one foam mattress on the floor and that was it. She explained that she has 4 children and had to give 3 of them away to a relative that lives further in the country because she couldn't feed them. She has the one boy that remained with her.

These people are just so poverty stricken that there is not much hope in their lives. It is amazing what a little love and blessing can do for them. They had no idea we were coming that day and yet they openly shared their homes and their stories with us. We helped those we could by giving some birr and clothes and shoes and it brought such smiles on their faces.

This whole community lives down a dirt road back in the middle of no where it seemed.

We pulled out our donations and the kids came running from everywhere. We passed out all the donation combos some of you purchased with the fleece blankets and rain jackets and shoes. It got a little  congested so we moved to the orphanage inside the gate to finish. These people are so desperate for any basic necessity they can get, it is very sad.

They then pressed against the gate as they waited for us to hand them clothes and shoes. It was very sad to watch.

We finished passing out everything we had and quickly realized it wasn't enough. The people kept coming and waiting. There are several of us on our team that were so saddened and moved by this community of beautiful people that we have decided to start the beginning stages of a sponsorship program for them when I return to the States. I don't believe any of these children go to school or have a chance in the world if someone doesn't step up to help. I can't see all of this need knowing that a lot of you would step up to help, and not do something. Soooo, I'm excited to see it all come together when we return. We will be sending out folks to go into the community make contacts, find a school we can send them to, find a way to put in a well, etc, etc. I am very excited at even the thought of helping these sweet children in that capacity. It will be a place that those of you who sponsor, can come visit on our OH team trips and meet your sponsored child. This is all brand new but it is definitely needed and in the works when I get home. If you would like to sponsor a child from this community, feel free to go ahead and email me at Kelly@OrdinaryHero.org and we will add your name to a list and contact you when I return with the updates of how all the preliminary set up is going and then match you with a child once we get it all set up. I'm super excited!!

The picture above is what we call a bath house, I guess. It is where several of them were gathered either bathing or washing clothes as we drove by on our way out.

You see a lot of the homemade buggies in this area being pulled by a horse.

We left and stopped at some kind of restaurant near by where Christian, from TN, made friends with the monkeys.

It was the funniest thing and makes a great video. He was feeding them Pringles and they would come up and take them right out of his hand. The whole team got a big kick out of it, especially the teenagers. .

It was another amazing, life changing, eye opening day in Ethiopia. More to come tomorrow as we head to Korah and pass out some crazy amount of sheep :)

ORDINARY HERO GRANT CONTEST! Starts THIS Friday!

GRANT contest coming soon!!!!!Sign up TODAY to become an affiliate! The top 3 earners in sales get 40% of their profits and a $500 GRANT! Contest will start THIS Friday and will run for a week!

While Kelly is in Ethiopia serving with 2 teams of folks, we are gonna celebrate by having a GRANT contest honoring ALL OF YOU who are ""FUN"draising for missions and for those of you who are "FUN"draising your adoption!!!

The NEW Ordinary Hero ETHIOPIA shirt will be available in the store for this GRANT contest! If you have been following the OH journey you have noticed the COOL new Ethiopia shirts!  I want one myself!!!
(IDEA--What a GREAT shirt for all of you adopting-- this would be a FABULOUS airport party welcome home shirt when you bring your little one home for those of you adopting from Ethiopia! The shirts are all ready to go you just gotta start telling your friends about how they NEED this shirt on Friday when the contest starts and sell a bunch!)

See the OH home page to learn how to sign up to become an affilaite! Its easy as 1.2.3!~ and its worth $500 to the TOP THREE people! Join today! Lots of GREAT goodies to sell and the FUNdraising coach will help you come up with creative ways to sell all the goodies in the store (tote bags, clothing, jewelry, etc..)

So, what cha waiting for? Sign up today! Those of you who know someone adopting or raising funds for a mission trip PLEASE let them know about this GRANT giveaway!!!!

:) Gina
The OH "FUN"draising Coach

Team 1, Day 3 in Ethiopia

 Sorry for the delay in posting. I have had some internet issues, imagine that :) Our third day in ET hit on a Sunday and I scheduled it as kind of our free day. We got to go to Beza International Church. This was the most awesome experience to be all the way in Africa and be able to go to an English speaking church and even sing some familiar songs that we sing in our own church in TN. One of the things I LOVE most about Ordinary Hero is all the different denominations within my own team coming together to experience God's love in Africa. It is a picture of what heaven will look like :)  When I met the Pastor and told him how many denominations were represented, he pointed up to heaven and said "It is all unto God."  I couldn't have said it better myself. Just within my group we have Baptist, Methodist, Non-denominational, Mormon, Catholic, and one who says "I'm not sure." I love it! You can't help but come to Africa and experience God, regardless of how you walk it out at home. You really get a picture of how and why Jesus went around feeding the hungry and healing the sick while he was on this earth. We become His hands and feet when we are here in Africa, for sure.

Everyone in our group said they really, really enjoyed it and felt God's presence. It was a first time experience for some of them :) This church represents many different nations.

Just as soon as we walked out of church Ashley A, from Illinois, made friends with a little girl. She told her all she had was flip flops and she needed some shoes. We had been passing out some candy and different things but all this little one wanted was some shoes.

So the next thing I see is Rachel taking off her own shoes and socks and putting them on this little girl. Rachel is teeny tiny herself and her size 7's fit this little one perfectly.

Above you see her holding a note from one of the children from Hillcrest Baptist in Hopkinsville, Ky. with a sucker for her. Below you see Ashley A and shoeless Rachel with one happy little girl :) They made her whole day.

We then made our way over to the street children who live within the post office district for a game of soccer. You will see as our trip goes by, day by day, that we experience all kinds of different levels of poverty. These kids are very sad in that they live on the streets, literally. Most of them have no family and they rely on selling things and begging on the streets as a means to survive. Many of them have found comfort in sniffing glue as a way to take away their hunger pains and it is so sad.

I gave this little girl who had been following me around begging, a sucker and a note from one of the Hillcrest Baptist kids as well. It's amazing how a small little note and act of kindness from a little one in Ky can make the day of one African little girl who lives on the streets with no hope. She loved it!

This little boy below was probably the saddest. He was a little older and looked like he had been on the streets his whole life. He was dirty and had no shoes. He had holes in his clothes and kind of walked around in a daze. We slipped him some snacks and told him God loved him. We cannot bring out donations in this group as it would create a mob. That is one of the hardest things about going into really desperate areas with tons of stuff. These kids are VERY desperate and have raised themselves to steal, fight, or whatever it takes to survive. We just had to go in and play soccer, pass out candy and snacks secretly and love on them as best we could.

The boys in this area always LOVE it when we come to play soccer. It breaks them out of their reality for a bit to just enjoy being kids.

Of course the little ones steal your heart and make you so sad all at the same time.

Looks like Andy made a friend just in that short period of time we were there. These kids just need hope and to be shown love by taking the time to do something as simple as playing soccer with them.

We had some time before our dinner reservation so we stopped at Kaldi's coffee. It is a complete knock off of Starbucks, right down to their green logo. It is also FABULOUS. It's always a good stopping place to get recharged.

We then went to an authentic Ethiopian restaurant where they dance all the African dances and you eat Injera. When we got there my son's birthmom and sister were there waiting on us, as I had invited them to dinner. They are just the sweetest. I just made a connection with them on my trip this time last year and we have kept in touch over the past year. It is always so good to see them.

I also invited three of our sponsored children to dinner with us. I love my little Sisay. He just ran up and hugged and kissed me. I have not seen him since December. He wouldn't let go of my hand. I had him on one hand and my son's birth sister on the other....precious!

Lauren got to see Robel, her sponsored child that she last saw in December.

Then in walks little Winker. Some of you may remember Winker from our team trip last July. He was a team favorite and so funny, walking around winking at everyone.

I am so thrilled that Deborah and her daughter, Kenya, from Utah, are on this trip. They sponsor Winker and they got to meet him for the first time. It was the sweetest thing. They just love him!

It's always so great to connect with those that mean so much to all of us while on these trips. Relationships are everything in this world. I am blessed to have such a great relationship with my son's birthmom. Her story is sad like so many in Ethiopia. She is deaf and mute and could not feed him which is why she made the ultimate sacrifice to place him up for adoption. I met her one year after we adopted him and now strive to make her and her only daughter's life better as well. I can't wait for her to meet her son again one day and see what a beautiful gift she has given us.

Of course it doesn't matter what country you live in, all boys love electronics. They had the best time on Deborah's phone.

The African dances started up and it was so neat. 

We had several of our team that they pulled up on stage to join them. Ali and Robel were the first one's to give the African dance a try.

Little Winker couldn't stand it anymore and jumped up there with them. He did some kind of shimmy with his shoulders and of course the crowd went wild :)

And we are not quite sure but we think Kortnie may have gotten married when they pulled her up for some kind of ceremony dance and then led her off arm in arm with one of the dancers :)

We let the little boys come back to the guest house where we let them shower, gave them new clothes and gifts and play with some of the boys in our group. They thought they were in heaven. Remember that these boys are from the trash dump community and don't ever even get to experience running water.

Christian, from Brentwood TN,  made some new best friends. He is really great with the little ones. He's like a fun big brother.

That's a wrap for our "free" day in Ethiopia. Everyday is an adventure here. Lots of lives being changed everywhere you go. More to come in the next blog post when we head out to the country community outside Addis to see some of the most precious little ones.