Travel Day #8: Endihnew Hope for Entoto Mountain

Travel Day #8 July 6, 2013

I am not even really sure where to start with this day. I knew before I came to Ethiopia that the need was great, the people were for the most part poor. Of course I grew up with the cliché “Eat your dinner! There are children starving in Africa!” But honestly this week has been so eye-opening and I do not have the words to describe or explain how destitute and desperate these people are.

Yesterday we went up into the mountains and played with the children, and today we got the opportunity to visit an organization on Entoto Mountain with those same children called Endihnew Hope for Entoto. Endinew (pronounced En-dee-no) “Mesfin” decided to start Endihnew Hope after seeing the needs of the mountain children. Endihnew means “this is”; This is Hope. He visits three times a week. For two of the days he visits with families and tries to meet their needs and on Saturdays he gathers 160 children together and feeds them. Most of the children are HIV positive. He explained to us that there is not enough money for food for the kids, they need sponsors, and the organization needs general support. He asked us to help him pass out the food and that was when I realized that there was not enough food at that moment to go around. These children were starving and desperate and were just calling and yelling to Mesfin for a baggy of ingera with rice. It was like trying to get a t-shirt at a basketball game from the little shooter things, except it was not a t-shirt, it was food, and not getting any meant they would not have food that day or for days to come. It was a mob scene. I have never seen anything like it. When we realized there was not enough food we started passing out two peanut butter crackers per kid, but even those ran out. 

There was this little girl that was being trampled by the older kids. She was sobbing. I scooped her up and carried her to where the food was being handed out. They told me it was all gone and I just broke down with her in my arms. How would this sweet little girl ever have a chance? She was probably around 4 years old. I just hugged her tight and kissed her sweet, dirty little face and snuggled her. Her name is Hermela. Someone found us two peanut butter crackers. She nibbled and savored those crackers for several minutes. She did not know when more food would be coming and she was trying to make it last as long as possible.

Hermela

Hermela's mum Mekedes and little brother

Mesfin and Hermela

We were getting ready to hand out donations and to avoid another mob we had the kids form two lines: one for girls and one for boys. Even in lines they were desperate and pushing and not letting other kids in. All sense of community flies out the window when basic needs are not met. I took my little girl and we got in the girl line. She just laid her head on my shoulder; Mesfin came and told me that her mom had brought her today because she was HIV positive and had a bad respiratory infection and she needed medicine, but they did not have any to give her. Her mom came to say hi to me and to tell me that I did not need to hold her, but she grabbed for me as soon as I put her down. Someone handed her a stuffed otter holding a heart. It might have been the sweetest thing I have ever seen. She snuggled the otter and talked to it like a baby and rocked it and gave it Eskimo kisses. We slowly got to the front of the line. She got a pair of flip-flops, and a lollipop. She was so happy and her mom thanked me again and again. I tried to go back to the van to get a granola bar for her, but I could find her or her mom anywhere after that.

We continued playing with the kids for a while, until they were finished. By this time it was well past 2 o’clock, so naturally we were hungry for lunch. It’s so hard to be hungry after what we saw. It’s so hard not to feel guilty for what we have. That has been one of my biggest struggles on this trip is why God would bless some and not others. I do whole-heartedly believe that we are blessed so we can bless. These people do not have anything, but they have blessed me in return. It does not erase the uncomfortable feeling I have when we leave and go to lunch, no biggie deal for us. We are just visiting, but that is their reality. It’s difficult to wrap my brain around the vast spectrum that is our lives in comparison.

We did leave and go to lunch. Restaurant eating in Ethiopia takes forever. We went to Island Breeze today, which offers “American” food. We were there for probably 3 hours. By the time we left, we really did not have time to go to H4H like we had planned, plus it was pouring down rain. We headed back to the house and had time to relax and wind down before getting donations ready to take to H4H tomorrow.

After dinner was our team meeting. It was a really difficult day for everyone to process and deal with. There were a lot of tears. The longer we are here the more each one of these people are like family, and it hurts me to see them upset and hurting.

UPDATE: We are currently accepting donations on behalf of Endihnew Hope for Entoto. If this organization touched your heart like it did mine, please give. You can commit monthly or give a one time donation. Also please read http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/ for more information on Endihnew Hope for Entoto and how you can help.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Day #7 - Entoto Mt./Hope for the Hopeless

Travel Day #7 July 5, 2013

Today we headed up Entoto Mountain to play with the mountain children and to help the mountain women with their loads. When we woke up it was incredibly foggy and as we ate breakfast it rolled in so thick we couldn’t see out the windows at all. So when we got up the mountain we went to the field where the kids like to play but they weren’t there. We figured it was just too cold and foggy so we prepared to go back down the mountain to find women to help. As we were getting back in the vans this wall of children came running through the fog. It was most fun to see them so excited to see us. We played patty-cake games, duck duck goose (allah-ya-na bachachew), and tag. Then some of the boys brought out their donkey whips and were showing us how loud they could snap them, which on the mountain echoed and sounded like fireworks. We all got to try to see if we could do it too. I couldn’t, but I tried! After we played for a while we loaded in the vans. It’s so sad because they literally try to climb in the van with you. They are so hungry and so in need of basic items that it’s overwhelming. Like in Korah, there are just too many kids to help without getting torn apart. It is so so hard to ride away with the kids banging on the windows and begging for food. The song “break my heart for what breaks yours” doesn’t even begin to describe it.

There is livestock. And it roams where it chooses.

I only got videos of the children, and I'm having trouble uploading them here...

 A little ways down the hill we stopped for lunch that the Life Center packed for us. It was nice, but it’s so difficult to eat when you just saw all the hungry people. Who knows when they last ate and how much?

While we ate we found 4 women that were carrying loads down the mountain on their back. These loads weigh approximately 125lbs and it was raining. It blows my mind. We put their load on the top of the van (it took 2 grown mean to take the load) and then invited them into the van for a ride down the mountain. In the van we gave them basic personal care items, toothbrush/paste, lotion, chapstick, peanut butter crackers, etc. The women that rode in our van was 17 years old and had been hauling a load for 3 years.

After we dropped the women off we headed to the Jewelry store. This store helps mountain women survive and provide for their families by making jewelry. They had tons of neat stuff. It was amazing to see the light in these women’s eyes. They had a job, (that wasn’t hauling up and down the mountain) they would be able to help their families.

We then drove for a long while and arrived in Sululta where the Hope for the Hopeless country home is located. Earlier in the week we had moved the children from the drop-in center to a new house in the city. This is a spread-out campus in the country and the need is so great. Their sewage was backed up and the boys’ rooms smelled horrible. They said it would cost $250 to have it pumped, but they just couldn’t afford that. The conditions were really bad and to think this is an improvement to living on the streets.

The kids were so excited to see us. They all went around giving hugs as soon as we got there. I would say there were about 50 kids. We went out to the soccer field and played soccer for a while and got to visit. We dropped off a huge bag of shoes and shirts for them. We are planning to go back Sunday and will take blessing bags then.

The drive was long back to the guest house and we arrived just to clean up and load back in the car for dinner. We went to the traditional Ethiopian restaurant. It was a buffet with singing and dancing. When we got there Kelly informed us that they had wi-fi. There had been no wi-fi whatsoever at the Life Center so we all took the opportunity to jump on our phones and text our loved ones. I’m sure it was rude, and we all looked like typical Americans, but we had been so starved for the connection with our families that we didn’t care. I got to chat with Nick and my mom for just a little while. The food was okay, but I’m not a huge fan of Ethiopian cuisine. This kind of surprised me as I love ethnic foods of all kinds and I’m really not picky.  

We returned to the Life Center to have a team meeting. It was short and sweet, but gave us the opportunity to come together as a family.

Travel Day #6, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Travel day #6 July 4, 2013

Kore is not far from the Life Center, about 10 minutes or so. It is the trash dump community. As in where all the trash in the city goes, and people live there, digging through the trash, living in mud huts or six to a 6x6 space.

We first went to the church where the Pastor Tesfaye preaches. The church building was one room, made of metal sheets and tarp. Just proof that the building does not have cost millions of dollars with all the bells and whistles to serve and worship. Tesfaye grew up in Kore, digging through the dump to survive. By the time he was 21 both of his parents died and he needed the dump to make it. He was hit in the face with a garbage truck door and injured badly on his face. The wound got infected and the infection created a bad odor and started to spread throughout his body. One day he was digging through the trash and a 17 year old boy from America found him and wanted to help. He shared Tesfaye’s story with his friends and family, when a neighbor decided to pay for his medical treatment. Tesfaye would not have lived if it would not have been for this kind stranger. The neighbor also sponsored Tesfaye to go to college and he went and got degrees in engineering and physics. Now, he runs the church in Kore and saves people’s lives by introducing them to Jesus Christ.

We were split into to group and were to go on house visits to get families sponsored. We had to take turns going in the houses because they were so small. They were all one room with one bed that the family would share, or the rest would sleep on the dirt floor. In the first house we went into the one daughter actually slept sitting up in a chair. They said it cost 300 burr to live there. I was shocked and amazed that people actually have to pay to live in these houses. 300 burr is like $12, so it’s not a lot by our standards, but these people do not have money for food, clothes, or anything else so $12 is a lot. The people we visited were thrilled just to have us there and have us praying for them. One old woman said, “No one ever comes and no one ever helps, you were truly sent by God.” These families can be sponsored for $50 a month, that’s it. Mind-blowing.

As we walked from house to house little kids with hold your hands and then would not let you go. They were very protective if anyone else wanted to hold your hand too. They need sponsors and that hope if they hold your hand, if you see their heart, you will sponsor them. My one little buddy kept telling me he was hungry. It broke my heart. I had snacks in my bag, but I couldn’t give them to him, because I would have literally been mobbed by kids. Not the fun kind of mobbing, but the scary desperate kind. We were instructed to not give anything to the kids. The kids that need it the most are the hardest to give it to. That weighs so heavy on my heart. You can’t just shake an experience like that. The little boys loved watching videos of Holden on my phone. He’s so silly and they laughed and laughed at him. I felt guilty even showing them. Holden, sweeter than pie, in his clean bedroom with his clean bed, in his clean clothes, all his own, playing with toys…not a care in the world. These kids probably cannot even wrap their brain around any of that.

My two little friends that would not let go of my hands

They act like 10 year old bad boys...but they are sweethearts!

Street in Kore

Kore House

These families though, they trust God with their whole hearts, they love him completely, they rely on him fully. It’s such a lesson in faith, I can’t even put it into words.

We left Kore and went to Metro Pizza for lunch. This felt wrong after what we had just seen. We ate pizza and had good reflection over what we had seen and how we felt. It’s just so emotionally heavy to see these things and process them on an American background, which is impossible, but that’s all we know.

Next we went to Kore Beth Coffee. Kore Beth Coffee is in Kore and was created in memory of Beth Venable who passed away last August. Beth had a heart for orphans, so some of the money that was raised on her behalf went to start a coffee business. Kore Beth Coffee brings mothers that have to provide for their families out of Kore and gives them sustainable living. We were given the opportunity to buy coffee (which I did).

We left Kore Beth and went to the market to buy Ethiopian souvenirs. It was fun going from shop to shop to haggle and buy from shop owners.

We went back to the Life Center and just relaxed before dinner. After dinner we were visiting with each other and Deborah told us she needed our attention. Michael (Lacey’s boyfriend since 4^th grade), was going to propose to Lacey tonight. Lacey had gone with Kelly to the airport to pick up lost bags and it was up to us to plan something really fun and romantic in the next 30 minutes. As it turned out, Lacey returned from the airport to a completely dark house. There was a trail of rose petals, lined with candles down the stairs and out to the back patio, where 4 guys were lined up with sparklers, leading the way to Michael who was standing in a heart of rose petals with candles all around. We were all huddled around the upstairs windows and when she said yes we lit roman candles out of the windows. It was so fun and exciting!!

After the engagement we celebrated with a dance party in the lobby of the life center. There were lots of laughs and dancing. This is such a great team, and I am so thankful God has brought these people into my life!