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.