I did wake around 4:30am but went back to sleep after a bit and woke
around 6:45 when the Muslim call to worship started.
We got to meet an adoptive mama, Michelle and her sweet new baby Selah.
They quickly fell into pace with our group, went with us on missions and was a
huge blessing in many ways!
We enjoyed a breakfast of eggs, fruit, and banana bread.
The team gathered and left the Life Center at 9:30 and went to the Kidane Mehret Orphanage. This orphanage has been there since the 1930s, and is run
by nuns from the church. They take in all ages, nationalities, and abilities. We visited
and played with the kids for a long time. I became fast friends with this
little boy, his name is Targus. Targus is ten years old and completely 100%
stole my heart. He is a beautiful boy with eye-lashes that curl completely back
to his eyelids. Seriously gorgeous. He was so quiet but clung to me. He loves
football (soccer). He said he likes school, and his favorite subjects are math
and English, but he comes "home" and just practices soccer until bedtime. He told me
he’s practicing so he can get really good. His favorite team is Manchester
United. They passed out candy sticks, kind of like pixie stix, he made sure to
go get me one, which is so sweet. He asked me if I had kids so I showed him
pictures of Holden and Adelaide. He thought Holden’s faces were so funny. He’s
been at the orphanage for three years. I need to know more about him.
Targus
Playground
"Yard"
Everywhere in Addis has a backdrop of beautiful mountains
The Catholic church that runs the orphanage
Kenya & Skyler Schone
"Hit your friends" game...or Ninja
Maddie and her sweet friend Mekedes
We left the orphanage and went to lunch at Lucy’s “fast” food. It was fun
going to an Ethiopian restaurant. They had a huge menu. I ordered a pizza,
thinking personal sized and it was large sized. No worries though, because what
I didn’t eat, the sponsored kids we brought with us would. Lunch was really fun
and I got to meet and get to know more of my team members, which is turning out
to be a really really great team.
The goat head Maddie found on the side of the road. She really wanted to keep it, unfortunately I don't think the driver or the other team members were nearly as thrilled
After lunch we went to the Hope for the Hopeless house to help them move
out. Hope for the Hopeless (H4H) is an organization that brings children in off
the street, gets them sponsored and basically gives a future. They
send them to school, feed them, clothe them, provide for other basic needs with
help from sponsors. H4H had the opportunity to buy a large house so all of the
current kids could go there, and they would have room to bring 12 more kids
from the streets to the old house. We came in to visit with the kids and help
their move, as well as to bring some housewares. We went to the first house and
played with the kids for a while. They all had to say goodbye to their current
caregiver (Sammy), which was really heart-breaking to watch. We then left and
went to their new house, which was HUGE!! What a blessing for these kids to
have the bathrooms, bedrooms, and common areas needed for such a large group of
children. It was really neat to see. Moving them consisted of a couple of bags
for clothes…that’s it. I’m pretty sure I saw one box of books too. The children
were so proud of their beds. It took awhile to realize that they were so
proud of their beds because that’s all they have.
By the time we left the H4H house it was late. Dinner was ready for us
when we returned, so we ate and relaxed a bit before having a team meeting. At
the team meeting we got to go around and share thoughts about our day. This was
extremely emotional. I am an emotional person and can cry really easy
especially when it involves children. So of course I cried at my turn…I got a
chance to share about Targus, which is so close to my heart. It dawned on me
that I may never see him again and thinking about him in those walls with the
big heavy gate and barbed-wire makes me so sad.
I was so happy to sleep all the way through the night! I went downstairs
to read and Ryan was teaching Maddie (love her!!) how to make friendship
bracelets to give out to the kids. I learned too and it was really fun and fast
so I made a couple before breakfast. Breakfast was really good oatmeal and
hardboiled eggs.
We left the house and headed to No Ordinary Love Ministries (NOLM). NOLM
is a transition home for women and children that have been enslaved in human
trafficking. All of these people were kidnapped or coerced into really terrible
situations, so NOLM takes them in and rehabilitates them and then reunites them
with their families. Ordinary Hero’s donors gave us the opportunity to give
them three sheep for a special feast they were having. A lot of the mom’s and
siblings of the children came to the house to join in the feast. After the past
two days of seeing children without any parents at all, it was nice to see
mom’s with their children and the pride and love they had for them. We played
with them for a while and some of the girls got to braid some of our team’s
hair. We then served them their meal. They sit in a room of benches in rows and
eat their meal on their laps. This meal consisted of sheep, angera (a flat
bread-like substance that they eat with most meals by scooping the meat or
sauce up with it), something that looked like couscous and a roll with a glass
of water. It was amazing to see these little kids eat in this way and they were
cleaner than my kids eat with utensils and a table. J NOLM was so fun and definitely was a blessing to get to see them!
Jimmy & Rachel Gross explaining No Ordinary Love Ministries www.noordinarylove.org
Cooking up some sheep
The girls loved braiding hair. I was mad I just chopped mine.
All of the kids eating their sheep feast
The sweetest twins ever
Lee Ann and her little friend
Caitlin getting some snuggles
Donkeys in the middle of the road. This is not unusual.
After NOLM we went to lunch at a restaurant that was really nice. We
ordered drinks and food so it wouldn’t be a two-hour lunch like Tuesday. I
ordered cheese and spinach ravioli and it was very good.
Up next was FashionABLE. FashionABLE is an organization that helps women
out of prostitution and into sustainable living by making scarves and selling
them. They recently moved to a new building that would have room for 100 women
compared to 20 at the old building. They didn’t have any of their new looms
yet, but they did show us how they heated and dyed the fabric. We got the
opportunity to go into their store and purchase scarves. I’m sure they love it
when groups like ours come visit because we all probably bought one or two
scarves.
The street boys have a self-organized soccer league and we promised we
would play with them at 4:30, so despite the soggy conditions, they led us to
their field that was a swamp after all of the rain. After much deliberation we
decided we would still play. I decided I would watch since I didn’t want to get
hurt or ruin my shoes. At the last minute though, I did get pulled into the USA
against Ethiopia game. I did not contribute much, but it was really fun. The
boys and some of the team members were completely covered in mud from top to
bottom. After being beat by the Ethiopia team (no surprise there) we went back
to the life center for dinner and showers. Our team meeting was short and
sweet. Tomorrow is Korah…
Walking to the soccer field. There were so many of us. I would've loved to know what the locals thought
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