I have been quiet...

Lake Awassa, Ethiopia



It's been 2 weeks since I returned home from Ethiopia.  I've been quiet on social media and haven't shared much about the trip.  There is a reason.  First, I want to say that the trip was overall wonderful and I just loved my teammates.  8 of us went and we had a wonderful time traveling and serving together.  Also, our Ethiopia hosts were outstanding and it was such a neat trip on many levels.  So why haven't I been sharing?  The truth is, despite the good there were difficult aspects to taking this trip and I've been struggling to process everything.

We spent 11 days in country.  The 2nd half of day 10 involved a 5 hour drive back to the capital city of Addis Ababa.  That was the day I started to get sick.  Day 11 was suppose to be our shopping/sightseeing day and I was in the ER completely unable to keep any fluid in my body, not fun! 

As we were making that 5 hour drive back to the capital on day 10, I was slowly feeling worse and I was also processing everything we had seen and experienced in the prior 10 days.  Poverty is hard, hard to see, hard to grasp and hard to process.

Our host, Alex, wanted to stop along this 5 hour drive and show us a beautiful lake.  We pulled along the highway, there were several produce stands along the side of the road.  As we got out of our vehicles we were immediately surrounded by children who I assumed belonged to the sellers of the produce.  These children looked normal for rural Ethiopia, barefoot, in rags, dirty, beautiful smiles, a sight we were use to seeing.  As we walked down to the lake I lagged behind the rest of the team and interacted with the children.  On one hand, I was taking in the beautiful scenery...

...on the other hand, I was seeing extreme poverty at it's worst.  These precious children were different than other children I had witnessed.  They were smiling and wanting attention but I quickly noticed that they were hurting each other.  It disturbed me.  A few of the children were carrying sticks and feathers with sharp pointed ends.  I saw them repeatedly hitting each other and poking each other with the sharp tip of the feathers.  There was also shoving, pinching, ear pulling and just plain physical abuse.  It broke my heart, it was the most difficult 10 minutes of the entire trip for me.  We got into our vehicles and left but my heart hurt so much for those children and I just had to ask WHY? Why God?  Why do you allow famine, poverty and injustice in the world when you could do something about it?  The rest of the quote says, "...but I'm afraid HE (God) might ask me the same question."   The truth is I cannot change the world, I can't fix whatever was going on with those precious children along the roadside but I CAN make a difference in the way God has allowed me. 

My body has healed, I'm over the jet lag, I'm ready to share, ready to ask for help (I can't support 150+ orphaned and vulnerable children alone, Yep, I am talking to you dear reader) and I'm ready to get back to raising awareness and support for some precious children in Shanto, Ethiopia.  As of today, 51 children still need a sponsor.  In a nutshell, I am helping raise money (through a sponsorship program) to help orphaned and vulnerable children receive an education, participate in a feeding program, receive medical care and Christian discipleship.  It's all happening in a village called Shanto at a Christian school that I have visited twice.  If you would like to join me please sponsor a child today.  Click here to see the waiting children.  You can also e-mail me at reachinghiskids@gmail.com for more information. 

I plan to continue sharing stories and pictures from my trip so check back soon!