Now I have time to sit down and write. Warning: this post will be long. :) Grab yourself some coffee and sit down and relax! - and...a warning that these are my various thoughts...I'm blogging and am quite tired! Please excuse mistakes. :)
We started off our trip at the Ethiopian National World Vision Office. They have 1,300 staff, 65 ADP's (communities they serve) with 21 US sponsorships. There are 231,000 kids in Ethiopia being supported by WV (World Vision), 76,000 specifically by the US. Children range from age 3-14. The criteria is that they are from a needy family and are within that age range. There is no criteria for religious background.
We viewed many of the World Vision commitments - Christian commitment, church partnership, prayer mobilization, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), food, etc. It was fun visiting the mailroom where we could see all the sponsor letters ready to be delivered to the various communities. Yes, kids actually get the letters! :)
The next day we drove 5 hours (was suppose to be a 3 hour drive, but it was a heavy traffic/donkey/cow day!) We drove to Awassa to check in at the Lewi Piazza Hotel. May I just say we had a very interesting and heated discussion with a camel driver on the way!
Our driver, Akalelu, drove us to Shone ADP. This is an ADP where WV has been part of for about 19 years. They are getting ready to pull out of the area so we were able to see a village at the end of being helped. It is a farming community with 288,000 people. In 1997 26% of the residents had access to clean water. By 2008 it was moved to 42%. A new well will be opened up just this week that will service 48,000 people! World Vision over the years put in 200+ wells.
WV also helps the people learn sanitation. They do "poop" walks where they show defecation areas. They call it the walk of shame. They calculate the amount of poop they consume through their water and share it with the people so they will be educated to use a latrine. Now they are 100% free of open defecation. Diarrhea has lessened to only 10%. Their approach to getting rid of disease it to get rid of open defecation. In 1997 27% of the children went to school. Now 97% are enrolled. These are amazing numbers and WV was proud to share them with us.
WV helps education by building schools and supplying the rooms with chalkboards and materials. The government then hires and pays teachers for the schools.
In 1997 1% had access to a medical facility. By 2008 60% received coverage. Currently, 95% of the Shone residents have access to medical!
We visited a Shone water project where there is an area for cleaning, washing, and filling barrels. I found my place here with the kids! I ended up teaching about 30-40 kids some English words in my little by the water classroom. :) It was quite fun!
We visited a Muslim/Christian run orphanage. They all work and pray together to help the poor! Such cooperation and love for each other.
The next day in Shone we were able to visit with college students that are sponsor children! They shared how grateful they were to be a sponsor child and now are able to attend college. The stories were touching. Then we visited a very successful farmer, Elias. He radiated God's love! Really! He had a beaming smile and parables to tell. He is also a church planter and started a church with 6 members that has now grown to 600.
The next day we traveled the opposite direction 1 1/2 hours to Guangua. This is the area where Lakeside has over 200 sponsor kids. WV has only been in the Abaya/Guangua area for 3 years so it is very new to development. We met with Aynalem, the woman in charge of the ADP, and a group of pastors. They shared with us their hopes and prayers for the region. They did say the community has already seen an impact through WV being there only 3 years. The help people have received have caused them to praise God and this has brought new spiritual growth to the region. On the way home, we purchased 6 bananas for a total of 25 cents (4 burr) and a LOT of mangos for 60 cents!
Sunday was a day of worship. We visited the Guangua Church - about 600 members. We loved the worship. We also spent the day with the pastors.
Click here to hear the Abaya worship!
We treated ourselves Monday night to a boat ride on Lake Awassa. We were able to catch the ride right at sunset and had a spectacular view of the sun going down. We also had some fun sites - hippos in their natural habitat and a fisherman on a grass boat. He was catfishing and we laughed at his Calvin Klein underwear because that was all he had on. :)
We went to dinner at the Blue Nile Restaurant and had pizza. It was quite amusing that the men's urinals were right outside the women's room. hmm... quite odd! And a little awkward! I bought a flat basket on the way home for 15 burr (92 cents).
Tuesday we visited our sponsor children. Words can't even express this! First we drove about 2 hours. Part of it was on dirt...I call it a non-road. :) It was an Indiana Jones adventure! The area is beautiful but so poor. Sponsor kids are the poorest of the poor, chosen by the poor of the area!
First I went to Maritha's hut. (Pronounced Marita) At first she was very scared of me and she went and hid behind her dad. I knelt down and talked to her with an interpreter. I showed her my family pictures and gave her her gifts. She really liked her jump rope! I noticed that she was smaller than I anticipated and she had a malnourished looking protruding stomach. This broke my heart. She also had a very congested cough - I am guessing TB. Next we drove only a block to see my next sponsor child, Mama. It was amazing - I chose my 2 sponsor kids months apart from 2 different batches of pictures - and they live only houses down from each other! This was unheard of. :) Mama was also smaller than I thought. He was very shy but liked his gifts. He had wonderful manners and friendly parents. He was VERY VERY overwhelmed. Both Maritha and Mama have never seen white people, cameras, or their own reflection. I think all of these in one day overwhelmed them. The gifts they received were more gifts than they had ever had in their lifetime.
We took Mama, Maritha, and the other sponsor kids back to the ADP for lunch. They ate and ate and ate. We played ball, blew bubbles with them, and played. By the end of the time, Maritha would even come sit on my lap. That's a big step from cowering behind her father!
We spent time visiting other sponsor children from our group - Brad, Scott, Linda A., Tari, and Martin's kids. One thing I will not forget is coming out of one of the huts there was a little baby on the ground outside the gate. I think someone placed him there for us to see. He had a large gaping wound on his head and he was covered with flies. He was eating a little handful of barley. Then, to my COMPLETE surprise, he got up and started walking off. WALKING. Yes, I thought he was a little infant, come to find out he was a toddler who could walk. He was so malnourished, so tiny, that I thought he was an infant. It was sooo sad. We questioned who the parents were but could not get an answer from anyone. We were not allowed to take him with us or I would have. It was so sad and a picture that will never ever leave my mind.
We also visited the water source for the families. Currently, it is filthy - green and full of worms. ick. People bathe, wash animals, and drink from the same water. WV has plans to bring good water to the area, but it is through sponsorship money that the funds are available so as more kids are sponsored, the sooner water will be able to be brought to the area.
The next day we visited the first medical post brought to the area. It has only been there 3 months and serves 2,500 people in a 5-7 km radius. They have 2 doctors and all medical is free. They are open 24-7. Their biggest problems are malaria and diarrhea from water born disease. We looked at their log book which was almost FULL. All we saw was malaria, malaria, malaria. Now, people that were once dying have life through the medication they receive. It's all preventable! They have plans for more health posts, again - it's dependent on sponsorship and donors.
I visited a school - elementary grades 1-4 with 1,500 students. Before WV there were 80 students per classroom including kids outside the room looking in through windows. I met the principal. Kids walk 1 1/2 hours each way - this is very common. Now there are 50 students per classroom with the addition of 2 building built just recently by WV. The principal said there have been positive changes: school obscenities have decreased, school class size diminished to 50, and academic achievement improved.
In Abaya/Guangua WV wants to help the community in the following (in order of preference set by WV)
We started off our trip at the Ethiopian National World Vision Office. They have 1,300 staff, 65 ADP's (communities they serve) with 21 US sponsorships. There are 231,000 kids in Ethiopia being supported by WV (World Vision), 76,000 specifically by the US. Children range from age 3-14. The criteria is that they are from a needy family and are within that age range. There is no criteria for religious background.
mailbox for sponsor letters to Abaya
We viewed many of the World Vision commitments - Christian commitment, church partnership, prayer mobilization, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), food, etc. It was fun visiting the mailroom where we could see all the sponsor letters ready to be delivered to the various communities. Yes, kids actually get the letters! :)
The next day we drove 5 hours (was suppose to be a 3 hour drive, but it was a heavy traffic/donkey/cow day!) We drove to Awassa to check in at the Lewi Piazza Hotel. May I just say we had a very interesting and heated discussion with a camel driver on the way!
Our driver, Akalelu, drove us to Shone ADP. This is an ADP where WV has been part of for about 19 years. They are getting ready to pull out of the area so we were able to see a village at the end of being helped. It is a farming community with 288,000 people. In 1997 26% of the residents had access to clean water. By 2008 it was moved to 42%. A new well will be opened up just this week that will service 48,000 people! World Vision over the years put in 200+ wells.
Shone ADP - World Vision building
new well ready for use
WV also helps the people learn sanitation. They do "poop" walks where they show defecation areas. They call it the walk of shame. They calculate the amount of poop they consume through their water and share it with the people so they will be educated to use a latrine. Now they are 100% free of open defecation. Diarrhea has lessened to only 10%. Their approach to getting rid of disease it to get rid of open defecation. In 1997 27% of the children went to school. Now 97% are enrolled. These are amazing numbers and WV was proud to share them with us.
WV helps education by building schools and supplying the rooms with chalkboards and materials. The government then hires and pays teachers for the schools.
In 1997 1% had access to a medical facility. By 2008 60% received coverage. Currently, 95% of the Shone residents have access to medical!
We visited a Shone water project where there is an area for cleaning, washing, and filling barrels. I found my place here with the kids! I ended up teaching about 30-40 kids some English words in my little by the water classroom. :) It was quite fun!
We visited a Muslim/Christian run orphanage. They all work and pray together to help the poor! Such cooperation and love for each other.
The next day in Shone we were able to visit with college students that are sponsor children! They shared how grateful they were to be a sponsor child and now are able to attend college. The stories were touching. Then we visited a very successful farmer, Elias. He radiated God's love! Really! He had a beaming smile and parables to tell. He is also a church planter and started a church with 6 members that has now grown to 600.
The next day we traveled the opposite direction 1 1/2 hours to Guangua. This is the area where Lakeside has over 200 sponsor kids. WV has only been in the Abaya/Guangua area for 3 years so it is very new to development. We met with Aynalem, the woman in charge of the ADP, and a group of pastors. They shared with us their hopes and prayers for the region. They did say the community has already seen an impact through WV being there only 3 years. The help people have received have caused them to praise God and this has brought new spiritual growth to the region. On the way home, we purchased 6 bananas for a total of 25 cents (4 burr) and a LOT of mangos for 60 cents!
Sunday was a day of worship. We visited the Guangua Church - about 600 members. We loved the worship. We also spent the day with the pastors.
We treated ourselves Monday night to a boat ride on Lake Awassa. We were able to catch the ride right at sunset and had a spectacular view of the sun going down. We also had some fun sites - hippos in their natural habitat and a fisherman on a grass boat. He was catfishing and we laughed at his Calvin Klein underwear because that was all he had on. :)
We went to dinner at the Blue Nile Restaurant and had pizza. It was quite amusing that the men's urinals were right outside the women's room. hmm... quite odd! And a little awkward! I bought a flat basket on the way home for 15 burr (92 cents).
Tuesday we visited our sponsor children. Words can't even express this! First we drove about 2 hours. Part of it was on dirt...I call it a non-road. :) It was an Indiana Jones adventure! The area is beautiful but so poor. Sponsor kids are the poorest of the poor, chosen by the poor of the area!
First I went to Maritha's hut. (Pronounced Marita) At first she was very scared of me and she went and hid behind her dad. I knelt down and talked to her with an interpreter. I showed her my family pictures and gave her her gifts. She really liked her jump rope! I noticed that she was smaller than I anticipated and she had a malnourished looking protruding stomach. This broke my heart. She also had a very congested cough - I am guessing TB. Next we drove only a block to see my next sponsor child, Mama. It was amazing - I chose my 2 sponsor kids months apart from 2 different batches of pictures - and they live only houses down from each other! This was unheard of. :) Mama was also smaller than I thought. He was very shy but liked his gifts. He had wonderful manners and friendly parents. He was VERY VERY overwhelmed. Both Maritha and Mama have never seen white people, cameras, or their own reflection. I think all of these in one day overwhelmed them. The gifts they received were more gifts than they had ever had in their lifetime.
We took Mama, Maritha, and the other sponsor kids back to the ADP for lunch. They ate and ate and ate. We played ball, blew bubbles with them, and played. By the end of the time, Maritha would even come sit on my lap. That's a big step from cowering behind her father!
Mama put on his new clothes for the picture. I gave him clothes from our school.
We spent time visiting other sponsor children from our group - Brad, Scott, Linda A., Tari, and Martin's kids. One thing I will not forget is coming out of one of the huts there was a little baby on the ground outside the gate. I think someone placed him there for us to see. He had a large gaping wound on his head and he was covered with flies. He was eating a little handful of barley. Then, to my COMPLETE surprise, he got up and started walking off. WALKING. Yes, I thought he was a little infant, come to find out he was a toddler who could walk. He was so malnourished, so tiny, that I thought he was an infant. It was sooo sad. We questioned who the parents were but could not get an answer from anyone. We were not allowed to take him with us or I would have. It was so sad and a picture that will never ever leave my mind.
We also visited the water source for the families. Currently, it is filthy - green and full of worms. ick. People bathe, wash animals, and drink from the same water. WV has plans to bring good water to the area, but it is through sponsorship money that the funds are available so as more kids are sponsored, the sooner water will be able to be brought to the area.
The next day we visited the first medical post brought to the area. It has only been there 3 months and serves 2,500 people in a 5-7 km radius. They have 2 doctors and all medical is free. They are open 24-7. Their biggest problems are malaria and diarrhea from water born disease. We looked at their log book which was almost FULL. All we saw was malaria, malaria, malaria. Now, people that were once dying have life through the medication they receive. It's all preventable! They have plans for more health posts, again - it's dependent on sponsorship and donors.
I visited a school - elementary grades 1-4 with 1,500 students. Before WV there were 80 students per classroom including kids outside the room looking in through windows. I met the principal. Kids walk 1 1/2 hours each way - this is very common. Now there are 50 students per classroom with the addition of 2 building built just recently by WV. The principal said there have been positive changes: school obscenities have decreased, school class size diminished to 50, and academic achievement improved.
In Abaya/Guangua WV wants to help the community in the following (in order of preference set by WV)
- education
- health
- WASH (water and sanitation)
- food security
- capacity building (job training)
I'm not sure why education is first on the list. I thought it would be health or WASH, but for some reason they have education as the priority in the area.
Back in Awassa, we enjoyed cab rides home from dinner. They ride in little 2 seater cabs...blue little things with 3 wheels. Besides the gas fumes, they were fun!
I was so struck by my time with World Vision, I have decided to volunteer with them as a "Child Ambassador" which means I try to match people with a sponsor child. By sponsoring a child, it REALLY DOES make a vital difference in their life!! The money DOES go there, the kids DO get your letters and gifts, and they are positively affected. If you don't have a sponsor child, it is $35 a month and SO worth the investment. You are giving massive opportunities to a child and you can develop a lasting relationship. Please EMAIL me at jimison4Him@sbcglobal.net if you would like to sponsor a child!
I was so struck by my time with World Vision, I have decided to volunteer with them as a "Child Ambassador" which means I try to match people with a sponsor child. By sponsoring a child, it REALLY DOES make a vital difference in their life!! The money DOES go there, the kids DO get your letters and gifts, and they are positively affected. If you don't have a sponsor child, it is $35 a month and SO worth the investment. You are giving massive opportunities to a child and you can develop a lasting relationship. Please EMAIL me at jimison4Him@sbcglobal.net if you would like to sponsor a child!
My list of things to not forget:
- Maritha's tummy, her hut, family, flies on siblings
- Meeting the college students
- Elias the farmer; his joy for training and farming
- Shone: getting villages 100% free of public defecation
- Muslim and Christian Community working and praying together for orphans
- Lake Awassa boat ride with hippos
- Church worship and meeting with pastors. Amazing singing!
- Water source
- Health post and malaria occurrence
- School bell, 80 kids in a room, walking 1 1/2 hours to school
- Smiling faces, double hand waves and bow
- Teaching the kids at watering hole
- Coffee every day - freshly roasted in front of us!
- Sickly baby with weeping wound
- Donkeys, carts on roads
- Taxi with 3 wheels
Scriptures that came alive for me:
Deuteronomy: Moses and striking the rock for water
Genesis: trusting the land to Adam
Luke 2:8-12 as us to Ethiopia
Luke 2:14-21 set the burden free
Luke 4:18-19 Jesus is the role model with working with the poor and oppressed
Leviticus 23:22 leave the gleanings for the poor
2 Cor. 9:6 God has freely blessed us for we need to bless others
Micah 6:8 hearing God's voice
Hoseah 6:6 mercy
Acts 16:6
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