an Ethiopian home

Danni invited us to see his home. He lives there with his parents and a brother and sister and 3 little nephews.

this bedroom sleeps his mother and siblings.
the only thing on the walls were a map and an Obama poster...imagine the hope that must hold for them...
this was the kitchen with a dirt floor. The yellow conainers are to go get water...
another shot of the kitchen...

One of the young men that worked with us at Acacia Village was Danni. He spoke good english and had a degree in sociology but as is too often the case there are no jobs for these young kids and so they end up doing hard labor for $2 a day. Danni was very helpful to us because he helped translate for the rest of the group. At the end of our trip we had become good friends and he invited Jeff, Ally, Joao Paulo and I to see his home which was walking distance from the new orphanage we were working at. (The rest of our group had returned to the states) We were thrilled because we had not had a chance to see an ethiopian home and were very curious to see how they lived...and he was so excited to take us. He had been inviting us for days.

Danni lives with his parents (he's 24) and his 3 nephews and his brother and sister. We only saw 4 small beds. The house had no running water nor did it have any kind of bathroom. We brought him a tarp as a house gift and he was so grateful because he said he will hang it in front of the hole that serves as a bathroom out at the back of the yard. The 3 little boys were home alone (6, 4 and 2 years old)Danni's parents had gone to church he thought.

I wish we could have come here with our teenagers before they left. It was amazing to see how proud he was of his home and how humble it was. We were so moved by seeing how they live. I think there was a light bulb in the family room but I know they get electricity randomly. Ally and I smiled when we looked into the kitchen and said we will never complain about doing dishes again!

I wish we had a few extra days in Ethiopia because our team could have given that sweet home a new paint job in a day! It has planted the seed and that will be one of our tasks next trip. To help some of our new friends in their personal lives,and at their homes-things as simple as rugs and tarps and maybe some dishes... we can so easily do that!

Jeff and I have decided to sponsor Danni to help him feed his family as he is the bread winner for all of them. He explains that they usually eat injera for dinner but sometimes they get to eat bread...

...holding those sweet babies

A beautiful morning spent at the orphanage in Soddo holding these sweet babies. What a blessing and what an amazing day!! These babies are God's children and I really felt they were being well cared for and felt great hope for them as they wait to be matched with loving families...they are in my prayers!!

...and paint we did!!!

Our work days were spent painting happiness on the walls of the new orphanage. The guys finished their outside work early and by the end of the trip we were all painting. We had tunes on our ipod dock and lots of watchful eyes. The sweet worker kids were just fascinated by us, our paintings and our music. It was so great to interact with them. One day we brought 10 pizzas from a pizza shop in Addis (Ethiopia was once ocupied by Italy and they left behind some great italian restaurants). It was their first time tasting pizza! They just loved it. I am just so full of amazing memeories spent painting, laughing, eating and spreading God's love at Acacia Village!!

"one of the best days of my life"

The 3 teenage boys went out to play and built these crosses...we later found out they were on the site plan for Acacia village...God at work!!
The kids with the workers after playing ball...such happy love filled faces!
Max gave away his shoes to this friend...
Bennett gave away his shoes to his new friend too...

Brothers!!!

Christine wowed the guys with her great volleyball skills!! They thought it was so great that a girl could do that!!


This particular day was just magical. We all felt that it was a day touched by God and one of the best days any of us had ever had...REALLY...we all said that at least once that day!!

We all worked at Acacia village side by side with these amazing people. Today the boys finished a bit early and went out to play. They decided to build a soccer goal. When they lifted the first log, Bennett said "this would make a cool cross". The boys (Max, Mitch and Bennett) then built 3 crosses before building the soccer goal. We later came to find out that the 3 crosses were actually on the original plans for Acacia Village...these sweet "coincidences" kept happening throughout the trip. Just confirming that we were seeing and doing all that we were meant to by God!!

Once the boys had built the soccer goal, the workers all gathered around and started to play with them. Christine then picked up a soccer ball and started playing volleyball with another group. We spent the afternoon, after work hours, playing with the guys. It was so moving because no one had ever paid attention to them before and here we were playing with them and loving them as our friends. Our 4 teenagers were so moved. It was a life changing day for them. After the impromptu games, each of our guys gave away the shoes off their feet when they saw the beat up shoes the workers were wearing. They all came home barefoot...so incredible!! They saw how these lovely guys with nothing were really just like them. They all shared their feelings on the bus all the way back to Addis. It was one of the highlights on the trip. The amount of love felt that day, on that field, was incredible. It brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

out and about in Addis Ababa

B

Words are still a bit hard to come by. It is taking a long while to process the experience we just lived. I will have to just let the photos speak for me for now...some sweet group shots...