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...