Leaving Korah was very hard to do. I wanted to stay there the entire time with Teshome talking and teaching him, but it was time for my team to move on. We climbed into our vans and took the three hour drive to a boarding school called Shashamene. This school is the other part of Project 61 through which I sponsor Teshome. A big part of this school is made up of wealthy children from Ethiopia and part of it is made up of sponsor kids from Korah. These children were feeding, living, or trying to survive in the city dump right by Korah. They were the most desperate and most in need of a drastic change to their life. What a drastic change it was after spending yesterday in Korah. From the dirt, disease, and crowded streets, to open fields filled with flowers, avocado and mango trees, paths canopied by trees dripping with beauty, life, and an absolute paradise to these children. I only wished I could have entered the grounds with the first group to see their reaction to a new home. The fresh air felt unbelievable to my lungs which had been filled with the smog of Addis just the day before. 
A boy named Sisay (Sea-sigh) greeted me and was ready for a great day of practicing his English and maybe getting some hugs in, too. He gave me a tour of his school pointing out plants and teaching me words in Amarac as we went. As I went to visit the girl's dorms, he had to wait outside. My heart sank a bit as I took in the dorms for these Korah girls. They were still worst than we would send our kids to camp in and the toilets were dirty squatty potties that I was not brave enough to use. I thought this was where the rich sent their children to school? I came to learn that the rich kids have a different dorm. I was sad to think that even here they were separate. They still have tattered clothing, rough shoes, and lack supplies that
they need to live on their own. The day we came, our guides brought
soap for the children and they had to sign for it to make sure everyone
got a bar. I have never seen teenage boys line up for something like
soap, but when that is the luxury you get in line early. Surely the rich kids have nice clothes and shoes. I pray these Korah kids are not teased too harshly. Thinking back to yesterday in Korah though, this school is amazing and food is never sparse. Big steps forward!
As I left the girls dorm, Sisay was waiting outside for me. He took me up to the trees where a monkey lives and I was so disappointed that he was not there today. We then ventured over to the amplotheater where they have movie night and watch the football matches. There we sat and watched as the guides handed out the soap. We had a chance to sit and talk while he drew pictures in my journal. We were friends by now and he looked out for me as if we were family. I set down my camera for a moment to show him something and he quickly picked it up and told me to just put it in my bag so nobody takes it. If I had my phone out for too long he would tell me to put it in my bag where nobody could see it. These kids still had their street smarts, but in addition to that they now had to learn social skills. They have to learn not to steal anymore. This is not an easy habit to break so most of the new kids will steal food. They have never lived a day of their life not having to worry about where the next meal will come from. These aren't bad kids, they have just had to learn to survive. To them we have so much and they have a little more than nothing. I can't even imagine. We are too tempting for some of them, and it broke my heart to not be able to give everything on me to these kids, but the chaos that would have caused always kept me in check.
After lunch, it was time for the girls and boys to be separated for our program. These children already learn about the gospel, so we came with a message for them that is universal to all teenage girls... feeling beautiful. A few teens in our group got up and gave wonderful examples of struggles they had and how they knew they were beautiful in God's eyes because they were made in His image. Such brave girls these teens were, I admired all they were doing at their young age! They told these Korah girls that to God they are more precious then gold. We danced and drew images of beauty to the song "Gold". I sat with Hana during the program and she spoke very little English. Through our drawings we were able to share more and she was one beautiful girl.
We had gold necklaces to adorn the girls with and gold stickers, too. I had the chance to put stickers on about seventy girl's cheeks one by one and look them straight in the eyes and call them beautiful in their own language and watch them melt into a glowing young woman. It's moments like these on a missions trip that I feel God working through us to say the words He has meant for them out loud so they clearly hear His love. These are the moments I love!
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