Pack Your Flexibility In Your Carry On

On last year's trip to Africa, my leader used the phrase "pack your flex pills" no less than ten times a day.  It's true and just means that we need to roll with the punches and stay positive.  I have to say it's tough sometimes to be American in Africa and truly live the easy going schedule.  However, if you can find it within yourself to really try, you will experience a new way of living the day more in the moment instead of planning ten steps ahead.  You hear "no problem" and truly believe that whatever you just asked for is no problem...no problem if it works out and no problem if it doesn't.  This concept is so foreign to us, but on this trip it was put to the test in a MAJOR way! 

Remember the last words I said to Teshome the day before?  "See you tomorrow morning for VBS!"  I know never to promise anything to him, but I thought this was safe.  I was here in Africa, we had made a schedule with P61, it's all agreed on for us to be in Korah that next morning.  Then the unthinkable happened.  A member of the Ethiopia Guest House staff died that morning.  She was a lovely young woman that was working at the guest house up the hill from us.  The staff as a whole is a very tight knit family.  She had only been sick for three days and then passed away.  The staff who we were one hundred percent reliant on was now in shock and mourning for their friend.

As a group we were stunned.  Our new friends were hurting and there was nothing we could do for them.  In Ethiopia, funerals start the afternoon of the death and last for three days.  Even though the staff was still being as hospitable as only Ethiopians can be, we suddenly felt like such a burden.  If we said we didn't need drivers and would stay at the guesthouse, then they needed to come cook for us.  If we said we would leave for the day and not eat in, then we needed someone to drive us and translate for us.  Our hearts broke for them, but on the other hand we were only in Ethiopia for a few days.  The decisions made in these next twenty four hours by our leader were made with much compassion.  We wanted the staff to be able to mourn and we also wanted to uphold our word to the children we had promised to return to in Korah.

By the time a driver was available to drive us to Korah, we had missed our opportunity to do VBS that day.   We were left in Korah and a driver would be sent back later instead of staying with us all day.  I feared that Teshome would be hesitant or even upset thinking that I was not coming, but he was the same lovely and funny kid I remembered from the year before.  Gone was his shy exterior and he even started trying out calling me "mom".  I was walking towards the building where we would help serve food that day, and heard behind me, "Mom?"  I turned to find Teshome and gave him a smile.  "Lunch time, Mom?"  Yes, yes it is!!  From there on out I was Mom and each time he said it my heart felt like it would burst! 

We visited the Alert Hospital today.  Walking past all the different treatment buildings for various sicknesses gave me at least some hope for the people here.  Most people in Korah still could not use these services in the trash dump community medical center because it costs too much money.  When you are struggling to survive day to day, medical treatment is not an option.  Made me think about conversations happening in my own country about health care.  What these people wouldn't give to have the luxory of the outcomes we will have soon.  For better or worse, I can see that our country tries to take care of it's people in ways other countries don't have means to do.

Some of the men and women living with leporecy work daily spinning thread, weaving fabric, and embrodering the most beautiful table clothes, napkins, blankets and pillows. We did a bit of shopping at Alert in their store.  There are a large number of people living with leperosy in Korah because it started a few decades ago as a lepor colony.  The government, in hopes to iraticate leprocy, gathered all people suffering with the disease from the country side and the city and placed them in one spot.  Korah was born and they were presumed to die there.  They did not all die and some built lives and starting families.  Now the third generation lives in Korah free from leperocy but many orphaned by the AIDS outbreak that inialated much of the second generation.  These are the children we serve.  Korah is one of those places where devistation is everywhere but so are smiling faces.  Tough for an American mind set to comprehend and the most valuable lesson they can teach us. 

Teshome carried my bag for me all day, since we didn't have our van to keep it in.  He was such a gentleman about it.  As we walked through the muddy streets it killed me to watch our steps.  I had on my trusty rain boots protecting me from any drop of water and Teshome had on what looked like jelly sandals that were too small.  That's what he was wearing when I found him the first day and I wanted to bring him his new shoes today, but we had to wait for the next day to give them their gifts.  When we arrived back in the area of the church, Teshome showed me where he was staying in the shelter.  It was nicer than I had pictured and less crowded than I thought as well, still nothing cozy or welcoming about it.  As I sat on his bed and met some of the boys that live in there with him, I could almost feel the hunger for love in that room.  All those boys were in there for very sad reasons, none of them had to tell me their stories for me to know that.  In a community that is already filled with pain and suffering, these boys were also fending for themselves. However, they did have a bed, blankets, and a door they could lock at night.  The children living on the trash dump do not even have these luxories.

I sat on Teshomes bed with pictures of our family hanging behind us, and showed him my necklace that I wear every day.  Last year I bought an African pendant in Ethiopia and then had Teshome's name engraved on the back.  I showed him and told him I never take it off and that he is always close to my heart.  I think this is too much for a boy living in the shelter there to believe.  I hope he believes what I was telling him and that it heals some part of his heart that longs to feel loved. 

After making the most of our short day in Korah, our driver picked us up and took us back to our guest house.  We had a good afternoon bonding as a team and allowing the guest house employees to mourn their friend.  Today was nothing that could have been planed for, and at the end of the day we just prayed that we made the right decisions to not hurt people in our path. Did we miss out on some ministry opportunities in Korah this morning and this afternoon?  Sure.  Did we accept the opportunity put before us to let the guest house staff know that we love them?  Yes we did, and we would continue this over the next few days we were there.  Giving space when needed and praying with individuals who's hearts were hurting.  One of our team members even stepped up and cooked a meal for the house using his God given talents to show love for our friends. 

Reunited At Last

Most mornings in Ethiopia, I was awakened early by a drum.  At first I thought it was some sort of prayer drum because I was expecting the Muslim call to prayer to be the thing to wake me each morning.  Turns out it was just a karate class next door to the guest house.  A very LOUD karate class...that was unfortunate, but it did give me time to journal each morning after falling asleep with pen in hand the night before.  This morning I woke up to the "thump thump thump" and though about seeing Teshome today.

Teshome is our sponsor son who now lives in the shelter in Korah while he waits to go back to boarding school in September.  We have been sponsoring him for two years and have seen so much change during that short time.  It had been one loooong year since we had first met and I could not wait to see him again.  It had rained the previous night as I laid in bed happy that Teshome and I were listening to the same rain falling and thunder rolling.  I was a bit nervous about our meeting that day, wondering if things would be strange between us.  I didn't know if he had learned anymore English and I had only learned about two more Amharic words.

As our van turned off the main road into the side streets of Korah that morning, I saw Teshome walking down the street with his friends.  I waved and he looked stunned and even surprised.  I had told him I was coming, did he not believe me?  As soon as I could get out of the van I saw him and pushed my way through the crowd to throw my arms around him.  We were happy to see each other, but I could tell he was feeling overwhelmed and a bit shy.  He's not one of the kids in Korah who greets each team coming in looking for hugs and cuddles.  He is shy and reserved but anyone that will put the time in quickly finds him to be kind and loving.  We were able to talk a little through his friends because neither of us was very good at the others language...yet.

As our team ate lunch, I had some time to meet our translator, AB.  Through our talk I found out he had also been the leader for the group I had originally planned to come with a month earlier.  As soon as he found out Julie, a woman on that team, and I were friends he quickly got up and asked me to follow him.  He went and found a young woman with a small baby.  He told me I had to take a picture of them, so I did.  Then he excitedly told me that when Julie was in Korah this baby was very sick.  His eyes were crusted over and very infected, but today he looked just fine because Julie had provided medicine for the baby.  Later that day I was able to send an updated picture to Julie for her to see those beautiful healthy eyes.  These are the moments on missions trips where the world seems so small and simple acts from others inspire us to do what we can while we are there.  What a blessing to be able to pass on information. 

Still being in the first few days of our trip, I think a lot of us ended the day still wondering what it was God wanted us to do here.  We were having fun, enjoying meeting people, but why did He call us here?  I suppose a lot of missions trips start out that way and unfortunately there really isn't a way to speed up the process.  We were forced to slow down and enjoy the ride.  Went to bed that night thinking about how nice it was to tell Teshome that I would be back tomorrow morning.

Bole Community

This is a sign of a good day in Africa :)

Where to start?  I won't start with our first day in Ethiopia because our team had a tough time with jet-lag so we didn't leave the guest house :(  Kendra and I had a good day catching up and preparing crafts for the week though.  Back here in the states we don't always have time to talk about real things.  With the kids around it's hard to have a complete conversation without interruptions.

We will just skip to the first lovely community we went to in Addis.  The struggling community of Bole is just outside the city and up on a hill.  Surrounding the streets are eucalyptus trees. The day we went the wind was blowing the sweet smell all around us.  The houses were similar to the ones in Korah, the trash dump community, but the space between them and the farm land surrounding them was such a contrast to what I have previously experienced here in Addis.  This was my first trip to Bole community and is a place I would love to visit again.

As soon as we walked through the gate where the church is, a little girl clung to me and didn't let go for a long time.  She was adorable and just needed some cuddles.  There were not a lot of children around so it was a nice way to start our adventures.  We were able to play and visit without being overwhelmed.  In a building next to the church there is a room where a group of women make beads and jewelry for Mission Ethiopia.  Unlike the Mission Ethiopia women in Korah, these women are not as used to visitors.  They were shy but very nice.  Some women in our group joined them to make a few beads, but my little cutie was not about to let me go long enough for me try my turn at jewelry making.  That was just fine with me.

After visiting the room the women work in most days, a few of those same women invited us into their homes.  For most of our team it was their first looks at how a lot of people live around the world and not  from the comfort of their couch watching a documentary, but being welcomed in by the woman living there and being offered a seat on her bed.  Even though our team was small, we still could not all fit into her TINY home.  I'm guessing her home was probably the size of a queen size bed and dresser with no walking room.  She has worked for Mission Ethiopia for three years and two years ago came to know Christ in a personal way.  This was the first time I had ever thought of Mission Ethiopia being an outreach program and I loved it even more.  She asked our team to pray with her in her home.  Her son, who was probably around five-years-old, proudly showed off the few toys he had.  As we started to pray, he handed me all of his toys.  In my hands I held a plastic fisher-price type guy, an old broken baby teether, a plastic horse with matted hair, and a bead his mother had made.  He was so thankful and proud of his toys that it shamed me.  Those would have been the first toys I would have thrown away from my kids DEEP toy box and nobody would have noticed they were gone.

While we prayed, Kendra and I sat on the woman's bed that she shares with her son.  It was more comfortable than I had expected because it was just a mattress on a dirt floor, but all I could think about was her curled up at night with her son surrounded by walls that give little protection and listening to the wind, rain, dog fights, and worrying about the neighbors surrounding her that are disapproving of her being a Christian and aren't afraid to scare her.  What really blows my mind is that she has to pay RENT to live there!!!  How would she ever have a peaceful nights sleep?  Her faith in God is amazing!

The second home we visited was set on a hill and had an amazing view of the farm lands with the city in the background.  She is a widow that still has two young children at home.  When we asked her what we could specifically pray for, her response surprised me.  She replied that life has never been better for her and there was nothing that she needed.  We prayed a prayer of blessing over her home and headed out before the rain came in.  On the way back to the van I could not shake the look on her face as she happily proclaimed that she didn't need anything.  Dirt floors, dirt walls, one bed for her and her kids, a neighbor with an infant that shares a wall who must cry at night and keep them up.  No tv, radio, electricity, kitchen, plumbing, husband, wardrobe, vacations, "me time" at the coffee shop, latest book to read, any book to read, education, retirement, car...

I have SO much to learn about being content!

I'm Back!!!

I have been back from Africa for a few days now and just starting to get back to a routine...kind of.  The transition back to schedule is easier than figuring out how to live here again with my heart broken in new and beautiful ways. 

I have to give a HUGE thank you to all of you that helped get me over to Africa this year and those of you that helped fund projects we worked on as well.  The trip was even better than I could have imagined.  We had unexpected challenges and unexpected blessings that added to the heart break and beauty of the stories.  I know I was right where I was supposed to be and now can not imagine if I had chosen to skip this year...what a mistake that would have been. 

As I think about blogging stories this year, I know there are SO many stories all of you would love to read.  However, things are a bit different this year.  These are not just faces I met for a few days and now are stories in my past.  These people are my friends and some of their stories are too private to put out into the blogging world.  I know they would not mind me sharing them over a cup of coffee or a private chat, so if a story is interesting to you or speaks to your heart and you want to know more just send me a message :)

Don't worry, there is still much I can and will share.  My friend Kendra will blog as well and I will share some of her stories also.  Having my best friend along for this adventure was so amazing and at points I could not have stayed on my feet if it were not for her literally holding me up.  Best friends are a necessity when the "ugly cry" is in full force.  Learning more about the countries and cultures was a highlight and it was nice to not have the culture shock that I experienced last year.  It felt like going home.  

Stories are coming soon, I'm almost ready to start sharing.  It sounds funny, but it's actually hard to get them out.  I know I can't convey them in a way they can be fully understood, but my hope is that I can come close.  These are the times I wish I was an actual writer.  I hope that some of you would read these stories and think about going.  These trips are filled with really ordinary people who find when they get there something great they are able to contribute that is memorable and often life changing for someone.  Almost always it is life changing for themselves.  Think about it, consider it, pray about it, and keep an open mind.