Shashemene Here He Comes!!

Today is Monday, the start of the new week.  I made breakfast for my kids, checked facebook, watched a little Curious George, and put the kids down for their naps.  Plans for the rest of the day are some grocery shopping and cleaning my bathroom.  No big deal, just another Monday here in America.
Well, today was not just another Monday in Ethiopia!  Today, Teshome got on a bus and left dusty Korah for the paradise setting of Shashemene boarding school...pretty much every kid's dream when you live in Korah.

It was on the plane leaving Ethiopia this summer, that I composed my first of many emails to P61 expressing my desire to get T into boarding school.  The school was full... really full, and if a spot did open up it would go to the children that were in most need.  Well, Teshome had a home and that's a big step up from other kids.  This was going to have to be a God thing.  After I visited his home where he lived with his aunt and uncle, I knew something was very wrong but I was not sure if it was just my lack of cultural knowledge.  Turns out my gut was right and his uncle had been abusing him badly.  The great men at Great Hope pulled him out of his home after he came to Sammy badly beaten with his face swollen.  He spent the summer living at the shelter in back of the church with some other boys from the community.
 After a wonderful phone chat with my friend Kari today, I got to hear more about Teshome's summer and his heart. Kari and her husband Roger spent the summer in Korah with a group of boys and Teshome was lucky enough to be counted among their group.  He faithfully attended their bible study each day and went on amazing adventures around the city while learning to DREAM BIG!  The people of Korah are beautiful, but the streets and buildings sometimes don't reflect what is in a person's heart. It's so appropriate that after this summer of living in the shelter and healing, he should leave these crumbling and broken homes and head to a place that looks more like how his heart feels today.  A beautiful, sturdy, life giving place.

Teshome and I spent two awesome days together in Korah and he completely captured my heart.  The longing to hug him is just as strong now as it was day I left him.  For now, the beauty of this school is going to have to be enough of a "long distance love hug" for him.

Today while I am doing all my "Monday" activities, I can't help but imagine Teshome's face as the bus pulls into the school grounds.  Soccer fields to the left with real goals and lush grass everywhere.  Getting out and walking through the canopy of hanging vines and shady branches. The little paths lined with gorgeous flowers and mango and avocado trees.  In my mind he does not smiling all day today, and so in turn neither do I.

Since I have visited this school, I can picture right where he will be whenever Manchester United is playing.  I can almost imagine him in the amphitheater jumping and cheering for Rooney! I love that he will sit in this cafeteria eating all his meals EVERY DAY!!

When Teshome and I were in Korah together, the best places we found to play were very different from any place I had spent time.Walls of dirt, dry dirt ground, laundry hanging, stray puppies, and in the middle of a construction sight. 

                   The last time we walked hand in hand together was down these streets of Korah.

 

The next time we hold hands might be on this beautiful path at his school.  With tears in my eyes I joyfully think of Teshome heading to dinner tonight on this very path.  I know starting to sponsor a child seems so small because there are so many children who are in need.  It's days like today that I'm reminded that I don't have to change the world for every child, but I hate to imagine if I hadn't started small with a simple local school sponsorship a little over a year ago.  God has used this experience to change both of our lives.

I love you, Teshome, and I can't wait to see what this year has in store for you!!