Final Day

Today was our final day at the carepoint.  It started out with games that involved blindfolds, putting faces in buckets of water, and stuffing bananas in their mouths!  Entertaining to say the least!

After this we organized some more stations for activities.  This time they rotated between jigsaw puzzles, drawing pictures, outside games, and more music with Jeff.

 

We said our goodbyes to the children and it immediately began pouring rain, so the kids waited in the church until the rain stopped.  Some of them have quite a distance to walk home!  We were given one more coffee ceremony to close things off on a wonderful time together.  What a gift it has been to be here and to build relationships with this community! 

Day 4: Lanterns and Shoes!!

Today was a huge day!  When we arrived at the carepoint the children were all waiting for us as well as their parents.  

Fikru started out by passing out special gifts to three parents to honor them for their their hard work or commitment to their families.  Then we told them about the solar lanterns that the children would be receiving and showed them how to use them.  We passed them out to the parents so they would not get lost!

After this we were able to give the kids their shoes!!  The kids were very excited to have them!  I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Thank you so much to everyone who gave to the shoes and lanterns fundraisers!   It was so much fun to see the children's joy in receiving them.

Once everything was passed out, it was time to serve the feast!  This year the feast was provided almost completely by the kids at NewDay's Awana Program!  Each week at Awana the kids could bring their change for the kids at Addis Ketema, and by the end of the year they had brought enough to cover most of the cost of the feast.  Amazing job, kids!!

In the afternoon we visited four more families, two who have sponsors and two who do not.  One was a single mom with eight kids who is working very hard at several jobs: making baskets, spinning cotton, caring for sick people in the community, and raising animals.  She is determined that her children will get a good education and her work ethic was inspiring, especially in such difficult circumstances.

Another family we visited was a single mom with one teenage son.  She has health issues which make it difficult for her to find work.  She also struggles to get the medical care that she needs because she cannot afford it.

If you're interested in coming alongside either of these families as their sponsor, please let me know!  Together we can see more and more transformation in this community!

Day 3: Letters and home visits

We had another great day at the carepoint today!  When we arrived this morning, the children were lined up and waiting to play games and sing songs.  The leaders from our carepoint and the surrounding area led these games, so it was nice to just watch the kids have fun together.  There were potato-sack races, ballon-popping games, and call-and-respond songs.  Apparently they only play these kinds of games on special occasions so the kids were very excited!

After the games, we went inside the church and read letters to some of the kids from their sponsors. I love watching the kids listen intently as we read the letters and look carefully at pictures of their sponsors.  They love having that special connection to someone and are so happy to have a sponsor.

Then after breaking for lunch, we did another round of home visits.  This time we were visiting our sponsored children!  It is wonderful to be able to enter their homes, meet their families, and hear about their lives.  

We ended the day with a meeting with the leaders in the Addis Ketema community.  This included our carepoint director and several pastors and elders of the Addis Ketema church who we partner with.   I wish I could express to you the depth of their gratitude for this partnership.  I actually thought we were going to talk about upcoming plans and needs in the community, but instead they just all expressed their gratitude for the support we (and many of you!) give to the children and even gave us gifts to show their appreciation.  One thing they said that stuck with me was that, because of our financial support, they have more opportunities to spread God's word in their community because the people feel loved and cared for, so the they are more open to hearing it.  I love that!

It was encouraging to see that this community has strong and caring leaders who love their neighbors well!

Day 2

We had a very full and wonderful day here in Ethiopia!

Our morning started out with 130 kids waiting for us at the carepoint.  

We had an amazing turn out as only 3 of the children were absent.  They started out by singing for us, and after receiving their name tags we started activities! The children divided into 4 groups according to age, and then were able to rotate through four activities:

Making bracelets

 

Playing soccer (always a hit here!)

Legos! (even the big kids loved these and complained when they had to rotate to the next station.

 

Music with Jeff!  This was also a huge hit!  Jeff taught them the words to some songs and also about different styles of music like blues, country, and rock and roll!  He did an amazing job and is donating his guitar to the carepoint so some of the kids can learn to play!

As the kids went home, Fikru showed us one of the newer programs at the carepoint, the lunch program!  Because of increased sponsorships, we are now able to give a free lunch three times a week to 43 of the children, chosen based on need.  The woman who makes their lunch is the mom of one of our carepoint kids, so this program is also giving her a way to provide for her family!

In the afternoon we did four home visits of children in the community.  Fikru (our carepoint director) chose some of the families who face the most challenges in their lives and we visited with them and heard more of their stories.  Some of the challenges we learned of were:

• An aging father of 5 who fell and hurt his back and can no longer work his job to provide for his family.
• A family of three who all face serious health issues that make it hard for them to work their jobs.  Their daughter has been very sick for the last two weeks and they feared they would lose her.
• A single mom of four children who struggles to find cleaning jobs in order to provide for her kids.

While their needs are still great, they are all benefiting from having their children participate in the sponsorship program!  Their kids are going to school, getting lunch three days a week at the carepoint, getting the medical care that they need, and coming every Saturday to learn about God's love for them.  And I can tell you from my time with them today that they are so thankful.

We're reaching out this week in search of more sponsors to join us in this ministry! If you'd like to sponsor one of these amazing kids, click the "Sponsor a Child" button on the sidebar. Thank you!!

We're Here!

Well, after a very long journey, we made it to Ethiopia! The trip had a few hiccups in the forms of flight delays, customs, and finding our ride to the guesthouse, but overall it went well!  Today (Sunday) we drove about four hours south to Awassa, and reached the  carepoint at about 3:30 this afternoon.  We were greeted by Fikru (our amazing carepoint director) and then taken into one of the rooms behind the church for a traditional coffee ceremony, done by one of the girls in our sponsorship program. 

 

 



As we drank coffee, we were given two dance performances by several of the girls in the community.  This is one of the clubs that is available to the children, and they came up with two beautiful and worshipful dances without the help of any adults.  

 

 

Two of the girls, Eden and Nardose, did all the choreography for both dances.  Here they are welcoming us and thanking us for coming.

 

 

After the girls left, we went over to the offices and talked with Fikru about some of the things happening at the carepoint recently.  He has an ever-growing wall display of pictures that is a testimony to all the ways we have seen growth in the community over the last five years.  These include pictures of food distributions, lunch programs, sponsor visits, children's activities and clubs that help them grow and develop their strengths, and many small businesses that parents were able to start in order to better provide for their families.

God is doing amazing work in this community and today felt like a small celebration of that.  I love being a part of it and am so thankful for so many of you who are a part of it too!

Almost Time!

In just a few days we'll be taking our third trip to visit our partner community in Addis Ketema, Ethiopia! I always get a little anxious before I travel about forgetting important details, being on a plane for hours and hours, and leaving my kids and husband. But my anxiety is balanced with my excitement to be with people who have a huge place in my heart. I know from past trips that our time there will be rich, fulfilling, and worth it.

Many people imagine a mission trip will be filled with things like VBS and work projects, but this is not that kind of trip. The whole idea behind these partner trips is to build relationships with our partner community and learn about their specific needs, struggles, joys, and successes. It strengthens the partnership and enables us to work together to care for the kids in ways that are most helpful. We'll be spending time with the children, but just as much of our time will be spent in people's homes, hearing their stories. We'll also spend time with the leaders of the carepoint hearing what has been happening, what some of their current needs are, and planning for the future. Basically we go to listen, and then come back to share what we've learned.

We would love your prayers as we go. Here are a few specific ways you can pray for us:

• clear communication (we do have translators but communication can still be a challenge) 

• health and safety so we can make the most of our time there 

• growth: we have many children who still need sponsors and would love to see growth in this area 

Thank you!  I'm hoping to use this blog to post pictures and updates as we travel and help keep everyone in the loop.  Feel free to follow and share!