Day 7: Day of Worship / Day of Rest

June 7, 2009

Sunday

“But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.”

1 Corinthians 6:11

We went to church this morning at IEC, International Evangelical Church. It was Rachel, Brittany, Allison, Blair and myself. Mark didn’t want to come and Kate left for the weekend to travel outside of Addis Ababa with a family adopting through Bethany. The church was big and could have easily been a church building in the U.S., but the best part was the worship.

It was A-mazing!

We sang songs like Come Thou Font and Mighty to Save and a lot of other ones that I really like. They had a full worship team with guitars, drums keyboard and singers and it was just awesome. The pastor who got up to preach had just returned, apparently after being gone for 10 months. His name is Vic Anderson and he had brought a team of students with him from Houston Theological Seminary, in Texas, where he works. It was just wonderful to fellowship with such a diverse group of believers and to be able to sing praises to God as loud as we could. The rest of the day was spent much like Saturday, just lying around the house, talking, napping, reading, and eating.

Day 6 : It's the Weekend!

June 6, 2009

Saturday

Today was spent sleeping in, eating, and lying around the house. Mark went out exploring by himself but all us girls stayed at Cherokee House. We just sat around talking and reading and napping and it was wonderful. We finally left the house in the evening and walked to a Chinese restaurant. The power was off today so when we got to the restaurant it was all dark, but they turned the generator on for us so that we could eat. I had chicken wings fried with hot peppers and spices to make it a little spicy and it was really good. I also tried the chicken fried rice that Blair ordered and I think I might order that next time. We then caught a taxi back to the house (who tried to charge us way to much) and then picked out a movie and all piled onto two beds in the bunkhouse to watch a movie.

On another note, God has truly blessed us here. In the bunkhouse are 6 girls- Brittany, Rachel, Kate, Blair, Allison, and myself- and we are all strong believers in Christ and we all follow Him in our daily lives. This whole week has been spent talking about God and the Bible and good books to read and praying together, etcetera. It has been such a God-send to all of us to be surrounded by fellow believers - especially since none of us were expecting it, since Cherokee is not a specifically Christian organization. It is just another way that God is taking care of me on this trip!

Day 5: Bibles and Dinner Guests

June 5, 2009

(Friday)

Today I had to be at Kechene by 8:30 because the first class I was teaching was at 8:35am. Only on Fridays do I have to be there that early because Fridays are only a half day. The rest of the week I have to be there by 9:00am. Girum (previously spelled Groom) came with me again just to make sure I knew the way (though we went a different way than before, but whatever).

Once I got to Kechene I first taught KG1 math with Azarat ,which was interesting. Basically all I did was write the information from the book they had onto the board and Azarat taught, which was ok because I don’t know what else I would have done. After math I taught Grade 1 Ethics, where I talked about right vs. wrong and how doing the right thing is not always easy. I told the story of Rack, Shack, and Benny and the fiery furnace and the kids seemed to enjoy it. I then had a break so I went and sat in the teachers' room with the other 3 teachers, and little Amun (the boy who read to me the day before) came and read to me again. I also had my Bible out and all the teachers were very intrigued by it because it is big (it’s a study Bible) and because Bibles are expensive there. They were astonished that my Bible cost probably around $70. Azarat was asking me if I could get him an English “normal” Bible (I think he means not a study Bible) because he teaches Sunday School and sometimes interprets for white men who come to the church to visit, and thinks if he had an English Bible he could interpret better. Rachel’s friend is coming and basically taking my place at Kechene when I leave, so Rachel is going to email her and ask her to bring a Bible for him. I then taught ethics again for KG2 and then it was lunch time. I declined the food today because I wasn’t sure I could eat it all and opted for the protein bar I had instead.

After lunch it was time to go home so Azarat walked me to the road and helped me get on my first mini-bus, but after that I was on my own. I switched mini-buses in Piazza and got on one for Tor Highluch and then walked up to the Cherokee House…all this by myself!

Then for the afternoon I just hung out around the house and tried to email (the phone line went out before I could actually send anything). This evening we had guests over for dinner - two boys who had been exchange students through the Cherokee program last year, along with an Ethiopian/American family who lives in Kentucky and was visiting. Both parents had been born in Ethiopia but all 3 of their daughters were born in the U.S.. The girls were 17, 16, and 14 and are some of the smartest people ever. The oldest is going to Harvard in the fall as a freshmen, the second oldest wants to go to Princeton I think and the youngest to Yale. It was insane.

Day 4: Futbol Queen and Dinner by Candlelight

June 4, 2009

Groom helped Blair and I get to work today. He is a friend of Cherokee that just graduated from college. He was sponsored by Cherokee in high school and now helps out Cherokee if they need him, as he is looking for a job. I met him yesterday because he helped Brittany and Mark get around the city. We took Blair to Asco first and then headed to Kechene. This caused me to be very late, but it was okay because I still wasn’t teaching today. They had not had time to make my schedule yet so I just sat in on classes again and played with the kids during free time. I played futbol again, but this time my team won like 5 times! Again at lunch we had rice with potatoes, carrots, and onions, but I think they doubled my portion from yesterday. I struggled big time finishing it. After I cleaned my plate, I do not think I could physically eat anything else without throwing up. During free time a little boy from the Grade 1 class (though he is a lot smaller than the other kids in that class) was looking at a world atlas book with me and was reading all the names of the countries and continents in the book. He then went and got a Winnie-the-Pooh book off the table and read it to me. His English was incredible! One of the teachers told me that he was one of the best students in the class and one of the smartest (he is also one of the most adorable). At the end of the day I was shown my schedule or “program” as they call it, and tomorrow I am teaching KG1 math and KG2 and Grade 1 ethics (Bible).

For dinner tonight we had pasta and garlic bread by candle light, for the power had gone out again (the government turns it off about every other day). It was nice though because Briana got to eat with us for the first time, so we were all together. A new girl, Allison, is flying in tonight but her flight was delayed and now she won’t be getting in until 2 am, meaning it will be around 3:30am before she gets to the house.

Day 3: Conquering the Mini-Buses

June 3, 2009

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?”
1 Corinthians 3:16

“...and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God”
1 Corinthians 3:23

Today was an awesome, incredibly draining day. First off, the call to prayer at 5:45 was louder then it was the morning before and kept me up for forever. Then , Briana went with me and Blair to work. We walked to where I would pick up my first mini-bus (oh by the way, I’ll be traveling throughout the city by myself) where she told me I had to listen to hear where the buses were going (from the guy leaning out the window yelling) and to get on the one going to Piazza. I swear though, these people talk so fast that I can’t understand a word they say. After we got on that mini-bus, I had to pay attention to where we were going so I would know where to get off. Once we got off, we had to walk down and around and across a few more streets (all of which I am supposed to remember!) to catch another mini-bus (more intangible yelling) to another stop I’m supposed to remember, and then walk down a few more roads to the school.

Once we finally made it to the school, we talked to Nicodemus, the man who started the school. I filled out a paper to become an “official volunteer” and Briana and Blair left for Asco. I was outside then and a ton of the children mobbed me, shouting my name and wanting to give me hugs and kisses. We ended up playing games outside (it was recess or break or something) and we played something like ring-a-round-the-rosy, and another game sort of like follow- the -leader or a conga line. The children kept singing me songs too. Some of the kids actually started getting into shoving fights over who would hold my hand or sit next to me. Finally, the kids went into their classrooms and a teacher told me I would be sitting in on Azarat’s KG2 class, so the kids I was with dragged me back there and I sat in as Azarat taught science, mostly in Amharic.

After that, the lunch was brought to the class room and I got to help serve it. I also ate the food with them. It was a huge portion of rice with potatoes, carrots, and onions, and it was really good~ but it was just so much food I had trouble eating it all. After that it was free time again and I ended up playing futbol with the boys, which was pretty fun. They all seemed to think I was a pretty good player! Then I went to the first grade room and sat in on their art exam and English exam.

Hyptomu, a friend of Briana’s and of Cherokee (plus a taxi driver) came and picked me up. He was so sweet and concerned and reminded me of a worried parent because he was lecturing me about how to get home on my own and warning me about talking to strangers. He then showed me a map he had drawn and told me about how I would need to go by mini-buses once I was going to Kechene by myself. He told me that I would need to hail a mini-bus going to Piazza and get off after the big round-about with the statue in the middle - then he told me to get out of his cab and do it….by myself!! He told me he would follow me in his cab but that the best way to learn is to be “practical” and do it yourself. For about 2 seconds, the greatest fear ever seized me and I was terrified, but Hyptomu hailed the mini-bus for me and I got on and everything was fine. Once I got off I got back into Hyptomu’s cab and he told me about all the other roads I would need to walk down and which buildings I should pass to get on another min-bus that leads to Tor Highluch, where Cherokee House is. We then went and picked up Blair from Asco Orphanage and repeated the process, except I went with Blair in the min-buses.

It has been quite the day and though it has been good and I have learned a lot, I am not ready to face the mini-buses on my own yet!

Day 2: First Visit to Kechene School

June 2, 2009

However, as it is written: No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.

1 Corinthians 2:9

Today has been a good day. We had Demis drive us in the private van again and we went to visit the places where Brittany, Blair, and I will be working . Rachel and Mark came with us because Rachel doesn’t start work until tomorrow and Mark still doesn’t know where his place is yet, because it just moved locations.

We first went and visited Destiny School, which is a private school where Brittany will be teaching. We got to sit down and talk to the man and his wife who started the school, and learn about the kids and sponsorship program there along with the micro business plan they have to help the poverty stricken mothers of their students.

After that we traveled to Kechene School where I will be working. The school was hard to find and is a very poor school, but the people there are so joyful. There are three grades ,K-2, and we went and visited all three classes and introduced ourselves to the kids. The children would welcome us by name and yell and cheer for us. One of the teachers brought us to the two younger classes and the children in those classes were so excited to see us! As soon as we walked into the room we were mauled by children yelling greetings and wanting a hug or to hold our hands or give us kisses, and they were all fighting to get close to us. After we were introduced, the children sang us songs. They sang Jesus Loves Me, other songs in Amharic, and then both classes sang Father Abraham, motions and all. The children there were all so precious and just wanted to be with you. I almost got dragged to the ground multiple times by children who wanted me to come sit next to them in there little desks and give me kisses on the cheek. They didn’t want to let go either and it took me forever to be able to leave the classrooms. They also kept calling my name because it translates into Amharic (because it is a Biblical name I was told) and wanting to show me their school work in their notebooks. I couldn’t understand any of it because it was in Amharic, but I would still nod my head and smile in encouragement. I’m feeling nervous about teaching there, not because of the kids or the teachers, but because I’m not sure what to teach (the guy who was teaching before me was teaching math, English, and environmental science) and I don’t know the language and even though the teachers know some English, it’s very broken and can be hard to understand. On top of that, I think I will be by myself traveling by taxi and then will be alone at the school - and I’m just all sorts of scared.

After Kechene we went out to lunch and had yummy pizza at a fringe (foreigner) restaurant and then headed to Mother Teresa’s orphanage, Asco, were Blair will be working. The facilities there are extremely nice. We were shown around the clinic and where the children stayed. Again, we were attacked when we went into the little kids room. The kids were probably 2 and younger and where yelling for attention and wanted to be picked up and be held. This one little girl came up to me very quetly and she looked so sad, so I reached down to pick her up and as soon as she was in my arms she lay her head down on my shoulder and put her arms around me neck and just lay there. The coolest thing we saw at Asco was a weaving room where a master weaver comes and teaches the boys at the orphanage to weave scarves in order to make money. We were told that the money they make from the scarves goes to paying for the materials, but then each boy has their own bank account and after the expenses are subtracted they get to keep the money they made.

After Asco we came back to Cherokee House, talked with Kate, who got back from her first day working for Bethany Adoption, and then Asni, the house cook, made us a delicious dinner of lasagna and garlic bread and salad. Tomorrow I think I head to Kechene to teach while every one else heads out to their prospective work places.

First Day in Addis

June 1, 2009

“For in Him you have been enriched in every way- in all your speaking and in all your knowledge- because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gifts as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”
1 Corinthians 1:5-9

Today has been a good day so far. This morning we slept in until around 8:30 (though we all woke up a lot earlier because of the call for prayer and yelling in the street outside our house) and hung around Cherokee House until Briana (Cherokee program director ) got back with two new people, Brittany and Mark. We girls are staying out in the bunk house, which is a building separate from the main house with one room with 3 bunk beds and a bathroom.

After they arrived, the five of us (minus Briana because she had meetings and things to do) were picked up by Demi, and taken to a party/lunch gathering thing for a new orphanage that is just starting. It is run by an Ethiopian man named Peter,who also helps run the Kechene School where I will be working , and he was kind enough to show us around the building. We ate lunch there and had real Ethiopian food - injera, which is a flat bread that is kind of sour like sourdough bread, some sort of meat stew, salad that had vinegar dressing on it, and rice that had some spicy sauce on it. You put all the ingredients on top of the injera and then use it like a scoop to eat. It was very tasty. After we ate, all the kids started coming up to us. First a bunch of the girls attacked Rachel’s hair and started braiding it, and then all the kids discovered that we had sunglasses on our heads. We took them off and gave them to the kids to wear and they were ecstatic. There was one little girl who shyly came over to me and sat down in my lap and then she wouldn’t let go for the longest time. She wouldn’t say anything, but kept hugging me closer like she was afraid I would put her down. She was so precious and I was ready to take her home with me right then. Alas, the children had to leave and then Peter gave us the tour of the building. We also learned that Peter had worked for Young Life in Ethiopia for the past 10 years and that Young Life is HUGE here, with hundreds of kids showing up for the weekly club meetings and thousands to their bigger meetings.
At this lunch we also met a couple who are adopting an 18 month old boy through Gladney. Wes and his wife (whose name I cannot remember) are from Houston, TX , where he is a singles minister at a church. Rachel and I were talking to the woman and she actually follows Ms. Eileen’s blog, Job’s Daughters, and knew who she was. The lady told me they and gone to visit Kolfe orphanage, which is the older boys orphanage, where Ms. Eileen’s unofficial son, Solomon, lives. She said they did not get the chance to meet him, though they had wanted to, because he was out at the time they had visited. She said that all the other boys though kept saying they wished they were Solomon and could have a family to love and care for them just like Solomon has the Mestases.

After visiting Peter’s orphanage, we went to one of Mother Teresa’s homes for the dying and destitute. Rachel had worked there with the boys with handicaps and disabilities when she was here two years ago, so we went back to visit. The people and children were overjoyed to see Rachel because they remembered her and the boys were so happy to see all of us in general. There were lots of smiling faces and hugs and kisses and lots of noise and laughter about the boys' antics. One boy kept crawling on all of us like a monkey and we were all afraid we would drop him! Another kept running around yelling jokes in Ahmaric that we didn’t understand, but he liked to hold our hands and give kisses and jump up and down.

After we left there we made a quick stop at Moses Orphanage where Rachel had also worked two years before, so that she could see the older girls she had worked with. They were all very shy towards us, but the man that runs the place came and gave us a quick tour. He said there are 8 girls and 12 boys who live there and he and Rachel were telling us how smart all the boys and girls were. Now we’re back at the house, exhausted and waiting for dinner. We don’t have power at the moment because apparently the government turns the power off every other day, so we all might be going to bed early tonight! I don’t think any of us will complain.