High, Low
Practically every night in Ethiopia the group shared high of the day and low of the day together. Those times together where very emotional for everyone. The group of people I traveled to Ethiopia with grew to be so special to me and I enjoyed these times together. Each individual had gifts that contributed to the team and we worked together so well. God knit this team together and I am so thankful for that.
For this blog post I want to share my high and low for Thursday. Thursday morning, Zoe, my mom and myself loaded up in a van and traveled the bumpy trip of about 30 minutes to Bole Bulbula. Bole Bulbula is a local church as well as a center of employment for about 12 women. Here is the road Bole is on.
Here is the view from Bole. It is so beautiful up on that hill!! You can also see one of the houses that these women live in. This one was made out of wood, but most of them I noticed were made out of hay and mud stuck together.
Oh and here is the squatty potty up at Bole. This was the grossest squatty potty I have ever used in my life and I have used some gross ones. This could have been my low for the day, but it wasn't but it was pretty low:)
Anyway, so at Bole is 1 of 7 centers that have been started for women to work at. These centers provide work for women so that they do not have to beg for money and to rescue them from prostitution. It provides them with steady work that can provide for their family. At Bole Bulbula these women make clay beads. The amazing thing about this work is that it is all done by hand. The first step is to shape the clay beads and then they lay them out in the sun to dry. Here is the bowl of "raw" clay beads.
After they have set, the women have to sand them each down to rough up the edges. They do this by putting a piece of sandpaper on their finger and doing each one. This sweet woman put me to work. I am sure they had to fix each of mine I did while I was working:)
After sanding them down, they are cleaned off, dried again and then painted. Right now they can only do black beads because they do not have a kiln. The Ethiopian man who started these projects is hoping to raise enough money to have a small kiln made so they can fire other colors of beads.
They also hope to start a child care facility for the women's children. Right now, the children are coming and going during their work hours. Many of these women can not afford to send their children to school yet, so they are responsible for them during the day. Hopefully that will change and each child will be able to attend school or have care because of the hard work of their mother.
I had the opportunity, along with an interpreter, to sit around for about 2 hours and talk with the women. I was able to get a small glimpse into daily life for them. Their struggles, their family life, what a job and paycheck meant to them. This was my high for the day. These women are smart, hardworking, beautiful people who have such potential. For them to be given this opportunity to work is changing their lives. I was also amazed that 9 out of 10 of the women gave glory to God for what they did have. Their lives are tough but God was providing for them and they are truly thankful. An interesting thing about my conversations with these women is that none of them could for see their lives in a year. None of them had "goals" for one year out. The interpreter finally told me that this is because they are living day by day, trying to survive from one minute to the next and not working towards a year from now. I truly enjoyed my time with these women.
While I was talking, my mom and Zoe taught two women how to dye scarfs for sale. They learned so quickly and really enjoyed doing it!
Zoe teaching how to hand dye the first scarf.
The almost finished product.
The three scarfs they finished. They where so proud of their work. My mom tells a story that when the woman was unwinding her first scarf, her son walked up and was gleaming with pride while he watched his mother unwind her scarf. The pride and self worth these women feel at working hard is amazing!
The artist herself!
I was the first customer to buy a scarf!!! Such a fun and special time with these women!!
Ok, so the low for the day!! That afternoon, one of the stops we made was to a government orphanage. I had never been to an orphanage before going here and we where told this was a nice orphanage. Having said that, I can not imagine what a not nice orphanage would look like or be like and I am so thankful we did not see one! (We where not allowed to take pictures inside the orphanage because these children are available for adoption.)
When we arrived wee where greeted by some older girls playing in their room. There was maybe 20 or so girls, aged 8-13 playing in their room. Then we went upstairs to the toddler boy room, and all the boys where resting. Some where sleeping and some where awake, trying to hold their excitement in when they saw we had stickers.
The part that got to me was walking into the infant room. The first room had maybe 10 small, meaning days or weeks old, infants. Then I moved into the older infant room. There where approximately 30 beds with about 50 infants in the room. Obviously, some where doubled up and some had a bed to themselves. I was walking towards the back of the room and a sweet baby girl, maybe 8 months old smiled at me. So I started talking to her and she was giving me such a sweet grin. Then to my right, a sweet baby boy reached out and touched my arm. This little guy started blowing raspberries to me. I spent probably 15 minutes playing and talking with these two precious children. They would laugh, stick their tongue out, play peek-a-boo. Then it was time to leave... to leave these two children with an unknown future. There is about a 50% chance that they will be adopted, which is good, but what if they are not? Once they turn 4 or 5 they are virtually unadoptable and then once they turn 13, they are kicked out to live on the streets alone. Thankfully, God knows their future but my heart broke leaving these children. I have tears in my eyes just typing about them.
I was emotionally exhausted after leaving those two and the infant room, but there was one more building to go into before leaving the orphanage and this was for children with special needs. One particular child had cerebral palsy. Oh my, this child's eyes shined when I spoke to him but his poor body just wasn't working. I lost it!! What is this child's future? Will he ever be adopted? If not, would he be in that same spot in a year? Couldn't he thrive with therapy and some nurturing? What happens to him at 13?
I know that the caregivers at these orphanages are doing their best. The children maybe get their diaper changed 2x a day, they prop bottles up for them to self feed, the kids don't get held much. I wonder if it still breaks the workers heart or if they are so used to seeing these children day in a day out that it is just another child. It certainly continues to be something I have thought about everyday since that afternoon in Ethiopia. I will never forget those nameless babies or how I felt.
Isn't it great though that God knows their name. He knows their age. He knows their needs. He knows their future. And we who believe in Him are adopted sons and daughters of the King!! Thank you Father!
I thought I would add this picture to the bottom because after leaving the orphanage we headed to a shopping district and I had my shoes shined. I never really knew that tennis shoes could be shined, but they did look nice afterwards:) This boy is a street kid and makes his living having shining shoes!
Ethiopia was a trip of highs and lows. Each day something new to experience and see. I don't know what all God is teaching me through this trip but I was taught while I was in country and I continue to seek the Lord's face for the next step.
I look forward to sharing some more pictures tomorrow but I want to leave you the words of a song by the Paul Coleman Trio called "Africa"
For this blog post I want to share my high and low for Thursday. Thursday morning, Zoe, my mom and myself loaded up in a van and traveled the bumpy trip of about 30 minutes to Bole Bulbula. Bole Bulbula is a local church as well as a center of employment for about 12 women. Here is the road Bole is on.
Here is the view from Bole. It is so beautiful up on that hill!! You can also see one of the houses that these women live in. This one was made out of wood, but most of them I noticed were made out of hay and mud stuck together.Oh and here is the squatty potty up at Bole. This was the grossest squatty potty I have ever used in my life and I have used some gross ones. This could have been my low for the day, but it wasn't but it was pretty low:)
Anyway, so at Bole is 1 of 7 centers that have been started for women to work at. These centers provide work for women so that they do not have to beg for money and to rescue them from prostitution. It provides them with steady work that can provide for their family. At Bole Bulbula these women make clay beads. The amazing thing about this work is that it is all done by hand. The first step is to shape the clay beads and then they lay them out in the sun to dry. Here is the bowl of "raw" clay beads.
After they have set, the women have to sand them each down to rough up the edges. They do this by putting a piece of sandpaper on their finger and doing each one. This sweet woman put me to work. I am sure they had to fix each of mine I did while I was working:)
After sanding them down, they are cleaned off, dried again and then painted. Right now they can only do black beads because they do not have a kiln. The Ethiopian man who started these projects is hoping to raise enough money to have a small kiln made so they can fire other colors of beads.
They also hope to start a child care facility for the women's children. Right now, the children are coming and going during their work hours. Many of these women can not afford to send their children to school yet, so they are responsible for them during the day. Hopefully that will change and each child will be able to attend school or have care because of the hard work of their mother.
I had the opportunity, along with an interpreter, to sit around for about 2 hours and talk with the women. I was able to get a small glimpse into daily life for them. Their struggles, their family life, what a job and paycheck meant to them. This was my high for the day. These women are smart, hardworking, beautiful people who have such potential. For them to be given this opportunity to work is changing their lives. I was also amazed that 9 out of 10 of the women gave glory to God for what they did have. Their lives are tough but God was providing for them and they are truly thankful. An interesting thing about my conversations with these women is that none of them could for see their lives in a year. None of them had "goals" for one year out. The interpreter finally told me that this is because they are living day by day, trying to survive from one minute to the next and not working towards a year from now. I truly enjoyed my time with these women.
While I was talking, my mom and Zoe taught two women how to dye scarfs for sale. They learned so quickly and really enjoyed doing it!
Zoe teaching how to hand dye the first scarf.
The almost finished product.
The three scarfs they finished. They where so proud of their work. My mom tells a story that when the woman was unwinding her first scarf, her son walked up and was gleaming with pride while he watched his mother unwind her scarf. The pride and self worth these women feel at working hard is amazing!
The artist herself!
I was the first customer to buy a scarf!!! Such a fun and special time with these women!!
Ok, so the low for the day!! That afternoon, one of the stops we made was to a government orphanage. I had never been to an orphanage before going here and we where told this was a nice orphanage. Having said that, I can not imagine what a not nice orphanage would look like or be like and I am so thankful we did not see one! (We where not allowed to take pictures inside the orphanage because these children are available for adoption.)
When we arrived wee where greeted by some older girls playing in their room. There was maybe 20 or so girls, aged 8-13 playing in their room. Then we went upstairs to the toddler boy room, and all the boys where resting. Some where sleeping and some where awake, trying to hold their excitement in when they saw we had stickers.
The part that got to me was walking into the infant room. The first room had maybe 10 small, meaning days or weeks old, infants. Then I moved into the older infant room. There where approximately 30 beds with about 50 infants in the room. Obviously, some where doubled up and some had a bed to themselves. I was walking towards the back of the room and a sweet baby girl, maybe 8 months old smiled at me. So I started talking to her and she was giving me such a sweet grin. Then to my right, a sweet baby boy reached out and touched my arm. This little guy started blowing raspberries to me. I spent probably 15 minutes playing and talking with these two precious children. They would laugh, stick their tongue out, play peek-a-boo. Then it was time to leave... to leave these two children with an unknown future. There is about a 50% chance that they will be adopted, which is good, but what if they are not? Once they turn 4 or 5 they are virtually unadoptable and then once they turn 13, they are kicked out to live on the streets alone. Thankfully, God knows their future but my heart broke leaving these children. I have tears in my eyes just typing about them.
I was emotionally exhausted after leaving those two and the infant room, but there was one more building to go into before leaving the orphanage and this was for children with special needs. One particular child had cerebral palsy. Oh my, this child's eyes shined when I spoke to him but his poor body just wasn't working. I lost it!! What is this child's future? Will he ever be adopted? If not, would he be in that same spot in a year? Couldn't he thrive with therapy and some nurturing? What happens to him at 13?
I know that the caregivers at these orphanages are doing their best. The children maybe get their diaper changed 2x a day, they prop bottles up for them to self feed, the kids don't get held much. I wonder if it still breaks the workers heart or if they are so used to seeing these children day in a day out that it is just another child. It certainly continues to be something I have thought about everyday since that afternoon in Ethiopia. I will never forget those nameless babies or how I felt.
Isn't it great though that God knows their name. He knows their age. He knows their needs. He knows their future. And we who believe in Him are adopted sons and daughters of the King!! Thank you Father!
I thought I would add this picture to the bottom because after leaving the orphanage we headed to a shopping district and I had my shoes shined. I never really knew that tennis shoes could be shined, but they did look nice afterwards:) This boy is a street kid and makes his living having shining shoes!Ethiopia was a trip of highs and lows. Each day something new to experience and see. I don't know what all God is teaching me through this trip but I was taught while I was in country and I continue to seek the Lord's face for the next step.
I look forward to sharing some more pictures tomorrow but I want to leave you the words of a song by the Paul Coleman Trio called "Africa"
Africa
I came to change you but instead you changed me
And I confess I came to frame you in a photograph
But you showed me why
And you turned this mind around
And I see your hands reach out to God
Africa
Thanks for reading, I know it was a long post!!:)
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