Jemo Trip 2013 - Day 4 - Let the Fencing Begin!

(One thing I should caution as you read my account of our trip, is that it is ONLY my account.  I am one of 14 trip participants.  Each of us would tell a different story of the same day.  While we all had an amazing experience, we each noticed, learned, and interacted with this shared experience differently.  In this case one story does not fit all!  If you are interested in learning more, I highly recommend that you take the time to visit with several of our team members to get a more "well rounded" version of this trip!)

 

Monday morning was sunny, warm, and beautiful.  The temps were around 80* each day.  We were noticing the high altitude  in that we were slightly short of breath, but we were all feeling fine.  The sunshine felt so good after the long ND winter!

 

We ate breakfast each day at the guest home.  They served coffee (of course!), bread, peanut butter and jelly, juice, bananas, oranges (which are green in ET), and pancakes/french toast/omelets, etc. . . It was a pleasant way to begin the day.

 

On the schedule for Monday was the fence project.  While in the bus, we were told the ladies would be playing with the children and purchasing gifts for our home visits; while the men would be fencing.

 When we arrived at Jemo the Ethiopian men were already hard at work.  Our guys did their best to join in.

 It was HARD work!

 

Chad was totally impressed with how hard the Ethiopian men worked.  Their stamina was amazing.  They also had a great plan and knew how to make the most of their resources.

 

Our ND boys had a very difficult time keeping up.  I heard comments like "I hope they don't think we are a bunch of lazy Americans!" "I think I'm going to puke!"  "Really, these muscles are just for show."  and "Wow!  Those men are amazing!  How can they work like that!"

 

 Some of the Ethiopian men working on the project were volunteers.  Some were hired as day laborers.  All were part of the Jemo church.  My construction worker hubby totally enjoyed working with them.  He said communication went very well - they just had to gesture a lot!  He wishes he had guys willing to work as hard as these men.  He is also looking for a way to get some good quality shovels, pick axes, and post hole diggers sent their way.  They did an amazing job of using what they had, but the shovel heads were just not the same strength that he has access to.  They also did not have a post hole digger.  They did a wonderful job with the tool they had created - but a post hole digger would be a great benefit to them.

 

While working alongside these Ethiopian men, Chad also changed his mind about some things. Before working with them, he thought that a mini cement mixer would be a huge blessing to them.  After watching how quickly they were able to mix concrete by shovel, he understood that the mixer would only slow them down.

 

Working with these men was certainly Chad's favorite part of the trip.

 

While they do not build as he does - he has nothing but admiration for their work ethic, wise use of resources, workmanship, and the joy they took in working.

 While the men worked, we ladies played with the children for a bit.

 

I pulled out the balloons and was nearly mobbed by excited kiddos!

 

While blowing up balloons I noticed this beauty.  Her name is Haimanote, and I was asked by her sponsor to find her while in country.  Haimanote is 14, according to her paperwork, but to me she looked about 9 or 10.  Children looking very small and younger than what we would expect for their age was a common theme on this trip.  When we left with Helina to buy gifts for the families whose homes we would visit, I took a minute to ask her about age.

 

I explained that we had noticed that most of the kids looked much younger than the age they were listed as.  In fact, when we got into the van the first day there our team all expressed that they were surprised how many pre-schoolers we had in the program.  I had quickly corrected them, explaining that the youngest child enrolled was 4.  The rest were all older.

 

Helina responded that the children are properly aged.  Children in Ethiopia just do not age as quickly as American children for many reasons.  She said, "In America, everyone look old!  Sierra look 16 or 18 in Ethiopia.  In America she 13.  Must be the food!  But once Ethiopians are about 30 we look older than Americans.  You, Alicia, you look young and you are 38."

 

(Now you know why I love Helina so much!)

 This is one of the treasures I located on Monday - Ayelu!

He is our sponsored son at Jemo.

He was sweet, quiet, and shy.  He has deep soulful eyes.  And I desperately wished I had brought him a new outfit as his was near rags.

I am not sure he knew what to think of us, but we sure enjoyed meeting him!

 One of the highlights of my trip was Fran.

 

Fran retired Wednesday, and flew to Ethiopia on Thursday!  She is one of the people that travel with me to Freedom Fellowship in McLaughlin, SD each month.  I have spent quite a bit of time with her in the last 2 years - but I have never, ever, ever seen her have as much fun as she did in Ethiopia.  It was pure joy to serve with her.

Fran spent hours on Monday painting finger nails!

 

 

As soon as we returned from our shopping adventure.  We headed out on our first 2 home visits.

 

Our shopping adventure had been spent mostly on the bus, waiting for Helina to find the things we needed.  We wished to buy coffee and sugar for each family we would visit.  Coffee was easy.  (Everyone in Ethiopia buys green - unroasted - coffee.  Roasted coffee is too expensive.  So they roast it at home and grind it as well.)  Finding sugar proved impossible though.  Helina explained that the government disperses sugar to all the stores, and since the next shipment was due the following day, there was no sugar to be found.  So instead of sugar - we purchased oil and rice for the families.  We were allowed to come into the store to pay for the items since they were fixed priced.  When we purchased the lambs, later in the week, we had to stay on the bus.  When negotiations are a part of the purchase, it is best to keep Westerners out of the picture!

 

While I did not take any photos at the small grocery store we shopped at or the street we were parked on, one thing I noticed is that Ethiopian men are very involved fathers.  It is not uncommon to see fathers out and about caring for their children.  I also noticed that since I had last been in Ethiopia, there is a significant decrease in begging.  Helina left us alone in the bus.  There was not one person who stopped to beg.  Three years ago, a driver would never have left us alone without a large crown of people gathering around us.

 When we had finished shopping, we returned to Jemo.  About a third of our group set off on home visits.  We had decided to only send 3 or 4 people on each home visit so that we would not overwhelm the families we visited.  The first home visit was to the home of Hermela, the child that our Life Club kids sponsor.  Ashlee (our Children's Ministries Coordinator), Grant (one of the Life Club kids), and I were chosen to visit Hermela and her mother.

 

(Several other group members were along on the walk because they would be a part of the next home visit.)  It was a long steep walk to Hermela's compound.  I worried for our social worker, Amarech, who is expecting a baby in 3 months, but we walked slowly and she was fine.

 Pictured above are the steps that lead up to the compound gate.

 

Everyone, it seems, lives in a compound.  Tall fences and gates line all the roads.  On each home visit that I went, when you entered one of these gates, you entered a courtyard of sorts.  Each courtyard was surrounded by metal shacks, which were the homes of the residents.  In the courtyards laundry was strung and socializing seemed to occur.

 Hermela seemed pleased to have us coming to her home.

 She had a little kitten tied up with a piece of twine at her door.

 Pictured above are Grant, Ashlee, Hermela's mother, and Hermela.

 

Their home was very modest.

 

It had a twin sized bed, with a rice bag mattress - that they shared.  There was another space about the size of the bed that was unfurnished.  It had a dirt floor and one bare lightbulb hanging from the ceiling.  There was nothing else, that I noticed, in their home. (though it looks like there might be a bench in the photo above)

 

We think that there was a shared cooking space and a latrine in the common space of the compound.

 

Hermela's mother was pleasant.  She was very quiet.  She greeted us politely, accepted our gifts with gratitude, and answered our questions graciously.  The visit was short.  Ashlee explained that the BCC kids pray for Hermela and care about her.  Then Ashlee prayed for the family.

 We had not gotten very far down the road before a smiling Hermela ran to catch up with us.

 She stayed close to Ashlee's side the rest of the walk.

Helina, Hermela, and Ashlee walking side by side.  It was so good to meet Hermel and  to see that she is a living, breathing, smiling, skipping, giggling child of God.

 

After leaving Hermela's home we walked along on another home visit, then we returned to Jemo.

(One of the most profound moments of my trip happened during this home visit - but I will blog about that separately.)

 

 When we returned, the men were still hard at work.

 The girls were as well.

 Some of the cutest kids in the world hang out at Jemo.

This little boy is Kalide.  He is all personality! 

 I was so impressed with the way our men worked together.  My hubs is used to running the show when it comes to construction.  On this project, however, he listened and followed.  He respected the expertise and experience of the locals, and he was thrilled with how things went.  So were the Ethiopian men.  It made my heart sing every time throughout the week that the Ethiopian men waved Chad over to show him their work.  He was truly proud, both of the relationship that was forming and the work that was being done.  It was really cool.

 

I am so glad he was there!

 While our guys needed breathers off and on - the Ethiopian men took breaks to play!

 

They played some mean soccer.

They also loved volleyball!

 Breaks never lasted long.

 

 Jim, we learned, has some serious soccer skills!  They were a hit with the older boys.

I am not sure if the boys or Jim had more fun!

 The day ended with a dance party.

 

I had teased Chad at lunch about the fact that he had figured out a way to work without music.  At home he always has music blaring when he works, claiming he just can't work any other way.  Our hosts had heard us joking, and so they rigged up some speakers which sent some music pumping through the air.  It was really kind.

 

Bob and the kids were soon jamming.

Kalide, we learned, has some incredible dance moves.

 Before long, Troy was line dancing with the littles.

 But it was this beautiful woman who took my breath away.

 

While there was happy chaos all around her, her heart was turned toward worship.

 While many of us were absorbed by children giggling, shovels digging, pick axes swinging, games of soccer and Frisbee being played - this one woman was completely focused on praising the King.

 

There is so much that I can learn from her:

-seize the moment

-Praise like no one is watching

-in ALL things give thanks

-any place can be a quiet place

- etc

 

The vision of her worshiping in the midst of it all is one thing I have hidden in my heart from this trip.

 

We left Jemo by 3:00 or so on Monday.

 

From Jemo we headed back to the guest house to take super fast, super freezing showers.

Then we went to the market and speed shopped for 45 minutes.

I had not been at the market on my last trip, so that was fun.

I spent 100s of Birr in record time (LOL! $1 US was worth 18.56 ET Birr when we were there.)

Then we stopped at a fancy hotel to try and get a few minutes of Wifi connection since the guest house had not had any since 10 minutes after we arrived.  We had limited success with the Wifi, but succeeded enough that everyone got a quick message off to someone at home.

 

 Our final stop for the night was a traditional dinner at the Yod.

This was another new experience for me, and I loved it!  The food, the dancing, the coffee, the popcorn - all were delightful.  More surprising still, Chad enjoyed it!  Though he is still not the biggest fan of injera, he came to LOVE the spicy meat stews of Ethiopia.

 

Once again, we returned to the guest home late, exhausted - and excited for the day ahead.

 

As I reread this, I am understanding why I have not been able to keep my eyes open past 9 pm all week!  Last week was busy!  Add in jet lag and a killer cold and you have one tired momma!  Last night I fell asleep while praying with Joshua . . . at 8:30.  I slept until morning!  And I am still tired!  I think my age (no matter how young I look, Ha!) is ahowing!

 

 



Jemo Trip 2013, Day 3 - Mother's Day

This is the church building at the Jemo compound.

 

When we arrived Sunday morning - after a restless night's sleep (restlessbecause of the Orthodox chanting that went on from midnight until day break) - we were greeted with kisses and hand shakes from the children.  We chatted with them for a while, until one gently told me, "You are missing church!"

 

At that point, Chad and I slipped in the back door and found a seat with the rest of the team.

 

The church was packed full of people.  It was HOT!  Men and women sat intermixed.  The smallest children stayed with their parents - but the older ones found a low bench in front.  Mangastew, the worship leader, was also serving as usher.  He ushered each person into a seat with an enthusiastic smile.

 

Being in a new church always makes me a bit nervous.  That fact makes me laugh at myself, but it is true.  I am a rule follower, and in any new situation, I long to know the rules and follow them!  It is extra challenging to follow the "rules" in a church when you can not understand the language.

 

God is SO gracious though.

 

He seated me right next to the Pastor's daughter.  She spoke very good English and translated every bit of the service for me.

 

Throughout the service there were beautifully lead worship songs, and offering, a sermon, we were asked to come forward and introduce ourselves (Fikre translated), and finally communion.  We were able to participate in communion.  That was a beautiful moment to me - communing with our brother's and sister's in Christ at Jemo.

 

The service seemed very "Lutheran."  We learned later in the week that the denomination of the Jemo Church (Mekenejesus - spelling ?) is actually very similar to what we would call Lutheran.  I grew up going to my Grandparent's country Lutheran church.  Who would have thought that I would one day sit in a Lutheran church in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

 

Being in the Jemo church was a really wonderful experience.  I am thankful that we began our week worshiping together.

 

After church, we chatted with the congregation.

The children were the most outgoing.

 This is one of my favorite photos from the trip.

 

It is Kristen's sponsor daughter's running to greet her.

 

They had recognized her from photos she had sent, and they ran to her each day calling "Kreesten!  Kreesten!" so very happily.  It was precious.

Jim worked hard to learn as much as he could.

 

He kept a small notebook in his back pocket and wrote down many words and phrases throughout the week.  It was an excellent idea - one that I will recommend to team members on future trips.

 My beautiful Berra girl totally enjoyed all the children.

She did such a good job interacting with them. 

 This boy's name is Yedidiya.

 

He was one of the last kids to be sponsored, but he quickly became one of my favorites.  The older kids were SO helpful.  They knew a bit of English, and they were happy to try their hand at translating.  I appreciated them very much.

 Chad had a wonderful time in Ethiopia.

 

He admits that before we left, he was really questioning the wisdom of leaving his business for 10 days.  Once there, he had no regrets or doubts.  He loved every bit of it . . . well - except for the mosquitoes!

 We spent time on Sunday exploring the compound and noticing the details.

 

There is a well on one side of the compound.

There was water spigot on the other side.

 

So - they have access to water.  I am not sure how clean it is - but it is easily accessible.

 A favorite memory I have from this day was being surrounded by kids who wanted to teach me Amharic.  I would point to a body part and say the English word.  The kids would repeat my English word and then tell me the Amharic word.  I would then repeat that.  Most of the time they would shake their heads "no" at my pronunciation and repeat the process.  It was fun.

 

Part way into my lesson, Troy walked up.

 

The kids quickly pointed at his bulging biceps and gave me the word for muscles.

I repeated.

They nodded "Ow"  (yes)

Then I pointed to Troy's muscle and said "tinnish" (which means small).

The kids giggled ans whispered, surprised that I knew a word they had not taught me.

Finally one kind child yelled "NO!  No Tinnish!  Tilik (big)!"

We all laughed and laughed until we let Troy in on our joke.

 

Troy is a great joker.  So he took off his hat next, showing the kids his balding head.  They giggled and gave him the work for bald.  Then he started pulling on his arm hair and pointing to his head - trying to tell them that he wished the hair on his arms would go onto his head instead!  He had the kids all confused!  They thought that he had magically gotten the hair from his head to begin growing on his arms instead.  We laughed and laughed as we watched the kids talking about us that day!  It really was funny!

 Some of the kids were easy to identify - like Ruhama!  I knew her right off the bat.

 Others were harder to identify.

 

One thing I asked the kids to do when they begged for me to take their photo was to tell me their names first.  It is obvious that "My name is........" is a phrase they practice.  Almost all the kids could answer my "what is your name" question.

 

I found many kids by asking this question.

 

It was a fun way to get to know the kids and practice Amharic sounds..

 One of the best surprises of the day was asking these boys their name.

 

The boy on the right told me his name was Desaleng.  He then pointed to my mom and said "She my mom."  I replied that he was right, Donna was my mom.  He shook his head no, and repeated that she was his mom.  I quickly realized that he was correct!  My mom and dad are his sponsors.  Many of the children call their sponsors mom and dad.  It was really incredible to hear Desaleng call my mom his mom.  It was beautiful and sobering and humbling and gave me great joy all at the same time.

 

Desaleng went on to introduce the boy on his left.  It is his little brother.  His name is Gebeyehu.

 

That knocked my socks off.

 

His name is Gebeyehu - just like my son.

 

I just had to breathe for a moment.  I had never met another Gebeyehu.

 

When all the kids were profiled, I searched every one for the names Gebeyehu, Gatisso, Bekelech - Joshua's Ethiopian family.  I found none of those names.  So, I allowed Joshua to choose our sponsored child.

 

But in a coincidence that only God could facilitate, our family added a Gebeyehu.

 

I know it seems like nothing major, but to me it was amazing.  This boy - Desaleng - who was calling my mom his (and who called me his sister by the end of the week) had a brother with my son's name.  It felt really personal and divine.

 

It certainly was the beginning of a special connection between our families.

 

Our play time was interrupted for a bit by coffee!

 We had popcorn with the coffee.

Sigh.  I LOVE Ethiopian popcorn and coffee.

So.

Much.

 

We also had roasted corn.  The young girl who took the corn off the cobs to roast it allowed me to help her a bit.  It was fun to try something new.  She was WAY faster than I, but I surely enjoyed the lesson.  Her mother did not think it was appropriate for me to help though so I was quickly told "Bekka" (enough) and sent back to my seat.

 

The Ethiopian ladies treated us like royalty, never wanting us to do any hard work.  I am used to working hard, and I did not expect to be waited on.  At the same time, I wanted to show them respect and gratitude.  I hope I was successful.  I have nothing but respect for the way these beautiful women love their children and work for their families.  I am honored that they allowed us so much access to their kids.  I hope that over time, I am able to build a relationship with the mothers as well.

 As I expected, Chad LOVED Ethiopian coffee.

(and that is an understatement)

 As we finished our coffee, an afternoon rain shower passed through.  It was actually quite refreshing.  I did not blame the kids for playing in the rain.

 

The staff, however, decided to get the kids out of the rain and inside the church.

 The Jemo compound contained several buildings.

The greenish building on the left is the Pastor's home.

The building in the middle houses the HopeChest office at Jemo and 2 Sunday School rooms.  It is made of wide straw and mud walls.  These walls keep the rooms quite cool.

The church is the largest metal building.

 

The church was filled with park bench style pews and a concrete floor.  It worked really well as a multi-purpose room.  When we rearranged the benches we could do many things in the room.  When the kids spilled on the concrete it was simple to clean up.  I really liked the space a lot.

 This is the bathroom at Jemo.

 

I was actually pleasantly surprised.

 

I had been told there was no bathroom at Jemo.  Which made a concrete slap with a hole in it and walls around it for privacy was more than I expected.

 

I will not claim to miss the "squatty potty" but it was not that bad!

 When I rejoined the group, worship was in session.

 

"Father Abraham" was being sung in Amharic.

 

It was fun.

 Then the staff invited Colin to play an American song.

 

When he started playing, I had instant chills.

 

He picked "Blessed Be Your Name."

 

The very song that I had sobbed through on Mother's Day three years earlier.  I could not even attempt to choke out the words that year.  "Blessed be your name, on the road marked with suffering, when there is pain in the offering, blessed be your name.  Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise, When the darkness closes in Lord, Still I will say blessed be the name of the Lord."

 

I wept for Joshua's Ethiopian mom that day, like I had never wept before.  I argued with God, wondering how to bless His name when He takes a mommy away from her baby.  I sobbed and sobbed.

 

And three years later, I was asked to sing this song in a congregation of beautiful Ethiopian people - on Mother's Day non-the-less.

 

The fact that I could sing, with a heart full of praise, is evidence that God heals us.  He changes us.  He redeems us.  He is a God of second chances, even when it looks as though a second chance is impossible.

 

It was an incredible moment.

 As worship closed, I noticed a little girl sitting next to me holding on tightly to a folded up piece of paper.  I asked if I could see it, and I quickly realized that it was a letter from her sponsor.  She was so proud of it.  It was a treasure to her.  I was thrilled to tell her that her sponsor is my gwadenya (friend)!  I was also thrilled to see the kids are getting their mail from their sponsors!

 As we got ready to head back tot he guest house for supper, a crowd gathered around Sierra.  It was a crowd of teen-age girls all trying to talk to her.  They asked her funny questions - like are you married?  (Ethiopian kids age more slowly than American kids.  She looks 18 in Ethiopia.)  Do you have any kids?  Do you like school?  Can I touch your hair?  Is Alicia your mother?  They then asked for a photo with us.  I'm so glad they did!

 

The final discovery of the day involved the girl on the right.

 

She is the Pastor's daughter that translated the service for me.

 

She is also VERY talented with children's ministries.  She had the kids playing games, singing songs, listening with great glee, and anything else she suggested.  She was fun, energetic, age-appropriate, and engaging.  I was totally impressed.

 

She asked me if I would like to see the Sunday School rooms.  I did, of course!

 

She told me that they have 300-400 kids in Sunday School each week.  Sunday School takes place during the sermon.  They have 2 classrooms to house all the kids!  They also use the out of doors.  As the number of children grew, she trained the rest of the young people in the photo to be teachers.  So, these students are now teaching the children each week.  They prepare their own lessons and work with about 25 children.  I was so impressed with these kids!

 

I would have stayed longer and asked more questions, but the bus was loaded and they were looking for stragglers like me!  So I said a quick good-bye and thank you before climbing into the bus.

 

We got back to the guest house in time for supper.  We hung out as a team in the common area for a while before heading up to bed.  Sleep is hard in Ethiopia - with the time change, the new noises, and the flies and mosquitoes.  The guest house we stayed at had less outside noise than I have experienced in the past, which was nice.  Still, between dogs barking and my brain straining to sort through all I had seen and learned during the day, I slept restlessly.  I knew our time in Ethiopia would be short.  To sleep seemed a waste of the experience!