Dec 4 in Ethiopia

We started our day by visiting Hope for the Hopeless- it's an outreach to street kids in Addis. I was completely blown away by this small transition center/orphanage. The director is a man after God's own heart. He and his staff minister to street kids from age 5 to 15 years. Yes, you read that correctly- they minister to children who live in the streets of Addis. Their staff invites boys and girls to come to their transition center for a meal, a shower, a place to wash their clothes.... the children can come and go but the goal is to have them stay. If they choose to stay they will live in this location for 3-6 months (until they relearn to obey instructions from adults) then they will go to the orphanage outside Addis. The goal is to transition the child back to their family (if it is safe) or to live with a guardian.
During their 3-6 month stay in Addis they attend school, receive discipleship, the child works with a psychologist to help the healing process. Healing from what you ask? Many of these children have been exposed to physical and/or sexual violence, they have learned survival techniques required to survive on the streets of Addis. Many of the boys we met had scars on their faces and heads as a result of street fights with other street kids. The children are not forced to stay, it is completely their choice, and some choose to leave because they will not abide by the rules. The staff learns everything about these children in order to rebuild their lives, their future.

We hung out with the children, drew with chalk, gave them balloons and listened to their stories. Pete had an IPOD with speakers with him. One little boy took to the music right away never leaving Pete's side. Another little boy who was about 8 years old traveled 500 kilometers by bus (alone!) from his village to escape his drunken, abusive father…because of Hope for the Hopeless he has hope for the future.
Later that afternoon we would meet one of the two girls, Meron, who live at Hope for the Hopeless. Meron's story is told in Tom Davis' book- Red Letters. Meron's parents were sick so they sent her to a relative who enslaved her and abused her. She ran away to find her parents but learned they had died. Now she was alone on the streets of Addis with no place to turn. She stayed awake for 3 days trying to avoid the street gangs of boys only to be discovered.... unthinkable things happened to her. The staff for Hope for the Hopeless found her and brought her back to the transition center. This is were she began to heal.

After we left Hope for the Hopeless we went to Compassion Family International. This is a drop in center for vulnerable children. If it were not for this center these children ages 2 to 8 years old would be home alone or on the streets while their parents are at work. We were so touched by this ministry and the children we asked what the most important need was. We were told mattresses. The children at this location napped at their desks! Needless to say they did not nap for very long! We were able to provide money to purchase mattresses and bedding.

At this point we were suppose to be meeting some people for dinner. However the Holy Spirit prompted us to talk about Hope for the Hopeless. Our group huddled together and decided that we would go back to provide them money for food- their biggest need. When Tom called the director to say were were on our way, the director said that they had been praying for a miracle all day. They had run out of food and had no money in the bank. Karen and her van stopped along the way to purchase bought 10 kilos of bananas, 10 kilos of oranges, 9 kilos of carrots and 7 loaves of bread and delivered it with the funds to the transition center. When the funds and food were presented to the director there was not a dry eye in the group. The transition staff were openly weeping. You could feel the Holy Spirit among us. I cannot adequately describe the intensity of the moment but I know that we were an answer to prayer. For those of you who donated money, please know you were a big part of today.
Here is a clip of our team at Hope for the Hopeless.

Going into an Orphanage from Tom Davis on Vimeo.

Leaving Grace Baptist Church, Thursday, Dec 3

After 4 hours of playing with the children at Grace Baptist Church, we prayed for the pastor and his team then we were ready for the journey back to Addis. The pastor asked if we could take his cousin back with us. We agreed. The cousin was a young woman in her 20's. She had a baby with her. It was not long before we realized she was very sick. She said she had some sort of intestinal issue. Every 20-30 minutes we had to stop the car because she was so sick. The road was not like on many US highways where there are rest stops, fast food places or gas stations along the way. No, the road to Addis from Kombolcha is miles and miles of nothing. So, our traveler had no choice but to be sick on the side of the road. We gave her water and wipes to clean up a bit, we gave her Tums and Bonine but nothing helped.

A few hours into the journey she said she could not go on. She had an aunt in a village a few miles ahead, she asked if we would let her out at the village entrance.


Our driver stopped so they could get out of the van. I wondered how far would she have to walk to her aunt's home? Many Ethiopians walk miles each day but this woman was sick, she was probably dehydrated, she had to carry a baby.... Would her aunt be home? We had no choice but to let her go.

Our drivers were concerned about driving on the treacherous roads after dark AND were concerned that restaurants were not safe (sanitary enough) for westerners so we did not stop to eat. We enjoyed granola, peanut butter crackers and nuts for lunch. This was much more than many of the children at Grace Baptist Church would eat that day.
The journey to the guest house took a little over 9 hours.


Right before I went to bed Tom L. was talking to me. I said something to him that made no sense. I knew I wasn't making any sense so I headed for my room. I went to bed around midnight feeling very emotional. I thought it was from all we had seen in the last few days. Soon I realized it was something more serious. I heard voices in my head. When I closed my eyes I saw a wolf and a cat talking in my head, their voices would not stop. I saw alligator wallpaper that was not there. I opened my eyes and I saw little people in the corner of our room... they were as tall as gnomes. I asked Heather and Karen if they saw the little people. They did not. Karen quickly realized that I was hallucinating which was quite a relief to me. I knew something was wrong but couldn't figure it out. It was a side effect of the malaria medicine I was taking. Heather prayed that I would stop hearing the voices so I would be able to sleep. I slept fitfully but the voices were gone. I was able to switch to another malaria medicine (thanks to Pete) which did not have the same side effects. I was ready for Friday.

The road to Kombolcha- Day 2 and 3 in Ethiopia

We left the guest house at 4:30AM. We were told that the drive to Kombolcha would take about 6 hours. Little did we know that the trip would take about 11 hours. Evidently, the Ethiopian government decided that they should pave most of the road from Addis to Kombolcha.

I experienced the most treacherous drive I can recall. We dodged, people, camels, horses, carts, goats, cows, dogs, other cars/trucks.... We climbed a mountain and reached 10,600 feet, driving through fog so thick that we could not see more than 10 feet in front of us. Our driver was amazing. He navigated the van through potholes and thick gooey mud.

Entering the fog...

crossing the "dry" river bed

When we finally arrived in Kombolcha we were greeted by 120 children that were "at risk". Many are single or double orphans (meaning one or both of their parents have died). Some children live with guardians who cannot afford to feed them... they can only provide shelter.

The children were skin and bones. Some were eating grass because they were so hungry. There was a little boy who looked like Henry. I wondered, if we had not adopted Henry would be be starving too? It's hard to look into the eyes of hungry children knowing that I could not bring comfort and healing to each one of them at that moment. We played with them for a little bit, learned their names and heard the story of Grace Baptist Church. Grace provides the children with an education but is unable to feed them. This location is available for sponsorship!

After playing with the children we went to the hotel. How I longed for a US hotel. The towels were as large as a hand towel! Our beds were surrounded by mosquito netting which Heather and I used while we slept.

On Thursday we headed back to Grace Baptist Church to play with the children. The children were sooo excited to see us again. We tried to blow up some balloons and play with each child but there were way too many kids per adult. We were able to create four stations- A bible craft, bible story, parachute game and a children's game station. The kids LOVED it. They all rotated through each station so we were able to spend time with each group of children. Tom L and I played duck, duck, goose, London bridges, and head and shoulders, knees and toes with the kids. The girls wanted to be sooo close to me. They touched my skin, kissed my hands and face... they pressed their bodies against mine so tightly I had to wonder if they were touched, loved, encouraged at home. The children were eating grass because they were not fed. It was so heartbreaking to see.

We asked the pastor what the most immediate need was. He answered FOOD. We were able to give him $2,000 for food. (If you gave me money I was able to donate money to this site on your behalf.)

Day #1

We arrived in Ethiopia on Tuesday, Dec 1, 2009! We loaded up the two vans and headed for the guest house.

Our team consists of 4 women (Shiloh, Karen, Heather and me) and 9 Men (Tom Davis, Simon, Tom L, Jeremy, Josh, Caleb, Pete, John, David) and a team of Children's Hope Chest staff in Ethiopia. We had lunch and then headed to our first care point/orphanage.
We played with the children, handed out care packages and then headed back to the guest house.
We went to a traditional Ethiopian Restaurant for dinner. Before we could order I got sick so our driver took Heather and I back to the guest house. Heather took care of me and made sure I was safely tucked into bed. She also had the team pray for me when they returned from dinner.
Wednesday morning I was feeling much better. I was well enough to go to Kombolcha.

Comfortably Numb

I've been home for almost 48 hours. I am feeling "Comfortably Numb". I cannot feel anything but numbness. I think my senses have become completely overloaded and there for have shut down. I am going through my own personal "brown out".
How do you interact with suffering, starving children, terrible conditions and not feel something?? While I was in Ethiopia I felt the children's pain, I heard tummies rumble from hunger, I saw children eating grass because they were so hungry.... and today I have a choice- I can remain in this comfortably numb position or I can do something. Through the jet lag and my stomach issues I would prefer to be comfortably numb but I KNOW that isn't the right choice... I can choose to ignore what I saw but I cannot... it haunts me...I close my eyes and I feel the children kissing my hands, my face, I hear the children giggle and laugh, I hear them singing songs of praise and I know I have to do something. Today I will ask church leaders to help support an orphanage in Ethiopia. If you are interested in supporting an orphan through Children's Hope Chest please e-mail me at Mblueberry.madamblueberry@gmail.com

So much to say

Blogging was pretty difficult in Ethiopia. Imagine 13 people sharing one computer with dial up! VERY SLOW.
I'm home now and trying to process everything I saw and experienced. I feel pretty numb.
In a few days I hope to start sharing my experience. Right now, I trying to be present for my husband and children. Jet lag is not my friend and I've picked up a stomach bug on the way home.
Thanks for praying for me while I was gone. I had an amazing time with some amazing people.

Images from Ethiopia

Some images from Ethiopia



















Some of the kids we've met