e t h i o p i a ,
addis ababa, ethiopia
i don’t even know – we’re in AFRICA – it’s the last three months and i really am blown away and speechless and can’t believe that i’m literally in ethiopia right now (never, ever thought i would come to africa) – i am over the moon about this month and it’s going to be so GOOD – so you should check this out because we have been BLESSED and our host is INCREDIBLE and this won’t be boring like the other first of the month blogs.
(very limited access to wifi though, so updates will be less frequent).
location: like on the outskirts of addis ababa in a more rural area. we’re in a neighborhood of houses that is in a nicer suburb type area like 45 minutes from downtown. we are in the rainy season which is bad for our laundry but amazing for me and so refreshing. the weather is beautiful, up into the 70s during the day, 50s at night. the feeling here, the people here, the culture here – it is a breath of fresh air.
language: english! there are 80 tribes and languages in ethiopia, the people we are working with speak oromo. i can now count to ten in oromo! our hosts speak english which is a blessing.
ministry partner: testimony feeding center – this place is incredible, and gadisa, our host is …so freaking cool.
his story and the way God has been in his life – he is 27 years old and grew up as an orphan on the streets, essentially, put himself through school, graduated top of his class, and got a scholarship for university, which he attended, still homeless and went days and days without food at times. he could not find a job and ended up talking to a random canadian over lunch one day, who gave him his card, and two months later called him and told him that they wanted to hire him as a social worker in their NGO, hope ethiopia. the canadian ended up being the founder and president of hope ethiopia and has ever since been a huge mentor to gadisa.
during his time there, he was not a Christian, but was surrounded by Christian people. he was given the verse jeremiah 29:11 five times by different people. and over time came to know the Lord. he ended up working for another NGO, making thousands of dollars a month, when he felt God telling him to give it all up and start his own NGO. so he did. he gave up everything and with nothing, decided to start his own NGO – and that story alone is incredible because it normally takes a lot of money and 2-3 years to get started in ethiopia and he had no money at that time and got approved in 2 months through a series of just God events.
so he started testimony feeding center which is a place to help encourage, provide for, and help kids who would otherwise be orphans. right now there are 10-12 kids, and they will get 10-12 more this summer. they provide money for the kid’s schooling, two meals a day, and a place for them to come on weekends and when they aren’t in school that is safe and off the streets. by doing this, it encourages relatives who would otherwise kick the kids out, to allow the kids to stay in their homes as a place to sleep basically, but each child’s basic needs are met by the center. the reasoning behind this though, is because gadissa wants the kids to have a tie to their culture – he wants them to be able to speak the language, understand their people, and if he took them away from that, they would lose that ability – because many children do end up trying to go back to their home after graduating, but if they are in a traditional orphanage they are taught english and have no connection to their homes.
he named it testimony 25:40 based on what God told him, and he uses his testimony to encourage orphans that they CAN be something, CAN make something of themselves, and God IS with them – that they are important and worthy and loved and successful (and the verse in matthew 25:40).
lodging: get ready. BEST LODGING ON THE RACE SO FAR. IN FREAKING AFRICA. and the story behind it is incredible too. we are in essentially a guesthouse, we have bunkbeds, hot showers, a kitchen, multiple bathrooms, a beautiful yard, and a safe compound to walk around and run in. and, we are in a NO malaria area because of the elevation.
gadissa was praying for a place to be able to host mission teams, and literally was walking around and saw this place being built and asked about it, but it was all ready bought. through a crazy series of events, including God asking him to come and walk around the building 7 times, and pick up a rock (he found a rock from the ones the builders threw away, sound familiar?), and then two days later God told him to call the people. he did, told them his story, and they decided not only to give him the house, but for a ridiculous price cut, and they paid for all the things he wanted, like a water tank etc…. it is an incredible blessing.
he kept the stone as a reminder.
what are we doing? ALSO. SO. FREAKING. EXCITING. we are doing a lot of things. we will be working at a Somali refugee camp, primarily with muslims, 2 days a week teaching english and playing with kids, and myself and the other two nurses on the squad will hopefully be going once a week with a medical team to help with screening. on Saturdays we will be hanging out with the kids that come to testimony feeding center. on the other days we will be working at the compound here, helping clean, and myself and two other girls will be painting two murals! during our last two weeks the kids will be out of school and here every single day so we’ll be hanging out with them a lot more too. one thing God has asked me to do, and my team has been incredibly supportive, is devote 1 hour a day to intercession prayer for the ministry here, my team, and whatever else God lays on my heart.
our hearts are full
and overflowing.
God said i’d be surprised in africa
(i had no idea).
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