A few days ago it was my month "anniversary" of being back home. I started to write blog entry about it, throwing in a story or two from my stay in Ethiopia, but I ended up not wanting to.
But I just sat down from making my injera starter, and I felt Ethiopia-like enough to blog.
I apologize for not blogging in a while--or at all, really. While I was there I was busy, or so wrapped up in routine that I didn't find anything new to talk about. (Which is something I'm going to change next time. While I enjoyed teaching at the Academy, I don't think I'm going to do it all the time. At least not in a teacher mode. Maybe as a substitute for Michelle or as her helper.
So. To give you something to eat from my Ethiopian table of memories, I'll probably start with my future-sponsor kids. I'll post pictures of them, their stories,and why I feel led to sponsor them.
First off: Abreham Gudu.
Abreham's parents are both dead, therefore he lives with his grandmother. (In the link at the end, you can read his full story as provided by BCI in their newsletter.) Abreham's grandmother is Oromo and spoke only Oromepha when she first moved to Debre Zeit. Abreham, too, only spoke Oromepha, but being younger quickly picked up the language and because the translator for his social worker and grandmother, as well as for other people his grandmother encountered. He is now in the process of learning English, which means when he learns it he will be trilingual!
My story with Abreham starts, to my recollection, when I visited his house. It was a few days before activity day and I interacted with the family as I do on homevisits. Well, when the activity day came, he noticed me and began spending time with me. He would want to play with me; and when it was lunch time he actually had to fight to sit with me. **Not actually fight, but once the former kid left to get seconds he came in for the kill--of me. :P **
As the article reads, his unemployed grandmother cares for him and his siblings--one of which is younger than he. He is the only one in the program, so his care cares for the entire family.
When I first was considering him he had only 1 sponsor. But now he has 2. Hopefully I can be his third and bring him to full sponsorship. Abreham's article.
The next child is Tekalign:
I can't remember if I first met Tekalign on a homevisit or an activity day. I do remember that the first time we connected was at his house on a home visit. By the time I left he and his little brother were hanging on to me every chance they had. And on my last home visit with the family I was able to look through his school work and tests. :P Bright kid.
He lives with his HIV-positive mother and her three other children. Solomon is the oldest at around 10. Tekalign is around 7. Alemaheyu(Shown in the picture to the left of me and Tekalign) is 4. And Sitota is 1 year old. Alemaheyu and Sitota are both fully sponsored; Solomon is 1/3 sponsored; but Tekalign has no sponsors. He's probably the choice if I had to choose only one of my three kids if it were in terms of connection.
And the final kid is Natnael:
His story is this:
A number of years ago his mother and father died. Orphaned, his neighbor took him in. This neighbor, to my knowledge, already had kids of her own and was already pretty old. But she took him in regardless. She now has seven children in her care including Natnael.
This kid is all smiles and is a well-behaved one. At activity days he often sat with me or invited me to sit with him(Even if at times I didn't realize who he was). I was able to visit his house last on the day of my departure. I actually think it was one of the longest because Getu, the social worker, informed me around the time we left that we were there for 2 hours. It sure didn't feel like it!
Natnael is not in the program, so he has no sponsorship. He also only has two "siblings" in the household that are sponsored--both are fully. His guardian works in her house which serves as a cafe, selling injera and meals. Natnael spends time on the streets selling a variety of things to help provide for his family whenever he isn't in school.
This obviously isn't a great means of income for him--even if just for the reason of health risks to lack of personal hygiene other people on the streets.
So these are the children that are closest to my heart. I'm anxious for the day I have a job so I can see these children either reach full sponsorship and be in the program, or take the next step to full sponsorship.
(And then for the selfish reason of having correspondence with them.)
I hope you have bared with me through this random rambling of my time in Ethiopia and my plans for the near future.
Thank you for your prayers (prayers for them; and prayers for me as I find a job; go to college; and spread the word of BCI).
As always, if you have any questions about sponsoring a child in the program or going on a trip to Ethiopia, then contact me and I'll point you in the right direction.
I'll be--no promises--posting highlight entries of different children in the program soon.
Please, pass the word along of my blog and of these children in Ethiopia.
In Christ Alone,
Kevin
But I just sat down from making my injera starter, and I felt Ethiopia-like enough to blog.
I apologize for not blogging in a while--or at all, really. While I was there I was busy, or so wrapped up in routine that I didn't find anything new to talk about. (Which is something I'm going to change next time. While I enjoyed teaching at the Academy, I don't think I'm going to do it all the time. At least not in a teacher mode. Maybe as a substitute for Michelle or as her helper.
So. To give you something to eat from my Ethiopian table of memories, I'll probably start with my future-sponsor kids. I'll post pictures of them, their stories,and why I feel led to sponsor them.
First off: Abreham Gudu.
Abreham's parents are both dead, therefore he lives with his grandmother. (In the link at the end, you can read his full story as provided by BCI in their newsletter.) Abreham's grandmother is Oromo and spoke only Oromepha when she first moved to Debre Zeit. Abreham, too, only spoke Oromepha, but being younger quickly picked up the language and because the translator for his social worker and grandmother, as well as for other people his grandmother encountered. He is now in the process of learning English, which means when he learns it he will be trilingual!
My story with Abreham starts, to my recollection, when I visited his house. It was a few days before activity day and I interacted with the family as I do on homevisits. Well, when the activity day came, he noticed me and began spending time with me. He would want to play with me; and when it was lunch time he actually had to fight to sit with me. **Not actually fight, but once the former kid left to get seconds he came in for the kill--of me. :P **
As the article reads, his unemployed grandmother cares for him and his siblings--one of which is younger than he. He is the only one in the program, so his care cares for the entire family.
When I first was considering him he had only 1 sponsor. But now he has 2. Hopefully I can be his third and bring him to full sponsorship. Abreham's article.
The next child is Tekalign:
He lives with his HIV-positive mother and her three other children. Solomon is the oldest at around 10. Tekalign is around 7. Alemaheyu(Shown in the picture to the left of me and Tekalign) is 4. And Sitota is 1 year old. Alemaheyu and Sitota are both fully sponsored; Solomon is 1/3 sponsored; but Tekalign has no sponsors. He's probably the choice if I had to choose only one of my three kids if it were in terms of connection.
And the final kid is Natnael:
His story is this:
A number of years ago his mother and father died. Orphaned, his neighbor took him in. This neighbor, to my knowledge, already had kids of her own and was already pretty old. But she took him in regardless. She now has seven children in her care including Natnael.
This kid is all smiles and is a well-behaved one. At activity days he often sat with me or invited me to sit with him(Even if at times I didn't realize who he was). I was able to visit his house last on the day of my departure. I actually think it was one of the longest because Getu, the social worker, informed me around the time we left that we were there for 2 hours. It sure didn't feel like it!
Natnael is not in the program, so he has no sponsorship. He also only has two "siblings" in the household that are sponsored--both are fully. His guardian works in her house which serves as a cafe, selling injera and meals. Natnael spends time on the streets selling a variety of things to help provide for his family whenever he isn't in school.
This obviously isn't a great means of income for him--even if just for the reason of health risks to lack of personal hygiene other people on the streets.
So these are the children that are closest to my heart. I'm anxious for the day I have a job so I can see these children either reach full sponsorship and be in the program, or take the next step to full sponsorship.
(And then for the selfish reason of having correspondence with them.)
I hope you have bared with me through this random rambling of my time in Ethiopia and my plans for the near future.
Thank you for your prayers (prayers for them; and prayers for me as I find a job; go to college; and spread the word of BCI).
As always, if you have any questions about sponsoring a child in the program or going on a trip to Ethiopia, then contact me and I'll point you in the right direction.
I'll be--no promises--posting highlight entries of different children in the program soon.
Please, pass the word along of my blog and of these children in Ethiopia.
In Christ Alone,
Kevin
