There are truly very few events in life that we would consider life altering... among them things like weddings, graduations, pregnancies and deliveries, the day we accept Christ. Of course, there are unpleasant days we can also consider life altering such as deaths, divorces, disease, and betrayals. For me, there was a different kind of day that my life changed as well. Of course, I had my wedding, my children, my share of loss and grief along the way as well which all shaped me and molded me, but it was the first day I was in Ethiopia in 2008 that really altered my direction and how I heard the Lord speak into my life. When searching for sobriety, a user says that "rock bottom" is that wake up call. Being in a pit of pure desperation with no where else to turn was just what "they" needed. I suppose this was not all that unsimilar. I was no user. I was an ordinary house wife with a love for the Lord, my husband, my family, my church, my friends... taken to Ethiopia purely by "chance" as a mere casual aquaintance (at the time) was going to adopt her child and needed a traveling companion. No need for a bottom, no need for reform. Only looking to help our a "friend" and gain a worldly experience in the process. But God needed me for more and it became apparent the first day. No rock bottom was needed for me to open my eyes to the truths of my world.
The first morning I awoke with a need for adventure. My friend and I were exhausted from traveling for days on our journey to the capital city of Ethiopia, known as Addis Ababa. After a night of odd and loud music from a neighborhood Costic church, we were not much refreshed but still eager to explore. We pushed open the heavy steel gate of our guest house to find an unpaved street lined with "houses" on both sides. The houses were made of mud mostly, lacked plumbing and sewage, had propped tin in place on sides and/or ceilings and would be considered less than inhabitable in the United States. It was a bit to take in, yet we pressed on.
We felt watched by everyone whom saw us. Two unusually white women with backpacks sticks out a bit in Addis. We didn't know how to meet their glares. She would smile or avoid eye contact. We would learn in time.
We rounded a corner to find a paved street. A small overpass had a muddy and dreadfully smelling little dribble of a river running under it and on that pass was "them", the "thing" that God used to change me. Look again at the picture in this post. See the woman breast feeding her babies... look at those children again. They are homeless. We were on the streets just as the sun came up and there, sitting on that little bridge-like sidewalk, were these three lovely people. We stopped and pulled left over bread from our bag and asked in our clearly foreign English if we could give them to the woman and child? She didn't understand our words but did understand we wanted to give her food. She readily accepted. Her oldest daughter looked up to us with an eager smile and the biggest, boldest eyes. They were happy in the moment. Silently, I said a prayer for them. My heart was shattered at the sight of it all... So beautiful were the woman and the babies and yet stuck in dirt with no bed to lye on. My stomach turned from emotion which was compounded by the stench of feces in the air. Wanting to help, we wanted to linger, and yet we pressed on.
More homeless children and people were around the streets. Some slept tucked against walls in groups, right on the ground. And it was all too much. It was dirty. It was stinky. And we had found the business district on a main thurough. How could a place truly be like this? I found my self working to focus and we decided to head back to process our walk and begin the necessary work of the day for the adoption we were there for.
My thoughts of the mother and children could not be shook through out the walk. We had to pass by them in order to avoid getting lost on our way back to the guest house. I wanted to see them again, but dreaded it all the same. As we walked up to them, for the second time, we reached our hands out to the oldest child which could not have been 2 years of age. Then, we realized, she was preparing to have a bowel movement on the sidewalk. Pants down she did her "thing". It did not take a doctor or mind reader to know what we knew in that moment. This child was deathly ill. She likely had disintary from a lack of a clean water supply. My friend and I were stunned. Hopeless. Not knowing what to do.
We had to walk on, trying to disguise our shock and horror, because we did not know anyone, anything, or even how to communicate. What could we do but pray in silence as we walked on. We vowed to try and find them once we had a translator and get the child to a clinic, but God didn't pave a path for that. We never saw them again, despite our efforts in looking.
So it was then, in that moment, that I knew SOMETHING had to be done for the people of Ethiopia. Over the 10 days in country, we learned that the poverty, disease, and famine of Ethiopia that we American's know Ethiopia for is only a very small part of Ethiopia. Ethiopian people are generous, kind, loving, warm people with a pride for the country that they suffer within. The problems within the country are nearly countless, but the CAUSE is great. The people need evangelized to know the truth of Christ and the love He has to share. The people need educated academically, medically, spiritually, environmentally, and technologically. The people need empowered to own their own change for their future. They need to be given the tools for success and direction and the responsibility to create a different kind of legacy for their country.
At the time, I didn't know what could be done to help the people of this great nation. I didn't know "how" only that it must be done. I felt a burden so strong that I had to return 1 year later with my husband. Now he has the same burden and together, we are working with locals in Ethiopia to evangelize, educate, and empower the people of Ethiopia. Won't you join us in this cause??
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