Day 6

I didn’t sleep much, as the orthodox were doing their chanting literally all night and are still going this morning. What a sad life. They certainly are good at saying their prayers before men and being loud in the square.

The girls want me to meet Dr. Mary so the plan is to go there before we go to the compound to deliver the donkeys. It should be a busy morning, but then we are headed back to Addis, as we leave tomorrow evening. It will be nice to get a real shower.

AS in all of Ethiopia it seems, the schedule is only to think about, not really do. Instead of going to Dr. Mary’s we went to do the donkeys first, as the widows were supposed to be already waiting for us. In reality there were a couple of them there, but by the time we actually delivered the donkeys we certainly could have gone to see Dr. Mary. But this is Ethiopia and we are not going to be culture changers here, especially in just a week.

There was no water in the care center starting at 1 yesterday and the guy is supposed to come and fix the pump today, but I would be shocked if that happened. So the nannies ordered water to be brought up by the water service guy and his donkey; kind of ironic to have so many donkeys in the yard and then hire a guy to bring water, when there is actually a faucet in the front yard.

The nannies couldn’t make breakfast for the kids until they had water so we were encouraging the guys to get the water here quickly. The kids were really excited about the donkeys yesterday when they came in, but being hungry takes some f that fun away.

We found out that today is like our Christmas. We knew there was supposed to be a huge celebration, but we didn’t know that it was this big and it has really stopped a bunch of things from happening that could have easily happened had it been another day on the calendar, but God knows.

Since it is “Christmas” the kids told us that they always have meat, but the meat markets are all closed. We sent one of the guys out searching and he came back with about 10 lbs. of beef, so the kids will be very excited about that. They don’t often get to have meat, as it is so expensive.

Michelle thought that they needed something to distract them so she got out the bubbles and gave each child a small bottle. They LOVED it. So for an hour or so they played with those.

In the mean time the widows slowly came to the compound and we finally had them all lined up. We had to tell them what they were agreeing to, as we just didn’t want to give them a donkey with no stipulations. Some of the stipulations were things like they had to take good care of them, they had to find shelter for them, the couldn’t abuse them and they had to pay back a portion of the cost of the donkeys into the donkey fund so this could go on again in the future for some other needy widows; there are so many. After they all agreed we started taking names and getting their pictures. There is nothing that happens fast and to give away a little less than 30 took a couple of hours. We were limited to getting only this much this time because of the holiday no one was really excited about doing business; they will get more later.

Giving them away was every bit as emotional as I expected. There were very old women- 55-ish, all the way down to 20. For sure they all have a story to tell, but we didn’t have time to listen to them all and have them translated. They were all very excited about the future, though some were a little nervous about caring for them. Close to half were taken down to the church by a young man, so the widows didn’t have to be drug all over the place. They will in turn find some one to work the donkeys and make money, which they will share in.

One lady told us she had been an orphan, as her parents had dies some how the same day, and that from 12 on she had to fend for herself. Somehow her husband had died and she was back to being alone again. Life in Ethiopia is very hard; death is common and starvation, or at least severe hunger, is the normal existence of so many. When we handed her the rope of the donkey she was so thankful. We reminded them often that these were gifts from God for their care, and they were even more excited.

One grandma looked to be about 50. If she were an American she would look 75-80. Here she was, all dressed up coming from church, coming to get a donkey. I am not sure how it can be, but I told Teresa, she was very elegant; very classy. She is absolutely beautiful, and she has had no cosmetic surgery. But in Ethiopia time takes it toll so fast and life is so hard. They don’t complain because that would do no one any good. What a lovely lady.



As we did our work I could not stop thinking of Matt. 7:11 which says, “if you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask”. I kept thinking about how desperately wicked my own heart is, and how they were trying to make me to be the hero. I don’t want to be the hero and I don’t even know if this is the best way to help them, but we were there to do this. Since our Father knows exactly what we need it is amazing to think of the care that He extends to each of us. He is So Good. In Ethiopia I say, “God is Good” and they respond with “All the Time”.


From here we did get to go and meet Dr. Mary and see the compound they have. It is huge and for Ethiopian standards id gorgeous. There are many buildings and gardens that the kids could use and work in. Please pray that God would allow them to use this facility, as most of it is empty now, and it would be an awesome home for them, while they wait to go to their new homes.

We then went back to the compound to pick up the 2 newest kids from the village to take them to Addis. When kids are first brought in they are taken to the city to be thoroughly checked out by the Dr. and get all their paper work in order.

When we arrived at the compound a young lady-12- was there to talk to Michelle. She has been in the other care center for 3 years and sleeps at home each night, as her mom is dying. She speaks English well and is very sweet. She walked a long way to make sure that she got her face in front of Michelle again before Michelle left again. This is the “persistent widow”, though she is only 12 and has never married she gets the idea.

She told us that her mom is dying of kidney disease and that she and her 14 year old sister can’t go to school any more because they can’t afford the $40 per year for books and uniforms. They have no way of making money and they rent a house for $17 a month. All told, their entire daily living expenses are about $125 per month. The 12 year old has been asking Michelle for 3 years to find her a home, and if the 14 year old can go with her they would love it. The mom is likely to die very soon, as there is not much care for these kinds of things here. The girls really are very lovely and I hope that God finds some one to take them both.

From there we got on the road back to Addis with the 2 new kids. They are 2 and 4 and yesterday they were in a village, in a hut, with a dirt floor and we are pretty sure they have never taken a real bath. Zalech, the little girl’s big toe nail is almost totally gone from running barefoot and we assume she has some sort of fungus on it. Taydros, the little boy, 2, had some sort of “onesy” type of affair on and it had been on so long that Teresa thought she may have to rip it to get his head out. All their clothes were brown-from dirt.

Since our experience on the bus on the way down, we were a little concerned that there would be some throwing up, especially since they look malnourished and we are reasonably sure they have either a parasite of worms. A great combo for a 5 hour first time ever in a car.

Taydros is stoic to say the least. Teresa said it is like he is a paralytic. He doesn’t move from where you place him. Zalech is trying to hard to be happy and to please me. I look down at her and she musters a smile every time. As we drive, he slept for the first hour or so and she slept for about 2 hours. Then when she woke up she was looking out the window and watched as an entirely new world flew by her. She only knew her village and had possibly never even gone into Sodo. Imagine, the Ethiopian countryside, your first sights.

The ride was supposed to take 5 hours and it did almost to the minute. With about a half hour to go Zalech was looking out the window and saw the lights of the town. We are not talking Las Vegas, but literally single lights hanging from a cord in a shop. She was so excited. It was like our kids seeing the Christmas tree for the first time; pointing and gasping, laughing and talking. I couldn’t understand anything she said, but joy is easy to interpret.

About 10 minutes into the excitement, without warning, she threw up all over me and her self. She didn’t have any idea what was going on, and there was a lot coming out. We had forgotten to take a bucket so Teresa made a “bucket” out of a diaper and she filled 2 of those up. It only lasted maybe a minute, but the results were all over the seat and the both of us. Immediately she wanted to be happy again for me. I felt so bad for her and h looked up at me with a sweet smile, as if to say, “I love you Daddy”, even though we just met.


As you can tell my heart is broken for these kids. I can’t take them all, but we can each do our part, whatever that might look like and allow God to work through us to care for these helpless ones.

We had peanut butter and jam sandwiches for dinner and it was off to bed. By the way, that sandwich was really good.