Im a week into my time here in Ethiopia and im having a great time. The poverty is heartbreaking, but the generosity and kindness of the people here is unbelieveable. I cant explain the love they have and the willingness to give even though they have nothing. I have met some fantasic characters whilst out here, and heard some really inspiring stories of peoples lives and how they have been changed through the kindness of people and the neverending love of God. Ive seen first hand the extreme poverty of the people out here, even dogs and cats roam the streets searching for food, if people have a house its made out of anything they can find, just to have shelter. We visited some houses of people sponcered by the Ethiopia Education Aid set up by Maurice and Susan, and one of the houses was the size of a single bed, to sleep one man and his young child. They use paper and trees to make fire to cook food and heat water. We went to one familys home where they had a bed slightly smaller than a double bed to sleep 6 people, and the mother and father were both blind. But they are all so happy still. One of the people told me that happiness is all they have so if theyre not happy, thats when they have nothing.
We met a man at dinner who makes and sells jewellery on the street, and Maurice and Susan met him on a previous trip here, and now they pay for him to attend night school- he chose to study at night because he couldnt afford to stop selling on the streets as he needs to support him and his mother.
The roads here have absolutely no system- there are no traffic controls, just the occational police man sat by the side of the road. You pretty much have to push yourself through in order to get anywhere- its mental!
We met the teenagers from the church who are all lovely, we played games and sung songs and drank tea (the tea here they have without any milk and with about 5 sugars...).
We also played with the younger children sponcered by compassion, who are just so outgoing and beautiful. They all want to shake your hand and touch your hair and know your name. The moment the camera comes out they are all there jumping infront of you to take their photo, its almost impossible to take a photo of just one child cause as soon as you do that they all come charging from all directions!
The past 2 days we have been to Ambo with the youth from the church, and also the guys sponcered by Maurice and Susan. It was lovely spending time with them all and getting to know them and their stories. We played games and had talks and ate.... A LOT. On the last day in Ambo we had a campfire which was brilliant. The guys keeping the fire alight kept using petrol so the smoke was pretty toxic!! But it was a lovely way to spend our last evening together.. Pictures to come, the computer here is very tempramental and the USB thingys dont work. Neither do many of the symbols, thats why my punctuation is pretty much non exsistant. And the spelling may be off because the keyboard is a bit dodgy!
The weather here is their rainy season so it is much like an English summer. When its hot its hot, and when it rains.... it RAINS. Ive never heard rain so heavy!
Im sure there is a lot i have missed out but Ill be sure to add in the important stuff as and when i think of it (and when i can find a computer again.....)
This post does not give justice to thepeople i have encountered and got to know here, The saddness of the poverty and the heartbreak, and the beauty and generosity of the country itself. But I hope it gives you a brief idea of the time im having here, and the things i have seen and done. x
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