Quick Update - 2/28/2014

Greetings, all! Apologies for the delay - it has been a busy couple of days! Our trip to the south of Ethiopia was fantastic. We saw the completed water project, which included a water faucet facility at a school for children and a shower facility located at the bus station nearby. The children at the school where the water faucets are located were waiting for us and due to our late arrival were headed home until they saw us coming - then they all turned around and escorted us into the school and surrounded us and yelled, "Thank you very much!" It was a very special moment for us.

Wednesday we traveled around the region of Arsi Negelle to view additional water projects that have been constructed - they included a water power plant, 84 water kiosks where water can be purchased, a 300 cubic meter reservoir, a school, a biogas mini-plant, and a health facility that focuses on women's health. These water projects serve at least 137,000 people, with the goal of a maximum distance of 1.5km to access water - a great improvement, especially for this rural region. We were received with great honor everywhere we went, and we especially enjoyed interacting with the children. At one of the most rural locations, we were able to take Polaroid pictures of 6 children and their family and give them copies of the pictures immediately - it was so neat to see the wonder on their faces. :)

We were also able to distribute about 45 children's bags to orphans and vulnerable children, which was really special. (We will post pictures when we can.) They were so appreciative, and we took lots of photos with them, especially when they figured out about putting the sunglasses on. Doc also gave them a quick tutorial on how to use a yo-yo. It was very endearing.

We enjoyed the trip to and from Arsi Negelle and had some real adventure spotting numerous creatures - the highlights included monkeys, camels, ostriches and baboons, although we saw numerous mules, cattle, chickens and horses, which enjoy traveling on the main highway with all of the other traffic. On our return trip, we encountered an entire herd of camels walking toward us on the main drag - we slowed down as they surrounded us. A first-time for experience for all of us, I think. We also enjoyed seeing the change in climate and landscape - we went from the urban highlands to desert to lake region. The climate and vegetation seemed to change every half hour or so, and it was very interesting to observe.

We have also enjoyed experimenting with the language, which continues to amuse the Ethiopians we practice it with - we must be very funny because they laugh whenever we say anything. We have learned the basics, like "thank you" and "ok" but we also learned "delicious" and "no problem," which is probably the most common thing said here. Chigger yellum!

Today we visited the post office shopping area to pick up a few souvenirs, and then our driver took us to a scarf factory where older women who used to gather firewood on Entoto Mountain now make scarves as a means of income. Thus, they no longer have to climb up and down the mountain to do this rigorous work. It was very neat, and the scarves are beautiful!

Although our guest house is not necessarily 5-star, we have been treated like royalty, and our guest house host, Nati, has been a gift from above. We would love to bring him home with us - he has been fantastic! We enjoyed teaching he and the other helper, Latera, play gin rummy tonight. It was a lot of fun. :)

So, all is well here - we continue to venture around, and we have a few things on the docket for the weekend. We'll try to update you all again soon!

Day Two in Addis: Embracing Hope & Coffee Ceremony with Alayu, Kidist & Emmanuel

February 24, 2014

We are ending our first day in Addis Ababa, and it has been a very rewarding day.  We went to Embracing Hope Ministry this morning, which is an adoption prevention ministry. Jerry and Christy Shannon, who now pastor the International Evangelical Church here, started this ministry in 2009 and have recently entrusted the directorship to our former guesthouse host, Alayu.  Embracing Hope is a daycare for children of most-often single moms (there are a couple of fathers and uncles, but they are certainly the outliers) which allows mothers to work and keep their children with them as a result of this ministry providing child care, education and essential nutritional and medical care for both the moms and children.  They have 122 children and are applying for approval to expand to having a capacity for 180 children. One fact Christy shared with us is that basic nutritional and medical care before the age of five can be the difference between life and death for these children, so there is a dramatic emphasis put on both of these aspects when children and mothers are admitted to the program. The program also requires the mothers to comply with two very basic rules - no prostitution and no begging. The program has grown dramatically since we were here in 2011. Today, we were able to observe the school classes and then participate in their corporate music class where they were singing and dancing and running up to us for hugs and high fives. They were beautiful and uninhibited. It was AMAZING!! Feel free to check out more of what they do at embracinghopeethiopia.com.

After visiting Embracing Hope, the director Alayu (our friend who hosted us last time in November 2011 at his guest house) took us out to lunch to welcome us to Ethiopia. We ate outside at an Italian restaurant, and it was great. The weather was perfect (70 and sunny, I would say), and we caught up over some pretty tasty food.

From there, we traveled to Alayu's home, where we reunited with his wife, Kidist, and their adorable 2 1/2 year old son, Emmanuel, and mother's helper, Alam. They were thrilled to see Doc and I again and excited to meet Brieanna and Brittany. Kidist had an entire coffee ceremony set up for us in their living room, and she honored our visit with a traditional coffee (buna) ceremony. She roasted the coffee beans, boiled milk, made popcorn, and served us coffee in beautiful tiny china cups and saucers. The coffee was fantastic! While we watched her make the coffee, Emmanuel warmed up to us and entertained us by rattling off in Amharic at his father and mother, dancing, and tossing a ball we had brought to him. When they mentioned that we would have to leave at some point to him in Amharic, he immediately stood up and went to his father and started crying. It was touching. Another touching moment was when both Kidist and Alam came out from the bedroom wearing the shoes we had brought to them from the States - they were thrilled with our gift, despite the shoes being quite simple. Kidist put on a pair of sneakers we also brought to her and repeated "so pretty so pretty" and she was so happy she hugged me and said "God bless you all. Thank you so much."  It was a special afternoon, and we felt like honored guests in their home.

Today was generally interesting because we were able to see much of the city, as our guest house this time is across town from Embracing Hope and where we stayed before. We recognized the contrast between the more wealthy areas and as we got closer to Embracing Hope, which borders Korah (the slums next to the dump), we could notice the deterioration and poverty. The homes were more crude, the people more simply dressed, and the roads more bumpy. Despite this, the people we met were gracious and seemed happy. We encountered school children leaving school in their uniforms, and they sheepishly giggled at our "hellos." We also experienced our first traffic jam in rush hour in what we thought was Central Addis (we don't really know :) - we saw more people in half an hour than we've seen the whole time we've been here. Very interesting simply to observe the happenings around us.

So long for now, as we head south tomorrow to visit our completed water project in Arsi Negelle. It will be an overnight trip until Wednesday, when we will visit villages for potential future water projects. We'll try to be in touch upon our return. Keep the prayers coming for continued safety, health and adventure! Amusah genalo! (Thank you :)

February 21, 2014

Ready to go. Doc and I are sitting in Brieanna and Jon's living room finishing up preparation for our trip. We just repacked one of our bags to try to get in some last minute items.

Brieanna is at work and just texted that she went out to lunch and her associates ordered Ethiopian food. She sent a photo and it looks yummy to me, not so much so to Doc.  But, he will do ok.

As we have been preparing for the trip, a couple of scriptures have stood out to us.

"Forget the former things -- do not dwell on the past.  See, I am doing a new thing!  Now, it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland."  Isaiah 43: 18-20

"But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend.  I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you.  I said, 'You are my servant,' I have chosen you and not rejected you.  So, do not fear for I am with you; do not be dismayed for I am your God.  I will strengthen you and help you.  I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."  Isaiah 41:8-11.

We are claiming these scriptures as our beliefs for the trip and know that God is in all we are doing.

We fly from Phila to Washington Dulles at 7 am Sat morning, Feb 22 and then leave Dulles at 10 am for our nonstop flight to Ethiopia, arriving in Addis Ababa at 7:45 am Sun morning.

We covet your prayers for safety and great health and that God will direct our every step. We are excited for what He has planned for us.

Love, Doc & Helen and Brieanna and Brittany 

Almost Ready

February 18, 2014

Well, we have just finished repacking 9 suitcases/bins, weighing them over and over again, and finally loading them in the Suburban for our trip to Philadelphia. Brieanna and Brittany came home the weekend of Feb 8th to help us pack all of the wonderful supplies that have been given. Well, there was a TON (almost literally) of fabulous gallon bags of goodies for children, 150+ bags.

We packed and repacked and then decided to start weighing. WOW!! It is so hard to pack that amount of material and keep the weight at 50#. I think we did it.   Each of our containers weighs right at 50# and we are praying that they meet the requirement at the airport and that the person who waits on us is merciful.

We want to take this opportunity to once again thank Cindy Fitzgerald for ALL the wonderful work she has done to gather all these goodie bags. As well, we shout a big THANK YOU to Sarah Vickery and Wellsboro Home Page for the interview done on Jan 22 http://www.wellsborohomepage.com/ whereby we could share our vision with our home area.

We are traveling to Philadelphia on Thurs, Feb 20 so we can relax one day at Brieanna's and then be there to pick up our niece, Brittany who is traveling in from Pittsburgh to go to Ethiopia with us. We leave Philadelphia International Airport Sat, Feb 22 at 6am to Washington Dulles and then leave there at 10am for arrival in Ethiopia Sun Feb 23 at 7:45am.  We are flying on Ethiopian Airlines.

We will try to update our blog as time and internet connection allows. We covet your prayers for health and safety and great work done for the Lord. More to follow!!