It took me almost two days to get to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia through Amsterdam and the Sudan. This morning was our first day at a Compassion Project. We got off the bus and were greeted by hundreds of beautiful children who were singing praises and holding flowers. Within seconds we had kids hanging from our arms and kissing our hands. The children put on a biblical play for us, 3 kids recited an entire chapter of the Psalms and we had a traditional coffee ceremony. A lady roasted the beans right in front of us.
Today I met with a young girl who will be sponsored by several girls in our youth ministry. I also met the compassion child who used to be sponsored by Marrietta and Ali Valinski, his name is Emanuel and he is beautiful.
The most heart wrenching part was when we left the project and one 6 year old girl was begging hysterically to go with us. She was completely out of control. We found out that both of her parents had abandoned her and her back was full of marks where she had been beaten. No wonder she wanted to come with us. My eyes filled with tears as I desperately wanted to adopt this young girl. I thank the Lord that this Compassion project was fighting hard to find good foster parents.
We have met incredible people and God continues to open our eyes to all kinds of issues.
Sometime I will tell you the effect the weakening of the American Dollar has had on Africa and Compassion.
God is Good
nate
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2 comments:
This sounds like an incredible day! Hannah was excited you chose a child for her and Marietta and Ali were so thankful when I told them. Love you! -Wifey
nate,
It is incredible to experience the poverty of the third world. Only when we see it first hand can we begin to grasp the difficulty of life in places like Eithopia. Sounds very much like what Kay and I saw in Malawi two years ago especially the effect of AIDS on the people and their children. I will look forward to having you share this trip with our congregation.
Steve
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