Ethiopian Christmas is celebrated much differently than our holiday. It is a holy day with rest, family and the eating of a feast usually consisting of a goat or a lamb. Tibbs with Ingera. If they are Orthodox it is also the break of their vegetarian fast.
Yordonos asked if we would be willing to leave at 6AM Christmas morning to see if we could find Aleta Wondo for some pictures. My friend’s little boy is from this area and we thought it would be cool if we could get some pictures for him. Something to show his history. After all, if it wasn’t for him, we probably wouldn’t have made it to Ethiopia as a family in the first place!
So we leave really early. It didn’t take long before we ran out of paved road. We were on quite a bumpy ride. Our driver Yordonos was awesome to ask people along the way which direction to go, as it is very difficult to get a good and accurate map. At first we were looking for the village. We had three categories deep to go.
When we finally got to the village, no one knew where the school was or the family we were looking for. Someone suggested we talk to the town official. Of course it was Christmas and the holy day so no one was working and everyone was enjoying their family time. We got a phone number for this official and he wasn’t answering. So, they took us to his home and pounded on the door, stirring him from sleep! African culture is very unique! Can you imagine on Christmas morning, the mayor of a city being woken from sleep so some tourist could ask a question? Well, he came out and chatted with Yordonous for some time, then asked outside to some of the people around, made some calls and then hopped in the bus with us and we were off up a dirt hill. We stopped several times and made turns, asked questions and at one point I thought we saw the school so I got out and took a bunch of pictures. I thought that was the end. But then the official said to me “let’s move”! Okay…I wasn’t sure. Yordonos said it wasn’t what we wanted. We kept going further and further into the dense tropical forest and up this very bumpy dirt road. It really didn’t seem as if cars ever came this far. Most of the time I thought it might be faster to walk! At some point there was a man with gold teeth who also was invited to get into the bus. He may have been a local teacher.
At one of the stops they asked us to get out. Hmmm….what was going on? He is going to be here soon. Who? In 5 minutes, he is coming? I thought maybe another person who had more info. The boy’s dad! In 5 minutes was going to be here. Sure enough, out of the thick of the bushes, comes a young pleasant looking man, nervous, emotional in yet courageous and running to meet us. He is younger than I suspected. We give hugs and kisses all around. The words are flying in all three languages, the native tongue, Amharic and English. I feel so blessed to be in such presence. We share back and forth. He tells us the story of losing his first wife, struggling to feed his family and the anguish in which he gave his son for a better life. He hopes someday he will see him again.
(Later when I asked Yordonos about what had happened he said that dad had received a phone call that the white people were coming to talk to him so he looked flushed because he dropped everything and ran the entire way through the jungle to see us. This is why we did not see any of the other family, because he didn’t even tell them, he just ran to us.)
One of the questions the adoptive parents had been curious about what the mother’s family, since she was the one who passed away. I asked him about her. He said, “Do you want to see?” I wasn’t exactly sure what he meant, a tombstone or a city 3 hours away or? And he said come on! So I said okay and we hopped in the van. We went about 5 minutes, and with the condition of the road I still think it would have been faster to walk. Anyway we hopped out again and he took us down a path similar to a hiking path in a beautiful tropical garden or campground. We entered one place that had a mud hut and then we went back into the thick of the jungle again. Three or four minutes of walking and we came into the big green area where everyone was there. Again it is Christmas. A holy day. He quickly explains to the family and everyone is emotional and excited and begins to hug and kiss us. Dad hugs and kisses everyone.
I hold onto grandma and then the two aunts. It is all very amazing. Difficult to even describe the surprise and delight and concern on their faces. They all begin to ask when the boy is going to come see them. They want to hear his voice, to see his face, to know he is okay. I tell them I will pass on the message to the family. Finally I ask them and tell them, I have come this far, I am like an Auntie to this little boy, don’t they want to know how he is? Do they want me to give them a report? Finally they are excited and say oh yes! Like it hadn’t even dawned on them that I was here to tell them how he was.
After a few minutes of discussion and report, we present dad with a soccer ball. Not sure how it happened, but out of the 25 balls or so we had brought, we had 3 in the van that day and one of them just happened to be Ethan’s. K and Harrison and Ethan had played with it many times. We shared this with his dad. He seemed quite proud and satisfied. He then handed it to grandma to hold. It was their proud trophy.
We lined up the children and shared with them each a piece of gum, a balloon and a sucker. They were all so excited.
To finish up our time, we took group and some individual pictures, said goodbye and away we went. Only God knows the future and the impact of this visit…but it is certain that all of this was not by accident.
On our bumpy way back down the mountain, the city official took us to a restaurant where we had Shiro and Tibbs. How fun it was to visit with his guest, a Peace Corp worker from Colorado who had been living in the community for two years. His brother was also visiting. It was amazing to have him share from his perspective about the community, their needs, the problems and the best of the culture.
Mind you, this is all before noon on Christmas. A miracle, even by American time standards.
We set off to meet our sponsored son Zelalem and to meet him for the first time. (not through World Vision) We actually had sponsored two boys but upon our arrival we discovered one of the boys had never made it to the school. His mom was afraid for him to go and kept him back. We are still sorting this out. At first our hearts were broken thing that we had been given the opportunity to give this young man a chance and he had been overlooked. The big picture is that so many children are receiving help, but even God cares about the individual and we grieved for this one child who was lost in the shuffle.
Our meeting with Zelalem was glorious. He had colored pictures for us and had written scripture in a notebook for us to take. We spent the afternoon with him loving on him. At one point he took us to see his dorm room. A small room, honestly a little like a cell with 5 beds. He was so excited. For the first time in his life he had his very own bed. I caught this right away and asked, him, are you serious? Just for you this big bed? Oh yes! He was so proud and so thankful. Humbling for sure. We were able to give him a small back pack with one pair of pants, one tshirt, notebook, color crayons, pencils, and eraser and some candy. He was so overwhelmed and in an effort not to cry he had to stop several time from pulling everything out. Less than $30 in precious treasures. More than he has ever owned in his life. He showed us the light bulb the size of the end of my pinky that he and the other boys in his room were able to light up with a small used battery. He said that is was for Malcom Gehna. For Christmas. That was it.
It was difficult to leave this sweet young man of 14 years of age. I could not promise him a return time nor know when we would even be able to communicate again. He gave Harrison a gift of a purple avocado to show his love for our family. His love for us is so strong. We blessed him and left him with our hearts heavy. Heavy no knowing when God will allow us to seem him again and also heavy for the boy who was still living in the trash dump and not receiving this blessing which we had hoped to prepare for him.
That evening we drove back to Awassa feeling very full of the day’s events. Too much to even really be able to process. God, what do you want us to do with this big gift you have given us? The gift of the journey, the relationships, the opportunity and the world we have to return to?
Yordonos asked if we would be willing to leave at 6AM Christmas morning to see if we could find Aleta Wondo for some pictures. My friend’s little boy is from this area and we thought it would be cool if we could get some pictures for him. Something to show his history. After all, if it wasn’t for him, we probably wouldn’t have made it to Ethiopia as a family in the first place!
So we leave really early. It didn’t take long before we ran out of paved road. We were on quite a bumpy ride. Our driver Yordonos was awesome to ask people along the way which direction to go, as it is very difficult to get a good and accurate map. At first we were looking for the village. We had three categories deep to go.
When we finally got to the village, no one knew where the school was or the family we were looking for. Someone suggested we talk to the town official. Of course it was Christmas and the holy day so no one was working and everyone was enjoying their family time. We got a phone number for this official and he wasn’t answering. So, they took us to his home and pounded on the door, stirring him from sleep! African culture is very unique! Can you imagine on Christmas morning, the mayor of a city being woken from sleep so some tourist could ask a question? Well, he came out and chatted with Yordonous for some time, then asked outside to some of the people around, made some calls and then hopped in the bus with us and we were off up a dirt hill. We stopped several times and made turns, asked questions and at one point I thought we saw the school so I got out and took a bunch of pictures. I thought that was the end. But then the official said to me “let’s move”! Okay…I wasn’t sure. Yordonos said it wasn’t what we wanted. We kept going further and further into the dense tropical forest and up this very bumpy dirt road. It really didn’t seem as if cars ever came this far. Most of the time I thought it might be faster to walk! At some point there was a man with gold teeth who also was invited to get into the bus. He may have been a local teacher.
At one of the stops they asked us to get out. Hmmm….what was going on? He is going to be here soon. Who? In 5 minutes, he is coming? I thought maybe another person who had more info. The boy’s dad! In 5 minutes was going to be here. Sure enough, out of the thick of the bushes, comes a young pleasant looking man, nervous, emotional in yet courageous and running to meet us. He is younger than I suspected. We give hugs and kisses all around. The words are flying in all three languages, the native tongue, Amharic and English. I feel so blessed to be in such presence. We share back and forth. He tells us the story of losing his first wife, struggling to feed his family and the anguish in which he gave his son for a better life. He hopes someday he will see him again.
(Later when I asked Yordonos about what had happened he said that dad had received a phone call that the white people were coming to talk to him so he looked flushed because he dropped everything and ran the entire way through the jungle to see us. This is why we did not see any of the other family, because he didn’t even tell them, he just ran to us.)
One of the questions the adoptive parents had been curious about what the mother’s family, since she was the one who passed away. I asked him about her. He said, “Do you want to see?” I wasn’t exactly sure what he meant, a tombstone or a city 3 hours away or? And he said come on! So I said okay and we hopped in the van. We went about 5 minutes, and with the condition of the road I still think it would have been faster to walk. Anyway we hopped out again and he took us down a path similar to a hiking path in a beautiful tropical garden or campground. We entered one place that had a mud hut and then we went back into the thick of the jungle again. Three or four minutes of walking and we came into the big green area where everyone was there. Again it is Christmas. A holy day. He quickly explains to the family and everyone is emotional and excited and begins to hug and kiss us. Dad hugs and kisses everyone.
I hold onto grandma and then the two aunts. It is all very amazing. Difficult to even describe the surprise and delight and concern on their faces. They all begin to ask when the boy is going to come see them. They want to hear his voice, to see his face, to know he is okay. I tell them I will pass on the message to the family. Finally I ask them and tell them, I have come this far, I am like an Auntie to this little boy, don’t they want to know how he is? Do they want me to give them a report? Finally they are excited and say oh yes! Like it hadn’t even dawned on them that I was here to tell them how he was.
After a few minutes of discussion and report, we present dad with a soccer ball. Not sure how it happened, but out of the 25 balls or so we had brought, we had 3 in the van that day and one of them just happened to be Ethan’s. K and Harrison and Ethan had played with it many times. We shared this with his dad. He seemed quite proud and satisfied. He then handed it to grandma to hold. It was their proud trophy.
We lined up the children and shared with them each a piece of gum, a balloon and a sucker. They were all so excited.
To finish up our time, we took group and some individual pictures, said goodbye and away we went. Only God knows the future and the impact of this visit…but it is certain that all of this was not by accident.
On our bumpy way back down the mountain, the city official took us to a restaurant where we had Shiro and Tibbs. How fun it was to visit with his guest, a Peace Corp worker from Colorado who had been living in the community for two years. His brother was also visiting. It was amazing to have him share from his perspective about the community, their needs, the problems and the best of the culture.
Mind you, this is all before noon on Christmas. A miracle, even by American time standards.
We set off to meet our sponsored son Zelalem and to meet him for the first time. (not through World Vision) We actually had sponsored two boys but upon our arrival we discovered one of the boys had never made it to the school. His mom was afraid for him to go and kept him back. We are still sorting this out. At first our hearts were broken thing that we had been given the opportunity to give this young man a chance and he had been overlooked. The big picture is that so many children are receiving help, but even God cares about the individual and we grieved for this one child who was lost in the shuffle.
Our meeting with Zelalem was glorious. He had colored pictures for us and had written scripture in a notebook for us to take. We spent the afternoon with him loving on him. At one point he took us to see his dorm room. A small room, honestly a little like a cell with 5 beds. He was so excited. For the first time in his life he had his very own bed. I caught this right away and asked, him, are you serious? Just for you this big bed? Oh yes! He was so proud and so thankful. Humbling for sure. We were able to give him a small back pack with one pair of pants, one tshirt, notebook, color crayons, pencils, and eraser and some candy. He was so overwhelmed and in an effort not to cry he had to stop several time from pulling everything out. Less than $30 in precious treasures. More than he has ever owned in his life. He showed us the light bulb the size of the end of my pinky that he and the other boys in his room were able to light up with a small used battery. He said that is was for Malcom Gehna. For Christmas. That was it.
It was difficult to leave this sweet young man of 14 years of age. I could not promise him a return time nor know when we would even be able to communicate again. He gave Harrison a gift of a purple avocado to show his love for our family. His love for us is so strong. We blessed him and left him with our hearts heavy. Heavy no knowing when God will allow us to seem him again and also heavy for the boy who was still living in the trash dump and not receiving this blessing which we had hoped to prepare for him.
That evening we drove back to Awassa feeling very full of the day’s events. Too much to even really be able to process. God, what do you want us to do with this big gift you have given us? The gift of the journey, the relationships, the opportunity and the world we have to return to?
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