We went on this trip through Compassion International. If you haven't heard of the organization, you should look it up and consider sponsoring a child. What they are doing for the children and families around the world is absolutely worth every penny. They are making a difference that is hard to fathom from here but absolutely necessary to those who are receiving it. The trip was an amazing way to really understand and see first hand what is happening on the other side of the world. It was also great to see that groups like Compassion are being the hands and feet of Christ.
This is their Mission Statement: In response to the Great Commission, Compassion International exists as an advocate for children, to release them from their spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enable them to become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults.
Compassion starts project sites at well established churches. There is always a church affiliated with a project. The church will help by providing volunteers and space for the project to run.
Each project has four paid workers. A program director who plans activities, makes home visits, and runs the program. A social worker translates letters for the children, buys the children's gifts, supplies, clothes, and other basic necessities with the sponsor's monthly donations, makes home visits, and usually does the physical games with the kids. An accountant helps keep track of paperwork and teaches sunday school. All the children have very detailed files with every letter, health check up, and purchase made for that child. There is a lot of accountability in place to ensure the program runs smoothly. A medical worker gives twice yearly check ups, makes home visits, and deals with any medical issues a child may have.
Sites are all run differently as to what kind of activities are offered for the children. All will have sunday school programs and a once a week program that children must attend but that is usually the only constant throughout the programs. They may offer parent classes, after school tutoring, sports clubs, after school care, or additional schooling.
Most sites have between 200 and 250 children. While many of them are sponsored, there are always children who are waiting for a sponsor. They still get to come to the site's activities and receive the attention of the staff but they don't have the monthly support and gifts like the other children. The support of a sponsor basically takes the financial burden of raising that child off the parents. The child can attend school, be clothed, and fed all for $38 a month. A special Christmas gift would probably be used to help the family with a larger need but usually all the support goes straight to the child. Most of the parents have little to no income but it isn't because they aren't trying. On one of our home visits, we saw the mother down on the street below their house selling a few wares for basically pennies. She was an older woman who was taking care of her own daughter and her niece by herself. Without the support of a Compassion sponsor, it is hard to imagine what might happen to them.
Over 50% of the Ethiopian population are of the Orthodox faith. This means that while the children are going to Sunday School it is more than likely their families are not christians. It is the hope and prayer that many children and entire families will come to find Christ but it not the primary focus of Compassion's ministry.
The letters that are written to the children are very important and special. The children see their sponsors and heroes even halfway across the world. They wait anxiously for the letters and it most definitely hurts when the staff passes out letters and a child doesn't get one. All the letters first go to Colorado Springs and are then sorted by country. There is a head office in every country that receives all the letters for their country. The letters are opened and sorted by project site. In Ethiopia alone, there are over 300 sites. Once a week, someone from the site must drive to Addis and pick up their letters. Then, they take them back to the projects to translate and hand out to the children. The child write letters once every three months. They are than sent to the country office and translated. From there, they are mailed back to Colorado Springs and out to the sponsors. Most of the sponsors are from the US, Australia, Canada, and the UK.
There are many different programs within Compassion. There is child sponsorship which we saw the direct affect of However, there is also a leadership program that helps put young adults through college. Both of our translators were sponsored children who then went through the LDP program and came back to work at Compassion. Compassion also offers a child survival program for pregnant and new mothers. We were only told about this so I'm not sure of many of the details but you can look at Compassion's website if you want to know more about it. What you really need to know is that it goes beyond just giving a few children clothes to wear. It gives a child hope and a future from the very beginning to adulthood.
I hope I was able to give you a pretty clear picture of the people and program that I worked with for the last 9 days. We were the first groups to visit both projects. The projects have names that are affiliated with the churches but usually just identified by their numbers so I'll probably refer to them at ET 566 and ET 565 because that is the easiest thing to call them. Both projects had been up and running less than two years. Our presence there was fun for the children but a huge encouragement to the adults and staff members. However, I think that will be another blog post entirely.
Here is one of the games that the children taught us to play at the project site.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Rules
We were told a lot of dos and don't upon our arrival. Most of them just helpful advice to keep everyone safe and healthy some of them we learned along the way.
Rules:
-Don't put toilet paper down the toilet. There is always a trash can for it if you are lucky enough to have it provided or to remember your pocket kleenex. The pipes are teeny tiny and not good for TP.
-Don't go out at night. Might be safe. Might not be. Better not to risk it.
-Don't take pictures of angry, drunk sheep herders.
-Don't take pictures of the US embassy. Oops.
-Wear ear plugs at night to block out the sounds of wild dogs.
-Don't drink the water.
-Don't eat anything washed in the water.
-Wear walking shoes.
-Don't try to hand out balloons to 200 kids at a time. You might get trampled.
-If you try to speak the language be prepared to be laughed at. You'll sound funny.
-Hold on when you are in the van. Try not to gasp too loud. The driver knows what he's doing despite the chaos around you.
-Smile a lot.
-Love a lot.
-Laugh a lot.
And the video of the day is what it is like to drive down the street. It doesn't fully capture it exactly how it is but it does a pretty good job. Notice the people walking and weaving through the cars and the fact that there really aren't lanes.
Rules:
-Don't put toilet paper down the toilet. There is always a trash can for it if you are lucky enough to have it provided or to remember your pocket kleenex. The pipes are teeny tiny and not good for TP.
-Don't go out at night. Might be safe. Might not be. Better not to risk it.
-Don't take pictures of angry, drunk sheep herders.
-Don't take pictures of the US embassy. Oops.
-Wear ear plugs at night to block out the sounds of wild dogs.
-Don't drink the water.
-Don't eat anything washed in the water.
-Wear walking shoes.
-Don't try to hand out balloons to 200 kids at a time. You might get trampled.
-If you try to speak the language be prepared to be laughed at. You'll sound funny.
-Hold on when you are in the van. Try not to gasp too loud. The driver knows what he's doing despite the chaos around you.
-Smile a lot.
-Love a lot.
-Laugh a lot.
And the video of the day is what it is like to drive down the street. It doesn't fully capture it exactly how it is but it does a pretty good job. Notice the people walking and weaving through the cars and the fact that there really aren't lanes.
First Impressions
I am back from Ethiopia! There is no way I can get everything I want to say in one post so this is going to be the first of several. I've tried to think of the best way to explain and tell everyone about my trip but I'm not sure there is one. There are just too many pictures, movies, stories, and thoughts to break up in a way that makes sense. I'll do my best but be patient since it's going to take a week or two. I only plan on putting a few pictures here. If you want to see them all, check out Facebook and besides mine you can see the ones our team took if I am tagged in them. First thing is first impressions. I tried to write and journal about them so here's a first glimpse.
-Right next to the runway when we landed, there were old hollowed out junk planes. They were just abandoned where they broke.
-There is a haze that hovers over the city from the pollution. I've never seen anything like it. This is gross, but my snot was black from breathing and processing the smog within hours of being there.
-People walk everywhere. Very few people own cars for a city of 5 million so they just walk. If you are lucky, you might be able to ride a bus, van, or taxi. But mostly you just walk.
- Driving doesn't have any rules. Busy streets have a median down the middle and that's it. You have to have the perfect combination of patience and aggression to avoid accidents, people, animals, and other cars.
- There are very few economic divisions. There are mud huts across the street from nice well kept homes. A person wearing rags is waiting for a bus next to a businessman. The goats are herded through the city streets. The businesses are next to the homes. Everyone just lives and works together no matter what economic or social status.
- There is very little personal space. Everyone greets one another by doing a handshake, half hug. There are 60 people literally sitting on top of each other on a bus.
- Each home is in its own compound. A nice compound would have brick or concrete walls and a large gate. A smaller personal home compound would have tin walls and a small door. Usually there is barbed wire along the top of the wall. A compound may have one building in it like our guest house or 4-5 homes like the ones around us.
-How to build a building-Ethiopian style. You use stick scaffolding to literally hold up the building while you build. It's so hard to describe and completely fascinating that it works.
-Pollution is huge problem and not just the smog. There is trash everyone but surprisingly it doesn't smell very much. At least, not that I noticed.
-What you think is an alley is probably actually a road. Just honk if you want the horses, goats, or sheep to move.
-Honk is actually the second language of Ethiopians. Move. Coming through. Scoot over. Watch out.
-It is impossible to tell how old the children are. Very few people are over 6 feet tall and the children look at on average about 2 years younger than they actually are. I was constantly shocked to hear a tiny little boy or girl tell me he or she was 7.
This really just covers the tip of the iceberg but it's all I have for now. Until next time, here is a video of one of the greetings at ET 566.
-Right next to the runway when we landed, there were old hollowed out junk planes. They were just abandoned where they broke.
-There is a haze that hovers over the city from the pollution. I've never seen anything like it. This is gross, but my snot was black from breathing and processing the smog within hours of being there.
-People walk everywhere. Very few people own cars for a city of 5 million so they just walk. If you are lucky, you might be able to ride a bus, van, or taxi. But mostly you just walk.
- Driving doesn't have any rules. Busy streets have a median down the middle and that's it. You have to have the perfect combination of patience and aggression to avoid accidents, people, animals, and other cars.
- There are very few economic divisions. There are mud huts across the street from nice well kept homes. A person wearing rags is waiting for a bus next to a businessman. The goats are herded through the city streets. The businesses are next to the homes. Everyone just lives and works together no matter what economic or social status.
- There is very little personal space. Everyone greets one another by doing a handshake, half hug. There are 60 people literally sitting on top of each other on a bus.
- Each home is in its own compound. A nice compound would have brick or concrete walls and a large gate. A smaller personal home compound would have tin walls and a small door. Usually there is barbed wire along the top of the wall. A compound may have one building in it like our guest house or 4-5 homes like the ones around us.
-How to build a building-Ethiopian style. You use stick scaffolding to literally hold up the building while you build. It's so hard to describe and completely fascinating that it works.
-Pollution is huge problem and not just the smog. There is trash everyone but surprisingly it doesn't smell very much. At least, not that I noticed.
-What you think is an alley is probably actually a road. Just honk if you want the horses, goats, or sheep to move.
-Honk is actually the second language of Ethiopians. Move. Coming through. Scoot over. Watch out.
-It is impossible to tell how old the children are. Very few people are over 6 feet tall and the children look at on average about 2 years younger than they actually are. I was constantly shocked to hear a tiny little boy or girl tell me he or she was 7.
This really just covers the tip of the iceberg but it's all I have for now. Until next time, here is a video of one of the greetings at ET 566.
Monday, June 13, 2011
Shot Up
I've been vaccinated for practically everything under the African sun. Seriously. 6 shots total. 3 in each arm. 2 minutes tops. Tetanus, yellow fever, typhoid, meningitis, Hepatitis A, and a polio booster. The only lasting side effect thus far is that it feels like I did a few too many push ups yesterday. I'll probably be sleeping on my back tonight but I've been practicing the last few night anyway due to a little sunburn I've acquired while enjoying my first days of summer vacation. Despite my best attempts, I have unsuccessfully been able to sleep past 8 so I've just been getting up and going for a walk. Then, I go to the pool to get at least a little bit of a tan as a preemptive strike against getting sunburned in Africa. So far it's going pretty well. I'm not seriously bored yet and with all the packing I have left to do I'm pretty sure I won't be.
We leave for Ethiopia in just three short days. I can't believe it's here already. It's going to be a great trip. Prayers are appreciated. Look for photos here and on Facebook upon my return.
We leave for Ethiopia in just three short days. I can't believe it's here already. It's going to be a great trip. Prayers are appreciated. Look for photos here and on Facebook upon my return.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Stop and Smell the Flowers
Well, year two is all neatly boxed and packed away. It's amazing to think it's all gone by so fast. Time to stop and smell the flowers so to speak and write a little bit about some of the mini successes from the 2010-2011 school year.
1. A fantabulous parent who came on trips, sent encouraging notes, supported her son, offered to cut things out, and basically just was awesome in every facet.
2. That my students didn't pick at the tape and their name tags. Last year, I had to replace them almost every month and this year I think I redid them three times total. Sweet money I doubt that will ever happen again.
3. Students that ignored the chaos and just kept on listening. They rock.
4. The improvement of some really low kids who are now ready for first grade.
5. A closet that started and ended organized. Next year, I'm shooting for during the year too.
6. A really great Kindergarten team that worked well together and survived a pretty rough group of kiddos.
7. Air conditioning in June which happened to be 90 degrees plus.
8. Leaving at or before 4 about three quarters of the school year.
9. Only going in to school 3 or 4 weekends ALL YEAR.
10. Not procrastinating packing my room so that today on the last day I didn't have to do a thing but walk in and walk out.
Good thing I was ready too because they painters are EXCITED to paint in air conditioning and were already working at 8 this morning. It stunk like paint so much we didn't even sit outside our rooms to pass out report cards but instead sat in the commons together. We were supposed to have today to finish our rooms but apparently when the painting company found out we had air conditioning every single painter they employed jumped on the bandwagon and came to help. They were funny, talkative, and raring to go. They'll probably be done by the end of week. We're getting three slightly darker grayish walls and one accent wall. I chose blue for mine. Hopefully, it will be calming.
I know I didn't post as much this year as I did last year but I hope I kept it up enough to keep everyone up to date. Next up is a busy summer with trips, book reading, relaxing, and softball at the end. First up? Ethiopia, Africa June 17-26. Prayers appreciated and updates to come!!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
End of the Year Festivities
Zoo:
We can call our zoo field trip a success because nobody got hurt, lost, or had an accident. Definitely a success. The zoo was PACKED so the fact that no one got lost is definitely something to stand on. We had good parent help but it was also helpful that we left two of my most "spirited" friends at school in ISS. They had a chance to go but couldn't pull it together even for a trip to the zoo.
Fun Day:
At least 4 people got hurt and one person had an accident. On the plus side, no one got lost between the Youth Center and school so that was good. The walk there takes 15 minutes. The walk home takes 25. At one point, at least 4 kids were crying. 1 was sent home and at least 4 had to sit out different parts of the day. It was the first cloudy day in 2 weeks. It rained. I witnessed some shivering that was almost seizure like and I expect at least 8 kids to get sick in the next week. SMASHING SUCCESS. Always my favorite day of the year.
Best thing so far:
The looks on my students faces as they went down the water slide into freezing cold water at 9:45 this morning. They were SO excited to be there that at first they just went for it. But as they stood at the top of the slide it occurred to them that this might be a little scary. But everyone else was doing it so they took the plunge. The expressions were priceless as they went from excitement to hesitation to in-trepidation to terror to cold induced shock to giddy elation. Imagine all of that in an 8 second ride down a slide that ends in a foot in a half of freezing cold water and now you understand how it's my favorite day of the year. Let the shivering commence!
We have tomorrow as the last full day of the year and on Monday we'll take our well behaved (referral free) students to DQ. Again, we'll walk which takes FOREVER. However, we have 3 hours to walk a mile and a half and eat a Dilly Bar. Kindergarteners have short legs and they like to stop and smell the flowers. Literally. I'm not a big fan of slow walking but it's a good last day with my kids. It's sometimes a great idea to stop and smell the flowers. More on that later.
We can call our zoo field trip a success because nobody got hurt, lost, or had an accident. Definitely a success. The zoo was PACKED so the fact that no one got lost is definitely something to stand on. We had good parent help but it was also helpful that we left two of my most "spirited" friends at school in ISS. They had a chance to go but couldn't pull it together even for a trip to the zoo.
Fun Day:
At least 4 people got hurt and one person had an accident. On the plus side, no one got lost between the Youth Center and school so that was good. The walk there takes 15 minutes. The walk home takes 25. At one point, at least 4 kids were crying. 1 was sent home and at least 4 had to sit out different parts of the day. It was the first cloudy day in 2 weeks. It rained. I witnessed some shivering that was almost seizure like and I expect at least 8 kids to get sick in the next week. SMASHING SUCCESS. Always my favorite day of the year.
Best thing so far:
The looks on my students faces as they went down the water slide into freezing cold water at 9:45 this morning. They were SO excited to be there that at first they just went for it. But as they stood at the top of the slide it occurred to them that this might be a little scary. But everyone else was doing it so they took the plunge. The expressions were priceless as they went from excitement to hesitation to in-trepidation to terror to cold induced shock to giddy elation. Imagine all of that in an 8 second ride down a slide that ends in a foot in a half of freezing cold water and now you understand how it's my favorite day of the year. Let the shivering commence!
We have tomorrow as the last full day of the year and on Monday we'll take our well behaved (referral free) students to DQ. Again, we'll walk which takes FOREVER. However, we have 3 hours to walk a mile and a half and eat a Dilly Bar. Kindergarteners have short legs and they like to stop and smell the flowers. Literally. I'm not a big fan of slow walking but it's a good last day with my kids. It's sometimes a great idea to stop and smell the flowers. More on that later.
Monday, May 23, 2011
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