captivating

This is a quote from Captivating by John and Stasi Eldgredge. I feel like God is telling my heart these pieces of truth this morning.

"You are a woman. An image bearer of God. The Crown Creation. You were chosen before time and space, and you are wholly and dearly loved. You are sought after, pursued, romanced, the passionate desires of your Fiancé, Jesus. You are dangerous in your beauty and your life-giving power. And you are needed. As a woman who has been ransomed and redeemed, you can be strong and tender. You speak to the world of God's mercy, mystery, beauty, and his desire for intimate relationship. You are inviting; you can risk being vulnerable, offering the weight of your life as well as your need for more because you are safe in God's love. You labor with God to bring forth life­ in creativity, in work, in others. Your aching, awakened hearts leads you to the feet of Jesus, where you wait on him and wait for him. The eyes of his heart are ever upon you. The King is captivated by your beauty. We need you. We need you to awaken to God more fully and to awaken to the desires of the heart that he placed within you so that you will come alive to him and to the role that is yours to play. Perhaps you are meant to be a concert musician or a teacher. Perhaps you are meant to be a neurologist or a horse trainer. Perhaps you are to be an activist for ecology or the poor or the ages or the ill. You are certainly called to be a woman, wherever else he leads you. And that is crucial, dear heart. Whatever you particular calling, you are meant to grace the world with your dance, to follow the lead of Jesus wherever he leads you. He will lead you first into himself; and then, with him, he will lead you into the world that le loves and needs you to love. It is by Invitation."

enjoyable week

soup

Last Tuesday we had our first 'cup of soup' night, which means Asni cooked 2.5 giant pots of soup, and we invited a bunch of friends to come over and enjoy each other's company. Many folks showed up from the orphanage, which is really encouraging since the invite was rather late notice and we live about 45 minutes away from Asco.

Habtamu (the fatherlike figure from work that said crazy people are close to God) and I had a few sweet conversations. He has been working at Asco for about 5 years, and he desires to get his degree as a nurse, but education is slow-going because of all the work at the orphanage. This man is the Asco rockstar­ he is in charge of paying all the bills for the orphanage, he helps give out medicine, runs physical theory sessions for the kids, and is the official 'parent' for the 40 older kids who attend school outside of the compound. It is beautiful to hear him talk about the kids; he very much believes that each one of the children is Jesus (Matthew 25). Many other friends came by and it was a sweet time to open our home and meet new folks.

Habtamu and some of my sweet kids!

sleep over
Alexandra, a friend from work who lives on the orphanage compound, spent the night on Thursday. She is an incredible woman from London who has traveled the world and is passionate about advocating for child and indigenous people¹s rights.  We enjoyed some tacos and quality time with the Cherokee family.

rocky
Every morning on the way to work we pass a loud market, so Friday Rob, Abraham, Alexandra and I decided to check it out. Here is the scene. There are hundreds of people in a space about half the size of a football field. The people selling clothes wear bright green vests and stand up on platforms, which are sectioned off by clothing items. If you want to buy something, you stand inside this enclosed area, wait until the seller lifts the desired item up and then start biding. There is money and t-shirts flying all over the place. Unfortunately photos are not allowed, Rob left
with a $2 rocky t-shirt and Alexandra and I left with huge smiles. It was very obvious that forengies do not usually enter this area of Asco, since half of the people we walked by made comments and tried to get our attention.

beautiful kids
I told you last week I would inform you about Nigistine. She is quite the miracle child. Nigistine has a heart problem that results in death if not operated in the first 6 months of a child's life. She is now 8. She has many physical, psychological and emotional troubles, but when you get this sweet
child in a good mood, your heart smiles. Nigistine can understand a lot of Amharic and English words, but more the most part she does not speak. I have been working with her 1 hour a day ­ giving her some TLC and encourage her to use her voice through silly songs and games. Its been really sweet to watch her develop the strength to walk more often. In order for her to walk she needs some one to support both of her hands, but this week she took a few steps with me gently holding only one hand. It was a sweet celebration for the both of us! Some days go better than others, but overall it¹s a blessing to spend time with this sweet girl.

My sweet friend Nigistine

beep beep
Ohh my! Alias, the boy who bit me a few weeks ago, and I are getting along MUCH better now. He, like Nigistine, has good days and bad days, but Monday was definitely a great day! We have sport (PE) on Monday mornings and Alias and I walked down to the field together. Since he has some hip deformities, he walks much slower than the other kids. As we were crusin' down the stairs towards our PE class as this man pulls up next to us in his car. He offered car a ride to the fields, and even though we were only in the car for half a minute, for the rest of the day Alias repeated "beep, beep konjo...flicklick?" The 50 feet car ride made his whole day!

This is Alias. YES! He is wearing a "material girl" tshirt!

new connections
Saturday Beyonce launched her world tour in Addis, and since none of (or any of our Ethiopian friends) had 1500 ETB to drop on a ticket, we only experience her via hearsay. Instead, on Saturday afternoon we visited Salem's jewelry place. This was a really sweet experience because she is the
woman that supplies most of the jewelry for A Brighter Future, one of the main projects I worked on this summer in Raleigh. I hope to meet with her again and maybe do a few photo stories on the women that work for her.

Sunday Mestfin, a friend of Cherokee, invited a few of us to his pool house to hang out. After sharing some tibs (Ethiopian food) we started talking about out goals and dreams and it was so encouraging to hear his passions. He is a strong man of God and very open and genuine. Mestfin, and other friend Sami, may be able to help me get a photography project started with the kids in their neighborhood, which would be really great. Although many doors have shut, I trust that this project will begin shortly.

Thanks for all your encouragement, hope to here from you soon!
Jruss
jrussphotography@gmail.com 

adventures in bahir dar

What an adventure. We traveled via a contracted mini bus, leaving last Thursday SUPER early in the morning. The journey took about 13 hours, 3 of which were through a giant gravel rocky-roaded gorge. I took a few fun videos, which are much to large to send via the internet here, and I look forward to sharing them with you when I get back to the states.

kate and jruss at the gorgeous gorge...
part of the 13 our bus trip to bahir dar.

The countryside of Ethiopia VASTLY differs from Addis, and the beautiful greenery, less populated rural areas were a much appreciated change.

A man traveling through the countryside of Ethiopia. Taken in the bus.
Much different scenery from the overpopulation of Addis.

We arrived in Bahir Dar just after sunset, ate dinner then walked around town. Since the Moon rose over Mecca, Ramadan ended, thus there were fireworks and many Muslim¹s chanting in the street. The commemoration was enjoyable, and most everyone celebrated holiday the next morning.

Friday morning we explored the bahir dar mercado, meeting some of the sweetest street boys along the way -- Manyalet, Asmama, Tomishkin and Chumbay. Manyalet spoke English very well, and he is also learning Arabic, French and Spanish on top of being fluent in Amharic.  We walked with them for most of the morning, and they introduced us to two Cuban men who were professors at the university. It was exciting to practice Spanish for a few minutes and share a common passion for that special island.

Joy sharing the story of Zacchaeus (luke 19)
with some precious street kids in Bahir Dar.

Joy, my Bahir Dar roommate, had some connections in the town via the mission's group she is here with, so that afternoon we hiked to the Blue Nile Waterfalls with a wonderful tour guide, Yinebeb. The scenery was breathtaking. So calm and green and wonderful.

jruss next to the beautiful blue nile waterfalls.

Because crocs are not the best hiking shoes, I decided to not continue along the path with the rest of the group, so I walked back to town and waited with our bus driver, Tomana. He is a protestant believer and had many opinions on the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. We had a very delightful conversation about Jesus and his glorious creativeness, and then I had the sweetest time with some of the children in the town. They were curious about the color of my skin, and most of the girls were shy, but after a few minutes were having broken conversations in Amharic and enjoying each
other¹s company.

Many children at the blue nile falls.
These kids are full of energy and very fun to spend time with.

Friday evening Joy and I had a very powerful conversation about poverty. We talked about Luke 14 ­ where Jesus tells people to invite the poor, crippled, lame and blind to dinner, because, unlike friends and relatives, they cannot repay the favor. We shared about the difficult situations we are put in daily, and prayed for God to give us wisdom in these situations, help us to restore dignity to our poor friends and give us practical ways to share his love with his people.

The next morning Yinebeb took us to several different monasteries via a boat ride across Lake Tana. The experience was a bit different than we expected, as there are not many actual monks by the churches, but more of a cultural museum.

Paintings from the 15 century inside of a Ethiopian orthodox church
at one of the Montessori's we visited. You can see the veiling over Mary,
a few pictorial representations of bible stories and a few pictures
of orthodox traditional stories.

jruss and yinebeb (really fun tour guide).

monk at a monastery.
Although we expected there to be many monks at the
various monasteries we visited, this was the only one we saw all day.

On the boat ride back to shore Jessica Ditto spotted something poking out of the water. Turns out, it was a HIPPO!! Hippos are fascinating--they weigh a much as a school bus, do not eat meat and can travel 40 kilometers an hour in the water. They are also rather shy, or at least this one was. We played hide and seek with him for about 45 minutes, and FINALLY I was finally able to get a decent shot of him. Jessica Merriam was so excited, as it was her goal to see a hippo during our stay in Bahir Dar.

a hippo in lake tana! He played hide and seek with us for about 45 minutes.
One of the most exciting pieces of our journey to the North.

Saturday evening on the walk to dinner we ran into the boys we had met the day before. It was a sweet blessing from above, as God reminded us of the Luke 14 passage. Joy and I decided to skip the group dinner and treat these boys to coke, pizza and egg sandwiches. We are so thankful for the time we got to share with these boys. We talked about chewing gum, their families and school. We also got to share a few stories from the bible and told them they could pray to jesus at any time, not just when they were at church. These boy are so full of love and energy, and it was a true answer to prayer to dine with them.

our sweet friends, manyalet and chumbay, out to dinner on Saturday evening.

Later that night we went dancing, both to a traditional Ethiopian club and to a hiphop club, which was a lot of fun. Then, Sunday morning Yinebeb brought us donuts and we journeyed 13 hours back to Addis.

Good times!

today was raw

We all had a difficult time getting out of bed this morning, as we were exhausted from the Bahir Dar trip (I will share many weekend adventures later this week when I have some time). I had an abnormally tough time getting a bus to work, so I had to make a detour, and when I arrived the head Montessori teacher was not there. So, I got to be the main teacher for the morning lesson. As I have mentioned before, at Asco a teacher's authority and respect is gained via swatting the children with tree branches, and since I disapprove of this approach I have a much more challenging time getting the children to focus. I tried many different activities, half of which many have been successful, and after practicing numbers, letters and colors we had sports class, which went well. During snack time I go and visit Nigistine, one of my sweet friends in the sick room (I'll tell you more about her some other time), but today she was preoccupied, so I assisted this woman and her two kids who came from outside to see a doctor. Unfortunately I do not remember this woman's name, but she and her kids were incredibly kind and patient as we walked around for 45 minutes trying to locate the woman who made an appointment with her. Since the orphanage compound is huge and there is no communication system, we were unable to locate the woman, but we sent her to the clinic anyway.

Habtamu, the 30-something-year old fatherlike figure to many of these kids, was a huge encouragement today. Previously, as he has observed my silly behavior around the kids, he told me that he thinks 'crazy people are the closest to God,' which I can only guess is a compliment. Anyway, as we were both running around the compound this morning, with a vibrant smile on his face, he assured me that when we are busy with God's work we do not tire b/c we can call on him to renew our energy. Little did he know how much I needed to be reassured of this truth today.

During free time, Caleb (one of the younger kids that should be in the sick room, except he drives the nurses crazy, so they send him to my classroom) stole Leaha's shoes. As I have previously explained, these kids have NO personal possessions (they even share toothbrushes and underwear) but I have noticed that they do not share shoes. Thus, stealing shoes is kind of a no-no. As Leaha is bawling b/c her shoes are on Caleb¹s feet, I try to rectify the situation, but, as usual, I make things worse. As I took Leaha's shoes off Caleb's feet and tried to replace them with his own shoes he FLIPED OUT. He did not stop screaming until I sent the kids off for lunch 1 hour later. So many of the children CRAVE individual attention, but its so hard to love each child when there are 59 others begging for love at the same time.

After lunch I had a couple primary school classes in the afternoon. Then, as all the children were dismissed from classes, I saw the previously mentioned woman and her son and daughter outside of the clinic in tears. She said "Flicklick, my son is dead!" I did not understand, since she told me earlier she came to get ART's and get her children tested for HIV. She and an Ethiopian friend, Abraham, spoke quickly in Amharic, then he left and she continued to cry. I was in a state of frustration and confusion. I wanted to mourn with this precious woman, who was clearly in pain, but all of the primary school kids were gathered around her as if she were about to do a trick at the circus. I sat with her for a while until the doctor called her back. Then I gave her kids long hugs, and after asking God what the heck I should do, decided it would be best to take all the students back towards the dormitories.

As we were walking back, one of the 3rd grade boys fell over into the construction dust (tell you about the construction site later...so ridiculous). As I was already irritated and internally angry, I yelled at the children who were mocking the boy who just fell face first into a pile of dust. I gave him water and my sweater to wash off his face, and tried to restore his dignity as waves of emotion passed. In the middle of trying to clean this crying child¹s face, I was struck by the horrible truth that these kids do not have parents. His 500 brothers and sisters were mocking his tears and he had no mom or dad or grandma to hold him and tell him that even though friends are mean it is going to be ok. Gosh, this orphanage is so much better than living on the street, but at the same time, everything about the orphanage SCREAMS that God created us to live in families and desires for us to have parents. My heart breaks for these children. They are not asking for pity. They just NEED love. They need more people to hug them and kiss them and reassure them and guide them through life.

A short while later Abraham explained what happened to the crying woman. She had given one of her children to an orphanage, as she was unable to take care of him. She was told by this orphanage (not Mother Teresa¹s, but an orphanage on the other side of Addis) that her son was adopted and was now living with a family in the states. I am very unclear on the details, but it turns out this was a fabricated story. Rather than living in the states, her son has died. Some of the children knew her son, and attended her funeral.

I was immediately furious when I heard the story. Whose vicious idea was it to lie to a mother in this way? Is ignorance really bliss? Either way she would probably never see her son again, but the hope of his brighter future and opportunity is the opposite of death. There are so many complexities that I do not understand. It is part of Ethiopia culture to mourn much for the dead, and I cannot imagine not being able to go through this crucial process for a child. Had she spent days daydreaming about her child's new life? What made her decided to give the child up in the first place? Did her children know what was going on?  After mentally placing blame on many unknown people, I realized that blame shifting is a lame approach processing the painful piece of life this woman just experienced. My heart breaks for this woman. I hope that she is able to turn to Jesus during such a painful and shocking day of bad news. I cannot even imagine the suffering in her heart. What a agonizing piece of news to receive.

I was silent on the walk to the bus stop, until my friend Bizahyo took my hand. She is one of many street kids in the neighborhood of Asco who asks for money and candy and bread. Unfortunately I already gave away all of my bread, but it was delightful to smile with her as many thoughts ran through my head.

The thing is, it was not a bad day. I know that God uses situations like this to teach us about life the human condition and Himself and grace and beauty. I also know he uses the foolish things to shame the wise. And that he is compassionate and loving and can work through us to show others himself. Nevertheless, today was raw.

the mountain

This past Saturday we climbed up Entoto to see the famous multicolored church and a rockstar view of the city (I have 3 images to share). The hike up the mountain was totally REDONKADONK, especially carrying my huge camera bag. I definitely did not know what I was getting to myself into, and towards the end of the hike Jessica Merriam and I trailed everyone else by about a half hour. But the 2 hr long out-of-breath stroll left us with plenty of time to memorize Ephesians 4:1-3, which was a sweet piece of the Word to chew on when all you want to do is call a taxi. It was worth it ­ the church was beautiful, and it was a very interesting cultural experience. The guard (see 2rd pic) was SUPER sweet and he asked if we could take a pic together.

The Party
So, it is a ridiculously small world. We were invited by a friend of Lyston¹s to a birthday party. Turns the friend of Lyston¹s, Samuel Tadesse, does conflict management/resettlement contracting work around the world...a career I am very interesting in pursing. TURNS OUT, b/c God so interestingly puts all the pieces together, he knows Ted MorseŠTed is one of my good friend¹s professors (who I met this summer) in Nevada who does similar work in conflict torn societies. Ohh my.

While we were enjoying the gathering, I met one of the sweetest men, Abaybay, who is a delightful storyteller. He is a retired Ethiopian Educator who completed his schooling in the States. He told Kate and I one of the most fascinating stories about a plane ride from NYC to Ithaca, when, after
an unexpected layover, the plan left without him. The terminal manager angrily ordered the pilot to turn the plan around, since he left a foreigner at the last stop. TO MUCH SURPRISE, the small plane came back to the terminal to pick Abaybay up. 20 some years later he is telling the story as if it was a sweet gift he recently unwrapped.

The Primary School
I spend most of my day in the Montessori classroom, as I have referenced before. These kids are all too old to be in nursery, and too young to be in KG. Then, after lunch, I spend a few hours in the Primary School (grades 1-4).

All of the kids who attend school on campus live at the orphanage, and the older kids go off campus to attend school. Most all of these 500 kids are living with AIDS, but unless you visited the sick room, you could hardly tell. They have just as much energy and excitement as any other elementary school kids, and they LOVE to be loved. Each grade (except for first) is split up into A and B, with about 30 kids in each classroom. First grade is combined, with about 50 kids. There is one teacher for each class who teaches all subjects. The students are very much used to volunteers from all over the world coming to help with art, music and English. There are about 20 volunteers currently at Asco, all doing various jobs to help keep the orphanage running.

So, the first few weeks in the Primary school were rather unstructured and frustrating. I just figured out who was teaching Œspoken¹ and sat in on the class. This normally meant I taught the kids random words and phrases and tried to spark interest (when the kids were WAY more excited about my one handed cartwheel than learning animal adjectives). After too many seemingly worthless afternoons I decided to take initiative and ownership over the time I have, the past 2 weeks have been SO much more manageable and effective. Glory to God for this, because so many days I came home asking Him why in the world he called me to Asco.

So this is the structure (see pic ­ this is one of my first grade groups)...I take 5 first graders out during each class period, and thanks to wonderful advice from Casey Reagan, an ESL teacher I know from church, teach them action words. I brought over 5 white boards, so I teach them a verb, they write it, then we act the verb out together. After 5 or 6 new words, we write or new words into activity books. I purchased enough activity books for all the first graders, so they can each have their own notebook. It's beautiful to see how excited they are about sharpened pencils and new
notebooks. Today was my first repeat class (I have 2 classes a day) and I thought it went very well. The teachers seem to think what I am doing is worth the time and energy and the students seem to be engaged, so I am very very thankful for the opportunity to serve the kids and the teachers in this way.

I am still hoping to find an avenue through which to teach photography, but as of right now, I do not know where, how or when. I am trying to trust his perfect timing.

Well, I am out. We are leaving in about 5 hours (5 am on Thursday morning) for Bahir Dar, which is about a 12 hour trip each way. Lots of quality time with the whole house, plus a friend, Joy.

PICTURES!

Thanks for asking about pictures. They are very difficult to upload and send, but I will try and post thumbnail images on my blog from now on. These images will be VERY small, since I have to send them via dial up to my brother who posts them for me. Here are a few from the past month:

1. From Left to Right: Patrick, me, Matt. Heather, Rob. Jessica Merriam, Amon and Kate. This image was taken at Morehead in North Carolina during our Ethiopia Orientation. Everyone in this image is now living at the Cherokee House except for Matt, who lived in Ethiopia this summer and is now back in school. Jessica Ditto (not in the picture) has been in Ethiopia since July and is staying in the house until November. Yes, you read correctly, there are THREE Jessica¹s at the house. So fun.


2. This is our first night in the Cherokee House. We just got in from a 16 hour flight and a ridiculous ride back from the airport.


3. Jruss and Kate after a long day of getting lost in the outskirts of Addis.


4. Ohh! This is an image of myself with Yonathan, one of the neatest men in Addis. I am friends with him and his wife Hareg and their beautiful 2 girls, Abigail and Ruth. Yoni is a true instigator of peace. I was able to listen to him speak about teaching values in the classroom, and I am very inspired by the work he does. This family has a beautiful heart the poor in Ethiopia and they are an inspiration to all. Yoni just left for a 6 week visit to the states, but when he gets back I hope to do a photo story on his work.


5. These are some of the fun kids who live in our neighborhood.


6. Habtamu is one of the kids I teach in the Montessori School at the Mother
Teresa Orphanage in Asco. He is ALWAYS in a cheerful mood and his smile
brings joy to my heart.


7. MY PRECIOUS LEAHA. I wrote about her last week. I love this child so
much! I am trying to teach her to be nice and not hit the other kids. She
crys many times a day, but she has one of the most radiant smiles I have
EVER seen.

life update

New Contact
On of this week¹s highlights: We got a mailing address! So, that is exciting. I have no idea how expensive it is to send mail to Ethiopia, and I have no idea how long it takes to get to us, but either way, the option is now available. If you are interested, here it is:
Jessica Russell
PO BOX 54617 (Piazza)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, East Africa

Weekend adventures
The local international church holds a bazaar every few weeks, and the monthly Addis guide said it was planned for Saturday, unfortunately when we arrived we found out the guide was incorrect. So! Kate and Jhood (Jessica Merriam) decided to get a pedicure while I read upstairs at a coffee shop. I was reading this provocative book by Garry Wills called "What Jesus Meant" and this older man, Michael, started asking me about it. It was such a divine appointment! Even though I was only on pg 2, I informed him that the author goes through the Gospels and discusses the radical actions and words of Christ. Michael and I continued to talk about life and self-knowledge and education and the importance of a balanced life for 45 minutes. He spent most of his adult like in London, so the language barrier was not a problem. Turns out he has teenage niece, Yeshi, who is learning English, so hopefully we will hang out later this week. He also has a really good photographer friend who lived in California for a while, and is now back in Addis. I hope to meet him and talk to him about a few photography ideas. What a sweet meeting!

Then, later that evening for our weekly house dinner, we ventured to Top View AKA the nicest restaurant in Addis. The food was delicious and decently priced. I got a steak with veggies and it was under 5 USD...which is a bit pricey here, but not too bad! Then we went to a Reggae club...unfortunately the band who was supposed to play never showed up, but I enjoyed learning to dance reggae style with a few new Ethiopian friends.

Case of the Mondays
Last Monday marked the beginning of my 3rd week at the orphanage, and I am finally starting to find me niche. I try to take a small group from the Montessori everyday and practice colors and small English words. This works half of the time. For whatever reason, the Montessori was particularly WILD one Monday. There was so much screaming and crying and fighting...I thought I hit a breaking point in my time here. Then, I went to get the teachers some tea, and one of the precious KG kids ran into me, spilling a whole pot of hot tea all over my body. As I walked back up to the classroom, soaking wet from hot tea, one of my kids was soaking my teaching materials in water. God is definitely teaching me patience. When I returned to the Montessori room, this one boy, Alias, got really angry with me for playing with Habtamo (who is one of the CUTEST KIDS EVER) and he bit my arm. Ha, then, a few minutes later, the same little girl who peed all over the floor of Thursday repeated her routine. Ohh my! Hahaha. What a day full of surprises.

GOOD NEWS
So, I spoke with Sister Maria, who is the go-to person for everything, about a project idea. Because there are so many short-term volunteers who come into the Montessori, very few of the kids are really KNOWN by adults. I learned from Jeff McSwann that your name is the most precious word in any language, but so few people know these kid¹s names. SO! I asked if I could take pictures (which, mind you, is not allowed) of each child, posting them on the back wall of the classroom, with each child¹s name in blue and pink (all of the kids get their head shaved, so sometimes its really hard to tell which gender the kids is). She agreed! I am so pleased!

Tuesday I took a sick day (haha, and spent 6 hours of that day getting to and back from the doctors...I am feeling better now) and then Wednesday and Thursday I captured images of these precious children. I look forward to editing and finding a place to print these sweet faces in the classroom. I am so thankful for this opportunity. Hopefully, if the folks at Mother Teresa's enjoy the finished product, I will be able do more photography work there.

Tar Heels in Addis
This week there have been an absurd number of UNC encounters. On the busride home from work there was a man sitting across from me sporting a CAROLINA sweatshirt. I quickly showed him my UNC rain jacket, showing him how we matched. He probably bought the sweater second hand since he didn't know what "Carolina" meant, but it was still pretty cool. Then we invited Abraham, one of Lyston's good friends, to lunch. He told us there was a girl from America staying with his family, and that he would bring her to lunch. Turns out the girl is Kristen Ivy, a girl who I lead Young Life with at UNC. CRAZINESS. As I walked home that afternoon I was stopped by a guy who noticed my "Chapel Hill - Young Life in the park" tshirt. Turns he graduated from UNC in 1998 and helped start YL at Durham Academy. So wild. He and his wife and baby live in Addis now...IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. So wild! It is a very small world.

Tuesday October 2, 2007

“The world cannot argue with a Church that lives in the pain of society’s
poor. The integrity of this form of Christianity silences the harshest of
critics, because they now genuine love and compassion when they see it. And
the truth is, they want it.” –Tony Campolo

The Poverty

Wow. I desire for us to be the kind of people who are known for our compassion and love in this way. The extreme poverty in Addis is often overwhelming. There are homeless folks who approach me all day long asking for food, money, jackets and candy, and there are many more who sleep on the sidewalk b/c they have no where else to go. I try to greet each person with a smile – but I have a hard time knowing the appropriate response to such a crappy situation. It would be very easy to give away all the money and food I have to the homeless people who ask, but I know that is NOT the answer. In America poverty is also a complex issue, but we often justify our lack of giving and empathy b/c “if they wanted, they could find a job” (even though its a horrible excuse for not entering into life with people who have been dealt a much more difficult life than our own)…but here that excuse in invalid. Unemployment is a huge dilemma, second only to the orphan crisis, and many Ethiopians “go to work” by begging on the streets. I have decided to buy crackers to keep in my purse when women and children look hungry or ask for food. I am very aware of Matthew 25 every time I leave the house, and when I was asking God how to address this constant internal struggle, I read this quote from a book by Tony Campolo:

“When Jesus walked the earth, He demonstrated a special love and concern for
those who were disadvantaged and pressed down by the harsh realities of
living…Jesus never approached the poor as some kind of project or problem
that had to be rectified. He genuinely felt the weight of their plight. This
should not surprise us, because in the Old Testament, God regularly measured
Israel’s faithfulness by the degree to which they cared for the poor. To
ignore the poor was a direct offense against Yahweh.”

On a lighter note, earlier last week Rob and I were on a bus home from work, and a boy came up to the window motioning that he was hungry. This is a daily encounter, but this particular boy had food in his other hand. Not thinking that anyone on the bus spoke English, Rob joked that the boy needed to work on begging tactics. There was one man in front of us who understood and agreed as he cracked up.

Rush Hour
Speaking of the buses, there is a whole Ethiopian bus subculture during rush. It’s practically impossible to get a bus home at certain times of the day. I was at the Mercado with Rob and our Ethiopian friend Abraham attempting the impossible last Monday evening, when a bus slowed down going in the direction of him. In the blink of an eye, Abraham dove into the mound of people on the bus, saving Rob and me a seat. He looked like a bunny rabbit hoping over the crowd. The mob of people fighting for a seat is ridiculous and frustrating, but it’s also rather humorous to watch.

Bed bugs
Until a few weeks ago, I never knew these suckers existed. MAN, they sure know how to ruin a good night sleep. Every morning I woke up with new red bumps all over my body. After 2 intense lock-down sprays, I think the problem is dead…hopefully.

Asco
One thing I can say about work is that it is NEVER boring, which is a huge blessing. I come home completely exhausted because every day is a new challenge. On one hand, I want to be respectful of the system of education that is already established, as I am only here for a few months and do not have much experience. On the other hand, it is very easy to pinpoint things that obviously could be improved for the sake of the kids. I have asked myself what Jesus would do in this kind of situation, and I usually cannot think of an answer.

There were a few times last week when the children were unable to do their lessons b/c there weren’t enough pencils. I figured this was God’s way of opening my eyes to a need for which I could provide. So, I found about 50 pencils, sharpened them, and brought them in to school the next day.

Goodness! I have the expressions from that day engraved into my memory! The kids were SO excited to have a newly sharpened pencil with an eraser…I wish you could have seem the enthusiasm in their eyes. The best part was that each kid received his or her own new pencil. Since everything is communal at the orphanage (toys, toothbrushes, clothes, books, soap, food), and the kids are so young, they have developed a raging fighter mentality whenever they want something. Because they do not own any items, it is difficult to teach the kids the importance of respecting property. By the end of the class the kids were hitting each other with the pencils and half of the kids were purposefully breaking the tips, but I guess this scenario is better than not having a writing utensil at all…

One of the most precious tools another volunteer taught me is how the kids ask for forgiveness. They hook their pinky fingers together and then kiss their own pinky as a way to say “I am sorry.” This is such a beautiful way for the kids to make their peace and then go about their business. I am
learning that to have faith like a child you have to forgive and truly wipe the slate clean.

My Kids
Leaha is one of my favorites. She is in the older group at the Montessori (probably 4 or 5 years old) and she has the most radiant smile – every time her face lights up I melt. She also has one of the worst tempers I have ever seen on a child. She will often run around and hit people with a tree branch, then when she realizes I saw her swat 5 other kids, she will throw herself on the floor a pitch a fit. She cries at least 5 times a day. Whenever she does this, I take her outside, calm her down, and make her repeat “be nice” and “don’t hit” with me. Then I look her in her eyes and tell her she is beautiful or “konjo.” Ms. Lobasso says they EVERYONE wants to be known, understood and truly loved. So even though there are so many barriers – time, communication, culture, age, etc, I want these kids to know that they are loved – regardless of how many times they hit their friends, cry or pee on the floor. I think one of the most powerful ways to do this is looking them in the eyes and hugging them. I hope that if I do nothing else at this orphanage, I can unabashedly love these kids through the power of Christ inside me.

Habtamo is another one of my babies! It took a little while to figure out if he was a boy or girl (all the kids heads get shaved, and often the girls wear pants, so its hard to tell), but he has the most precious laugh. He is always in a good mood and he is so fun to be around.

Then there is Sami, who smiles and tells stories with his eyes, and Magdes who answers all the questions right. Sammy always has a bloody noise and Getchoh’s fat little cheeks make my day. Dalukew is the most handsome and competitive 4 year old I have met, and Yonus fights anyone to get his favorite horse with moving lips during playtime. Yabersa is always causing disruption and lisa who patiently waits for me to hold her hand. Wacu’s little butt is always hanging out of his pants and Pedros captivates me with his eyes. OHH man! These kids are becoming such dear friends.

I will tell you more about the primary school kids next week.

Lost
During the week there is an Ethiopian woman named Asni (she is da bomb dot com dot org) who cooks for us, but on the weekends we take turns making food. So, last Saturday night Kate and I were in charge of dinner. We set off on an adventure to the grocery store, but a few bus rides and 45 minutes later, we found out we were going in the wrong direction. This guy, David, preceded to get off the tax with us and get on two more taxes to help us find where were needed to be. We told him how appreciative we were, and he explained how he used to live in South Africa, and he once had kind woman help him find his was when he was lost. What a Good Samaritan…I felt like I was in the PASS IT FORWARD movie!

Well, that does it for now. Thanks for journeying with me! feel free to shoot me an email at jrussphotography@gmail.com. Have a great week.
Jruss