jruss2ethiopia

just another 16 hour plane ride away...

2008-01-23T02:59:00.001-05:00

Greetings friends!

So, I am heading back to Ethiopia this morning. I will be there until the end of April, and to give my brother a break, I will be changing blogs.

(for whatever reason, blogspot is blocked in Ethiopia, and for the last 4 months John has been posting the blogs for me. What a good bro!)

So! Now you can journey with me at: http://flickalick.wordpress.com/

Ohh! And if you are interested in sending mail over yonder, I would love to give you the resources to assist your decision.

Jessica Russell
PO BOX 54617 (Piazza)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, East Africa

It costs 90 cents to send a letter from the us-of-a and it usually takes 2 weeks.

Thank you for joining me!
jruss

homeland

2008-01-12T19:04:00.000-05:00

Here is a really powerful story about an ethiopian girl who goes to visit her homeland. It is a very quick read and I think it provides a new and moving perspective on Addis Ababa.

Finding My Daughter's Roots
By Melissa Fay Greene
Published: January 13, 2008

With thousands of foreign adoptions taking place in the U.S. each year, many parents want to give their children a connection to their pasts. Writer Melissa Fay Greene recently took her daughter Helen, 10, to visit her native Ethiopia.

It's been five years since my daughter left an orphanage in Addis Ababa and joined our family in Atlanta. Today Helen is a top soccer player, a flutist and the student president of her school. She has gained much, but much is in danger of being lost: her fluency in Amharic, her Ethiopian manners, her sense of her own history and culture.

As we pack for our 10-day trip to Ethiopia, I realize that I have no idea what my daughter is expecting to find there.

“I want to do lots of shopping!” Helen says.

“Addis Ababa is not exactly a shopping mecca,” I warn. “There’s no Target.” I want to ask if she remembers the orphanage or the beggars who line the streets. “I’m packing my iPod!” Helen calls.

Arriving at the airport in Ethiopia’s capital a few days later, we descend by creaky rental van into the city, where cars compete for right-of-way with herds of livestock. Unemployed, sick and handicapped people limp or lie on the sidewalks and median strips. Homeless children dash alongside the heavy traffic.

“This scares me,” Helen murmurs. “I don’t feel like I came from here.” Suddenly, a tall boy leans close to the window and moans in English, “Stomach zero.”

“Give! Mommy, give!” Helen cries.

She ransacks her backpack and finds a bag of bite-size Milky Ways. At the next stoplight, she serves a gold-wrapped candy to another barefoot boy who approaches. He examines it, smiles and requests another “for brother.” The van begins to accelerate. “He needs a candy for his brother!” Helen yells. “Please stop! Let me out!” But there is no stopping. My daughter falls against me, weeping.

UNICEF estimates that 4.6 million Ethiopian children have lost one or both parents, many to HIV/AIDS. Tens of thousands of street children forage in the capital; hundreds more live underground in sewers and tunnels. Some find shelter at orphanages like the one we visit on Helen’s first day back in Ethiopia.

When we arrive, the orphan girls surround Helen. They want to examine her watch and purse, peer through her camera and try her headphones. Then they all sit down for a chat despite Helen’s protests that she can’t really understand what the girls are saying. She does discern that they all need shoes: pink Crocs just like hers. With my permission, she leads an expedition beyond the orphanage gates to a kiosk, where she purchases 30 pairs of fake Crocs for 11 birr (about $1.50) each.

Over the course of our visit, Helen falls in love. Each morning, 3-year-old Binyam runs to her, squats and makes a fierce smile. She lifts and carries him for hours.

“We have to adopt him,” Helen whispers one day as he naps. “He needs me.”

“I know, sweetheart,” I say, “but we can’t. Maybe when you’re a grown-up, you’ll come back to Ethiopia to adopt.”

She shakes her head. Tears start to roll. “Binyam will be too old then.”

In happier moments, Helen soaks up Ethiopia. She understands more Amharic every day. She claps at dance performances and races up the field in soccer games at the orphanage. She sits at attention beside the van window, holding birr in one hand, candy in the other. If beggars don’t approach the car when we stop, Helen taps on the glass to catch their attention.

Before our trip, Helen’s dreams of adult life included Olympic competition, a modeling career and the practice of medicine. Now she says, “I’m coming back when I’m older to build a beautiful shelter for the beggars, with teachers and doctors and pretty bedrooms.”

Helen did enjoy shopping in Addis Ababa, but not for herself. When she looks to the future, it’s with thoughts of how she will make life better for others. And when she sobs inconsolably on our last day, it is for the orphanage girls and for Binyam—sweet children with histories like her own, but with futures that look far less promising.

the article is from http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2008/edition_01-13-2008/Finding_My_Daughter

videos of bahir dar

2008-01-05T22:36:00.000-05:00

I talked about this trip on my October 21, 2007 blog. Here are a few videos to go along with those written adventures.

First, here is the ROCKY gorge we traveled through while heading North.

We were VERY determined to see a hippo before we got off the boat. Here is a video (courtesy of Rob Shields) of the hippo who played hide and seek with us for a half hour. stare at the middle of the screen and watch the water...

While exploring the local monasteries by boat, we tried to spot hippos. Here, Amon is trying his best to call those hippos through his own special animal language.

And here is another of Amon pretending to BE a monkey.

MONKEY! this little guy was quite a disturbance to the staff at the hotel where he was playing.

Joy and I had our prayers answered. We had the privilege of eating dinner with these sweet new friends.

quick peak at the countryside of Ethiopia

a little more of the rocky road

dancing show

2008-01-05T20:10:00.000-05:00

There was a conference for all the nuns in the Addis and surrounding area, so some of the kids at Asco put on a dance/acting show for all their visitors. They did a really great job.

Here are a few videos of the presentation.

babies

2008-01-05T20:03:00.000-05:00

here are some of the babies i got to care for at Asco. Aren't they precious?

fooseball

2008-01-05T19:15:00.000-05:00

This is the fooseball table that Rob and Abraham finished for the kids at Asco. The two kids helped them through the whole process. and lets be clear, any GREAT IDEA is a long process. I talked about this on Sept 30 from the "Melcome Meskal."

SUPRISE

2008-01-05T18:28:00.000-05:00

This was our surprise birthday celebration for Heather, one of the girls I live with at the cherokee house in Addis.

please note the incredibly large candle on her cake!

abc's

2008-01-05T17:55:00.000-05:00

This is Warcu, Daniel and Sammy singing the alphabet. notice how intense Sammy is (boy on the far right). enjoy!

montessori friends

2008-01-03T01:13:00.000-05:00

Here are some more kids I hang out with at the orphanage. If you have been following the stories, youll be excited to see Nigistine at the beginning (she is the girl in the gray outfit). And then at the end, Alias makes a quick appearance. I have asked many friends to be in prayer for both of these sweet kids, and its such a beautiful piece of heaven crashing into earth as I get to see so much positive change in the lives of these kids lives through prayer and love.

before lunch

2008-01-02T13:43:00.000-05:00

the legend i left at Asco...Jim Carrey would be so proud!

football winners

2008-01-02T13:38:00.000-05:00

Here is classroom 3A the monday after they won the football tournament. Rob is presenting them their much deserved trophy.

dancing king

2008-01-02T12:44:00.000-05:00

Wacu unabashedly rocks out to his own tune. check out these sweet dance moves. Yamsirach, the girl who dances second, reminds me of emurr. i love these kids!

andagachew, mentesanot and tariku

2007-12-30T22:40:00.000-05:00

So i have been trying to upload videos from ethiopia for the past week, and i think i finally got one to work.
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Some boys in my class having a meeting...

jars of clay

2007-12-30T22:26:00.000-05:00

I heard about a beautiful answer to prayer this evening. I listen to these online sermons from a church in michigan -- the pastor is one of my role models (his name is rob bell) anywhoo! He was interviewing a couple from the congregation. They got married about 10 years ago, and decided to adopt an orphan from Russia. 10 years later there are 5 additions to their family -- all with beautiful and unique stories from around the world. Their youngest son is from the Detroit. This couple decided to adopt him after 7 other families rejected him. At the young age of 2 weeks he was both HIV+ and had hepatitis B.

The family love and cared for him. After about 6 months Princess Zulu (incredible woman from Zambia) spoke at their church about HIV and how she has been personally affected by the virus. After her talk, she and about 60 other people prayed for this young boy to be healed from his sickness and to grow up to be a mighty man of God.

The next time the little boy went to the doctor, he tested negative to BOTH hep B and HIV. God miraculously healed his precious child. Its been 3.5 years and even at the DNA level, there is no sign of either illness.

What a testament to God's power.

This story brought tears to my eyes. Both of these parents came from a divorce. The husband explained that what Satan means for brokenness and condemnation, God uses to restore the world. 10 years ago the wife prayed for God to take away her loneliness. And God gave her a beautiful family of kids from all over the world who never would have had the opportunity they now have would it not have been for this Christ-following couple.

Its so incredible how God uses people to change the world. These 2 adults could have easily chosen to save their money and retire in a few years. Instead they decided to serve Christ over themselves and follow his plan for their lives. Now they are leading, loving and disciplining 5 children who otherwise may have grown up alone. God is so beautiful!

out house girls

2007-12-27T10:03:00.000-05:00

here is a fun video of the "4 out house girls"
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1830435341

merry christmas

2007-12-24T07:07:00.000-05:00

hey friends. i made it home safe and sound without much jet lag. yippy! :)

big news!

2007-12-20T23:32:00.000-05:00

I will be returning to Ethiopia after Christmas!! I am so excited. I leave for the states tomorrow, and will be in the states for about a month. So if you want to hang out, shoot me an email  :) 

Also, if you are interested in donating items for Ethiopia, please let me know, and we can talk about what items are most needed.

in the news

2007-12-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

whats new in the news this week?

Condi came to addis. We didn't have time to hang out.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7128270.stm


I started to learn the fidel, or the Amharic alphabet.

Here is a sign in Amharic. There are over 300 characters.


Also, things may be looking up for the other Fidel:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7123986.stm

Here is a really incredible photo story. am trying to do a similar project, but DANG these images are good.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/africa_mozambican_orphans_with_cameras/html/1.stm

broken categories

2007-12-06T13:30:00.001-05:00

Too often we put people in categories without taking the time to understand their circumstances.

I am learning that situations are usually more complex than I make them out to be. When tension first presents itself, I often make simplifications about the situation before really knowing the foundational issues. This week God is opening my eyes to new perspectives. I am very thankful for this mental expansion. At the same time I am emotionally drained. I want to take the time to walk in someone else¹s shoes, or at least listen to their side of the story, before I pretend to understand what is going on.

I am not saying this is easy. Neither am I saying that I know the right way to respond once I listen. But I hope to be crawling towards Christ regardless.

Before I left home, Susan Lobasso taught me that everyone wants to be understood, known and loved. I believe this to be true. I hope to a piece of humanity which restores dignity to those who are shamed, breaths life into those who are out of breath and gives people another chance. Count this as an invitation for you to do the same.

scrapbooking

2007-12-03T23:57:00.000-05:00

Sandwiched in between teaching photo classes at Asco on Monday and Wednesday evening, I had the privilege of meeting with the girls from Hya Huellet on Tuesday.

What an answer to prayer! Again, I am so thankful for God¹s perfect timing. It was so sweet to be able to share so many stickers, candies, foam pieces, stamps, different colored paper and page protectors with these girls. I am super thankful for all of YOU (you know who you are...and you are storing up treasures in heaven  :)  for your generous donations of so many fun and creative elements to share with these girls. And for the wonderful folks who donated single use cameras...your donations are being put to GREAT use!

Here are a few images of the atmosphere Wednesday afternoon in their dining room of the girls house after we explained all the materials available for scrapbooking. Enjoy!

coffee

2007-11-29T02:26:00.001-05:00

Pretty cool article if you are into Sarbucks or coffee:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_starbucks_farmer_support.html

today betty died...

2007-11-29T02:25:00.000-05:00

Betty was at the orphanage for about 2 months. She was extremely malnourished and suffered greatly. Although I did not spend much time with this baby, she is the first child who has died since I started work.

I do not know how to respond. When I first heard that she had past I was doing some work in the office. Turns out, few people were told about her death, and her body was placed far away from the other children.

Kerri and I went to pay our respects, as we do not know if there will be a funeral, and she was fully wrapped in cloths. It was a strange experience, as she was placed on a small table in the storage room by the guards, directly below the water tower. Sister said she drank tons and tons of water this morning, which is an indication that the end is near, and a few minutes after we left the room massive amounts of water started leaking from the water tower. It gave me the chills.
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When new volunteers come to serve, its protocol to get job assignments from Sister Maria. 2 weeks ago Elaine, a short-term volunteer from Ireland, was given the task of caring for Betty. It breaks my heart to think about how difficult this is to the people who have been caring for her the past two months. It also breaks my heart that she has no family. Very few kids knew her at the orphanage. Even few know she passed away. There is no death notice, no wake, no family mourning. Nothing. Just Betty's body on the table.
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Late last week I had a very informative conversation with the Italian Doctor who has been working at the orphanage for a few years. She shared a little history of Asco with me. Before ARV drugs were available, they would celebrate on the day that no children died. Praise the Lord, last year there were only 10 deaths. Not ideal, but an answer to prayer over 360.

I also found out that Sister Maria was the first person in Ethiopia to administer ARV¹s to kids. (She is not only a nun, but a Doctor too). She got into some pretty intense conflicts with top officials from John Hopkins. They wanted money and statistics and she wanted her kids to stop dieing. Sister Maria is quite the advocate for her kids.

No wonder there are so many institutional problems. Asco transformed from a home that takes care of kids who are dieing to a place that care of kids who are living, practically overnight.

RIP Betty.

visit from the homeland

2007-11-27T00:00:00.000-05:00

Here is a really cool story about a group of folks who recently visited ethiopia. We have the privilege of dining with one of the doctors from this trip.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,312279,00.html

great race

2007-11-26T23:59:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple stories about the GREAT RACE this past weekend

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3087588.stm

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hVS_8-IDIzMcCZhYYpHDRLxTsvBA

around the cherokee house

2007-11-25T20:58:00.000-05:00

This weekend was VERY relaxing. Most of the group decided to go to Lake Langanoo for the weekend, but I chose to stay to save some $, to meet with a few friends, hang out with the teenage girls at the orphanage and to have some much need alone time.

Here is a sweet picture of one of our helper friends, Fantay and his PRECIOUS daughter Elshadie. This man has one of the most impressive work ethics I have EVER seen, and he is also super kind basically like a brother to all of us.

happy thanksgiving

2007-11-25T20:52:00.000-05:00

What a lovely day! As I am responsible for preparing the medicines on Tuesday and Thursday at the orphanage, I went into work on thanksgiving, prepped meds and then took massive amounts of passport-esk photographs.

Do you remember the woman I talked about back in October during the raw day post about a month and a half ago? Well, her name is Alemash. Her and her two kids, Baby and Mitu (nicknames) are now patients at the Mother Teresa clinic. I ran into her earlier this week and we decided to meet for coffee after work. This divine appointment is so dear to my heart. Alemash is one of the kindest and most generous woman I have met here. I felt so privileged to spend the afternoon with her and her loving kids. She shared so much of her life with me through pictures and stories and sweet and not so sweet memories. We talked about her son who had past away, about her husband who left her once he found out she was positive and about her time working for Europeans in Addis. She is currently looking for work (unemployment is a HUGE issue here) and has not yet told her two children they are positive.

We drank coffee, ate popcorn, laughed and danced. She is Ethiopian Orthodox, so we also talked about God and how he is sovereign over our lives.

I hope to meet with her and her family again next week. We took a few pictures together, so I will develop them and share them with her. Praise the Lord for this sweet new friendship.

After this sweet blessing, I got to return home to a magnificent banquet.

Here is the feast Kate created for Thanksgiving. (shout outs to Asni, jess, amon and nama who also helped). We were all SO impressed, not only by Kate's incredible culinary expertise but also by her detective skills in finding the ingredients for these dishes...

Just a little taste of what I mean: with her perseverance and a little divine intervention, she managed to purchase the last turkey in Ethiopia, and since it was not able to thaw in the frig, she cuddled with the darn thing all night, changing its water every 3 hours until it defrosted. (yeah,
that is DEDICATION!)

Our extensive meal included a turkey, sweet potato biscuits, green beans, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, wine and apple pie and sweet tea - all made from scratch.

What made the experience even more special was that Jessica Merriam's parents sent her a package which she receive on Thursday afternoon and inside were thanksgiving napkins and other decorations for the table. Talk about perfect timing! We enjoyed the meal and all shared what we were thankful for which was a very special time for our little family.

I am not exaggerating when I say its one of the best meals I have EVER tasted. GO BEZ KATE! Betam Betam Torro!

Here is Amon after no more food would fit in his mouth. One of our favorite quotes from the evening is from Rob as Amon is enjoying his first bite of our feast, he slowly and brilliantly slid his fork of food into his mouth and followed the bite with a grown of satisfaction and after rob observed this mini program, he said wow, I just enjoyed your bite!

moments in time

2007-11-25T18:31:00.000-05:00

This week I have spent most of my time at work capturing individual images of each child. Sister Maria asked me to update every child¹s file image and create passport size images for their school records. I am about 65% finished with this assignment and I will probably be working on this until I go home in December.

Since the kids LOVE pictures, most of them wouldn't go return to class until I took a few group images, and there are few images that I thought others would enjoy. So I wanted to share some of these posed moments with you.

fun times in the montessori classroom

2007-11-25T16:44:00.000-05:00

Here is our best attempt at capturing a class photo. Since the children hate sitting still, and they were about to be dismissed for their recess break its kind of all over the place...I teach with the two women in the back. On the left is Abebetch, who in in charge of the younger kids (in the pink) and T'hi teaches the older kids in the blue.

Here is T'hi with some of the kids during their break.

Here is my precious leaha. Earlier this week she was very sick,
but PRAISE THE LORD she is doing much much better now.

new american friends

2007-11-25T16:41:00.000-05:00

This past weekend two of the most amazing couples came to stay in the Cherokee House. The Correll¹s and the Perry's are old friends of Cherokee, and we had the privilege of hanging out with them, showing them around town and enjoying meals together.

Their friendship with each other is brilliant. They are older with 'real' jobs, yet they still know how to laugh, enjoy life and LOVE others so well. Kate and I decided that when we grow up we want to be as encouraging and delightful as these folks and we both have a long journey ahead  :)

I wanted to share 2 images of these sweet friends with you all, since they were such an inspiration to everyone at the house:

Our new family (back, left) Jess, Rob, Amon, Wes, Patrick (front, left) Kate, Roni, jruss, jess and Angela

This goes to show you how stinking fun these folks are to be around.

Here is an image of all the Jess' in the house. Unfortunately Jditto left
Addis before this image was captured, so we decided it would be best to clip her in.

22 girls...

2007-11-25T16:38:00.001-05:00

So, EXCITING NEWS! I told some of you a few weeks ago God opened the door to start the first photography project with some girls in Hya Huellet (A neighborhood on the other side of Addis, which means 22 in Amharic). These girls do not have parents, but I would hardly consider their living situation an orphanage. 12 teenagers live together in a home with 2 house moms (only one of whom I have met and she is a VERY inspirational woman). These girls are SUCH a delight to be around. They have the sweetest spirits and are so affectionate and joyful. They love to dance, do cartwheels, jump rope and play with hair. I am so thankful God opened the door to build relationships with these beautiful girls. Kristin Ivy, a friend from college who is living in Addis until December, is also helping me teach.

So for our first meeting I taught them some of the basic guidelines of photography through a slide show of images I have taken in the past and gave all of them single use camera¹s to capture what they see as "beauty" (the same assignment given to the students at Asco). It was a learning experience for me, as I had no idea they would be so unfamiliar with film cameras. Quite a few of them said there cameras were broken, since they could not see the image on the back of the camera after it was taken. Ops!

Tadelech, Konjit and Lidet, three of the 12 girls who are living at the girls home in Hya Huellet.


So about a week later I collected the cameras, developed them at the camera shop in Tor Highloch (where I am now a regular), and returned the first set of images this past week. They were SO pumped! It was delightful to see their expressions as they flipped through each image. The second meeting was a bit more successful than the first b/c Konni, the rockstar house mother, was there and she helped translate. After talking about why some of the images turned out the way they did (bad light, too close, etc) each girl shared her three favorite images with the group. It is so important to be able to verbally communicate why you enjoy a piece of art, and these girls are learning to express themselves in new and creative ways through this project.

We are very excited to pick up the next batch of cameras this week and will bring over scrapbooking supplies to decorate their personal images.

I am filing the negatives and documenting a couple of the best images from each girl just in case we were able to do a gallery down the road...who knows.

What a blessing this project has been. I am so thankful that God worked out all the details, and I hope that the girls are blessed and encouraged and stretched through these lessons in photography.
Jruss

Ps, if you have any suggestions  please feel free to shoot me an email @ jrussphotography@gmail.com

news article...

2007-11-25T16:37:00.000-05:00

I don't know how truthful all the aspects in this article are, but it just goes to show you how complex situations often get lost in translation, how women's voices often do not get heard, and about the extreme measures poverty has on families:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=496176&in_page_id=1773
(article about the baby from Ethiopia that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt adopted)

photography class

2007-11-25T16:32:00.000-05:00

WOW! Today (Monday Nov 19) was SUCH an answer to prayer. After 3 months of working at an orphanage where photographs are NOT allowed, God, once again, rocked the boat. He is so faithful in small things that are SO important to my heart.

As you probably know, I brought 100 single use cameras to teach photography to students in Addis. Well, until this month the cameras collected dust in my suitcase. A couple weeks ago I had my first photography class with a house full of girls in Hya Huellet (this is a neighborhood on the other side of Addis...which went SO well, I will describe this experience in another update).

THEN! Two weeks ago we had a volunteers meeting at work to talk about problems and visions for Asco. There is a new operations manager named Zachariah who is a total baller. He is trying to implement new programs for the teenagers, as they are the most neglected and in need folks at the orphanage. The past couple months we have talked about trying to start an after school program, but really struggled with its sustainability after we leave...so we decided to just take it week by week and have a ping pong tournament and a photography lesson. Sadly, there were some unfortunate events and frustrations between the Sisters and 5 of the teenage girls, and a week ago they were asked to leave (all five were transferred to another institution about 45 minutes away.) Needless to say, this tension had everyone curious what would happen next and inevitability pushed back the after school programs.

Anywhoo, TODAY 20 teenage girls and boys gathered to learn photography. We captured everyone¹s attention by showing some images from the football tournament a few weekends ago, then I showed my new students a slide show of personal photos and talked about basic photo composition: rule of thirds, angles, framing, story telling, etc. Then we paired everyone up and gave each pair a camera to share. I encouraged them to take pictures of things that are beautiful in their world, encouraging them to prepare each shot (as there are only 27 exposures in each camera) and to be united around a theme. In about a week we will develop the film and at our next lesson we will talk about ways to improve, new techniques and what worked/didn't work.

This is Betty and Biterfish, two sweet teenage girls at the Mother Teresa Orphanage where I work. If you look in the mirror, you can see the sweet poster Kerri (another volunteer who is from Ireland) created for the photog class.

It's energizing to see these teenagers get excited about something. Not only are these lessons teaching them English and exposing them to a new art, but they are also learning a skill, getting to create something and enjoying a new activity together. B.E.A.utiful.

On the taxi ride home I was exhausted after a VERY full day at Mother Teresa's, but it was such a sweet delight to experience God's perfect timing. I know this photography project was from God, and He was helping me be patient by waiting 3 months until I was allowed to do it. PTL!

Have a great day!

coffee ceromony

2007-11-25T16:30:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I had the privilege of celebrating 2 coffee ceremonies.


Coffee is a REALLY big deal here. And it is done VERY well. The raw coffee beans are bought from the store, then they are cleaned, roasted and crushed fresh. Then hot water is poured over the grounds. Add a few spoons of sugar and it is marvelous. Meanwhile, its tradition to snack on sweet popcorn while frankincense is burning. Keep in mind all of this is cooked/roasted over a small charcoal burner. Talk about some TLC. I think it is proper to share 3 cups of coffee together with friends...which means by the end you are bright eyed and very alert!

The first weekend coffee ceremony was held at my friend Mesfin's house
on Saturday. In this image he is crushing the recently roasted beans.

The is an image of Nesanet, me and Yeshi, Mesfins half sister and bother.
We celebrated coffee on Sunday afternoon after church.

Here Mesfin and I are enjoying fresh Ethiopian coffee,
specially made by his sister, Nestanet.

Mesfin's family is so kind and generous and encouraging. They are strong believers and we were able to converse over peeling cabbage for dinner. WHAT a blessing to find two amazing Ethiopian women with whom to share an afternoon.

YUMMY!

taxi driver

2007-11-25T16:24:00.000-05:00

Man! Tonight we had one of the best meals in Ethiopia. It was at this Mediterranean place called Aladdin's...their hummus, falafel and kabobs were INCREDIBLE...and they had super cold water, which is always a plus. The whole evening this live musician name Jimmy played English oldies music...it was so beautiful. He was probably in his 60s and so alive on the stage as he sang his heart out during each song. You could tell he was totally free by his body language and the joyful spirit by which he played.

I don't know who sings the song, but he played "give me the beat boys and sing my song...I wanna get lost in the rock n roll and shift away" and asked for us to sing with him. It was the high light of my evening!

As an encore he gave us a shout out with a Stevie Wonder song and invited us to sing the chorus. It¹s so exciting to see people doing what they love, and Jimmy was totally in his groove.

As the night wrapped up and we finished the last bites of our dessert, we faced the inevitable. Finding taxis home past 8 pm is my least favorite part of Ethiopia. Since public transportation basically disappears after that time, you have to negotiate with the contract taxis and pay like 30 times the price of the buses during the day. BUT! We scored the best taxi driver in the history of my time here. JACKPOT! His name is Sentio, and he was another Ethiopian TOTALLY his groove. For the 30 minute drive home he made jokes, sang to us, danced and just enjoyed life OUT LOUD.

What a GREAT evening!

PHOTO BOARD PROJECT!

2007-11-13T17:09:00.001-05:00

YIPPY!! After 6 weeks, many frustrations, complications and hold ups, the photo board project for the Montessori is complete!

I cannot remember if I wrote about the project or not, so I will give a little explanation. As there are so many volunteers who come in and out of the Montessori each week, usually only staying for a few hours at a time, most people DO NOT know the names of the children. Since knowing someones name is such a sweet gift, I asked permission at the beginning of October to take pictures of all the kids and post them on a board with their names in blue or pink (since most of the kids get their heads shaved, it can be difficult to tell which ones are boys and girls sometimes). This task seems easy enough, but BOY! As each step progressed more and more roadblocks popped up. God was faithful to provide at each step of the way...

First, getting all the kids names written out in English and Amharic was quite a task, as role sheets do not exist. The two teachers where willing to help, which was such a blessing.

Then, taking the actual pictures took a few days. I photographed each child in a photojournalistic manner trying to capture a little piece of each child's personality.

Then it took a little while to find out a way to print the images. I went to a couple different photo stores, and it turns out there is a place close to the bus stop in our neighborhood that does a pretty good job. I can bring a flash drive full of images and by the next day have images printed on matte paper. The images are 2 ETB, or about 20 cents each print.

The next step was finding a way to type the names in Amharic...After asking around, my friend/tutor Abraham was able to get a program, but b/c mac's have super high control and a different system, the program would not function with my computer. So then I had to borrow a friends computer to install the program.

Abraham then typed out the children¹s names, which took a while b/c it was the first time he had ever typed in AmharicŠand since there are about 300 letters, all of which are VERY different from English, finding each letter on the computer was rather complicated.

Again, since I have a mac computer and the Cherokee printer software is not compatible with my computer, installing the software onto my roommates computer took anther bit of time. I was able to print the kids¹ names in color, which was exactly what I wanted to do. Keeping all the photos, and names in two languages together was a bit of an ordeal, but in the end with the help of both teachers, I was able to get the images printed and the names cut out.

The next challenge was finding a board that was the right size for all the photos and the space on the wall. After getting connected with the right people, T¹hi (the teacher I work with) and I visited the barn/broken items storage area and selected a piece of plywood that was too difficult to reach, so we had to wait for the next day to get help to get the board down.

After we got the wooden board, the next task was to find glue to past construction paper along the background and more to put up the images. This was also a small hurdle as glue is a scarce commodity, but some of the teachers let me use some of their small supply to paste the papers and images on the board.

Then I had to get special permission to put a hole in the wall, which took a while considering the Sister we need to talk to is VERY busy and prayers for large chunks of time during the day.

Then, after getting the OK and asking some of the workers to help me put a nail in the wall, we realized that a nail cannot hold the board, so we spent another week figuring out how to drill holes into the 4 corners to permanently put the board in the way.

Then, after a few missed appointments, TODAY my friend Dagim, the electrician, took a little time off from preparing the new clinic to drill holes in the wall. It was rather surreal. Since ever piece of the puzzle was more complex than expected, it was VERY special to see the final project finally getting attached to the wall. It was also VERY LOUD...I don't think the kids have ever seen a drill before, so they all screamed and squealed when the board was going up.

It was very exciting to see a project that was in my head for so long come into fruition. Praise the Lord! For His perfect timing, for his faithfulness in small but meaningful tasks and for the affirmation the kids will receive as more and more adults loves these kids and know their names. I am so thankful for his goodness and for the helpfulness of my coworkers. I realize this isn¹t the biggest deal in the world, but I think it is meaningful to the kids to have someone see them as individuals and worthy of a hardwork and a personalized project. My sweet friend Alias (I have talked about him before) told me that the board was 'betam konjo' (very beautiful) and so many of the kids were so proud to see their beautiful faces proudly displayed.

Again, PRAISE THE LORD!

today (thursday) work was absolutely beautiful!

2007-11-12T15:48:00.001-05:00

First off, I have a change of schedule to announce. On Tuesdays and Thursdays mornings I will prepare medicine for the kids. 200 of the 450 kids are on ARV and other HIV medication, and in the mornings you prep for that night and the next morning's dosages. The system is very fascinating...

The children are separated by gender, and then put in order and assigned a number. Each child has 2 pill containers, 1 for morning and 1 for night (they look kinda like the pee containers you use at the doctors, but not quite that big). Depending on the child¹s cd4 count and blood work results, the kid takes a specific and unique quantity of medicine. So, to prepare the meds, you numerically line the containers up and use a ruler to keep track of where on the spreadsheet you are. Then you set out all the pills (there are 6 different types) to the side of the containers, collect the correct pills and dosages and then put them into the corresponding containers. Also, each morning the kids get an iron pill and each night they get a vitamin. Then, after the containers are filled, you go back through the list and containers to double check the work and then repeat the process for the next morning's medicines. Even though there is little people interaction during the 3-4 hours it takes to complete the meds, it¹s a nice break from the Montessori and it¹s a necessary task that must be done daily. I am excited for the small and important alteration in the weekly schedule...

But back to Thursday...So, Semira, this sweet girl in the KG class, had a life changing morning. Fortunately for me, I was preparing the medicine and was able to vicariously experience some of her joy. Here is the story, or as much as I knowŠSemira has a brother, and when their mother found out she was positive and he was negative, they were separated at a very young age. I do
not know how or why or when, but an Italian couple adopted the brother. Somehow this Italian family found out about Semira, and she got a hold of a picture of her brother, who is living in Italy. According to some of the nurses, she held on to that picture as a price possession kissing and adoring the image of her only family. Anywhoo, so Thursday the Italian mom and dad and Ethiopian son came to Asco (the name of neighborhood where the orphanage is located). The best part is that this Italian family came to Ethiopia to adopt Semira (Some countries allow citizens to adopt kids who are living with the virus). It was so beautiful to see her and her brother reunited. They were holding hands, smiling and he gave her a piggyback ride around the compound. Since he was adopted and moved to Italy at such an early age, he does not speak Amaric, so I do not know how they verbally communicated, but their sweet affection towards each other was brilliant. I got to be in the room counting pills as the doctor explained the procedures of how to give Semira her medicine. It was rather surreal to be in the background of such a special day. Praise the Lord! One of his orphans now has a family!! Brother and Sister reunited in Italy! Beautiful.

Ohh! And a less exciting but still answer-to-prayer note today Sister Maria asked me to take photos of EVERY child at the orphanage for their records.

hero

2007-11-12T15:47:00.001-05:00

Here is an inspiring article about a VERY popular Ethiopian hero:
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/11/08/HaileG.profile/

Enjoy!

football at the orphanage

2007-11-09T02:43:00.000-05:00

HEY HEY HEY! So, this weekend's update is from rob, i've just included some visuals. ITS REALLY EXCITING!

A little background: Saturday we had a football tournament at Asco.

I know a lot of you have been praying for the football/soccer tournament and I thought I would let you know just how much your prayers were felt as I was on that field today.


But first things first. About a week ago I told all the kids that today we would have a school wide football tournament, pitting class against class, and that the winners would receive trophies. We split the school into 8 teams, 2 teams per grade, ranging from 1st grade all the way up to 4th. 1st and 2nd grade were put in the lower division, and 3rd and 4th in the upper division. The winners of both divisions would each receive a trophy. And I still don't technically know exactly how to say the word trophy in Amharic...but all you gotta do is pretend like your holding it above your head in victory and the kids get the picture real fast. So anyways, in order to hype up the tournament, we gave each class a piece of posterboard and some crayons and told them to make team posters with their names and the team name they choose. And let me tell you that was a fierce process. I've never watched a full soccer game in my life back home, but I can tell you that Liverpool, Arsenal, AC Milan, Barcelona, Bolton, Manchester United, Ethiopia, and Chelsea are all pretty popular over here in Africa. We had a bracket made up and everything. Yesterday I went to collect the posters, and the kids had spent so much time on them, it was so obvious how excited they were about the tournament by how amazing their team posters were. There was some intense bragging wars going on all week long. Kids always kept coming up to me, saying their team name and pretending to hoist an imaginary trophy over their heads. They wanted that trophy.

So that brings me to yesterday afternoon. Originally the sisters of the orphanage had informed me that there was a trophy "lying around" somewhere in one of their massive storage containers, but after a good bit of searching we couldn't find it. So on Friday afternoon I set out to explore around town, determined not to return home until I found two quality football trophies worthy of all the hype surrounding the tournament. This is where the Lords presence started to get real obvious. I head to Piazza, one of the busy sections of town that is known to have a couple sports stores, and I bring my ATM card with me to withdraw enough money to get a couple big trophies. Well it turns out the ATM in Piazza doesn't accept my kind of credit card, so I¹m sitting in Piazza with the equivalent of 8 American dollars and money my fellow volunteers had given me to rent Season 3 of The Office. So I'm very limited in my funds at this point, and its starting to get dark, and the tournament is the NEXT morning. And to make matters worse, I only find one store in Piazza that actually sells sports trophies, and it's a government store with fixed prices...HIGH fixed prices(unlike other places where you can wheel and deal and get stuff cheaper). I know this is going in, but I walk in anyway, desperate to find some kind of discount section or something...anything. I stumble across a pair of MATCHING silver and blue trophies...i mean they were perfect. But the total price was more than all the money I had on me. So I walk over to see about the movie rentals, not wanting to disappoint my housemates, so secretly wanting the movie not to be there so I could use their money to buy the perfect trophies. And ofcourse, the movie was rented out. God¹s hand part 1. But as I said, even with the money I was supposed to use for the movies I was still short (and if at any point in this story you are thinking to yourself, Self, why didn't he just call somebody to bring him more money...just remember the setting...3rd world country...not gonna happen)

So despite my limited funding, I walk back to the trophy shop anyway, praying that the Lord would find a way to get me these suckers. I go up to the counter and give what I felt like was a pretty moving speech about how the trophies were for the children at Mother Teresa's and all about the football tournament yada yada yada. They bump it down five percent. Still not enough. They try to sell me these other trophies that were much smaller and way less cool...and, not seeing any alternative, I agree and they start to wrap them up. But something inside me just couldn't let those silver and blue ones go...I wanted them for those kids so bad. So I put almost all the money I had on the counter and ask them if they will take it, even though what I'm offering is still 10 burr short of the discounted price they offered me. The lady at the counter at this point I think is won over (God part 2) and goes from initially saying all she could do was 5 percent very firmly, to going into the back room to ask her boss for permission to sell them to me for that cheap. Remember this is a government store...absolutely no wheeling and dealing takes place in these places...as far as I know its out of the employees' hands. So the lady at the counter goes back into the back room and I have to wait a minute or two, praying that the Lord would hook it up and melt some hearts back there. She reappears with a smile on her face (God part 3). I can¹t tell you how excited I was watching those trophies get wrapped. These kids don't get to look forward to an event like this very often, maybe even never, and to know that they were going to get the best of the best...it was an amazing feeling. And that was just yesterday.

That night me and a couple other of the volunteers put the finishing touches on all the posters, made huge score sheets for each team, and drew up a bracket to show the winners of each game. It took me back way back in the day when we used to draw up brackets for basketball tournament in the backyard. Who knew that was preparing me for days like today?

So today we wake up at 6:45 in order to get to the orphanage by 8 to prepare everything before the games start at 9. Now unless you've been spamed from my previous emails, you probably have gathered that my work place is one of the most chaotic and unorganized places on earth. There is a head nun that has to approve of absolutely every decision made in an orphanage of over 400 kids and over 60 workers and volunteers...and she prays half the day(I mean I'm all for prayin and all, but for the love of goodness can there be a little delegation action up in here). So whenever you want something done, you have to track down a nun, tell them what you want, and wait at least a few days for word to pass around to get it done (no elementary school intercom system here baby) So planning this tournament was pretty much a logistical nightmare. Needless to say I was a little nervous as to what the heck was gonna happen when I showed up this morning. But man when I walked in those doors, my doubts were erased so quickly. I see that some of the older girls had gotten pom poms(where from I have NO IDEA), and there was his vibe of excitement running through the whole place. I had set aside an hour before hand for set up, expecting chaos at every turn...b/c lets be serious...it takes 3 days for decisions to be reached on an average day, and I was coming in needing things to be done on the spot..a VERY unprecedented concept for this place...but everything ran smoothly (God part 4). Come 9 o'clock when it was time for the first game between the two first grade classes, the stands were filled with kids, cheering on their classmates. Some of the workers even brought out the 1 and 2 year old babies and sat them down on the rows to cheer. Unbelievable. The next four hours was like a tornado. 8 teams, 6 games, 200 1st 4th grade kids, 5 volunteers. But God made it work. We found a system and it ran so well. We barely have enough jerseys for four teams of 20, so while two teams were playing, two more were getting dressed on the sidelines for the next game. 4 of the 8 games went to shootouts. It was hilarious b/c most of the time during the week the kids score 4 or 6 goals a game, but today everybody (even the girls that never play) was so excited that they ended up being straight defensive battles. I mean they were into it. The shoot outs were awesome. At the end of regulation, each team chose 5 of their best players to shoot. Everyone else crowded around both sides, essentially making a tunnel between the shooter and the goalie...we had to keep pushing kids back they were so excited to see. It was priceless to see half the kids who were shooters make the cross motion across their chests before shooting. One kid was so focused on scoring that one of his teammates took his hand and did the motion for him as he just stared straight ahead, his eyes locked in on the goal. The last championship game was between one of my best younger classes and one of my worst older classes attitude wise...so lets just say I was a little biased as the referee. I mean it was just one questionable call....it could have gone either way...I just made sure it went to the underdogs...and I may have extended the game twice its normal length until they could tie the game at 2 all. So the last championship game came down to a shoot out too. This was story book stuff. By this time the little kids watching the tournament's attention spans had been pushed to the max, so we had little 4 year olds running around all over the fieldŠI have no idea how they didn't get trampled. After 4 rounds of shooters, the score was 3-2 in favor of the younger underdogs with the good attitudes, and it came down to my boy Chalacho shooting for the underdog team (pronounced just like it sounds). If he makes it, the good guys win. If he misses, the other team has a chance to tie, and potentially send it to another shoot out. It was so close, but he missed it and the other team came back and won in the next shootout. Such a terrible way to end it.


Just kidding he made it. Gotcha. Once he did the team erupted. I had the trophy in my hands for about 2 seconds until it was lost in a sea of shouting kids, all wanting to hold it. I even got water poured on me in the celebration, which made me feel like a real life coach. All in all it was an unbelievable day. So much good came from such a simple sport. Some of the teenage kids helped me out big time by serving as scorekeepers, interpreters, and shoot out organizers, which was great b/c us volunteers don't usually get any interaction with them during the day b/c they are off at school in another part of town, so that was a big plus.


So many memories etched in my mind that I will never forget...

One of the first grade classes actually huddled up to discuss their strategy before their final game.

Another set of girls put all their hands in a circle and counted down before their game started. So crazy.

And of course, the cross motions before the shoot outs was the highlight of the day.

Thanks to all of you who prayed for this day. You helped make what you just read happen by asking God to work in big ways. God showed up huge today, and everyone involved walked away encouraged. God gets all the glory, our 200 to 5 ratio reminds me of another miracle of God coming up big when the numbers seem too overwhelming. To have this day go as great as it did with these
circumstances WAS a miracle. Flat out. I just wanted to take a few minutes and share this story with you, so that you will know that your prayers were heard. You couldn¹t be here to see the smiles on these children¹s faces, but you were a huge part in bringing the joy of today into being. Know that.

Thank you.
Rob Shields

captivating

2007-10-28T22:23:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-25T11:33:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-21T12:19:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-15T17:03:00.000-04:00

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

2007-10-11T00:16:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-10-07T17:04:00.002-04:00

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

2007-10-07T17:04:00.001-04:00

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

2007-10-02T12:45:00.000-04:00

“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

Melcome Meskal

2007-09-30T20:08:00.001-04:00

What an action-packed day! On Thursday I had a half-day at work--but that does not mean it was lacking in adventure. In the mornings I teach in the "Montessori school," and on Thursday we mixed paint so the kids could practice their colors. WOW. What a different mentality these kids have. T'hi (the main teacher for the pre-kg kids) handed each student a used piece of computer paper and grouped the kids around single colors of paint. Within a couple minutes one of the cutest boys in class, Mentesaknow, was painting Yonas' head and face b/c he was jealous if his paint brush, then 3 of the 5 paint containers spilled all over the floor. It was such a sight to see. A total mad house. The kids continued to dip their brushes in the puddles on the ground, painting on their already written on paper. After we cleaned up the paint, one of the little girls in the younger group was awkwardly standing in the middle of the class, and without flinching she peed in the middle of the classroom. Ohh man! Never a dull moment.

All week Abraham and Rob, with the help of two kids, fixed up an old fooseball table at work. After a few trips to the Mercado and much manual labor, they put the finishing touches on the table before lunch. It was such a sweet and spiritual moment as the 4 of them screwed in the last few screws and flipped over the table to play the first game. They fixed the whole table up for under $30, and you could see on the kid¹s faces how thankful they were for the gift. Even the construction men were excited to play.

We ended up going out to lunch with a few folks from work. BTW! The volunteers at Asco are SO diverse. Most volunteers only stay a few weeks at a time, but they come from all over. I have co-workers from America, Ethiopia, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, London, Israel and Lebanon.

We came home, I had some sweet worship time and then we ventured out to celebrate Meskal, which is an Ethiopian religious festivity. Tens of thousands if not a million people gathered at Meskal square, a central point in Addis. We stood out like a sore thumb with our bright skin and cameras, and we kept getting pushed to the front of the huge crowd. We were all trying to hold on to each other, to our belongings and stay in our feet with a smile on our face. At one point the police were blocking entry to the sections closest to the main stageŠbut they let us pass. It felt like we were participating in a huge civil rights event as the 5 of us crossed a picket line. It was so strange because everyone was cheering as we got closer to the opposite side of the crowd like a game of red rover on steroids.

During the celebration there were fireworks and chants and they lit a huge Christmas tree on fire (I did not get to experience this part b/c I couldn¹t see over everyone). I am still a little shaking on the significance of the celebration, but this is what I have been told: The Queen of Sheba went looking for Jesus¹ cross, and she found out it was in 1 of 5 mountains. She prayed to find the actual location and was directed by a fire to the correct mountain. I think the story says that she brings the cross with her back to Ethiopia. The right side of the cross is supposed to have healing powers, which is also very significant. So each year they commemorate the events by lighting a tree on fire. There is significance in the direction in which the fire blows.

After the celebration concluded we trotted home with the crowds, ate dinner then decided to watch an episode of Friends after our full day. Joy, an American who works with a few folks from the house, was waiting for a ride back home. Her friends call in the middle of the Phoebe's bachelorette party, saying they are lost in our neighborhood and stuck in the mud. So we strap on our sneakers and go on a half hour search for their vehicle. When we finally found them, there were 5 Ethiopian men helping to push their mini-bus out of the bushes. Craziness. The tires were spinning and we are all screaming. Mind you, it is 10:30 pm, and the whole district of Tor Highloch is silent or asleep. After a few tries and some false alarms, we all pushed the car out of the ditch of bushes. We celebrated for a half a second, then it turned into an incredibly awkward situation because two of the men asked for payment. The mini-bus belongs to 3 girls, and they were trying to negotiate with the men, but since they did not arrange anything from the beginning Rob stepped in and tried to explain that we appreciated their generosity, but it is not ok to demand payment after an act of kindness for friends. I think the girls gave them a little money and we walked back home to finish Friends and go to bed.

What a day. Well, there is SO much more I'd like to share, but I need to get some rest before work. I will write more soon. Thanks for reading!

THE MILLENNIUM

2007-09-22T09:32:00.000-04:00

"Today, once more, when Jesus comes amongst his own, his own don't know him! He comes in the rotten bodies of our poor: he comes even in the rich choked by their own riches. He comes in the loneliness of their hearts and when there is no one to love them. Jesus comes to you and me and often, very, very often, we pass him by." -Mother Teresa

The Millennium
On New Years Eve us forengies went out to celebrate the turn of the New Year. We walked around for a while, soaking in colors, crowds and craziness, and then we watched the fireworks show from a hill in our neighborhood. It lasted almost 30 minutes and was one of the best shows I have ever seen!

Here is an article about the millennium celebration:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6990298.stm
And here are some images:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/6990473.stm

Since Ethiopians celebrate with large meals, last Saturday we had a Cherokee Millennium Celebration with 3 sheep and about 60 guests, two of whom where a HUGE answer to prayer. Elsabet and Mekedes are two women around my age who I met walking home from town on Wednesday. They are my first GIRL friends here, and after work calms down a little, I hope to spend more time with them. I was so excited they came to celebrate the Millennium with us.

One of the big projects I was a part of this summer is called the Cherokee Ethiopia Education Program. Through this program, nine 11th grade Ethiopian students are studying in various high schools in the States for one year. These intelligent students are from backgrounds of poverty. 7 of the 9 families of these students came to our celebration, and it was very special to see how excited they were for their sons and daughters. Goodness! I am so thankful for being a part of a group that is having such a positive impact on so many families.

The Health
Hmmm. Last Thursday I started feeling rather sick. I was in bed for most of the weekend (outside of the Millennium Celebration) and it is a week later I am still trying to get over this cold. So, sickness has slowed me down. I am feeling a bit behind on learning Amharic and exploring Addis, but these things will come with time. The different germs I am being exposed to at work at not helping, but hopefully I will feel better soon.

The Jesus
Kate and I had house Church together last weekend. It is such a blessing to be here together she is a huge encouragement to me, especially after 5 very difficult and challenging days of work this week. Anywhoo, we listened to a VERY powerful sermon called Risk and the Triumph of Love by John Piper, and are both learning so much about what it means to follow Jesus in our new environment in Ethiopia. I have been encouraged in many different settings to BE JESUS to those around me, but this week Kate and I had our eye opened. After talking about Matthew 25, we are praying that we can treat others like they ARE Jesus. This is not a new concept, but a very encouraging and humbling way to go through the day.

The Job
I am working at a Mother Teresa's Missionary of Charity Orphanage in Asco the second orphanage I wrote about in my last blog. Rob Shields, anther UNC grad, and I are teaching 5 days a week. He is the school PE teacher, and I am still trying to find me niche. We take 3 taxis to work, which is 45 minute commute from home (totally about $0.60 roundtrip a day). The best part of the morning is passing a herd of donkeys on the way to the bus station.

There are 450-500 HIV+ kids that live at the orphanage only 5 full time nuns who are in charge, and a collection of teachers and volunteers who run the school. During the weekdays the kids are divided by grade level -- there is the Montessori school, KG and Primary (1-4 grade) and then the other kids go to off campus to public school. I was placed in the Montessori school in the mornings to help teach English and the Primary school in the afternoon to help with English and Art.

As I said last time, things are a lot more messy and complex than they seem. My first week was extremely frustrating. I am still trying to figure out what my "job" is, and how to be effectiveŠor what that even means. The "Montessori school" is rather misleading. There are 60 children with 2 teachers in one room. They are divided between pre-k and kids too old to be in the nursery. These kids are in this one room for most of the day, (outside of play time and lunch) and there is crying, screaming, yelling and hitting going on every moment. There are so many levels to these frustrating problems first and most obviously, the kids do not have parents, therefore, discipline is relative. The kids are swatted with a stick or branch at the teacher¹s discretion and therefore the kids see no problem with being violent with each other. Second, teaching is SO very different in Ethiopia especially with this many children. There are a few songs and games, but for the most part, education is strict memorization: the teacher says a word or letter or phrase and the students scream that back to the teacher. There is very little room for questions, discussion or other interactions. This makes my job as a teacher very frustrating.

On Tuesday I planned to take 5 kids at a time outside to work on colors. I had a handful of lessons planned. First, we would review the colors in Amheric and in English. Then I would give then each a piece of colored Cray paper to glue on the corresponding colored poster. After this project, I had a game planned, then some review and then I was going to read a book on colors to the kids. WOW. This lesson could not have gone worse. Before we even glued the cray paper to the posters one kids ran off with the glue and another took the posted in a corner. Then a child started crying b.c his piece of red cray paper was a bit smaller than his neighbors. The kids used the color game to hit each other over the head, and no one sat down to listen to the book so I know there is a need in the Montessori school, but each day I leave I question if I have the strength and courage to go back. There are so many things running through my head, especially since I have little direction and less structure and lots of unsanitary and frustration conditions. The younger kids basically sit on the floor the whole day and put small pieces of whatever they can find in their mouths. There are so many different things to focus on the 10 screaming kids, the 1 who wants to learn, the 3 who want to hold my two hands, the 4 who cry if they cannot sit in my lap, the 2 in the corner hitting each other, the one who just ate a cracker covered in ants, the 6 who are playing a game, it just seems like chaos and it is overwhelming and beautiful at the same time. Even though the conditions are pretty horrible, I know that if this orphanage was not here and struggling for survival and improvement, these kids would be sleeping on the street. So, that is what I think about in the mornings.

If you have any teaching experience, I would LOVE your advice and suggestions.

Another big frustration is that Asco does not allow photography inside the compounds. Since one of the main reason¹s I decided to go to Ethiopia was to work on a documentary and also teach photography, this aspect is a big point of contention. I am hoping that I can either find another school or organization to teach photography, or maybe with time the Nuns will allow me to do my project.

Outside of all those frustrating aspects, the kids are really beautiful. They all call me by my Ethiopian name, Falikalik, which is really fun to say. When we are not in class, I play with them and teach them silly things like the dumb and dumber dance and how to do cartwheels.

I am trying to figure out if I should stay at Asco 5 days a week, or maybe split up my time. I will give it one more week and more prayer and then make a decision. Regardless of the crazy situation, I am excited about the opportunity to love and encourage so many children.

The Contact
We do not have a mailing address (we might get one ib the next month but I am not sure yet. So, if you want to chat, feel free to email me. I do have an international cell phone if you would like to call, its 251.09.13.20.45.47 but this would probably be VERY VERY expensive.

"Beautiful are the ways of God if we allow him to use us as he wants."
Mother Teresa

Selam! Melcome Millennium!

2007-09-10T14:47:00.001-04:00

(Peace, Happy Millennium!)

I am safe and loving Addis, Ethiopia. Thank you so much for being a part of my journey!

So, after we got off the 15+ hour plane trip and passed through customs, every single person was handed a pink rise and a card from the Prime Minister, welcoming guests to the nation wide celebration of 2000! As you may know, Ethiopia was never colonized, and thus, never changed calendars. So, with 13 months in each year, Ethiopia will celebrate Y2K on September 12, 2007. The entire city has been preparing for many months. Hotels, bridges and stadiums are under construction, children sing songs in the street and everyone is sporting a rubber celebration bracelet. The New Year will symbolize hope, change and a fresh beginning for this beautiful country.

Addis is very familiar many similarities with Amman, Jordan. We get called 'Forengie' (foreigner) on the street, but a simple greeting and handshake inspires strangers to share their million dollar smiles are all over the street. Most all Ethiopians are kind, helpful and very beautiful. Everyone wants to shake your hand and touch your skin.

I am living in Tor Highlouch, which is northwest-ish Addis (its hard to tell b/c every map I look at is different). There are 9 of us at the house right now. All but 2 are volunteers like myself, staying mostly until Christmas. I am living in a room with 2 other girls (Jessica Merriam and Kate Wilson). The Cherokee house is welcoming and protected a "helper friend" guards the compound 24/7.

Like the maps, most things seem to be relative here. Take my Amharic tutor, Abraham, for example. Since his parents are illiterate, they never wrote down his birth year. He told me today that he THINKS he is 20, but not too sure. His parents said he is only 16, but I find that VERY hard to believe.

Needless to say, we will get not get official jobs until after the New Year, but we have wasted no time getting familiar with the poverty of Addis.

The first full day we were here we hung out at the YWAM orphanage and the Sister's of Charity orphanage. Both of these places BLEW my mind. One man is the Father of over 20 children at the YWAM orphanage, and each child adores him. They living on a small compound in the middle on now where, and playing Frisbee for a few hours brought joy to many of the precious children. The other orphanage in Asco is so wild. I do not have words. There are 450 hiv+ kids, with only 5 fulltime sisters working around the clock to care for these children. When we first arrived we visited was the 'sick room' where one of the sister¹s handed us each of us a baby who had recently been found on the street. I cannot begin to understand what it means to just leave a child on the street but the orphanage is a safe and loving environment for them even though every kid needs WAY more love and attention then they are getting. As soon as we walked down the stairs where the older kids play we were attacked by mobs of children wanting to play with our hair, sing Shakira and hold your hand. They start fighting over you. Its really strange. Its fun to see peace being instigated as you play with the children and teach them to take turns and be kind to each other. These children have the most beautiful smiles and their eyes are captivating. All of the kids are taking medicine for HIV, and are being taught to LIVE with HIV there are schools and different vocational trainings for the older kids.

Well, there is so much more, but I will try to be short and sweet.

in ethiopia

2007-09-07T18:16:00.000-04:00

I AM HERE! All is well. This marks the end of my 3rd day in Addis. I will share more details later this weekend.

My brother is going to put the posts up for me  for some reason our dial up internet does not like my blog page. SO! If you want to talk to me, just shoot me an email at jrussphotography@gmail.com and give me about a week...then I will write back.

Thanks for bloggin with me.