This month in Ethiopia has been one of the most unique experiences of my whole life! We are now in a town called Hawassa, it is anywhere from 4-8 hours south east from Addis Ababa. We were told it was a 3 hour drive, but after a few bathroom breaks, a breakfast break, a lunch break, and a grocery shopping break we arrived at our home for two weeks.
The place we are staying at is a bible college and a school for 600 kids – kindergarten to 6th graders. The school has 13 teachers so the ratio is about 1:46. So needless to say, they have their hands full. After recess the kids are hurded by their teachers with sticks into their respective classroom. I have never seen anything like it before. But, I continue to think that how else would 13 teachers control 600 students?
What has been the most bizarre is how terrified the kids are of us. One day Jack and I went to play with the kids and if we made any sudden moves the kids would bolt. So we ignorantly thought we would have fun with this. We gathered the kids really close to us, about 100 kids, and on the count 5 we screamed and chased them. Most of them were having a blast! One kid tripped and fell, as I tried to pick him up he froze as if he saw a ghost. “No, little boy, I am not a ghost, I am a white man.”
From then on we have had to watch our interactions with the kids, a common game in America like tag, turns into Ethiopian children fearing for their lives as crazy white people chase them. It certainly has been an adjustment.
We had another strange encounter with the kids one afternoon. We went on a walk around the villages.
The villages were everything you could imagine about Africa. Big tall trees, straw and mud huts, and dusty dirt roads everywhere. We started our walk and soon after were followed by 50 to 75 kids. They were trying to get close enough to touch us. As the walk went on the kids became more and more aggressive. Some of the kids started to throw stuff at us, reach into our pockets, and grab our clothes. We were able to shut these things down pretty quickly and were able to enjoy our walk. I held hands with a little girl the whole way and it was great. But things took a nasty turn as we tried to leave the kids. We got back to our yard and tried to shut the gate, the kids started to take whatever we had in our hands, throw stuff at us, and one member of our team even got spat on. It was a very real and uncomfortable situation.
Most of our team is trying to make sense of it all. I have found comfort in this.
“As we strive to be ambassadors of Christ, we desire to represent a message of love, kindness, integrity, and truth. If the way we live in any way helps to reshape the morals and ethics of those we encounter the Kingdom of God becomes less of an idea and more of a reality.”
I believe we taught those kids that spitting and throwing rocks is not okay, but we also showed that we can enjoy one another’s company. So much of what this month looks like for us is trying eliminate the fear that kids have when they see us, and teach kindness and love for one another.
One last story, Madi and I helped paint a trim edge on the school building. We were on our hands and knees painting, and we are being watched by 200 eyes. They were all just sitting there watching us as if we were a movie, if we looked at them they giggled, if we got to close they would run. It was odd, Madi asked “what do you think they are thinking?” I said they are either pointing out all of our insecurities, , what did they do wrong that they have to paint our school or asking why they would willingly do this? In reality to these kids we look like money and food, I am just glad we had the chance to serve them and their school.
In conclusion, we are having a blast in Ethiopia. These kids are wild and a bit crazy, but the Lord has created them perfectly. I continue to think that every moment is a chance to learn something, and I am reminded of the verses from 1 Timothy 4:11-12 “Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.” This has become my prayer to set an example of speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity, but to also realize that this message has no age limits.
