Life Update
Wow. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve blogged! So much has happened! On December 9th, I left Siem Reap, Cambodia. I had an 11 hour layover in Thailand, and then arrived in Ethiopia. I’ve been here, at a ministry called Hopethiopia for 5 weeks. We are in the middle of nowhere. To give you a picture of how in-the-middle-of-nowhere we are, the other day, I saw two cars on the road and it was surprising! Seeing planes flying over is exciting! We are a 2 1/2 hour drive from Addis Ababa, the biggest and most well known city here. That is also the closest place to which is why I have not been in contact at all. Everyone walks or rides on sketchy horse wagons. We live a blessed blessed life here. Most of us were expecting to sleep on our sleeping pads, use squatty potties, take bucket showers, and be hungry often. We got here and discovered that we have beds (with blankets, because it gets cold here), showers, toilets, and plenty of food. God has blessed me beyond my expectations and imagination.
My ministry for the first two weeks was building a brick border around the garden and cleaning around the fish pond. Now, two teammates and I teach kindergarteners at the local school, and the other four teammates are on meal prep at the base.
Hopethiopia has many projects going on. One of the most noteable is the children’s village. There are 5 houses that house either orphaned kids or kid’s with not-ideal living situations. Each house has a house mom to bathe, feed, and take care of the children. My team’s house is in the children’s village.
Another cool project is the Faith Well. The power in this town goes off daily, and it’s common for it to go off multiple times in a day. When this happens, no one in the town can get water. Hope dug a well and distributes water for free to anyone who comes and gets it. It is so cool.
Some of my favorite things about Ethiopia:
•It’s chilly! We have to bundle up at night, which we longed to have to do in Cambodia! No more sweating!
•Enjera. It’s a type of bread that the locals eat daily. It’s circular and spongy. You put some sort of stew on the top, and dip the enjera into it. It is DELICIOUS.
•The relaxed way of life.
•Coffee ceremonies. I personally am not a big fan of coffee, but there’s just something about making it yourself that makes it so good! They roast the beans on a little stove, crush the beans, boil the water on another little stove, and put the crushed beans into the water. All of this happens while you sit and enjoy each others company.
•Dancing in the kitchen. Every team takes turns washing dishes, and we always have music on when we do, so we dance while we do the dishes. It’s SO FUN!
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For those of you that haven’t heard, I’m fully funded!!!! Thank you all so much for your prayers and support! I will be going back to Harbu Chulule, so I’m not sure when I’ll post a blog next, but you can here exactly when I do by subscribing to my blog at the top of this page!
