You know how you feel before leaving your vacation on the beach? Yeah, that’s how I feel right now. I have been in awe at the things that God has done in Ethiopia. I remember the feeling I had when stepping foot onto the Hope Ethiopia compound on December 10, 2018 because that was the moment I thought I died and went to heaven. I stepped out of the van to 28 beautiful African children welcoming me with hugs. The sun was setting and I looked over at the mountains and teared-up because I already felt blessed to be able to call this place home for 3 months. And wow, this place has really become home.
I really wanted to share some of my favorite moments with you all to give you a taste of the reason why saying goodbye is going to be so hard. So, here you go…
- Cutting grass on day one and getting to know the kids. One of the first kids I met was named Abiti. My first impression of him was the crazy boy who runs around with a dead rat scaring all of the new missionaries away.
- Waiting for primer to be made to paint the walls and dancing to Shakira with some of the kids. We taught Sisay, Meskerem, and Balcha a dance to “Waka Waka” and then made a cute band with painting supplies. I played drums on a paint can and also sang into the outlets hanging from the ceiling.
- Teaching 4 boys on the compound with Cara and when having to switch ministry, the boys rebelled to their new teachers and said they wanted teacher Cara and teacher Gabby.
- We had a 12 Days of Christmas program put on by team Towdah. One of the activities was a Riff-Off; the judges would pick a Christmas word and we had to go around as teams and sing a song that has that word in it. It got a little heated and Savanah led our team to a win with a solo of lines and a little bit of a song from the movie Elf. Our prize was a banana trophy.
- Savanah and I were going to get weave together and have the locals braid it in. I could not find weave my hair color, so Sav got it herself. I remember our whole team sitting around the table watching her get her hair braided and she kept looking at our facial expressions and getting scared. And Daggie kept telling her to shut-up because she was getting so scared.
- Getting into sketchy vans in Addis Ababa and meeting a new friend named Teddy. My team and I sang Beyonce songs with him. Every time we needed a taxi, we looked for Teddy. On my birthday, he said he had a gift for me and gave me a “gold” bracelet from his wrist. My team kept asking me how we got that close that he gave me a bracelet. We literally bonded over me asking him questions and him answering them the best he could because he didn’t understand a word a said. Language barriers, let me tell you.
- Falling into the freezing cold lake after slipping on a rock and my team laughing at my clumsiness.
- Listening and laughing at Abiti’s remix of the song “Buy You a Drank.” He sings, “Baby girl, what’s your name? Let me talk to you, let me buy you engera” (Engera is the food they always eat here).
- Getting coffee in a “plastic house” with Menge.
- Playing in a bucket of water with Robirra. Robirra is the newest edition to Hope Ethiopia. He is 3 years old and has development issues from being neglected as a baby. He has improved a lot while being here and being loved on. He LOVES water. When you try to feed him water, he is calm until the cup is close to his face and then he gets all excited and spills the water everywhere. So, I hung out with him one morning and held him so he could put his feet in the bucket of water and he had so much fun.
- Fake-fighting Grace in our room and loosing. I’d like to say we tied, but then I remember she put me in a headlock and I tapped out.
- Getting a big bite of engera shoved in my mouth by Daggie’s mom. Also, that whole evening in general. Daggie brought us to her house for dinner when we visited Walisso and told us to wait at her house while she went to go get food. She was gone for an hour or so and in that time, we found TheVoice on the television.
- Having team time on the porch under the stars and laughing non-stop. Everyone was rolled-up like a burrito in their sleeping bags and I’m pretty sure it was feedback night. Feedback is usually supposed to be serious, but hey, this moment grew us as a team. This was our second night in Ethiopia.
- Having a slam-poetry night for feedback and getting roasted by my teammates and encouraged at the same time. So many laughs this night. Side note: When I laugh really hard, I cry. My team always asks me why I’m crying and I’ve had to explain that I’m just laughing. I used to laugh so hard I cried with Ana and Colleen and goodness, I miss that.
- One Saturday, we spent the whole day in our cave. We ate every single meal in our room and watched movies all day. Since there are not many things to do in our small village, adventure days look REALLY different.
- Fixing a road with my team and watching the surprised reactions of the village people when they see the huge potholes fixed in the road. Also, Grace breaking apart the road is pretty funny because she goes all out. One time, she was standing on the shovel trying to break the road and the shovel came out from underneath her and she fell on her butt. And, right as she fell, some of the men on our squad came up and said they saw it and couldn’t help but laugh. So many funny moments with Grace. I love her.
- Winter Olympics with the squad in the beginning of January. We created teams and then created a winter game and a country name, anthem, and outfit. Then, we competed against each other. Some of the games were 8-legged race, grass cutting relay, and chicken catching. This day was something else for sure.
- Partying in our room at debrief for Cara, Grace, and my birthday. Kayla joined us in the fun and we all danced to hype songs.
- Getting food poisoning from a smoothie in Addis Ababa and then spending the morning puking in the Best Western bathroom. Victoria sat in there and wrote a blog to keep me company. Then, Grace joined us because she wasn’t feeling good ether.
- Being signed up to perform slam-poetry to the whole squad on my birthday and then having my team do the slam poetry from 22 Jumpstreet with me.
- Sitting in the kids’ houses and getting my hair braided by them.
- Doing leg wrestling with Keeso and then having to catch his chair because I knocked it over with him in it. He’s okay, haha.
- Trying to do squad worship on the soccer field one night and then the kids coming out of their homes to run around and cause trouble. There was a speaker in the middle of the field playing our music and a kid picked it up and started running around the field being chased by someone on my squad. Writing this right now, I am laughing out loud and my team is looking at me. Replaying the picture in my head is just so funny. We were all worshipping and it was a quiet moment and then the kids come out, take the speaker, and starting running around the field spraying us with water guns. What little savages.
- One day, Savanah took my phone and I chased her around the compound practically playing hide-n-seek to get it back. She was pretending to mad and ranting to my phone because I was recording her while she was dancing to her music in her headphones.
- Visiting sponsored families with Menge and him taking a picture of us with them and then always asking, “Can I join?”
- African church. We go in and get to jump around with 50 plus Africans. Whenever we start to jump, the tiny and hot room gets real hype real fast.
- Throwing stale bread in the backyard pond with two of the construction guys and them one of them pulling out a make-shift fishing pole and trying to get a fish.
- Teaching Menge how to play basketball and then playing against him. He is much taller than me and can reach and put the ball in the hoop. So, he kind of dunked on me once or twice.
- Having a pillow fight with Dereje who is a little 3 year old who acts like an old man. I wish you could meet him, seriously.
- Chasing Sintu (who’s very sassy) around the compound to get my headband back.
- Helping two girls my age study for a qualifying test.
- Shaving my legs while Savanah does laundry to keep her company. Then, one of the kids came up and took my razor from me and shaved my legs for me.
- Finding peanut butter for 30 burr (27 burr = 1 dollar) at the corner shop and getting so excited because the shop usually only has soda, suckers, and apple cookies.
- Going to a cute African tree to climb and then having tons of kids come and play with you. We quickly went from climbing the tree to water-falling water into the kids’ mouths. The older kids came behind us and poured a ton of water on the kids.
- Playing out in the sprinkling rain and getting excited because it hasn’t rained the whole two and a half months of being here.
- Baking in the kitchen and totally wrecking the recipe because we nothing to make the dessert. We made carrot cake and it was a lot of carrots and not a lot of cake.
- Meeting sweet kids at church and letting them braid your hair while you try and understand a 2-hour message in another language.
- Working out and having the neighbors sit at the edge of the fence and watch you do hip thrusts. I yelled “Ciao” many times during our workout hoping they’d leave but they just laughed. There was also this guy who was dancing along to our music playing so I stood up and started dancing with him.
- Watching Cinderella Story with Daggie and her corn-rowing my hair. It took the whole movie to braid my hair.
- Cheering with all the kids for Luis (one of our squad’s leader) and Mergersa (one of our hosts) as they play soccer with the neighbor boys. When Luis made a goal, all the kids freaked out and started chanting his name.
- Doing a VBS for the kids and then experiencing the kids boycotting. We went to look for the kids and found them all in one house chanting and running around in a circle. They locked the doors and when we looked into the window, they smiled like little stinkers and then continued their boycott.
- Having a dance party with some of the squad while the boy’s team and another team were gone for the weekend. We turned on songs that had dances that go along with them and had so much fun. Taylor was teaching us some of her hip-hop moves.
- Singing Beyonce in the shower with Savanah. There are two showers in the bathroom and her and I jammed the whole time.
- Afternoon volleyball with the kids. I have learned through this that I am not so good at volleyball.
- Helping the house moms clean the house and getting offered food after we’ve already ate meals. Some afternoons, Savanah and I would go down to the village homes to try and find the yummy bread.
- Seeing Menge in the evening and him yelling, “Gabby, good morning! I haven’t seen you all day.” Then, he tries to tell me I hide in my room, but in reality, he hasn’t been to the guesthouse all day.
- Walking through the compound and kids calling out your name and giving you a hug. Man, I will miss this.
- Nights when it is my team’s turn to do the dishes and jamming out to music.
- Joking around with the kitchen ladies. One time, Buze pretended to hit one of the guys in the forehead and yelled “SHUU” which is used in church to get the evil spirits out. Everyone laughed so much.
- Walking through town and watching someone throw water on someone who was drunk and say, “What? He needed to be baptized; he hasn’t been baptized yet.”
There are so many more moments as well, however, I am going to stop there. I cannot believe we only have one week left here before heading to Nicaragua. God has moved so much. God has taught us a lot. I can firmly say that the entire squad has grown in one way or another. Lord, thank you for this opportunity and pray for this kind of fruit for the rest of the race.
Thank you Hope Ethiopia for everything. I love this place and long to return again one day because of the wonderful people I’ve met, the wonderful place, and the crazy presence of God here.
On to the next country. I am SO expectant because of God’s movement in Africa.
Also, only about 100 days left on the World Race. I cannot wait to return home and to better love my community, my family, and my church. Until then, I will be here, doing whatever God calls me to next.
