The Organization:
Here’s a little bit about the ministry I get to partner with for three months here in Ethiopia! HopEthiopia was started by a sweet Canadian couple with the names of Ralph and Glinda. The first thing Ralph said to us when we arrived was that the children who live here aren’t orphans. They have a family here. That blew my mind and changed my perspective completely. And it’s true, we are never orphans because we all belong to the Father. He also has worked really hard to create a stable situation for all the children who stay here. He did talk about how these children came from desperate and heart-breaking situations, but the Lord gave him vision for restoring the lives and community in Harbu Chulule. So, not only is this a children’s home, but it is also a place where women learn life skills and entrepreneurship, specializing in leather products. HopEthiopia also has a whole reforestation plant down in the village, where they employ people to plant various vegetation in order to create a sustainable environment here in Ethiopia. We also dedicate every Friday to cleaning up trash around the base which is an event that was started in Rwanda in order to create a cleaner environment all around Africa. A big part of our work here is praying over the base. When we first got here, Ralph had us write scripture on popsicle sticks and stick them in the ground on the base and out in the countryside villages. He wanted a physical representation of the seeds being planted here. I just love that HopEthiopia’s priority is the Word and prayer. In short, HopEthiopia is an amazing organization who’s vision is to change the world for the Glory of the Lord. They are working on starting more work in west africa, and then all of Africa, if the Lord wills! I am just so inspired by Ralph and what he’s done with his gifts and how he has obeyed the Lord with his whole life.
The Base and The Staff:
Oh man, it is a total privilege to be able to spend three months here at the base. It is absolutely beautiful here. Our guest house is surrounded by miles and miles (or kilometers) of clear fields of tall yellow grass, cows, and breathtaking mountains in the distance. Near the guest house are the children’s houses (called the children’s village). There’s six houses and each house has one house mom who takes care of a group of more or less six kids. There’s also some house moms who are younger and are in training. These women are native to the town here, and wow they are just absolute powerhouses for the Kingdom of God. The amount of cleaning, cooking, and laundry they do a day is insane. They even take time out of the day to give us hugs and kisses and sit out in the sun with us ( I will talk more about them in a bit when I talk about ministry here, AGH I just love them). My team and I live in a tiiiiny little room with bunkbeds right next to the common room. Despite limited space, we have made the most out of it. We have art and photos all over the walls. (Anabelle Walker, if you’re reading this, we love you and have your photo up right by our door, kiss kiss) My team is really good at making our space feel like home.
A treat that we get to have here is going out of the base to go to the little stores in the village. We still call them tiendas even though they are called sukees here, haha. Some popular snacks we like to get are sprite or coke, coffee, cookies (apple, orange, cappuccino, and cinnamon), and multiple kilos of popcorn. We eat so much popcorn in our free time, it’s crazy! Gotta make the most of what we have. It’s so fun to go out on a sunny afternoon and pick up some treats for ourselves and our squadmates. When we go out, we need to be in groups of three or more. For us ladies, it’s safer to have one of the guys come with us too. It’s even more special when Mango gets to take us!
Here’s a bit about Mango: his real name is Mangustu, but he’s gotten the nickname Mango from all the white folk that come in and out around here, haha! He is the social worker for HopEthiopia and he is just a walking blessing in this community. I will write a whole other blog on his story and everything, I can’t wait to tell you all about him in more detail. His impact on us in this short month has been so powerful. Then there’s Magursa. Agh, what a man of the Lord. He is also here basically 24/7 working with Mango here at the base. He’s in charge of the base and makes sure everything is running smoothly, so he’s got a pretty big job. Then there’s Redwan. His story is incredible. He works with the women in the training center and helps them make all their leather products. He is amazing. He let me read a book off his shelf in his office called Let the Nations Be Glad! By John Piper. It’s his favorite book ever and now I know why. It totally wrecked me! I would so strongly recommend you read it. All these men I have mentioned are so inspiring and work so hard for the Kingdom. They have each gone through so much in their lives, along with so much schooling to be where they are today.
Then there’s our beautiful cooks who serve us food three times a day. We have Zenith, Buze (Boozay), and Mimi. They are such women of the Lord that never get weary in doing good and serving us. We love to hang out with them, eat ingera (authentic food here) with them, and joke around with them. When they are in the kitchen they are always playing music and singing worship songs in Amharic. I can feel their love for God even though I have no idea what they are singing. There was one night where our worship coordinators had them lead us in worship. We were doing spontaneous worship, so we would sing something in English and then they would sing in their language. And wow. Holy Spirit was just moving through them. I love hearing worship in other languages because it reminds me how universal and powerful God is. He is literally relatable to every tribe and every tongue.
“By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” – Revelation 5:9
“There is something about God that is so universally praiseworthy and so profoundly beautiful and so comprehensively worthy and so deeply satisfying that God will find passionate admirers in every diverse people group in the world.” – John Piper
The Ministry:
Ministry is truly our life here. We are living where we are serving. This is very convenient, but it also poses some challenges. The main obstacle here is choosing into our work here. If we are tired and over it, our beds are just a short walk away. So it has been an amazing challenge getting to make the choice to do what God has called us to do instead of giving into complacency. Ralph has asked us to give 50% to the children no matter what we do. We have a list of things that need to get done around the base, but the children are always the priority.
Everyday each team has a different job in the morning. Some teams paint the houses, cut grass, garden, watch the little ones, and do manual labor around the base. Team Esther’s job every morning is to tend the garden. Kinda funny growing lettuce here in Africa right? But things are actually growing here! A lot of our mornings are spent breaking up dry dirt to prepare the soil and taking out all the weeds. It’s pretty spiritual if you ask me, even though it may seem like we aren’t doing anything worth while. This whole race has been a process of breaking up our old foundation and taking out the weeds that don’t need to be there (aka old habits, old identity, and lies we believe about ourselves) and making room for the Truth and having a foundation wholly rooted in the Lord. It’s a hard process and sometimes it hurts a lot, but it has completely changed my life.
In the afternoons, I get to participate in women’s ministry. This honestly looks different everyday. But the world race is all about flexibility! We get to work with the women in the training center for a bit, which can look like teaching English, doing nails, or playing volleyball. We get to do something fun with them since they work so hard everyday. Then after that, we go and hang out with the house moms! This can look like helping with laundry, playing games, going to the market, getting our hair braided, or sitting with them outside. It is always a really sweet time despite only knowing how to say a few words in Oromifaa or Amharic (both are spoken here). The sweetest day so far was when we were going to go to the market with the mamas, but we were waiting a long time to go and we weren’t really sure what was going on. After waiting and waiting, we just ended up sitting and spending quality time with them. We ran and got the guitar and started worshipping with them. So even when there’s confusion or we don’t know what is going on, we can always make it an opportunity to show Jesus. Love always translates 🙂
I hope this gave you a good idea of what life at HopEthiopia looks like!
Peace and blessings,
Hannah Keller
