Hello from Ethiopia! I have an opportunity to post a blog and I don’t want to miss it!
I have been living in Ethiopia for 65 days and my race is more than halfway over.
Let me tell ya what Africa is like!
I absolutely love it here and I didn’t realize how much until very recently when I realized I would have to say goodbye very soon. Harbu Chulule, Ethiopia is very high in altitude, very dry, very windy, kinda cold, and it is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. Where ever you look you can see mountains, tall grass blowing in the wind, and the stars are like if you’d actually be looking at them from space, I see a shooting star almost every night. Here in Ethiopia we are working with an organization called HOPEthiopia. Hope takes in orphans and widows to give them a family and show them what it means to feel loved. I have lived with 30 kids for 65 days now and it has been some of the hardest but best days of my life. Here is what my schedule looks like:
7:00- wake up
7:30- breakfast
8:00-~9:00 spending time with God (usually more than 1 hour, I have spent more time with God and more time in the Word here in Ethiopia than I have in my life)
~9:00-~11:30 morning ministry
12:00 lunch
1:00-5:30- loving on the kids
6:00- dinner
7:00- team time
Morning ministry since being in Ethiopia has been some of the following:
Building a wall around a garden
Tilling said garden
Weeding around a fish pond
Working on meal prep in the kitchen, for the whole squad
Walking the kindergarteners to school
Teaching the kindergarten class
Building bricks
Sifting dirt
Priming and painting the training center
Loving on the kids is one of my favorite things to do here. Spending time with them, teaching them, sitting with them, reading them Bible stories, loving them any way I can. The age range of kids who live here are 3-19. It is going to be very hard to say goodbye, but if it wasn’t hard, then it wouldn’t have been impactful or worth the time spent for anyone.
I have learned more about myself, God, and how to live life better, since being here than I have at any other time in my life. Since being here I have learned what it looks like for me personally to have a relationship with God. I had always known that I should have that before, but it didn’t connect until being here. I am learning to fully trust in Him and what it really looks like to surrender. I have walked in so many battles since being here and I have finally learned that choosing Jesus and saying yes gives me the victory every time. I love that guy so much.
I have had to walk through a lot before I was able to get to where I am in my relationship with God and it had been hard. Whether it be from being physically sick, home sick, spiritual trials, or other things, I can finally say that I’m at a place where I will always choose joy, even if I have other feelings at the time.
There is so much that I could talk about and writing it down just doesn’t seem to give it justice.
The 3 most asked questions I’ve gotten about Ethiopia:
- What’s the food like? The cultural food is Induria (not sure if I spelled it right). I would describe it as a spongy sourdough tortilla that you rip off with your right hand and dip into this sauce that has lentils in it and it expands in your stomach. I have learned to like it. We eat induria when we go out of the compound or on special occasions in the compound. Other than that we eat oatmeal, soup, macaroni, and A LOT of bread. We have 3 amazing ladies on staff in the kitchen and our teams alternate helping them. They are so good to us and I have enjoyed getting to know them.
- What’s the living situation?Tents? Not tents no. Before arriving, I would have guessed tents. Hopethiopia has a guesthouse on the compound for mission teams and that’s also where we eat our meals. We are the biggest squad that has ever stayed, and we have also stayed longer than anyone else. Most teams are from 10-20 people and stay for 2 weeks. We have 45 people and stayed for 3 months. We didn’t all fit in the guesthouse, so we got a house in the children’s village to ourselves. It is my team and the boys team. Our house is made of brick (the same brick we make on the compound) it is not insulated and the walls don’t go all the way to the ceiling so you can hear absolutely anything that goes on. There was also no electricity until the last 3 weeks of living here. The bathroom has a toilet and a shower (only cold water) and no door. We hung a sheet to get as much privacy as possible ??. But I wouldn’t want to live in any other conditions I ABSOLUTELY LOVE our house and I wouldn’t have wanted to stay anywhere else. It is really an Ethiopian experience. We call our house Wakanda.
- How does Africa compare to the lion king? The only thing that would even come close to comparison would be that there are hyenas here too.
P.S. in this time that I was given the opportunity to post a blog, it was very difficult to put into words everything the Lord is doing here, but I can’t wait to share in more detail with you when I can! also in this language waka means God so yes Shakira title but more God title 🙂
See you in 15 days Central America!
xoxo
~Kae
God is good all the time
And all the time
God is good.
