Hey guys, I know I haven’t been blogging a lot in the past few months and I’m sorry for that. I want to share all of the incredible experiences and stories with all of you. I have just been trying to process everything that’s been going on in my life. So here’s a little bit of the past few months:
Arriving to Ethiopia after a 35+ hour travel time from Cambodia was a culture shock in itself. We got off the plane to fresh and brisk air compared to Cambodia where the air was thick and hot with a hint of pollution. Our eyes were bright and full of curiosity, excited for the days to come. We filled our buses in Addis Ababa with our giant packs and hopped in. We began our journey on a a paved road. The variety of things I saw was immense, the streets lined with goats and sheep, people with no shoes and wearing rags, people with cell phones and fancy outfits, and mansions next to shacks. It was similar to Cambodia in the way that variety was everywhere, the impoverished were not separate from the wealthy. As we continued on we eventually hit the dirt road. We began to see the parts of Ethiopia we were anticipating: the typical African tree’s that you see in Lion King, Ethiopian people holding baskets on their heads, a lot of little babies running around, and beautiful grass fields that fill the land for miles and miles.
After about four hours, we arrived to the town of Harbu Chulule. We were in complete awe and wonder just driving through the market where we saw donkey’s with their legs tied, hundreds of people with baskets, women selling fruit and vegetables on the ground, and children wearing rags. It’s hard to describe the things we saw because I have never seen anything like it in my life. The first day being there we witnessed the poverty, abuse to animals, and amount of orphans there were in this country.
We finally drove into our compound where our van almost drove into a giant ditch that was in the middle of the road. We saw the kids running side by side with the van while waving at us and as soon as we stopped they all crowded into the buses. As soon as one of the little boys hugged me and looked up at me with his big eyes and bright smile I knew that this was going to be a life changing place.
We got into the guest house and got assigned our rooms. Part of the house has four rooms and bathrooms when you first walk in. If you turn to the right there’s a big dining room and a kitchen. If you continue walking you’ll see the living room and some extra rooms and bathrooms where our leaders stayed. Outside there are beautiful gardens, grassy fields, the children’s village where the orphans live with the house mother’s who are widows. There’s also a big soccer field where we played many games with the kiddos and even had a squad olympics. The compound had a well in the very back where we did water distribution and a chicken coop with another big field. This compound turned into my home, the people another family, and the fields were my play ground. We had no cell service for three months with a few acceptions for when we went to Addis. This place changed me in more ways than I count. Oh there’s also another thing about Ethiopia that I haven’t brought up. The flies are my ENEMY. When you just sit down or stand or do anything a normal human would do, about a million flies land on you. Oh, and when you swat them away, they don’t go away, THEY STAY ON YOU. So another lesson I learned from those flies was lovely patience. I wouldn’t wish those flies on my worst enemy but they are my worst enemy so I would probably wish them on themselves because they’re evil.
Anyway, a few of the different kinds of ministries we did were: Reforestation, water distribution, teaching (kindergartners, middleschoolers, and highschoolers), I worked at a vet clinic with two other people, brick making, meal prep in the kitchen, cleaning, village ministry, filling the road, and many other things. The people taught me patience, joy, love, generosity, and so much more. The women showed me what hard work looks like, to never give up, and what it looks like to be a selfless mother.
Ethiopia changed my life. I went in thinking that I was going to make a change and God was going to work through me to thinking God was working in me and changing me. I will never forget the amazing friendships I made in Harbu Chulule and it was some of the hardest goodbyes I’ve ever had to say.
After Harbu Chulule, we had a 45+ hour travel time on planes and buses, explored Canada for a few hours, saw snow, and then arrived in Costa Rica for Awakening where we met up with 3 other squads. So we basically went from a mountain/desert weather, to snow, to a humid jungle in Costa Rica. It was nuts. And then from Costa Rica we headed to Nicaragua where we had Parent Vision Trip for a week and my dad got to experience what my life has been like for the past seven months!
There’s a little update, I will be posting more blogs about more in depth experiences. Just wanted to catch you guys up! I also need $2565 more left in order to be fully funded! So please consider donating! I love you guys so much!
