Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
6.6.18
Today marks exactly one week since we arrived in Ethiopia, and every single day has looked totally different. It’s been awesome! The goal of this blog is to attempt to give you a glimpse of what life has looked like for my team and I the past week, day by day, and that you would join in excitement when you see how God has had His hand on all of it.
A little background:
Before we left Bulgaria to fly to Ethiopia, we had a Leadership Development Weekend (LDW) with our entire squad of 48. Among many of the things that happened at LDW, we had our second round of team changes. Because I am part of the squad leader team, our team didn’t change, but the rest of the squad got a new team. Normally, we as squad leaders would split up and visit different teams throughout the month, but we decided that the new teams should have time to establish themselves without any influence or interference from us. This means that I actually get to do ministry with MY team for the first two weeks of this month in Ethiopia!! Whoop whoop!! We asked our mentor, Jeremy, if that was okay and he gave us the green light to do ATL ministry this month. So, what is ATL you ask? ATL stands for “Ask The Lord” and that’s exactly what it is. We ask the Lord what He wants us to do each day, to lead us to connections and people, where to go, etc., and guess what…He shows up! We essentially flew into Africa only knowing where we were staying the first 2 nights. Ha. And here we are, one week later, with a million stories to tell, a place to stay, and not starved by any means.
Thursday, May 31st
Day 1:
Part of this day was a rest day because we woke up at 3:30AM on Wednesday to get to the airport by 5:00AM, then flew an hour to Istanbul for a 6 hour layover, then flew another 6 hours to Ethiopia where we landed a little after midnight. After landing, we had to go through customs, get our visas, register our team phones, then loaded up 3 buses to get to the guesthouse, travel to the guesthouse, and then check in. We probably went to sleep around 3am Thursday morning, so yes, I slept in and then later took a nap to try to recover from jet lag.
Our squad loading up the busses at 1:30am
The view from my window at the Guesthouse
Around noon we walked to the phone store for a local card, and witnesses some random cows and horses in the streets. No big deal.
The cows in the street...
Next on the agenda was buying some groceries, so we stopped by the local supermarket where we experienced the power going out twice in about 30 minutes. This happens quite often. Whatever. We had been trying to figure out where we were going to stay Friday night because the guesthouse we were staying at (which was wonderful, by the way) was already over budget. RJ, my teammate, had a connection with a guy named Lincoln who had also gone on the World Race in the past, then moved to Ethiopia and has lived here for about a year. Lincoln connected us to a ministry named Selamta and the director here, Tamrat. Tamrat was kind enough to house us for the next two weeks at their community center and agreed to our budget.
P.S. Our budget is $5 per person per night for lodging, and we have yet to find anywhere that would negotiate to anything below $10 per person per night.
This was a huge God send. Tamrat even explained that normally they wouldn’t be able to do this, but they had beds available because the visitors from the states don’t get here until the 15th. Down to the day God provided for us here because we plan to leave on the 14th. The ministry is amazing and unlike any model I have ever seen. Instead of an orphanage, they build families and put kids with a mom and an aunt and they live together in one house in community. It is beautiful. I plan on writing a more detailed blog about Selamta later this month, because it is truly amazing.
http://www.selamtafamilyproject.org/
Another cool thing that happened on this day was that we were able to meet up with a couple that RJ & Kayla are friends with for dinner. Dave & Chelsea have been living in Kenya since February and for visa reasons had to leave the country or something, so they had an overnight layover in Addis Ababa. Chelsea had lived in Addis for 6 weeks a few years ago, doing dental hygienist work, so she suggested a place with authentic food, cultural dancing and live music. It was so much fun and so delicious. I really don’t know what exactly we ate, but we loved all of it.
Then to end the night, the owner of the guesthouse, Bisrat, came and picked us up without us even asking him to. He was afraid we wouldnt be able to get in contact with the man who drove us to the restaurant, so he came just in case, which was so thoughtful and kind. We asked him how he came to know Jesus, and he shared his testimony with us in the car on the way back. To summarize, he was born to blind parents who decided to have a child before they became a nun and a monk. Somehow when he was living in the monesary, he somehow heard the Gospel and read John 3:16 and became a Christian. Then he went back to the monesary and started sharing the full gospel and they had him arrested. After he got out of jail, he lived in the city trash dump for several years. He started a church in the trash dump, and was sharing his faith all the time. Then I can’t remember clearly, but I think he said he met some missionaries at the trash dump and they wanted to start the guesthouse. So through a series of fortunate events here, he ended up owning the guesthouse and it is kind of partnered with an organization called Ordinary Hero, but for legal issues, the guesthouse and organization cant be connected, so the guesthouse is in his name. Such a nice and humble man.
For more info on Ordinary Hero, you can check it out here:
Friday, June 1st
Day 2:
In the morning, Amy & RJ learned how the Ethiopian women from Ordinary Hero (the guesthouse) make their coffee, and roast beans every morning. This is a very common tradition in Ethiopia and is a 2 hour ceremony where someone roasts the coffee beans over a fire, grinds them, then puts the coffee grounds in hot water to make coffee. This can last anywhere from 1 to 3 hours and is a time to chat and spend time together.
We ate breakfast, packed and then spent about an hour or so as a team, talking about expectations for the next two weeks, checking in on how we were doing personally, giving feedback, and praying into out time together.
Not too long after our team time, Tamrat from Selamta picked us up to take us to the Selamta community center where we have been staying, then met the staff of Selamta over coffee and tea. Because everything happened pretty quickly, they didn’t have anything that we could help with, but they said we could join the kids for music camp tomorrow if we wanted to.
A view of the neighborhood we are living in
Next, we went to the ATM and grocery store with Habti, the assistant director of Selamta. During our walks to different banks and ATMs trying to find one that worked, there was a boy that was about 10 years old maybe that walked right next to me the whole time and kept asking for money. The only word he knew in English was money. I didn’t have any, and although I told him that, he still walked with us for about 20 minutes and even waited outside the bank (that didn’t work). These situations are really challenging for me because of course I want to give him money, but then I always wonder if that is doing more harm in the long run. And who taught him to ask for money? Why don’t they have money? Is there a real need and in a tough time, or is it for lack of wanting to work (which we have been told is an issue here), and if the latter is the case, what kind of lessons, morality, and truth is this child learning? It’s really difficult for me to try to process these questions knowing I will never know the answers. I can only pray for discernment and for God to give me wisdom on when to act and when not to.
Walking around some more, I took in more of the environment which consisted of a lot of smog and car emissions, many men shining shoes on the side of the roads, many women wearing head coverings and scarves, and an early rainy season. The people of Ethiopia are physically beautiful, and have beautiful features. There are SO many people walking around ALL DAY. So many. You could say there is a bit of a chaotic feeling when you look around and see all the cars and smog and dirt and people and stands/stores everywhere.
Saturday, June 2nd
Day 3:
We began Day 3 with eggs, prayer and worship, and then got ready for the day. Habti picked us up to take us to music lessons at someone’s house. Turns out that the house belonged to a man named, Kenny. Kenny had a whole room full of music equiptment, recording technology, and a tv projector that displayed images on the wall. It was an amazing set up, and I could tell the kids were really excited. This was only their 2nd time at “music camp”. Kenny was such a wonderful teacher, talking patiently and calmly, revisiting what they had learned the first time, and really trying to acknowledge each child by their name. I am not a musically inclined person, at all, but he actually broke things down and it made sense to me for the first time. He emphasized the importance of rhythm and tempo, as well as how “listening is the most important part”. We wrote a song together about food, and each child recorded a different instrument and some recorded their voices singing the lyrics. Then he compiled all of the recordings together so we could listen to the song. It was such an awesome experience for the kids and for us. Below is our song:
Cheese and ham and mushrooms, Sausage and pineapples, Anchovies, pepperoni, These are our favorite toppings. Siga wot, doro wot, shiro wot Dinich wot, misr wot, carrots, Kitfo, kocho, firfir, Be injera ewedalehu
Kenny showing one of the girls how to keep the tempo on percussion before recording.
RJ teaching one of the boys how to play guitar
Barnabas jammin on the drums. He loved playing the drums!
After class ended, we talked with Kenny a little more, enough to learn that he went to college in Georgia and that we wanted to see him again. He invited us to church the next day where he was part of the worship band, and we were so excited to go.
Next, we found wifi at a start up coffe shop called Bake & Brew which was a blessing because it was hard to find wifi in Addis. (Lincoln, RJ’s connection, suggested we go there. Also, Lincoln is actually out of the country now and in the states for 2 weeks because his grandfather passed away. We are hoping to meet up with him when he gets back on the 13th or 14th and say thanks for all his help.) I took care of some responsibility type things while we had wifi, posted a blog, FaceTimed with my brother and sister in law, and sent some emails. Then we went home, had a light dinner, played bible trivia on RJ’s phone, set expectations for Sunday, and called it a night.
Sunday, June 3rd
Day 4:
Sunday morning we rode with Habti to Eastridge Church, which was a very warm and welcoming English speaking church planted by some Christians from Seattle. I can’t tell you how many services we have gone to in different languages, which is awesome, but sometimes it’s really nice to understand what the pastor is talking about. It was such a nice treat for us. The pastor talked about intentionality in relationships and how the Lord is intentional. After service, we met several people:
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Kendra Crabtree- a woman who is here with her husband and their 15 year old -daughter and has a leather business that called Harvest Ethiopia. Hopefully we can connect with her more this month.
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Pastor Doug- who didn’t actually move to Ethiopia to be a pastor but instead felt called to unreached people groups. Instead God is using him to empower missionaries to go out and reach those same unreached people groups through an Assemblies of God program.
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Chris- a US Diplomat who works at the US Embassy in Addis (and who we are having dinner with tonight)
After many great conversations, we went to lunch with Kenny, his wife and 3 boys, where we got to know them a little more. Kenny works for Boeing and has lived in Ethiopia for 4 years. He was born in London to Nigerian parents, then grew up in Nigeria, but then got his Undergraduate in Atlanta, Georgia and his Master’s at Auburn in Alabama. He had his 3 boys with his first wife and they lived in Arizona. Since in Ethiopia he has remarried to a Brookti who is from Ethiopia. Right now they have the boys for the summer, and the boys actually like Ethiopia a lot more than America. I loved spending time with the kids as they showed me their favorite games, we talked about Marvel movies (which I realized I really like recently), and watched YouTube videos about making things. The boys were really funny and had a lot of personality. It was nice being around younger kids for a change.
So, Kenny is working in Ethiopia for the next year and a half, I believe, then they are moving to his next assignment. While they are here, he is plugged into eastridge church, helping lead worship, and teaching the music lessons to the kids from Selamta. They were just incredibly kind people and we were so blessed by our time with them. Kenny even offered his home to us while they are on a family trip to China during the last half of the month! It’s a very nice home with a gate and a guard. What. We’ve been in contact with him and are excited to see them again at church on Sunday.
Habti had a meeting when we were at lunch with Kenny and his family, but he picked us up from their house afterwards. On the way back to the Selamta Community Center, we got to know him some more and learned that he has multiple degrees in globalization and international development. He lived in Norway as he was finishing one of his degrees, and he is 30 years old. I am so thankful for him and how hospitable he has been towards us. He truly is a servant and LOVES the kids and young adults in Selamta. It’s been really cool getting to know more about him and his heart for the people here.
Monday, June 4th
Day 5:
Monday was a pretty chill day. We ventured out into town for a while trying to find wifi and connect with our team leaders spread out through Ethiopia, then went home and made lunch.
There is a lot of construction going on around the city, right next to some random cowsJust a normal day walking down the road
It wasn’t until the evening that we really got to have some fun by visiting one of the Selamta houses with Habti for dinner. There are two girls from the US staying at Selmata, also, so they came with us along with a lady named Monica from California. Monica has committed to 2 years in Ethiopia as a missionary for the Oromo people group and is spending a couple weeks in Addis finishing her language classes. We hit it off pretty quickly and she told us a lot of what she has learned the past few months in Ethiopia.
When we got to the house, most of the teenagers stayed upstairs. They’ve been taking their nationwide exams and I think one of the girls wasn’t feeling good, but two of the younger boys stayed downstairs with us. They were CRACKING us up! Between their giggling and dancing and messing around with us, we couldn’t stop laughing. They were 12 and 14 years old, but from their size, you would have thought they were 9 and 10. I guess their personalities made up for their size 😉
One of the women there made coffee, going through the traditional style of roasting the beans, then preparing and serving it. I drank one cup, even though I am not a coffee fan, and then we enjoyed a LOT of Ethiopian food. I think we all thought we were going to explode when we left because of all the food they insisted we eat. Luckily, it was all so tasty!
RJ and Amy spent some time with some of the older boys that came downstairs later, and Kayla and I talked with the younger two boys, Monica, and the other girls from the US. It was a really cozy and fun experience.
Enjoying the company of good people at a Selamta house
Tuesday, June 5th
Day 6:
This day has probably been one of my favorite days on the race so far. It wasn’t anything sparkly or fantastic, but it was a day were we got to meet and build relationships with some really wonderful young people doing awesome things here in Addis.
The first person we met up with on Tuesday was a man named Philimon. Philimon owns a small, start-up coffee roasting business called Fili’s Coffee. He invited us into his shop, that was actually pretty crowded and popular, where we got to see the actual coffee roasting machine. It was decorated super cute, almost similar to designs that you’d see in the states, and then he sat down at a little table with us for about an hour or two. I loved hearing his story, but even more how humbly he told it. So, Philimon was actually a refugee from Aritrea, a small country that borders Ethiopia, and lived at a refugee camp in Addis with his single mom, brother, and sister as a child. He was exposed to a lot of people coming to help, anywhere from missionaries to the Red Cross, and he said he got used to being in a “refugee mentality” and asking for handouts. Something happened and the refugee camp asked about 200 families to leave, gave them each about 50-100 USD and then kicked them out. Philimon remembers it being really hard, but God always protected him. He worked at a Catholic Church doing gardening when he was pretty young, then from there made connections and became a part of other organizations with job and learning opportunities. When he was a teenager he became a part of YoungLife and heard the gospel. He said this changed his life, and he decided that he didn’t want to have a “refugee mentality” anymore. He realized he could start his life today and it didn’t matter what kind of past he had. As he was reminiscing, he mentioned a time when he was able to study aboad in Turkey, and he could remember arriving there with only $50 in his pocket.
Through a series of relationships, years, opportunities, and connections, he ended up opening his coffee shop about 8 months ago. He loves that anyone and everyone are invited to come inside, chat, and enjoy some coffee, and he said he has learned a lot about coffee through this project. The coffee shop I am at right now is one of his customers that he supplies coffee to. He is hoping to grow the business, but right now they don’t have the resources or staff to support big growth. Ultimately, he wants to help refugees and tell his story, giving hope that they can be anything they want to be and be successful, too.
Philimon aka Fili in front of the coffee shop
Freshly roasted & ground coffee!
Enjoying some coffee and tea with my team and Fili
Sorting through the good beans and the bad beans
Amy's got some photography skills.
Fili and our team!
Again, I was so impressed by how humbly he tells his story and how he will openly tell you that many people helped in the process and that he couldn’t have done it by himself or without the Lord. It was an honor hearing his story and spending time with him. Before we left, we prayed with him and then each of us bought some bags of his coffee (mine was for a friend lol). Then he insisted on driving us to the coffee shop we were planning on having lunch at…which happens to be the same one I am in now, because of the wifi access.
When we got to the coffee shop, we ran into one of our teams, and got to hear all about what God has been doing their first week here, too. So amazing. They were actually about to leave with a man they met named, Tamrat, who was going to spend the next 3 weeks with them with a people group here in Ethiopia.
From the coffee shop, we went to meet with a young woman named Galila, who Amy met at Ordinary Heroes our first day in Ethiopia. Galila is 27 years old and works at the guesthouse we stayed at, but also owns a business called Lila Products. Lila Products is a mission-focused business empowering marginalized men and women in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to create fashionable products. So, Lila was raised in a middle class family in a nicer area of Addis, was going to school to be a nurse, and then met some missionaries that came to work with the people living in the city trash dump. She was so inspired that she decided to join them, and then felt like she couldn’t just keep living her life after seeing that. She was interested in design and fashion, so she decided to start Lila Products, with the help of a friend as an investor for the start up.
Galila aka Lila :)
So, she invited us into the shop where the women and men make jewelry and rugs and they have their showroom. It was amazing. We enjoyed some more coffee with them, listened to Lila’s story, and then prayed with the staff before we left. I am still just in awe of how kind, loving, beautiful, and smart Lila is. She is doing business with no business background, just following the Lord.
He was the CUTEST!! Read his story in the image below:
Kassa makes all the rugs at lila products. I wish I could take one back with me!
Some of women making the handmade jewelry
making the clay beads by hand
If you’re interested, you can order some of her products from
It is well worth the price. They are quality products. I bought a couple necklaces for gifts for people back home, so I can vouch for them. Plus, I got to meet the people actually making it, which was something I will always remember.
Wednesday, June 6th
Day 7:
Today. I could write a lot about today, also, but I think this blog has become a lot longer than I intended already. To be continued…
I can’t wait to see where this month continues to go and where the Lord leads us. There’s so much more that isn’t even in this blog, but unfortunately I just don’t have enough time or wifi access to add everything. Thank you for your prayers and joining me in this adventure!
Prayer requests:
- I told the Lord I would start praying about post world race plans when I got to Africa, and now I am in Africa. Please be praying about what life looks like after and where He is calling me. 🙂
- Safety & health for the squad
- boldness
Thank you! God Bless!
