The first was the home of Meseret, an HIV+ mother of four children, Sadam, Keeya, Miki and Sammy.  Meseret radiated gentleness.  She is a loving mom to her kids and joyfully secure in her faith.  Miki, who is 7 years old, says that he wants to be a missionary when he grows up, but in reality, he already is one.

At a very young age, Miki heard his mother read to him from the scriptures about Jesus’ death for the sins of mankind, and it changed his life.  From that moment on, he has been committed to telling everyone he meets about this Jesus who died willingly for our sins.  He began witnessing to a neighbor lady who was on drugs and married to a drunk.  Through his counsel, she realized her need for Christ and came to saving faith in Him.  Now this neighbor woman joins Meseret and her children in their weekly street evangelism ministry.  In the middle of our meeting, Miki asked to pray.  As he stood in the middle of the room praying over us, I was deeply humbled by the giant faith of this tiny boy.  Although I couldn’t understand many of the words of his Amharic prayer, his posture and his tone were unmistakable.  Miki approached our God with boldness and with fervency.

What makes this story all the more special is that, like his mother, Miki also lives with HIV.  None of us know how many more days Miki or Meseret will walk this earth.  Yet, we know that they can say with Paul, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”  When God gives them their last breath and says their time here is done, they will stand before their Maker, reconciled through Jesus.

The next story is not a happy one.  It is, in fact, the story that I have shed tears over and felt most broken for.

Kuftu is a 12-year-old CHH orphan.  She is beautiful, articulate and smart, but her eyes are sad and her face is solemn.

Kuftu has no memory of her parents and has been only trying to survive for most of her short life.  She has no siblings.  She has been mistreated and abused by many people.  She was found by a Food for the Hungry social worker and brought into the CHH program.

Now, Kuftu’s physical needs are met by the program.  She has clothing, a roof over her head, enough food, and school supplies.  But Kuftu’s demeanor is fearful and withdrawn, and her spirit is sad.  “Please pray that good things will happen to me.”  She has never known love, never been special to anyone.

Even though there were others in the room much more gifted in counseling than I am, I facilitated the conversation because I was the only female present.  I know that God set that up so that my heart would break for Kuftu.  She is the same age as my firstborn.  It absolutely wrecked me to hear this girl say that the hardest thing in her life was that she had never known her parents.  She could not make eye contact.  Her eyes were glued to the floor and her spirit was hopeless.

By the end of our meeting, I had run out of both words and comfort.  It’s in moments like this that I realize that I have nothing to give, and the gospel is the only good news I have.  As we walked out of the house, Matt urged me, “Tell her who she is.  She needs to hear it from you.”

I pulled her aside and told her all of the things I saw in her.  Beautiful.  Smart.  Precious.  Lovable.  A blessing.  I told her all the things I tell my own children, all things I imagine she hasn’t heard.  Then I said, “Kuftu. I only just met you, but I can SEE all these things in you.  You have a Maker who knows you intimately. He formed you and He knows you. He says that if you call on His name, He will answer you.  If you seek Him, He will be found.  He is so faithful, Kuftu!  He is more faithful that the best earthly parents, and He is a Father to the fatherless.”  As I held her hands and spoke into her face, her eyes still could not meet mine, but they filled with tears. 

For the rest of our time in Kuftu’s yard, I mostly held her hands and hugged her.  I fought my own emotions.  Kuftu’s life has been painful.  She undoubtedly has more pain ahead of her as she navigates the adolescent years alone.

Yesterday, I saw Kuftu again, and again I held onto her and told her how precious she is.  I gave her the only Good News that I have, and told her that I will not forget her.  I won’t.  I can’t do much for Kuftu, but I have a God who can do everything for her.  He can make Himself known to her and heal her broken heart.  He can even bring a family to her so that she can know the love of parents.  Until then, I wait and I pray.

For the 48 hours that I have known Kuftu, I have prayed for her ceaselessly, with the sort of intensity I pray for my own children.  Jesus, save her.  Write your name on her heart.  Take her burdens and give her rest.  Show her the tenderness of your love.  God, do not leave this precious girl.

Praise be to God.  He is the greatest hope that I have, and the greatest hope for Kuftu too.

“But the LORD sits enthroned forever; he has established his throne for justice, and he judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness.

The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.  And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.”

Psalm 9:7-10

We went to visit the home of Selamaweit.  I had the privilege of meeting her two years ago.  She has 4 beautiful children named Beniyam, Samraweit, Mintossonet & Edatu.  She is a widow living with HIV.  When I met her 2 years ago, her faith was contagious.  When she spoke about Jesus, she would stand up because she was so amazed at all He had done in her life.  Today when we came, there was another little boy there.  As we greeted her, we asked who this child was.  She shared with us how her neighbor had abandoned the son and she chose to take him in.  She also said she was the “legally registered” care giver.  In other words….she was his foster mom.  We were blown away.  Here is an HIV+ widow caring for 4 children and not only does she take in this child, she goes through the effort to become his legally registered caregiver.   She was so loving toward this sweet boy (as she was with all her children) and he was clearly very attached to here.

But here is where the story gets good….as if that’s not good enough.  After her husband died, a few years later, she fell in love with a man.  She made the decision to leave her children and abandon them so she could go to be with him.  Ultimately, God brought her back to her children and she became a believer but she was alone, very poor and struggled to provide for her children.  She said she cried to God to help her.  She said she wept tears.  Then she said “and then God brought me you all and FH.  If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t be able to care for my own children and I wouldn’t have been able to take care of Ibidde”.

God wastes no tears.  He is the God of second chances.  He is the Great Redeemer.   I have heard it said that from our deepest hurts come our greatest ministries and I belive this to be true.  I imagine the time away from her children is one of Selamweit’s deepest hurts, but how beautiful it is that through that hurt, God has brought her to a place where  she is able to minister to this precious child.

I’ve never left a home visit feeling like “wow…we’ve done a really great thing for these children”.  I’ve always walked away feeling challenged.  Could I rise to the occasion as these children have done in their circumstances?  If I had no parents to guide me, would I walk hours each day just to go to school?  I just can’t say my answer would be yes.

There is a determination in the spirit of these children.  Some how, some way….they don’t give up.  How easily we give up when things don’t go our way.  But they press on.  When I close my eyes and picture these children….I see Jesus with each and every one of them.  Holding their hand, walking with them….even carrying them.  They can do all things through Christ who strengthens them.

If I had never come to Zeway…I wouldn’t have ever met these children.  I don’t know that I would have been so challenged in my own personal life to help be a voice for them.  I wouldn’t have spent so much time examining my own faith and the realities of just how shallow it is.

My friend Julie said her prayer for this trip was that these children would know that they are KNOWN by our God.  That they would know who they are….a child of the most awesome King.  That is the message I want to share with these children.  That they are dearly loved by a perfect Father who will never leave them or forsake them.  He is the reason we are here.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”  Psalm 139:13-14

Tomorrow I set out on my first visit to an orphan’s home.  An orphan whose responsibility as head of the household – caring and providing for their younger siblings – weighs heavily on them.  I will be honored to meet these children of God.  To tell them of the love I have for them, but, more importantly, the love God has for them – how He values their life and has a divine purpose for them.  Their purpose is to bring glory to God and continue to grow strong the Hope in Ethiopia.

The orphans and widows of Zeway: You can be a part of the story of how God opens the skies for them.

After a short term trip, people will often long to return to the country they traveled.  They long to return because of the person they are in the foreign country – perhaps more compassionate or kind. Perhaps more aware of how their experiences shape them.  They long to return because they believe God moves more in other countries, and they get to see His work first-hand.

I have had to consider this: Does God move more in other countries than this one?  Is He more alive and working in other places?  Why do I see God’s character more when I go somewhere?

I believe this to be true:  God is the same here and there and everywhere. He does not change.  It is me who changes in a different place.  It is me who is stripped of my comforts and my schedule and my control and  suddenly, all those veils are lifted from my eyes and I do see the character of God in truer color.  He does not change.  I just see him in high definition.

But I do not believe that seeing God in high definition is limited to traveling to another country.  God makes it much simpler than that. It is not the location that causes me to feel God’s presence and character.  It is getting involved in the lives of the least of these that can cause me to know God.

There is the song by Tenth Avenue North and the chorus is “And He breaks open the skies to save those who cry out His name”.  Everyone should be involved in the life of someone whom the Lord has broken open the skies to save.

That doesn’t mean traveling in order to be involved. Getting involved in the life of someone who needs rescue can be done here in Austin through prayer.  You don’t need to fly to Ethiopia to be a part of opening the skies for someone, and you don’t need to fly to Ethiopia to see the full character of God.

Through this unique community-to-community partnership, you can choose an orphan, widow or family to pray for. Through consistent prayer for the least of these, you can see God working in their lives and your own. You can feel God’s compassion and kindness. You can be overwhelmed with His desire for justice and understand why He asks us to “visit” orphans and widows. You can understand his sovereignty over all things more, and you can find joy and hope in Him.  And you never have to pack a suitcase.

If you would like a prayer card and updates on the orphans and widows, please contact us, and we’ll send you more information and a picture of a child or family to pray for.

You don’t have to go anywhere to meet God.  He is right where you are.

Why are You Going?

First and foremost, we are going out of obedience to God’s call in scripture to care for the fatherless, specifically James 1:27 which calls us to “visit orphans” in their distress. Ethiopia has one of the highest numbers of orphans in the world, mostly due to HIV/AIDS and poverty, and we have each felt God calling us to care for them, both by raising funds that support their physical, educational, emotional, and spiritual needs, and by actually going to see them and in so doing to share the love and hope of Christ with them. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be 8 years old and to be totally alone in the world with no one to care for you, but this is what our partnership is helping to fix.

But What Will You Actually DO There?

Most people think that mission trips have to be about building some structure, teaching some new skill, bringing new knowledge, etc.  But our view of missions is a little different – we simply want to show up, to show that we care about these kids, to know their names and faces, to pray with them, to listen to them, to play with them, and to bring their stories back home with us to share with others. So we will mainly be visiting these orphans, organizing a play day for them, meeting with local church leaders to encourage them (including continuing to promote local adoption as a part of the solution to the orphan crisis), and encouraging the staff of Food for the Hungry who are on the ground every day providing direct care for the children.

So You are Visiting Orphanages?

No, there are very few orphanages in Ethiopia (mainly because it is the 5^th poorest country in the world, and there are millions of orphans). These orphans live in the “homes” (rudimentary mud huts, usually about 10’x10’, with a handful of items for bare subsistence) where their parents died, and as such they are called “child-headed households”. If these kids were in orphanages, they would likely be separated from their community, shelved away somewhere unseen by those who can most help them. Instead, they are living right there in plain sight, but because many of them have HIV (or just because their parents did), they are often shunned by the community. Our being there for them, providing through FH for their basic needs, and partnering with several local churches to do so is serving as a catalyst for change in the community.

Is the Partnership Working?

Emphatically yes! These kids are going to school (rather than having to work to earn pennies for survival), are getting healthy food, are being healed through group grief and loss counseling, are having their medical needs taken care of, and are learning trade skills such as hairdressing and small engine repair. They are also showing more signs of hope, with many of them attending a local church and reading the Bible. They have formed a type of “family” among themselves, often eating meals together and going on vacation together with FH supervision. And, the local churches are responding with more and more of their pastors and members choosing to adopt children into their own homes. We are witnessing a little slice of “Thy kingdom come on Earth as it is in Heaven” happening in Zeway!

Please pray for our team (Adam and Amber-Rose Zimel, Matt and Kim Sanchez, Connie Bennett, Nathan Wingate, Dawn Patterson, and Matt Kouri) that we would have safe travels, that God would prepare the hearts of these kids to receive us and hear the good news we bring them, and that God would continue His amazing work transforming the Zeway community.

And please stay tuned for more updates from the field!

- Matt Kouri, on behalf of the March trip team

It’s one thing to share the stories of Hope in the Hope in Ethiopia
ministry.  But then we got to thinking…..what are their stories?
How do they feel about this ministry?  We did a brief interview with
Bezawork Lakew who is the director of the Child Head of Household
program, Zeway

.

Before the CHH program came to Zeway what were some of the biggest
problems you saw for the Children?

Children were in great grief and trauma due to the life they were
living.  They were abandoned and in a desperate situation.  They had
problems getting to school.  Food, clothes, and getting house rent
were some of the problems observed and some of them were getting their
food by begging.  They were not healthy in their physical development
and they didn’t have money to go to health institute when they got
sick,

What has been the biggest change in the children since CHH was brought to Zeway?
After the CHH Program started children felt relieved about their
“tomorrow”.   They feel hope, and their grief and trauma is eased due
to the support of their social worker. They go to school and learn in
a stable condition.  They are growing healthy and get medication when
they get sick.

Why was the defacto orphan program started and do you feel it has helped?
The defacto program started because Children were living in HIV
positive families and one day if their family passed away they would
surely became child head of household with in a desperate situation.
Even before their family passed away children were living in fear of
being abandoned if their bed ridden family passed away. So to treat
children ahead and to help them to get relief and not feel anxious
about their situation, we started defacto CHH program.  For example
“Belayenesh” a mother of two Children passed away after she entered
the program and was getting support for a certain period of time. Her
two Children namely Meserete Alemayehu and Samuel Habtamu, are now in
the program and they are continuing their education and their
relatives are serving as their guardians.  The children did not have
to wait for care because they were already in the program.

What is the hardest part of your job on this point?
The hardest part has been when the children reach adolescence.  It is
hard to guide them because they are deceived by peer influence.  These
children come from hard life conditions and their parents were
prostitutes, addicted to chat and alcohol and other hard situations.

Can you share one small story of “hope” that has really blessed you?
The story of hope I want to share you is that the involvement of the
church to support the orphans. The program by itself challenged the
church to see their call and what they are doing. Leaders repented in
most of our training focused on Care for orphans, poor and the widow.
Some Churches of Zeway and metro started to care for orphans and
widows. Let me share you the case of Bulbula church. The Church
prepared a special service for CHH living in Bulbula every Saturday.
Danie, one of the Elders in the church that serves CHH and taught a
lesson on salvation for big boys and Girls.  The small Children are
learned about the  Bible in pictorial representation.  They have also
a program arranged by the Church to visit each other on Friday once a
week and they go to home visits to visit their friends together with
their Sunday class teacher and share joys together and see each other.
 Daniel an elder in Bulbula Meserete kiristos church knows each CHH
home and visits each of them.   It is because of this, we have hope
for this program to be sustained locally.  Children even came to
Christ because of the example Teshome Tadesse showed (the brother of
Asnakech) when he received Jesus as his own lord and savior. Asnakech
his sister is now serving in Choir. Aynalem (defacto orphan) who was
leading a very desperate life also received Jesus Christ as her
savior.  Most of the Children living in Bulbula are now going to
Church every Saturday and showed an increasing interest to be in
Church. So we give praise to God for all this.

Finally I would like to share you some of the prayer request.

• So please pray that Children to live a stable life & attain their future, to be hopeful and resist the challenges they face from peer influence.
• Pray for social workers that God give them wisdom to lead these children into the best future.
• Pray for Zeway Church Leaders to expand what they started and for those who are not active in holistic service especially for Adami Tulu leaders to start holistic ministry and give care for orphans and widows in their Church.

God bless You
Bezawork

Matt and I have been in the Ethiopian adoption process for 2 ½ years and finally in October we were able to bring our toddler daughter home. She joins her two brothers who were adopted from Russia several years before.

Between the two of us, Matt and I have had the great privilege of taking several trips to Ethiopia. We value the culture and love the people of Ethiopia so much more because of our time spent there. As we transition as a family, it has been wonderful to be able to see the cultural traits our Ethiopian daughter brought with her even as a toddler.

When we brought our daughter home, it was just after Ethiopia’s rainy season. During rainy season, power outages are very common. The lights and electricity go in and out throughout the day or the lights may go out for days as the rain comes down. Having her most recent memories of Ethiopia during this rainy season, our daughter was surely used to the lights going on and off in her baby home.

Knowing this, I found it interesting how she responded one day when I accidentally turned the light switch off when she was taking a bath.

I had our middle son in the bath tub and she was in a small tub in the shower. They were both splashing away when I hit the switch accidentally and the lights popped off. My son yelled out of instinctual fear of the dark and complained of the inconvenience of not seeing his bath bubbles. Our Ethiopian daughter, who had been in our home for 2 weeks, did not flinch. She kept right on splashing.

I switched the lights back on. My son did not respond to this at all. He started playing with his bath boats. My daughter, though, looked up, squealed with delight, and clapped her hands in celebration of the lights coming back on.

Because I have had the pleasure of knowing many Ethiopians as my friends, I see this as a likely common practice – they celebrate the good things in life, but they do not complain about the bad. My daughter demonstrated this in not noticing the lights had gone off, but cheering when they came back on.

How often do we do this? How often do we complain to God in the bad times, but during the good times ignore Him?

This story relates to the $100,000 fundraising goal we recently set for the end of 2012. It would be easy to focus on the $20,00 that we did not reach. BUT we do have $80,000 MORE than when we started in September to donate toward the future and hope of orphans and widows in Ethiopia, and we are thankful for the generous supporters who gave towards the goal. We are still on track to meet our broader goals. And even better, we can celebrate the continuous and amazing spiritual, mental and physical progress being made by the partnership, both HERE and THERE.

So let’s imitate the example of Ethiopians for a while and praise God, not for what we are missing, but for what we have. He is good!

By Sandy Burton

Most would say parenting is challenging.  The rest just haven’t been parents yet.  Reflect for a moment on how much of your life is spent doing “parenting things”.  Really reflect.  If you have more than one child, think of how you handle each child differently, because each is unique.  Maybe you have a special needs child.  What thoughts come to mind?  Overwhelming? Tiring?  Rewarding?

Now, imagine if you had 30 or 40 children, in different houses, in different towns.  And your children had all been through trauma after trauma.   You found them alone with no parents, the older ones caring for the younger ones, literally just trying not to die.  Some are ill. All are afraid.  Many of them have watched as their parents suffered and died.  And now they are all yours.  What thoughts come to mind?  No one could do that!  Impossible?    Rewarding?

Tilahun, Abduerhman, Tsehaye, Beza, Abdulfeta are those people for our orphans. That is their life and ministry with Hope in Ethiopia.  As an answer to prayer, members from the Zeway area churches now help when they can. These precious people are literally the on-site, 24-7-365 caregivers for the children and HIV+ widows in these places where God has brought our attention.  And, they have their own families and lives!  What thoughts come to mind?  Painful?  Exhausting?  Rewarding?

When Grace goes to walk alongside the caretakers in Zeway, we bring construction paper photo pages to give to the kids – as encouragement and so they know what our families look like.  This is our way of giving faces to those who pray for them, just as we have the faces and stories of them in our prayer books that we distribute.

I made some from my son and I, but felt strongly about creating pages to give as encouragement for the staff and workers.  They were made with Hebrews 12:1-3 in English and Amharic, the Ethiopian language.  I wanted these “parents” to know God and many cheer them on in His mighty power.  However, in handing them out on the last day, after all we had seen, it felt like offering an umbrella in a hurricane.  I had seen their exhaustion, felt their pain as they hurt with the kids, and cried at the explosive joy and enormous hugs that came from the kids when the staff and we visited.  Tilahun said to me, “You see?  It’s all worth it and God is happy.”   God’s word does NOT return void.
I came home with a deep passion to pray and encourage you to pray for these “parents”. Would you please join me?  Join me in praying and giving of your heart of prayer and resources to keep these precious people able to continue this work.   God uses whatever you give to make the impossible possible and I pray with all my heart that you feel the deep reward.   I pray for you, that God open His storehouses for you that you may see His heart doing the impossible.  Thank you!

Everyone loves a good party. And, if you are reading this blog, you probably love advocating on behalf of orphans. So why not combine the two? The countdown is on to raise $100,000 in 100 days by December 31, 2012. While that number may seem daunting, we are well on our way with $41,105 already donated. So, let’s party plan, people!

Have you ever hosted a fundraiser? My husband and I had never hosted one prior to December 2010 when we held our first Christmas Cocktail party to benefit Hope in Ethiopia. We felt pretty intimidated and also somewhat awkward asking people for donations. BUT, we were blown away and humbled by the generous response from neighbors, co-workers, and friends who shared their evening with us and let us share our hearts for orphan care with them. The first year $1,000 was raised. Last year nearly $5,000 was donated!

More than the dollar amount raised, it has been an awesome opportunity for us to share orphan care within our neighborhood, workplace and with an expanded circle of friends. Our date is already set for this December and we are excited to see how God might use this evening to grow awareness and support for orphans in Ethiopia.

What can you do? Set a date! Create a guest list and keep it simple using Evite or Pingg for communication. Appetizers, especially finger foods will keep guests mingling and help you avoid having to stock utensils! Christmas makes decorating for a party easy since you likely will already have your halls decked out. If you are hosting an evening event, dim the lights, and light every candle you own to create a festive evening. Display a slide show with photos of the children in Zeway on a television or laptop throughout the evening.

Don’t go it alone! One couple set up a great table display that helped give guests visuals on how far their resources can go in helping orphans in Ethiopia. For example a $4 large latte equals malaria medication for a sick child or a $6 magazine equals a Bible in a child’s native language. We also asked a couple friends to help with food and borrowed glassware and serving dishes.

After guests arrive, take a moment, welcome your guests and share a couple stories of transformation from the widows and orphans being supported in Zeway. Lastly, share the need for financial support. Offer marketing materials so guests have something to take home, pray and consider supporting these children. Have a laptop or iPad set up and linked to the donation page for guests to donate at the party if they wish.

We have much to be thankful for and celebrate this Christmas season! We have a great opportunity to use our time, talents and treasures that God has entrusted to us, to be part of transforming both our community at home and the community in Zeway, Ethiopia!