The final day was a busy one. A late breakfast, shopping in the
morning, lunch at the Guesthouse, coffee ceremony after lunch and then
to the YZM office. We had requested to meet one of the 20+ child-
headed families that Yezelalem Minch has in their program. That
wonderful staff had actually brought in 2 families (child-headed) as
well as a few of the sponsor children who had gifts from their sponsor
families that we brought. We first gave a couple of the children
their gifts from their sponsors. Next, we did a formal hand-off of
the medical supplies we brought to the nurses of Addis, Holeta and
Sobeta. I can't believe they brought those nurses all the way for us
to do that - it is a long drive.
We then got to sit down and "interview" the child-headed families one
at a time. "Child-headed family" is not a term we hear much in the US
because it doesn't really happen. The first family we met had four
children. The oldest boy (2nd oldest child) was the head of the
family. He is 18 now, but he was 10 years old when his mother died in
a fatal car accident. There father was away trying to make money for
the family. When he returned he was completely heart broken and about
1 year later, he too passed away. Now, at 11 years old, the boy was
in charge of his family. The driver who had killed their mother was
never brought to justice, so no compensation had been made for that.
The youngest daughter was still a baby at this time. Through tears,
they gracefully told their story. It is a sad reality of the sin-
stained world that we live...the fact that orphans exist at all. But
especially the fact that some children spend their child hood
concerned about how they will provide for their siblings, where their
next meal will come from, afraid of threats to their safety, grieving
the loss of their family, and struggling the temptation to run away
from it all. We met walking examples of a faith and trust in the
providence of God that we simply do not see very often in America.
And these children are not unique in this country.
The second child-headed family that we met was another difficult story
of loss and hardship. In this family, the youngest boy (~12 yrs old)
said that he has a dream that he will finish school and someday do
something to help other orphans. This is the story behind Yezelalem
Minch - Burtikan, a World Vision sponsor child, was used by God to
begin an orphan care ministry which has grown from 1 child to over
1000 children in just over 10 years! Burtikan shared her story with
these children which prompted tears and we did our best to pray for
them...but we have not the words to comfort those in situations that
we cannot fathom. It is only the Spirt of God who can heal the pain
that they deal with on a daily basis.
After that amazing time, we headed directly into another amazing time
with the YZM staff. We sat around and thanked each other, praised God
for what he did this week, tried to express our mutual respect, and
then that amazing and sweet staff at YZM blessed us with gifts. They
gave a beautiful framed nickel cross for Parkview Church, shirts for
the men and scarfs for the ladies. We are truly bonded with these
beautiful and faithful servants of God. We are in awe of what God is
doing (and has been doing) here in Ethiopia, and we are SO thankful
that he has revealed this amazing opportunity to join hands with them,
to be a blessing and to be blessed by being about God's work.
It is truly amazing! The last 7 days have been absolutely life
changing. God is so much greater than I understood before and there
is so much to be done to break the stronghold that is upon our nation
that keeps the blessings of God to truly flow. This is not one way.
We are not abundantly blessed in every way in America. We lack VERY
MUCH! What we lack is found in abundance in the places we visited
this week - FAITH, HOPE and LOVE. And what they lack in found in
abundance in our communities - MATERIALS, KNOWLEDGE and MONEY. What
we learned this week, is that when we live in unity with people who
possess what we do not, we see a more complete picture of the body of
Christ - and it is stunning!
I pray that God will guide us and that it will be the Holy Spirit who
grants us success as we return to Iowa as co-visionaries of Yezelalem
Minch. May blessings flow from Ethiopia to Iowa and from Iowa to
Ethiopia for the Glory of God!
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