Korah.....

We started today early in the morning gathering for packing up our bus and eating breakfast so we could have an early start to head back to Addis Ababa .
Just as we gathered in the hotel lobby at 6:15 the power went out. And just as we said, "well at least no one was in the elevator," we heard loud pounding and yelling. It was Haley and Heather trapped in the elevator. Now there's an experience. Stifling hot and confined in such a small space. Poor heather was already not feeling too good. Now this! Quickly others took action and they were able to free them within a few minutes. Whew!
We finished breakfast and began our long journey. Unfortunately, we made frequent stops due to two team members having serious "cookie tossing" issues. It was not a good scene. Dusty roads filled with people and traffic crowded our drive while we made slow progress towards the city. We had many quick and unplanned stops.
Korah is the garbage dump city. The organization we went to participate with is called "hands for the needy." It ministers to around 200 children with HIV and aids. We were blessed with serving them through a Feast provided by one of our team members serving them a meal that took three days to prepare. We then had stories, played games and did a planned small group activities.
Korah was started by a young man who came from the dump city. He has an amazing story. I posted a link on Korah early on but you can google it if interested.
The kids there were amazing. English was great, they shared, participated, patiently waited to be served and many latched in to each of us and would follow us all around. I met a grandmother and her handicapped grandson. look for her picture. We discovered we are about the same age.
Here are a few pictures of many moments of our day. I can't put comments up by them working on the phone as a computer but they speak for themselves.
We appreciate your prayer. Our north woods team has been hit hard with illness. All are bravely carting on amidst the setbacks of compromised health.

Our First Day......SIx Hour Road Trip !

Today we unpacked all our supplies for the orphanage and then repacked them. We needed to sort everything that came from 15 people and about 20 suitcases. What a task!

We then drove six hours on uneven roads dodging donkeys, carts, people, goats, amidst dirt tornados. We were often busy passing on the left even as we were going uphill. Paul don't read that part. I sat in the front seat so I could see i could see what was going to kill me when we hit it. There were many opportunities. The truckload of camels would have been my first choice.

Our group consists of 15 people from Colorado Springs, Virginia, Italy and Eagle River/Theee Lakes.. Four are teenage girls around 13 years old. The Vision trip leader is a male as is the videographer. You can feel sorry for them. There is a lot of talking at the same time going around them. Two of the women are here with their daughters to visit relatives of their adopted Ethiopian children. That is going to be interesting.

Today we went to our first "Care Point" this is where they are just beginning to develop and get sponsors. Our introduction was to meet and do activities with the 25 sponsored children. We were greeted by the children with singing and signs of welcome. then we participated in a coffee ceremony where the roast the beans in front if you on a small fire, then made us wonderful coffee and serve you popcorn! It was really special. Tomorrow there will be 150 with the unsponsored children joining us in the afternoon.

We sang with them and played games like "London Bridge" and jump rope. The enjoyed balloons and bubbles. Simple things that gave them one on one contact.


Little children who lived next door and shared the stick fence with the care point kept trying to see what was going on. They loved it when I took their picture and showed it to them. When I left I slid some lollipops through the hole in the fence .much to their delight.

We could hardly get in the van to leave kids from all over had swarmed the entrance and wanted to touch us and have some contact. We could see some had leprosy and other ailments but all were so cheerful and loved any attention at all.

Tomorrow we go to have a feast with 300 kids at the Chapa care point. They have ordered live goats for the occasion. They will soon be dead goats. This should be interesting. I will also get to meet four children my family has sponsored. I have gifts and notes for each if of of them. Tomorrow is a big day!

So time to crawl under the mosquito net. I think Paul and my cousin Michael wouldn't be big fans . I've already got mosquito bites so I hope the malaria medication is working .

Bb

P. s. and FYI We have decided to count posts from Facebook that fall under the post....cuz we realized it might be hard to do it under the blog if not registered. So good luck !