April 28, 2013
After Mass, we had lunch.
Which is always good on Sundays because we have pasta with just oil and
vegetables in it, then Paula and I like to add some parmesan cheese (sent from
home). We also have pizza – yesss! Although recently, I must confess, it hasn’t
had cheese on it – but it is still good and a welcome deviation from the
usual. In the afternoon, we walked up
our hill to visit the Missionaries of Charity – they are soooooo cute! (I know I always say that, but because it’s
true!) They welcomed us in to their very
small compound, and we walked through their lovely little garden/flower area to
a table with some chairs. We sat and
talked with them for awhile, and they gave us American cereal!!!! It’s the kind in small boxes (you know how
you can buy the variety packs on mini cereal boxes). It reminded me of good memories at my
grandma’s house. They told us they get
it from Addis Ababa
(airport) – they call it their airport food. Haha J I asked them if they know whether or not the shops
in Soddo sell beads (for making rosaries)…They told me they don’t, but asked if
I could fix theirs. They gave me their
broken rosaries, so I can fix them!!!! They’re
really cool – I’m pumped!
After that we walked to the store, which was a successful “simple essentials
trip.” Then we walked to the hospital,
where we met up with Sophie and Jodi (I asked if they could check out my toe
just to make sure it’s okay). Found out that
it WAS a worm (plus some eggs)! I’m
pretty excited: 1) how many people can say they had a worm in their toe?, 2)
Now I know for sure what it was, 3) I successfully “diagnosed” and took care of
it all by myself. I think I did a pretty
good job J They also said it’s not a serious issue –
once you get it all out, then it’s gone and over. Then we walked back down our hill to return
to Don Bosco – all the while along our trip, Paula and I just talked, told
stories, and laughed hard about ridiculous schemes we would come up with. Then, I made some of my Kraft macaroni and
cheese (= a piece of home) and watched part of a movie. What a great day! J
May 2, 2013
Yesterday (Wed. of Holy Week) we didn’t have school, so
Paula and I walked up our big dirty mud hill in the rain to the Missionaries of
Charity compound. Earlier in the week
they had invited us to come with them for their food distribution.
Once at their compound, we waited for the driver to come
with the car. He came and drove us to
the “Smiling Children’s Town” (a different project, but the food distribution
is also located there). A line of people
who are elderly, poor, and/or disabled began to form. As they get to the front of the line, they
present their name card, have their name checked off the list, then receive a
small pitcher worth (approx. 2-3 cups) of dry beans, a large pitcher worth of
flour, and a small (travel-size) bar of soap.
This is a week’s-worth of rations (Sister explained it’s enough for
them, plus a few extra things they might pick up at the market) for each
person. However, next week there won’t
be distributions, so this week people are getting twice as much flour and beans
– plus, a small bag of barley snacks because of the holiday (Easter this
weekend).
Each person came to the front of the line carrying a couple
of plastic grocery sacks (one for flour and one for beans) – many of their
sacks had holes in them and were sewn together.
We would take their sack, and carry it a few steps to the “filling
station.” There were tarps spread out on
the cement floor of the three-walled shelter we were standing in. Each of the tarps had on it a large pile of
flour or beans that had been spilled out of huge bags with boys sitting on top
of them with the pitchers – used for measuring and dumping the ingredients into
each person’s plastic bags.
After receiving their provisions, each person stepped to the
side of the line to consolidate and re-pack their collection of bags in
preparation for their walk home. Some of
the women helped each other hoist and secure their bags on their backs (Paula
helped a little with this, too). In
watching this process and looking out at both the line of people accumulating
and also those who were headed home one-by-one, I was thinking…
It was a cold, wet rainy morning (it had rained most of the
night). Many of these folks came
walking, dressed in clothes that would not have been enough to keep warm in
this weather…looking down, I realized many of them were without shoes. I think about how my toes are frozen, and I’m wearing rain boots! I wonder if they are always without shoes or
if this is a special occasion for those who forgo wearing shoes for the
duration of Holy Week (Orthodox?). At
any rate, since the majority of these folks are elderly and/or disabled, I
wonder how they are going to manage the trek home walking. Hunched over with these very heavy sacks of
food mounted on their back, walking stick in-hand, they slowly and surly head
for the gate to leave the compound.
I think to myself about how this all is a bit of an intense
experience for me to witness, but I will (later in the day) return to my
‘wonderful’ cush
life, full of advantages and possibilities.
For these folks, however, this is
their life. Reflecting back I think of
what a cross this “season” of their life must be for them to bear. On the other hand, maybe not… I think, “Maybe
for them, this is the wonderful
life.” I am moved with compassion and
pity – but should I be?! What if they
don’t want/don’t need my pity/sympathy?
Who am I to think that way of them.
Just because my life may be different than theirs, doesn’t make theirs
any less…doesn’t necessarily mean they are not satisfied or perfectly happy
with what they have.
After standing back on the food distribution side again, we
were invited to see more of the compound and to tour the actual “Smiling
Children’s Town” = AMAZING! In my
opinion and best judgment, this place is one that is filled with hope!
There are currently about 80 boys living there – ages 7 to
18, but others that the program also supports.
None of the kids were there currently because they had been sent home
for the holiday weekend.
The young man who is currently the director took us first to the residence building (where the kids live). At the ground level, there were shelves full of the kid’s shoes (they have to take them off before entering) and on the wall were the “Commandments”of the establishment. (i.e. I will not hit other people, I will not steal, etc.) He explained that they did a lot of research to find out what these kids struggle with most and made those the rules. At their core, this organization (Catholic and belonging to the diocese here – funded by donors) teaches kids who were previously living in the streets about love, dignity, honesty, and respect.
He took us upstairs into one of the four similar bedrooms
for the kids. This was the cleanest
place I’ve seen in all of Ethiopia
– it smelled like bleach! A fresh smell
of clean I haven’t smelled since leaving America (well, I guess we use it in
the dishes at Sophie’s house). The
20-ish bunk beds were nicely made (he explained that the cleaning ladies clean
the floors, but the kids are responsible for keeping everything else clean).
This is how the program works: The people who run it go out to the streets. They know where the street
children live – there are different categories of street children, but their
main focus is on kids who are not living at home at all: could be due to lack
of money (family can’t support them), divorce, etc. They talk to the kids, explain the program,
and invite all who are interested to come…It’s a chance for them to make a
better life for themselves. For the
first two months the kids are in the program, they have to come 3 days/week for
3 hrs each day for play and study time.
For the next two months, they come 5 days a week. After that there might be one more step, but then
they can start to spend the nights in rented houses in town (also, some meals
are provided for them). After six months
(if they demonstrate good behavior, possibly less time) they can move into the
rooms we went to see. They stay there at
night, but in the day they go out to school.
Time on the compound is spent doing chores (i.e. cleaning, washing
dishes, laundry, etc) and having recreation and study time. It intentionally takes a lot/long time for
kids to get to live there, in order to: 1) build trust (at first kids are
dishonest), 2) prove that they are sincerely dedicated to improving their
lives, and 3) they have to work for it – help is not just handed to them.
They also have a wood and weaving shop where the boys learn
different trades so they can get jobs.
My favorite was the bread bakery!
They make all of their bread on-site.
They sent a couple of the kids to vocational school to learn how to bake
bread. They came back and trained other
kids before they reintegrated. Also,
there are bakeries in town where the kids work now.
While kids can live there for a maximum of 3 years, the main
goal is to completely reintegrate kids back into their families. The program does home studies to consider
each kid’s family situation and needs.
They work on educating the kids about positive morals and living a good
life, but then also work with the families to help them as well. After all this work, the program fully supports
the kids in going back to live with their families.
The director told us a story of one family where there were
7 kids with only a father (the mother had died) – the father had to rent out
their land to other people because he couldn’t care for it, but the renters
weren’t paying him in return. The father
and 7 kids lived in a one-room house where during rainy season the water would
run through the house. One of the sons
came to the program and they ended up helping the family regain their land,
bought a cow, new house, and reintegrated the son into the family.
He said out of 150 kids reintegrated so far, 2-3 of them are
back on the streets.
All in all, this
seems to be a great program!
For more information: http://www.busajo.org/en/smiling.html
May 13, 2013
Our recent retreat to Addis
Ababa:
SATURDAY...
-Left at 5am, drove for 4 hours to the first town (Zway)
where we went for Mass and lunch. On the
way there, we saw monkeys (big, like baboons) by the road and, also, a goat
standing on top of the bus that was driving in front of us (it was tied to the
luggage rack). After lunch and Mass, we
were able to go to the women's project store.
It's women from the town who come to the project to learn a skill, and
then they sell their handicrafts.
-Drove another few hours to Addis - it was a beautiful and
enjoyable ride with our American friends who are also from our program
-Tried to go to dinner at a Mexican restaurant
(woooohooooo!!!!) but it's not there anymore, so we ended up at a nice Chinese
place instead. They sat us all at a big round table with a lazy susan in the
middle, so we just ordered whatever sounded good and all shared. It was really
good.
SUNDAY…
-Got up and went over to a meeting with Abba Basanas (head
of all African Salesians)
-Mass (at which we sang...actually Paula and I were asked to
sing for three different things in that same day - WHAT?! haha! we're not even
singers, but apparently have been dubbed "the choir" where ever we
go)
-Visited a couple of Don Bosco projects: One is for the
youth center kids - they make handicrafts to sell. The other is called Bosco Children Project. It is for street
boys who are taught a trade and reintegrated into their families. We met some of the young men who are currently living there - they were polite and enthusiastic. It is an absolutely beautiful project, and is full of life:
 |
| The front. The large building on the right is one of the many workshops on the compound, where the boys learn a variety of skills (woodworking, bamboo, leather, etc.) |
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| Left: boy's residence...Right: entrance to the dinning hall |
MONDAY…
-We got a ride to the bus station in Addis Ababa, and Paula and I got to find our
way around until we finally figured out how to obtain tickets and get ourselves
on the correct bus - YIKES! Thankfully,
praise God, it all worked out. We even
managed to change buses in another town.
On the first bus, they gave us this really delicious bread for
free. Also, the other people on the bus
were really cool: two girls on my right (I think sisters - their mom gave up
her seat for me, she was just staying with them until we left) one was maybe in
middle school and the other in high school-communicating via sign language!, a
SUPER cute baby a couple chairs in front of me, and a really genuine, kind
(military) guy next to Paula.
-On the bus definitely daydreaming about a fish sandwich:
slightly buttered and toasted buns, fried fish, tomato, lettuce, and maybe
Thousand Island dressing (thinking that might be good on it?)
-Arrived safe and sound back in Soddo after about a 7-hour
bus ride situation
"Every prayer is an act of love made to the Author of
love, who is waiting expectantly for our desire and our acceptance of His
love." -Dr Albert S Rossi
