It’s difficult to know where to begin to describe my time in Ethiopia. I arrived from Uganda in good spirits, until I found out that I didn’t have a ride from the airport to anywhere. I hung around for a couple hours, then decided to try and find my way to the YWAM Mercy Development Center further in the city. It was my first time visiting Addis Ababa in the rainy season and the weather couldn’t have been more different that my previous 2 visits to the beautiful country. Mud and water were everywhere and it was cold.
When I first saw the children over three years ago, they had been just that – children, but seeing them now, three years later, so many of them are grown up. They are getting to be, or are already, adults. The scene was difficult to take in, but I am thankful that they have grown up so well and are dreaming big as far as what they want to do with their lives. The second day I was in Addis, I started taking pictures of the children for the sponsorship packets. We set up a photoshoot in the common room which has a blank white wall, much like the seamless that we have at Northwest. They boys all wanted to wear their best clothes and act famous in front of the camera. We had a great time.
A few days later, I left for Soddo. A friend of mine from Westmont, and a former roommate in Seattle, Sam lives there with another friend Noah and Katie. Together, they help facilitate an orphan care center than is part of a larger care organization in Ethiopia. They have been living there for the better part of a year and have a few months to go. The plan was to get media content for the CC Ethiopia website. On the way to Soddo, however, I started feeling very cold and feverish. The 6 hour ride down there with my 30lb camera bag wasn’t necessarily helping much and when I arrived in Soddo, I already needed a rest. Sam and I were able to catch up and talk about the orphan care center. We talked about the problems in Ethiopia and how they add to the orphan situation. We talked about Ethiopia as a whole, orphan care, and what really works. I went to bed feeling a little better, but didn’t end up falling asleep for a while. I had felt the fever returning and couldn’t get comfortable. The next day we had made plans for going to another town even further south called Arbaminch. We had hoped to do some relaxing and wildlife viewing in the national park near Arbaminch. We had to wait until the next day, but in the meantime, I had been feeling the fever return. Sam, Noah, and Katie, as well as another staff member at the orphan care center, went to Arbaminch to eat and hang out in the city, while I took to resting. It ended up being one of the worst, most painful nights I can remember. The fever had risen causing my whole body to throb, my head to pound, and my skin to feel needle pricks with every movement. Nothing I could do could alleviate the pain. I thought to myself that hell must be a searingly hot pain like this that lasts forever. I didn’t sleep. In the morning, we were supposed to get into a boat to cross the lake into the national park, but I had to get to a hospital. I couldn’t live in such pain anymore. We hired a driver and began the long journey back to Soddo, to the Christian Hospital there. Sam, Noah, and Katie had built a relationship with some of the ex-pat couples that lived in the hospital compound and served in various roles as doctors in the hospital. We went straight to the emergency room and I began going through various tests to see what exactly was wrong with me.
The doctor came back with a report that I was carrying a high concentration of Malaria in my blood. He explained that it was the worst type of Malaria, but I could be treated and would recover. Since I was planning on going back to Addis Ababa in a couple of days and then on back to the US, they decided to keep me in the hospital for a couple of nights and hook me up to the I.V. It was the most effective way to get the medicine into my body while being able to monitor my progress. Sam wanted to stay with me in the hospital, and I didn’t object. The hospital in and of itself was a cross-cultural lesson, with many stories to look back on. It was also a time for reflection on the majority of my summer trip to Africa. I came with high hopes, with definite strategies, with plans and ideas, but I left with many questions. Pages and pages of journal reflection uncovered unseen problems, cultural barriers, and deep issues that I could only see the surface of.
As I made the long journey back to Seattle, I thought more and more about my role in Uganda and Ethiopia. My first layover in Addis on the way to Uganda had reminded me that I will never blend in to these places I have come to love. My experiences in each nation confirmed this. Sometimes it made me want to stop my feet. Sometimes I wanted to give up and run away. Sometimes I wondered if I was doing anything at all. But it comes down to this – God has given me something. I call it a gift of revelation that these children are important to him. I am honored to see this importance and God has grafted this part of His heart onto mine. No matter what I feel or what I do, these children are a part of me and I know that no matter how large or small the end result is, whatever I am able to accomplish matters because of the value that these lives have in the mind and heart of God. He started something in me, and no matter how good or bad I feel, He is faithful to complete it.
Keep an eye out for stories from Uganda and Ethiopia of how God has had his hand on the lives of these orphaned children. God’s plans for them are much like His plans for us. “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
Thank you so much for your prayers while I was away and for your financial gifts that made it possible to go and collect photos and stories. There is still much more work to be done here to get the sponsorship programs ready, so I would appreciate your prayers in this season. Blessings.
John Paul
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