Last Day in Ethiopia

I’m awake after only a few hours of sleep, as we prepare to fly to Rwanda this morning. I couldn’t go to sleep last night, even though I knew this would be an early morning. My mind and heart were so full from yesterday.

We only had a few hours with the children from Drawn From Water, but our whole team fell so in love with the thirteen children there, that we all moaned and groaned when it was time to go.

After being with such larger groups of children every day, it was so nice to spend one on one time with children, and especially with these cuties!


Drawn from Water is an organization I had never heard of before this trip. But, I have been amazed at what they are doing since I first read about their ministry. They rescue children that are considered evil or possessed by their tribe. This determination is based on the order that their teeth come in, or if they are born out of wedlock. It seems so crazy to us who do not live in a tribe in the middle of remote Ethiopia…but to them, this is just a ritual that has gone on for generations. What breaks my heart the most is that they throw these children in the river and drown them. This is, of course, where the name Drawn From Water came from.

Now that Drawn From Water is involved, they rescue the children from families before the tribal leaders throw them in the river to drown them. The families do not want this for their children, but they are forced to be a part of this nightmare. So, they leave their children in town, in specific places, so that Drawn from Water will pick them up. They have rescued around 30 children, and have now begun a church near this tribe’s location. The director of the orphanage told us that what this tribe really needs is the Gospel. And, I love hearing that.

He said “They do not know about God. They do not know about a better way to live.” This ministry’s hope and dream is to raise these children for as long as needed, and eventually reunite them with their parents, as the tribe grows in their understanding of right and wrong…and hopefully discontinues this tribal tradition altogether.

So, of course for that reason, most of the children here were not adoptable. But, I have also never seen a better situation for children who are not living with their parents than I saw yesterday.
They are living in a very nice home environment, with only four children to a room. They have three older children or toddlers, and one infant, with a live-in nanny in each room as well. These nannies are AMAZING and love the children so much. I loved watching these sweet children cling to their caretakers, who they have obviously attached to as they would a parent.
In fact, the children were not too sure about us when we arrived. This was very different than the first few days’ experiences. We were usually attacked, as children grabbed at us, holding onto us, asking our names, and kissing our cheeks. But, this time, it was obvious that they were not used to seeing white people, and were NOT about to come to us without hesitation.

They were very reserved and many even cried when we came close. But, of course, with a few lollipops, some crafts, and some toy cars, they warmed up quickly.
This little boy, Tarafe (tara-fay), was Mr. Serious when we arrived.He would make no eye contact, and just hid behind the director’s legs. By the end of our day, he was covered in bubbles, lollipop stickiness, and smiles.
I nicknamed him Bubba, because he reminded me of Bubba Gump. And, oh my goodness, the belly! I don’t know how many times I jiggled it. It made me SO happy to see him smile. Look at these beautiful eyes.
And, then there was the big girls, who didn’t take long at all to get used to us, and especially all our craft supplies. I’ve never seen such amazing uses of pipecleaners!! They are so cute, and they took such good care of all the little ones, making them hats and necklaces, and helping them get used to us.
But, my biggest “project” of all was getting Little Miss Princess to warm up to me.
When we first arrived, she was screaming and crying when we even looked her way. She was in her nanny’s lap and would NOT budge. So, I sat down a few feet away and showed her some foam stickers we had. I handed them to her, and she put them on her little cross. Slowly, I started adding them to her hand, and then her arm, and then her sweet little face. Then, she started putting them on mine. I knew at that moment I would break in.
I got a couple of cars and began rolling them down my arms, and then down hers. She eventually rolled them all over me and I would laugh and act like I was tickled.
She never broke a smile though. She was still Miss Serious. I eventually moved closer and closer but she was so onto me. She knew exactly what I was doing and I kept giving her the space she needed.
Eventually I got her to come down off the stairs and roll cars in the floor with me. Then, as she would bring me cars I would kiss her face. Then, the nanny said something in Amharic to her and she reached out and kissed me on the lips! I was in heaven. Then, I kept asking for more, and she kept giving them to me.
But, she still wouldn’t come outside where all the other kids were. So, at one point, I just picked her up and showed her the door and told her we would get a lollipop. This is the face she made about that:

She cried but I kept walking saying “Yeah, Ghawe (yow-ee)!!” I handed her a sucker and she sat in my lap, and wouldn’t budge for the longest time. We played cars for a LONG time, and then I introduced her to bubbles.

Oh my goodness, the girl could not get enough. She went through an entire large bottle of bubbles and never broke concentration. At that point, she was totally used to all of us and was completely comfortable with any of us coming up to her or touching her.

It was an amazing experience to watch as a child began to trust. I know she must have been so scared and it broke my heart. But, I also wanted her to know that it was okay! By the time we left, she was waving goodbye to our van. Sweet sweet girl. She made my day.

After such a wonderful time with these kiddos, we were talking about how each day just keeps getting better! And, we still have quite a few days to go!

Since it was our last night in Ethiopia, we went out to a traditional Ethiopian dinner, complete with singing and dancing. It was actually very good food, although not all of it was recognizable! There were veggies and lamb and lots of good spicy sauces which I loved. And, the coolest part was getting popcorn after dinner was over! It was just like home!

It was a great end to our time in Ethiopia, and even though we were very tired and still had packing to do, it was an experience I won’t forget.

Now, we’re off to Rwanda, and I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about being there. I’m already so teary about it, and I can only imagine my emotion when I touch down in the country I’ve dreamed about for a year now.

We won’t have GREAT internet there, so I won’t be able to send these blog posts to Mark as regularly. But, you know I will have lots to say in the next week. And, as you can tell by the novels I’ve written so far, they may be a bit wordy. Bear with me….I have a hard time leaving anything out about these PRECIOUS KIDS!!!