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Editor’s Note: Derrek Fikes was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #3 from July 17th-26th, 2008.

I was able to travel to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with other Mocha Club members back in July. It was the toughest thing I have ever experienced. It was also the single most rewarding and amazing experiences I’ve ever been a part of.

The part of the “trip” I want to focus on are the street kids. They are the kids who have been kicked out of their home, left because of abuse, money issues, etc.

Now, understand something. When I say street kids, I mean kids who survive on the streets. They roam the streets, make their living on the streets, fight for food on the streets, and pretty much live there. They are looked down on by everyone. These kids are amazing. It hurt me to see these kids in these situations. You want to see injustice? Nothing screams it more than an 8 year old boy who has to fight to stay alive and who struggles daily to get a meal.

I wanted to close my eyes, snap my fingers and transport all those kids to loving homes with loving parents. That can’t happen, though. I felt so…helpless. All I could do was love them for those hours and days I was with them. All I could do was show them God’s love. They have been rejected and alone all their lives. Rejected by parents. Rejected by society. Rejected by the church. Rejected by everyone but God.

All we could do was feed them. Hang out with them. Laugh with them. Love them!

The book of James says that “religion that God our Father finds as pure is to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to not be corrupted by the world.” Look after orphans and widows. Pure. Religion. We don’t see much religion that is pure and faultless these days. Much of what we see are the negative things which are affiliated with religion. Yet, God spells it out for us. Look after the poor, the orphans, widows, prostitutes, crack heads, homeless, and etc. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This “trip” really put things into perspective for me. I am not a big deal. I am but a vapor in the wind. Here today, gone tomorrow. When I pass from this life to the next and get to the gates, I want to hear my Savior say “Son; welcome home, the war is over.” I want to love, not hate. I want to give, not take. I want to live, not apathetically go through the motions. I want to encourage, not dishearten. I want to be an example of Christ’s love, not be just another Christian stereotype. I want to LOVE.


Make that change.

Besides, that’s what is pure.