Danielle with Ambo street boys

“Bur-han-u” – syllable by syllable the street boys who were gathered around me attempted to teach me their names on a warm January afternoon in Ambo, Ethiopia.  Little did they know at the start how arduous this task would turn out to be.  Embarrassed that they had picked up English much quicker than my sore attempt at Amharic, I pressed ahead seeing the smiles these boys had on their faces.  To these children, my saying their name was something special.

Street children in Ethiopia (and in general) are rejected by most of society, so it is rare that anyone, other than another street child, would even speak to them.  It seemed almost meaningless to me, yet they were glowing from ear to ear even with my awful attempts at mimicking the sounds of their names.  My proud teachers broke out in a round of applause when I remembered 90% of the names the next day.  At the sight of their smiles, I knew that things would never be the same.  Yes, I was aware that approximately 26,500 children die every day because of causes related to their poverty.  But now, this statistic had names associated with it.  It was real people suffering from very real causes.

I could not leave Ethiopia without remembering their names, their smiles, and their laughter.  My eyes close every night still thinking of Friot, Burhanu, Gedtanet, Mulu, Kuba – the list goes on.  It is their names and their very real circumstances that have become my passion.  I want others to know the names behind the statistics and to understand that small acts of love can make a big difference in these children’s lives.

Being a voice for “my” boys and the people of Ethiopia has involved taking small purposeful steps.  This has taken the form of speaking at a few local churches, requesting family/friends to support Mocha Club in lieu of graduation gifts, and taking friends to enjoy a bit of Ethiopian cuisine and sharing my experiences.   My favorite “step” since returning, though, was using my capstone college course to design my dream project for the street boys of Ambo and educating my professor and classmates.

Yes, these are very small things, but I believe they make a real difference.

Imagine, just one less child dying because his/her water was dirty because one person decided to act (remember $1 = clean water for 1 year).  Remember, that child has a name.  What if that life became the next Mother Theresa or Albert Einstein?

Danielle with Ambo street boys

The beauty of the Ethiopian people is found by observing their way of life. In this culture, there are no watches, nowhere special you must go next, and no one is more important than the person sitting directly in front of you. Relationships are key. This beauty is what brought me back to Ethiopia for the third time with Mocha Club this Christmas season.

One of the core goals on these trips has been working and forging relationships with the street boys of Ambo. These boisterous and sometimes unwieldy young boys have been orphaned or abandoned and are not culturally accepted by society. It would seem, at first glance, that these boys would be the last group of people with whom we could form relationships. But what we quickly discovered is that the boys were instead teaching us how to have true, meaningful relationships through their sacrificial acts of love.

What form did this take? It was Girma feeding me his injera when he probably hadn’t eaten all week. It was “Ceasar” teaching me his language, Oromic, so that I could teach English in an effective manner. It was Bronhu wiping my tears with the only tissue he owned. This is true beauty, which resembles that of Christ.

Lessons learned and remarkable experiences along the way, similar to those described above, are too numerous to count. We went with a heart to serve, but we ended up getting so much more. Their love, their faith and their hope is a beautiful treasure.

See Danielle’s other guest blog here.

My heart right now is in Ethiopia, although I am at home in Colorado. Here’s why I can’t take my mind off Ethiopia…

We spent the first part of the trip with the Women at Risk program. In Ethiopia, women struggle to make money, and they think that prostitution is their only hope. Women at Risk offers rehabilitation to these women and then provides job training so that these women can stay off the streets. It was amazing to serve these women and to share our love and faith. My favorite memory of working with these women was hearing some of their testimonies. After so many hardships in their lives, it was amazing to see how joyful they now were. They said that they had found shelter in Jesus’ love and that He completely changed their lives.  Although we couldn’t understand the songs that they sang to us in Amharic, I could see how thankful they were by looking into their eyes. I have never seen happier people in my life. I feel like I will never experience the type of thankfulness that they possess.

photo by Cole Thomas

We spent another part of our trip with in the town of Ambo. In Ambo, there is a large population of boys who live on the streets. Most of their parents passed away, while some ran away from home. People in Ambo shun the boys, and they are not allowed in the local church. Starting last year, Mocha Club’s goal was to build relationships with these boys and show people in the town how much we care about them. It was amazing to spend time with them.  One of my favorite moments was when a couple of the boys offered me food from their plate before they even started eating. This was shocking to me because they make about 80 cents a day shining shoes, and they don’t get to eat much. Eight of the boys are now living in a small place that made me so thankful for what we have in America. They could barely afford what their rent is each month…just 6 quarters, which is what I use for one load of laundry. This made me really question the things that I spend money on in my life.

Cole in Ethiopia

Overall, it was amazing to see how people in such dire conditions can be so happy and thankful. We were able to learn a lot from the people that we served. As a believer in Jesus Christ, I was blessed to see how they put their trust in Jesus to rescue them from the hardships they had experienced in their lives. They told us how joyful they were and how that love had changed their lives forever. Whether street boys, women who turn to prostitution, college students, or anyone who feels alone in this world…I believe that Jesus is in the business of changing lives. Personally, I am so thankful for our experience in Ethiopia and am planning on going back next year if I can raise the necessary funds.

Amy with some of the girls in Gulu, Uganda

I can’t recall ever taking so long or expending so much energy and patience to write a blog. But what I want to tell about my trip to Gulu, Uganda – and more specifically about my experience and why I’ll hopefully never be the same – deserves more time, more editing, more energy. I want to give you the best of what they gave me, with as few errors or potholes of distraction as possible.

Or maybe I’m just an obsessively compulsive perfectionist. Wink, wink.

Either way, until THE blog is ready, I’ll share a few pearls I’ve threaded into a necklace I intend to wear daily.

The Acholi people (the largest tribe in the country, who occupy most of Northern Uganda, and who have for the past two years enjoyed the first tastes of peace after a 23-year civil war waged by Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army) are eager and generous with their love and kindness. From daily half-a-block walks to and from the internet cafe marked by countless toothy grins and “How are you? I’m fine!”’s, to giggling children who are simply overcome with joy by the fact that “Mzungu’s” (white people) want to hear them sing their songs and dance their dances, their love is an effortless and unconditional kind unlike anything I’ve ever seen. They expect and want nothing but a genuine smile.

Having all lost so much and so many to terror, violence, disease, and disaster, they know how fleeting a moment can be and embrace each with ferocious joy. It’s hard not to define them as a dizzyingly happy people, because it’s rare to see anyone without a smile. Even when they’re feeling ill and asking for prayer, they do it with a smile.

But still, you know they carry the burden of recent history and understand in a special way that life can change or end at any second, so if this one is good, it ought to be celebrated. And celebrate they do.

For me, just being an observer among them for a week was liberating. It may be because the economy won’t allow for it, or more likely because they just know better than to waste time with such pettiness, the Acholi have little time and patience for vanity. Clothes don’t match and are rarely perfectly clean. Cosmetics are an expensive luxury, one most refuse in favor of covering their feet or feeding their families. Self-expression through fashion or hair style seems unlikely, as their clothing is either the “imported” castaways from America’s thrift stores or made from cheap materials; and most men, women, and children alike wear short or shaved hair. It’s better to keep away lice and other bugginess. And deodorant? What’s deodorant?

I can’t describe how freeing it was to be among people who aren’t silently analyzing my fashion choices or checking my legs to see if they’re shaved. It was nice to know that if, after a long day of painting, my Secret was all worn off, no one would notice, much less care. I’m white, so I’m going to I stand out. Any details beyond that aren’t worth following.

What’s more, I saw in them a desire simply to show us they’re kind and warm, forward-moving and modern; that they’re cheerful and can find beauty and humor in nearly anything; That they’re resourceful and creative, hard working, intelligent, and most of all good. They love and crave God and His goodness. They have much more to offer than war. They want to learn and teach. They want to create.

Above all, they are a community-driven people. They’ve all lost family and friends to war, so they ferociously grip the relationships they now have as a life source. It was rare to see anyone walking anywhere alone. And in the evenings, when most Americans are holed up in their giant homes on acres of “private property” watching fake lives play out on flat screen TVs, safe from the annoying distractions of other humans, the Acholi are hanging out and enjoying one another. One evening, we saw a group of at least 50 people gathered around one small TV for a major soccer event! They don’t go home until the restaurant’s generator is turned off and they’re sent away. And whether they’ve known you for years or you’re meeting for the first time, they treat you as a kindred soul and intimate friend. Even the Mzungu’s.

The children are no different. Whether walking home from school in groups, navigating the market for dinner, giving you the tour of their school or orphanage, or selling sugar cane across the street, they’re quick to extend a hand to shake and even quicker to offer a wide grin to a stranger. I guess, to them, no one is a stranger.

Quite simply, they want to love and be loved.

They were concerned not with appearances – with impressing us with fancy clothes or fresh scents, huge hotel suites, or five-star meals (though they did an incredible job at making our stay as comfortable and upscale as possible within the context of their culture) – but with making us feel welcome, comfortable, and at home.

And I did. I felt as at home with them as I ever have in America.

Toward the end of the week I took a moment to sit down with Judith, one of the hotel staff who seemed to rather enjoy my silliness and my inability to speak their language correctly despite both our efforts. She thought my self-deprecating jokes were hilarious. She liked that I wore crazy-looking shirts. And, pulling me aside, she said, “Miss Ahh-mee, you are very down to ground. Most Mzungu’s don’t like us…they think we’re bad and useless, just full of war and disease. But you…I like you. And I like that you like me.” I told her she was quite easy to like, and she liked that too. We both decided we were soul sisters, and that one of us – most likely me – was just born the wrong color and on the wrong continent.

One of our team members later told me that Judith told him I’m actually African.

And recalling that makes me miss my other home, my other family, even more.

Women at Risk in Nazaret, Ethiopia. The woman Danielle is writing about is in the front center, smiling, with two thumbs up! (photo courtesy of Indie Jane Photography)

As I sat staring at this tear-filled, yet smiling face, I was unsure of how to even respond to this woman whose circumstances were incomprehensible.  Her life had been surrounded by death, tragedy and rejection.  When she awoke each day, her choice wasn’t, “What am I going to wear today?” but rather “In order to live today, will prostitution be my only option to survive?”  My surprise came as she completed her story and offered her reason for the tears…pure thankfulness and joy. But how could that be?

In Ethiopia, women often think prostitution is their only hope because of lack of family support and income.   Through the Women At Risk project in Nazaret, Ethiopia supported by Mocha Club, this woman was being rehabilitated through a program for former prostitutes or “sex workers” and had completely changed her circumstances from hopeless, to full of hope and promise.

Danielle with Women at Risk

This genuine soul became a great friend in the one week we visited Nazaret during our month-long journey.  Obviously, I learned so much from this woman’s precious life: first, that what truly matters is not what I own or what I have achieved.  Second, no matter the circumstance, there is to still reason to rejoice.  Lastly, true joy is found when we look up rather than within.

There were eleven other women at the Women At Risk center whose life stories were similar to the one described above.  Each life restored one-by-one thanks to Mocha Club members all over.

Each life that our group encountered along the way blessed us in countless ways, whether it was a group of rehabilitated prostitutes or the one hundred street boys in the town of Ambo.  It seemed as if we had been given so much more than we could have ever attempted to give them.

Danielle was on our month-long Mocha Club Ethiopia trip from July 8th-August 9th, 2009.

First photo courtesy of Indie Jane Photography.

Amanda in Ethiopia

I’ve always believed that each person has a certain place in the world where their heart feels most at home. The world could be falling down around you and you wouldn’t even notice. There’s a comfort when you walk on certain territory, just knowing that there’s nowhere on this earth that God wants you to be rather than where you are at that moment.

Right in the midst of poverty and lost people and orphans and street boys and a language that I can’t wrap my mind around for the life of me…this is my heart’s home: Ethiopia.

This is where I feel most at peace…but at the same time, I’m still unsettled.

There’s so much to be done in Ethiopia. It’s one of those situations where I feel overwhelmed, because I want to fix it all, but there’s only so much I can do. I wish I could give all these kids a home and find an answer for all these street boys, but I have to trust that God has a plan for them and my job is to continue to follow whatever His will is for me.

Visiting Ethiopia the last two summers has completely changed me. I have a whole new view of what the word “hope” means. Africa is hope. Her people are not given the best situations, but they always find the best in whatever situation they are given. It truly rubs off on you. I was expecting to be incredibly emotional and prepared myself for the worst before the trip, but I found more joy that month in Ethiopia than I could ever find in America.

One of my teammates said it best when she said, “In America, I’m happy. In Africa, I’m joyful.”

There’s always going to be a small piece of my heart missing, and that piece is permanently planted in Ethiopia.

Amanda was on our month-long Mocha Club Ethiopia trip from July 8th-August 9th, 2009.  Check out her Indie Jane Photography website, blog, and Twitter.  Here are more of her brilliant photos…

trees in Kitui and a field that will hopefully grows crops again soon

I had some eye-opening experiences when I went to Kitui, Kenya this July with African Leadership.  Kitui is a village 3 or 4 hours outside Nairobi, Kenya. They are in the midst of a severe two-year drought. When we drove down the dirt roads, the air was thick with dust. Everything is terribly dry and brown instead of the lush green they described from a few years ago. The people of Kitui are praying desperately for rain to come in November when the next rainy season should start. I hope and pray it rains soon so these families I met can once again farm the land and have enough to eat.

* * *

Boys in Kitui

In Kitui, the littlest children speak mostly their tribal language, Kamba, so rather than just talking, we spent time painting, singing, playing games, and holding hands with them. I might have imagined this extra effort involved for communication would lessen our connection with the children, but I actually found that it made our experience richer. They seemed to understand who we were and that we loved them through our actions, and we felt the same sentiments from them. I love the idea that we were challenged to be creative in the ways we showed our friendship and care for them. I hope that I will be able to continue to think and act like that even when I’m with friends who speak my language!

Allison with Benjamin

* * *

Benjamin is one of the orphans in Kitui supported by Mocha Club’s Orphan Care + Vulnerable Children project.  If you choose to support that project, then you are making a difference in some very wonderful children’s lives! This picture was taken while Benjamin was waiting in the batting line-up after just running the bases! We were exchanging “high fives” and cheering for the other children. Benjamin is adorable, mischievous, curious, and friendly. Because of some fairly serious health problems as a baby, he has trouble seeing, but that didn’t stop him from learning to swing at a baseball and playing and running all day long! Before we left Kenya, one member of our team decided to pay for Benjamin to get new glasses…and hopefully more home runs!

Editor’s note: Allison Buchignani was on the African Leadership Kenya trip in July 2009.  She is also a volunteer for Mocha Club.

View more trip photos here.

Hattie playing with children in Kenya

The first time I visited Calvary Church and School [in Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya], I felt every emotion there is to feel. As I was walking through Kibera to get to the school, my heart started beating extremely fast, and I felt dizzy. I guess this just happened because I was completely overwhelmed. I didn’t know what a slum was really like. When we got to the church and heard the congregation singing, I immediately started crying. I thought, “How could these people be praising God when they’re living in circumstances like this?”

Later in the week, graduates from Calvary Youth Hostel [several of whom Mocha Club sent to college!] joined our team for dinner at our hotel. I sat next to a man named Samuel. Our conversation first started out by him telling me that he wanted to become a pastor. He showed me his pastor training book that was created by African Leadership and taught me a little bit about how to read it. He asked me if I was a Christian, and when I replied with, “Absolutely,” he beamed. Later that night at dinner, he told me a little bit about his story. He had grown up in Kibera. His parents had died when he was young, so he did not have a place to sleep. At night, he would go to Calvary and sleep there on cardboard. After telling me these things, he ended it by saying, “But God has been so good to me and kept me safe and well. He is faithful.”

Several of the Calvary Youth Hostel boys with July 2009 trip members

He ended up graduating from Calvary and living in the youth hostel. He is now studying to become a pastor. His hope and faith have been an inspiration to me. Samuel praised God and thanked him while sleeping on cardboard without any parents. This was a wake-up call to me to praise God in the hard times and to be extremely thankful for the life that I have. I will continue to pray for Samuel and the rest of the graduates that had dinner with us, and I will pray that God will change my heart and give me the faith that Samuel had.

Editor’s note: Hattie H., age 16, was on the African Leadership Kenya trip in July 2009.

View more trip photos here.

Michelle with children in Ethiopia

“New Flower”*

I was six years old when God gave me the dream

Through images of poverty like I’d never seen

Children crying – so hungry and poor

Death stealing the lives they knew once before

To go to Ethiopia a dream had come true

Though I feared the long flight over the ocean blue

To know a world that was close to my heart

To make a difference and give a fresh start

But nothing could ever prepare me to see

The raw streets and culture that was before me

The eucalyptus scaffolds, the pavements of mud

The beggars, the markets, the horses that trod

On the street with the people – so many there were

But where they were going, I could not answer

HIV/AIDS so many had carried

Fistula relief was why women tarried

So long and hard their journey began

With labors that left dead babies in hand

Nazaret prostitutes number five thousand

Living for money but lowering the standard

Women At Risk reaching them slowly

Offering hope and love to the lowly

Healing and forgiveness is what I had witnessed

Knowing God’s love now through Grace and Forgiveness

The Street boys in Ambo so dirty and torn

Not just their clothes but the families in which they were born

No dad or mum to kiss them goodnight

No house to call home, no hope in sight

So broken and hungry but kings of the street

Orphaned and lonely no shoes on their feet

But hope was given as we entered their vision

For education, restoration, love and provision

What a blessing it was to be Jesus to them

To serve and feed, to show love through men

But now I have seen my heart breaks much more

Each life I have touched I feel responsible for

To bring them more hope? To bring them home?

To bring out my heart, to touch yours alone

So what would you do if you saw their pain?

Would you come back empty? Would your trip be in vain?

Or would you want to change the world One Soul at a time

That was my Ethiopia trip 2009

~ Michelle Tiatia, New Zealand

* “New Flower” is the English meaning for Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.  Michelle says, “I like its meaning and its relationship to my trip.  I feel like a new person since going on the trip, and I just see a whole world of possibilities for new flowers to arise in that city and country.”

Michelle was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #2 from July 19th-August 1st, 2009.

Theresa putting a necklace on Allison. Theresa makes the necklaces that are red AIDS-awareness ribbon made of beads.

While I was in Nairobi, Kenya, I had the unique chance to spend an afternoon with some people living with HIV/AIDS.   We visited with HEKO (Heritage Kenya Organization), locally led by Peter and Monica Odero and financially supported by Mocha Club and African Leadership.  HEKO helps these people get the nutrition and medication they need, as well as provides micro-lending opportunities to help them start their own businesses.

We met in a park just a few minutes away from Kibera (the slum where most of the group members live). We played soccer, talked, danced, shared stories, and watched a presentation. The presentation included some African dancing, but the central message was a skit about how AIDS is spread. As I spoke with one of the leaders of the organization, I began to understand the serious lack of education in Kibera. The actors in the skit were in the process of explaining that HIV is spread by sexual contact. Many of the youth in Kibera lack role models, family, and older friends to explain these things to  them, so HEKO focuses on education through skits, singing, and one-on-one meetings.

HEKO women at the park

I’ve worked in various fields with teens and college students, but I’ve had very little experience in AIDS education and awareness. I was amazed by the survival stories that two women, Theresa and Jan, shared: they explained that they had contracted AIDS, received help from HEKO, and started businesses – making it possible for them to care for their loved ones.  Then, they began to educate and help others in similar circumstances.

To hear that these women received a unimaginably difficult diagnosis and then chose hope was truly inspirational to me.  I envy their passion and their heroic strength. Thank you Theresa and Jan for sharing your hearts and lives.  Thank you for fighting the effects of this devastating disease.  I am more inspired and hopeful today because of you.

Editor’s note: Allison Buchignani was on the African Leadership Kenya trip in July 2009.  She is also a volunteer for Mocha Club.

View more trip photos here.