Editor’s Note: Shay Sanderson was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #3 from July 17th-26th, 2008.
As I prepared for my trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I tried to imagine what I would encounter. I envisioned a people of poverty and loss; a country with limited resources and dire situations. When I arrived in July, I realized my visions were tainted by my American way of thinking. Don’t get me wrong – these people do face poverty and loss. They don’t have a lot of things – but they have hope. They have love. They have a smile and a happiness that comes from something greater than the sum of their being. They have a faith in God that many cannot understand.
As we spent time loving the people and learning their culture, I realized something. As an American, I tend to see things very black and white. I like to think that there is room for gray, but I rarely open myself up to the possibility of a third color. While I was there and since I have returned home, God has continued to open my eyes to the possibilities of His love. He does not see two or even three colors, God sees every color-every spectrum of the rainbow.
Many others have talked about the street boys of Ambo. The time we spent with those boys was heartbreaking, to say the least. But it was also a joyful time. Watching them care for each other in a way that is indescribable really stayed with me. I only hope that as a generation, we can teach others to care for one another the way those boys do. They took the time to see that the other had food, clothing, a place to sit. It was remarkable! I know that it may seem second nature to be aware if someone has food-but when you have no parents to teach you those things, and you have no one else to rely on but yourself – it was a blessing to see!
Throughout the trip, and even before, I felt God leading me to do something to help these kids-something more permanent than spending 2 weeks with them in July. On our trip, we got to hang out with the children at a few orphanages. While we were there, I really felt God calling me to adopt. The more I would stand there and take in their surroundings, the more I could hear His voice. After many nights of talking, crying, praying, and journaling, I was sure about what I had to do. When I returned home, I immediately found an adoption agency and started the adoption process. I can’t wait to actually hold my own child and know that I have helped one-for now anyway ;)
One of my favorite quotes is, “I will go to my grave with the life that I gave.” And that is what I want to do. I want to give my life to help the lives of others. Through this trip, I really feel that I connected with a group of people that love purely, with no pre-conceived notions of what is in it for them. And each day I strive to become that person!
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.
Editor’s Note: Jacob Snodgrass was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #4 from July 29th-August 7th, 2008.
Jake with a child in Ambo, Ethiopia
Hi, my name is Jake Snodgrass and I am the Pastor at Ames Baptist Church in Oklahoma. It is hard for me to put into words clearly what the trip to Ethiopia did for me. There were many great things that I was able see. First, I was able to gain an appreciation for the work that Mocha Club has done and is doing in Africa. I also met great people that were fellow team members, ministry partners and leaders of local orphanages and programs. Secondly, I was able to see guys that I brought on the trip excel in loving others. All of these things served to bring clarity about what Jesus wants me to do.
When it comes to trying to follow Christ, I often overcomplicate it and become burdened really quickly by my ‘change the world’ visions. I become overwhelmed by the question, “Who is my neighbor?” and in my exasperation, I fail to be a neighbor to the guy I pass on the street. Wanting to fix everything, I end up doing nothing.
In Ethiopia, I learned that I could start by just doing something and allow God to use me however he wishes. I trust God. I trust that my hour spent in silence sharing pictures with a ten year old boy with HIV at Big A Hope in Addis Ababa accomplished what God wanted to accomplish. I trust that playing soccer in the mud with street boys in Ambo accomplished what God wanted to accomplish. I trust that my simple $7 dollars a month and my begging others to join me will accomplish what God wants it to accomplish. In my desperation to make a difference sometimes I simply have to be available and trust God.
Being available and trusting God also opened my eyes to some truths about the people I encountered in Ethiopia. Upon arriving home most people have said to me that a trip like this should make me grateful for all the things I have. I am certainly fortunate in many regards, but what I want most is Christ. More than anything else I want more and more of him. What I saw in many Ethiopians was that their lack of “stuff” allowed them to see Christ and encounter Him more deeply. I saw in many of the children, leaders and pastors that Christ had so deeply affected their lives that their joy was overwhelming despite impossible circumstances. If the things I have keep me from finding all my joy in Christ, then I don’t appreciate it, I hate it, or at least I hate what I have made it. I want what they have. I want more of Christ. In Ethiopia I was able to serve, love and learn. What a difference two weeks makes!
Editor’s Note: Dana McIntosh was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #3 from July 17th-26th, 2008.
Dana with some children in Ethiopia
When I decided take this trip to Ethiopia, I had no idea God would use the Ethiopian people to help me see things about myself and about Him.
There are many scenes from my two weeks there that will be forever etched in my mind. I will never forget the huge smiles of those children who gathered around the buses upon our arrival. I will be reminded of the huge circle we made in the middle of the field, where we held hands, skipped around, with children singing in their native tongue. I will remember the church filled with so much rejoicing that my Bible vibrated. But, most importantly, I will remember the laughter of the children who seemed unaware that they had life-threatening diseases, were covered in mud, or had little to go home to.
To be honest, I wasn’t especially compassionate about the children at first. Everything I was seeing was exactly like the pictures I had seen on TV, but now it was in my face. The difficult images were confronting me, telling me that this impassioned, complacent person was not the person I wanted to be. I prayed that God would lift me out of my complacent state. It wasn’t until the next day, when our group was praying for the adoption process in Ethiopia that God spoke to me saying, “You should care about these orphans, because you used to be one.” It was then that being a child of God made sense to me. I began to see these kids through His eyes, and I wanted to give love and time to them, because I realized that is what I had been given by my Heavenly Father. He has fathered me, redeemed me, and restored my once-broken relationship with Him.
One of the obstacles was that my tendency to want to “do” things and talk to these kids through the language barrier kept me feeling like my time spent with them was wasteful. I prayed that I would learn how to be still and just be with them. I wanted to be able to show them a love that didn’t require words. At one of the orphanages, a little girl sat by my feet and dropped a ball through my hands for what was probably an hour. Her face lit up with joy with every drop of the ball, as if every time she did it was the first time. I realized God was telling me, “This is what I desire with you. I want you to just be still, sit at my feet, and forget all the distractions around you.” I was welcomed by these kids, not because of what I have, but because of who I am. And God thinks of me in the same way.
For me, this trip was more than just 10 days in Africa. This trip made me happy, made me sad, and made me see my God. I believe great outward change will come from the inward transformation I experienced when I was there. As I come back into American life, I have the great responsibility to act on what I experienced in Africa.
Our Mocha Club Events Coordinator, Marisa Van Houten, traveled to Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia in July to see Mocha Club projects.
Marisa at an IDP camp in Gulu, Uganda
It’s so easy to take a trip to Africa and leave feeling guilty and helpless. We compare our lives the only way we know how – by a material measure of stuff and stature.
So how do I come back to America and not be plagued with guilt?
The answer? By turning that guilt into gratitude. I can be grateful for the life I have been given – for the opportunities, for the provision, and most of all – for the position of influence. Because we live in America, with numerous outlets of communication and technology at our fingertips, we have the ability to share. We have been given the chance to influence our communities to join us – to flesh out the Africa our friends just hear about on the news. We can share pictures, because we have seen their faces and held their hands. We can share stories, because we have sat, listened, and spent time with them. We can encourage people to give of their time, their talents, and their money, because we have seen how far those things go, and we have seen the lives that are changed because we choose to consider others better than ourselves.
There is a song lyric I love that says, “Now that I have seen, I am responsible.” I have seen…and I am responsible. I’m responsible for doing my part to make change…to offer hope…to bring healing. I am so grateful to work with Mocha Club, and offer a tangible way for others to feel connected to the wave of hope that is spreading across Africa…wiping away injustice and replacing it with peace.
So don’t feel guilty – feel grateful. And let that gratitude lead you to give…of your $7, of your heart.
Editor’s Note: Sarah Connelly was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #2 from July 5th-14th, 2008.
Sarah with some children in Ethiopia
Even though we were only in Ethiopia for 10 days, I experienced so much that it’s hard to put into words. Saying the trip was “amazing” doesn’t even begin to describe it. It was life-changing, and how do you put something life-changing into words? I went into this trip expecting to see God work through me to help the people of Ethiopia, but what I didn’t expect was to be on the receiving end of anything.
The people of Ethiopia helped me more than I think I could have ever helped them, and my life is better for having been with them. When I saw the children laughing and playing or the people just smiling, I thought to myself, “Why are you so happy?” I thought of all they don’t have, but they are so incredibly joyful. Then I realized they aren’t lacking anything. Sure, they may not have many material things, but they have so much more than that. They have life! When was the last time you saw someone who was truly happy just to be alive? I know I can get so caught up in what material things will do for me that I forget to stop and be grateful for what I already have.
The people of Ethiopia taught me to just take in every moment I have and not to worry about the next thing I am going to buy or the latest gadget hitting the stores. They taught me to love those around me and to love myself, to be happy with the life God gave me and to spread that happiness around.
The joy pouring out of these people is just contagious. Even if I was having a hard time facing the challenges of the day, just being around them lifted my spirits. They didn’t care what I looked like or what brand of clothes I was wearing – they just wanted to be with me.
I think one thing I would say to others going on a trip like this is to go with your eyes open to see how God might use the people of Africa to change you. Through their love and joy, I felt like they did more for me than I could ever do for them.
Editor’s Note: Missy Wood was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #2 from July 5th-14th, 2008.
Missy (front center in black shirt) with some of her team members & street kids in Ambo
The most vivid chapter of my trip to Ethiopia was the time we spent in Ambo with street kids. Street kids are teenagers who have no family, money, food, or shelter: their home is the streets. We bought them lunch one day and just hung out with them for several hours. I asked our translator, “What would these kids like most for us to do with them?” He said, “Embrace them. That is all they want.” So, we did. We hugged them, talked with them, sang with them, laughed with them, and just loved them. This was my favorite day in Ethiopia, and possibly one of my favorite days ever.
Their joy is amazing, especially in the face of having so little. That day, around 5:00 pm, we had to let them go so that they could find a way to make money for dinner. One way they make money is by cleaning people’s shoes on the street. Since we had been playing soccer with them in the mud, our shoes were filthy. So we hired some of them to clean our shoes. While they were cleaning our shoes, we talked to other street kids that were standing around. They were asking us about America, and finally one of the guys on our team asked one of the boys, “Do you like it here in Ethiopia?” He replied with the biggest smile, “Ah, yes. It is the life!” See the pictures of these kids. See how happy they are? It’s not just because we were feeding them…they are genuinely joyful kids. They have hope.
We all have hope and long to be loved, but our currencies for hope and love vary. In America, our hopes and ambition can be centered around worldly gain: money, fame, and beauty. With all this at our fingertips, why would we put our hope in God or need His love? Perhaps if I step back from my worldly pursuits I will see that they are merely misguided attempts at finding a hope and love that only the Lord can deliver.
The people of Ethiopia are blessed with so little. All they know is how to love what little they have, and for most of them, what they have is just each other. Their hope is simply that they will continue to live each day. There seem to be so many opportunities for me to show Christ to these people, simply by showing them love. Of course, the irony is that they end up showing me more about who Christ is by the way that they love me.
Editor’s Note: Bradley Tarrance was on our Mocha Club Ethiopia trip #1 from June 25th-July 2nd, 2008.
Bradley (bottom center with hat) with teachers in Ethiopia
When I returned from Ethiopia, the most common question I got was, “How was Africa?” What a loaded question. The easiest way to answer it is, “Life changing.” I’ll share one of many experiences I had while there.
I am a teacher in Michigan. Three of my tripmates (who also happened to be teachers) and I had the opportunity to visit some classrooms in the town of Ambo, Ethiopia. The teachers were all from Ethiopia so we needed a translator. There was a “Q&A” forum, where many normal classroom issues were brought up, and we did our best to give advice. One of the teachers, around my age, took a sort of bonding to me. He pulled me to the side a few times and talked with me. He told me he has 42-50 children in his classroom, with only one chalkboard, not enough seats, no paper, pencils, or pens. I was astonished. I work in an extremely low-income area (Flint, Michigan) and work with underprivileged children. In this small town in Ethiopia, hundreds of children were coming to learn, and there were not enough resources to teach them. Of course I could use more resources in my classroom back home, but this was unheard of.
The next logical question I asked was, “What can we do to help?” The response I received surprised me. It was not money, pencils, paper, or a new chalkboard. All of these items would be greatly appreciated, but the principal and teachers asked only for our prayers. Just to simply keep them in mind and pray that they will have the strength and power to change the young lives of Ethiopia.
We had about a three hour ride back to Addis Ababa after this encounter. It gave me time to reflect on what they wanted from us. It then occurred to me that this learning center represents the entire culture. They do not need material things in the same sense that we do. What makes them motivated and just plain happy in life is to have one another and people believing in them.
I’ve taken back to the U.S. many lessons from my trip. The most important one, I believe, is that material items in this world do not mean as much as we think they do. Sure, my friends love my Jeep in the summer, we have cookouts on a friend’s nice patio overlooking a lake, we ride our motorcycles across country and enjoy a lot of the things we have. But as I learned in Ethiopia, true happiness is only found in one another, not in the material things.
Editor’s Note: Brooke Morgan was on our Mocha Club Team Ethiopia #1 from June 25th-July 2nd, 2008.
One of my favorite parts of the entire trip was quality time with what I call “Ethiopian Royalty.” These are the saints, the unsung heroes whose golden souls have been dedicated to the service of orphans and street children. During our last leg of the trip, we journeyed outside the great capital of Addis Ababa to the town of Ambo. Here, we spent two days at a local church with orphan school children and street kids. During our second day, we threw a birthday party for the street kids. It was during this party that I had the privilege of connecting with the “royal queen” herself. As you can see from the photo, this woman is marked by devastating beauty and power (I do not know her name, and I do not believe we even tried to exchange them). I did find out via our interpreter that she worked for the government, though I don’t know in what capacity.
She was clad in a striking royal blue suit and stood casually upright in the doorway observing the party when I first noticed her. I knew that she was a woman of power, though her humility softened her authority. There was a divine certainty about her. Intrigued by her mere presence, I invited her to sit down upon the flat rock in the terrace for a hand massage. I could not help but want to serve and adorn this woman with love. To my honor, she accepted, and for a few sacred moments, our souls united. As our time came to a close, I learned from our interpreter, with whom she conversed in her native language throughout much of the massage, that she gave me the most beautiful encouragement that I had ever received. She said simply, “I see Christ in her.” Overwhelmed with tears of humility and joy, I accepted her blessing.
