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Published: March 18th 2012
Selam! Greetings from Addis Ababa!
Its been six years since my year in Italy and now I'm back again with another blog! For those of you who followed my blog before, a lot has happened since then, so here’s a brief update: After finishing high school, I started college at UNC-Asheville. I studied abroad for a semester in Brazil, and another semester in France. I still managed to graduate in 4 years with a BA in International Economics. I am here now in Addis with Cherokee Gives Back, a great opportunity that I learned about from a good family friend. I am really looking forward to the next few months here.
I arrived in Addis Ababa almost two weeks ago and every day since my arrival has been an adventure. I’m here to volunteer, but even more, I hope to learn, to learn about life in Addis, to learn about charitable organizations, to learn about Ethiopia and especially what one small person can do, if anything, to make life a little better. And of course to learn a little bit of Amharic, the major language in Addis. Selamnachu! Hello Everyone!
Our house
is in a neighborhood called Torhilich, and one of the first things I realized while walking around my first full day here, is that Addis Ababa is a huge city… and I really need a map. I went to a cafe with another house member, Sandhya, and had criminally cheap chai(pronounced like shy, which is just tea) and watched the traffic pass; a mix of people, cars, buses and a herd of donkeys carrying cargo, a common sight in Addis.
My second day in Addis, Caroline, Cherokee’s wonderful coordinator here in Addis, took me by mini bus to Onesimus Children’s Development Association. This is the organization I will be working with for the next four months. They work with street children and try to reintegrate them into society by counseling them, teaching them and helping them either return to their families, with continued support, or to a halfway home where they can live with a house mother and attend school. It is actually much more involved and complicated than that, I was just trying to describe it in the simplest way possible. The people who work at Onesimus are truly wonderful and really do so much for
the street children. This past week and a half that I’ve been going to Onesimus, I have worked at the drop-in center, the first step of Onesimus, playing with the kids, tutoring in English and counseling.
This is also where I met one of the most amazing women, Ruth or as she’s called at Onesimus, Mamabill or MamaB, after her first son. She is in her late 80s, and as I understand it, tries to do missions every year. Everyone at Onesimus, children and staff alike are drawn to her, she has a charisma that you can only be born with, something not easily learned. I hope I can be that awesome when I’m her age. I try to learn as much as I can from her and the other staff at Onesimus. Nega, the director and founder of the organization is also an incredible inspiration, he has an enormous heart and the most fantastic laugh. I am really looking forward to getting to know the staff and children at Onesimus during the next few months.
Hopefully I will put up another update soon. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Ciao!
Alyssa
PS. The opinions and statements in this blog are my own, if they’re wrong or you don’t agree, feel free to take it up with me.
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Jane Dias
non-member comment
Proud of you...
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn,shining ever brighter till the full ligh of day...prov 4-18... one day I wanna sit down and talk to you and enjoy all the beautiful life experiences!! God bless you always!<3