Blogs from Addis Ababa Region, Ethiopia, Africa

Selamnachu y’all, I have a new name to add to the list of alternatives the boys at the drop-in center call me; Alyska! I think this one might be the most creative yet. The boy who solely refers to me by this name, finally corrected my pronunciation of his name this week, just a little one letter difference. I found it wholly entertaining as it would be futile for me to even attempt to correct the boys after they’ve become so creative with the various manifestations of my name since I arrived. I feel like in the time I have been working with Onesimus there is now a regularly attending group of about 10 boys and most of them have really started to adapt and behave. To these boys who I see almost everyday, I am ... read more

My name is Samson. I am a worship leader at an Ethiopian church and, God willing, will graduate from a Bible college in June in Church leadership. I got married in June and am expecting a baby girl Abigail. I want to serve the Lord by serving people. I am a good friend of Ashley and Megan, Ashley's sister. We met in December 2010 when they came for a mission trip and I am so glad to have met them because they have been such a blessing in my life ever since we met. They are amazing sisters who love the Lord. I have been translating for and serving with teams from the States since 2008. I have seen God working through people from the States and also I have learned a lot from them. Actually, ... read more

This morning we visited Korah. Korah is an 80 year old community located in the city trash dump, and is considered the poorest community in Addis Ababa. 130,000 people live in Korah, a majority of them battling HIV or Leporsy, making them "outcasts" and "untouchables." Korah originally formed because the one and only Leporsy Hospital in all of Africa was opened 80 years ago in Addis Ababa. People suffering from leporsy came from all over for treatment. Many of the patients couldn't continue making the journey back and forth so they tried to move to the city close to the hospital, however the Emperor said they were not allowed in the city but they could go live in the city trash dump. So they made the dump their home, and it became home to many generations ... read more

Day 1 in Ethiopia Today we visited Embracing Hope, Strong Hearts, and Onesimus (Forsaken Children). All were excellent organizations, doing really great things. Orphan prevention is the goal of Embracing Hope. I fell in love with this term. Jerry Shannon was a dynamic guy with a golden heart. They offer support for single mothers in order to keep the family together and prevent the mother from having to give the child up. Strong Hearts has several projects, the most interesting was opening the second hospice center ever in the entire country of Ethiopia. Onesimus (The Forsaken Children) worked with street children and trying to integrate them back into family style living and getting them to go back home to their families. We were informed that the are currently 100,000 street children in Addis Ababa alone. #truthgrenade ... read more

Selam! 13 hours later we arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!!! We are in the airport waiting for out connecting flight to Nairobi, Kenya. It smells just like I remember :) i am sitting here looking at the mountains in the distance, the sun is bright and burning off the morning fog. What time is it? Haha. Flight was great! Got to watch the African sunrise out the plane window as we were landing. Wow. It didnt even look real. God was flexing for us. :) Was entertained watching all the beautiful children running up and down the isles during flight! Their beautiful honey brown flawless skin, big brown eyes, giggles, and adorable hair styles......I just want to scoop them up and take them home. That sounds creepy. It is so cool how the whole plane looked ... read more

Selamnachu! Its now week three, almost four of living in Addis Ababa and every day I learn something new. I started my first Amharic tutoring session this week so I will hopefully be able to communicate a little more with the kids at Onesimus and Ethiopians in general very soon. Amharic has its own alphabet which I know very little about, but it looks immensely complicated. I’ve found it is the most important to be literate when you have to get a minibus during rush hour, transportation here is kind of an art, it is quite simple in a way (and absolutely not in other ways). There are contract taxi’s which are regular taxis and the real adventure, are mini-buses or some people call them taxis which I find constantly confusing. Also available are ambasa buses, ... read more

The new dash 8 q400 enters the addis valley. This is a small aircraft to spend three and a half sleeping hours on, but I feel good. I have two seats to myself, and i-mike, the American doctor is down the cabin. The turboprop’s is inbound from Zanzibar. The names Zanzibar and Addis Ababa trip easily off the tongue; but to those of us who live here, the reality is not quite so romantic. We fly between ridges with brown patchwork fields below us. They give way to insdustrial warehouses, new concrete housing, a single forestry block and the addis bus depot. The orange and yellow buses make a stark sight. Everything is so dry, a dual carriageway that bisect two large old cemetaries flies by; we are lower now, and seem faster over the earth. ... read more

Our time in Addis got off to a rough start with a delay in our flight from Lalibella which caused our luggage to be put on the next flight! I spent about 45 minutes in that stressed-out state that frequent travellers know well: Watching fellow passengers gradually pick up their luggage and leave until you are the last one, then watching the empty carousel go round and round before finally coming to terms with the fact that your luggage is not going to appear through the plastic flaps. We were flying home toCanadathe next day and I have no idea if our luggage would have made it without us to transfer it. Thankfully we didn’t have to deal with all of that because it showed up on the next flight just as we were starting to ... read more