Day 4

We arrived at LFCA and were greeted with smiles, kisses and hugs...and more sunshine!  We all played outside on the slide, swings and merry-go-round for a while, then we snuck inside to blow up 65 punch balloons to surprise the children.  To say they were a hit is a huge understatement! I think the staff enjoyed the balloons as much as the children. Check out these smiles:

After the balloon fest, we were able to meet with each student individually and tell them about their sponsor family.  We also shared sponsor gifts and Dereje translated letters for the children.  For those students without sponsors, we told them how much they were loved and gave them gifts as well.  We used this opportunity to ask a few students what they wanted to be when they grew up and here are some of the responses!

After our student interviews, we served the children injera for lunch which was special for them.  Right now the students are not coming to school for a full day so they are only receiving one meal.  When school starts in September, the students will arrive at 8am and leave around 3pm and will receive breakfast, lunch and a piece of bread when they leave to go home.

After the children finished their lunches, we walked home with some of them to complete our home visits.  Again words cannot describe how meaningful these visits were for both us and the families.  It is so moving to hear their stories and to be in their homes where you can get a glimpse at their "normal."  While each of our students families has very little, they are so proud to invite you into their homes to share details about their lives.  Their homes are made of a mixture of mud and cow dung.  Many of the fathers and mothers daily jobs include working in the cow pastures curing cow dung for homes and fuel.  Here are some highlights from today's visits:

While walking home from the village, Tara and Jana almost got run over by a donkey.  The woman guiding the donkey was screaming in Amharic and when we asked Dereje to translate he told us she was screaming at the donkey saying "Watch out, watch out, don't run over them, don't hurt them, they are here trying to help our community."  And once again, Dereje told us how the local people believe we were lucky because we stopped the heavy rain and brought the sunshine.  And yet again, I find myself lacking the words to express how this made us all feel.  They think we are bringing good luck and on the flipside, they are blessing us more than they will ever know.  After all of our home visits we went back to LFCA, reminisced about our day, and drove back to Debre Berhan to wind down for the night.

Day 5

We arrived at LFCA to find out we had two new students!  We took information on both children and welcomed them into the school.  After playing on the playground, we brought the children inside and gave them each crayons and construction paper, something they had never had before.

They loved coloring and writing on the colorful pieces of paper and the smiles on their faces were priceless.  We are continuously impressed at the students' intelligence!  Some of them already know letters and body parts in English.  Some students drew pictures of the decorations we hung on the walls, such as a fish, pencil, apple, etc.  We placed name tags on each student's desk and wrote their names in both English and Amharic.  Without instruction, the children started copying their names with English letters - we were completely blown away!  The children love to sing and copy and repeat anything we would say.  They referred to us all as "teacher" and "miss".  The day was passing more quickly then we wanted and as their washed their hands for lunch, we mentally prepared ourselves for a very difficult goodbye.  We asked them to take a photo with us and then walked them into their classrooms.  We showed them artwork we made and hung on the wall with our handprints, names and hearts.  Dereje explained to them that we were leaving and would not be back tomorrow.  He tried to help them understand that this was just goodbye for now and that we would be back again in the near future.  We had him tell the children how much we loved them and then we each went through the classroom and gave them hugs and kisses.  Even the students who had been shy during our time at the school hugged us tightly and gave us multiple kisses.  We said goodbye to the staff and told them how thankful and blessed we are to have them working at LFCA.

I knew saying goodbye would be difficult but never anticipated the amount of emptiness I would feel in my heart as I looked back at the school as we begun driving away.  I lost all self control and tears poured down my cheeks.  I looked back one last time and saw two of our students' mothers outside of our gates with tears streaming down their faces.  I watched them use their brightly colored scarves to wipe them dry.  I will never forget this moment, as right as this time I knew we had accomplished what we came to do.  Dan and my dream had become a reality and we had empowered students and parents alike.  We gave them hope for their futures and while goodbye can sometimes seem like the end, this is only the beginning.  Sometimes our hearts have to be broken in order to make them full.

Since we arrived on Saturday morning, everyone has told us how fortunate we are to see the sun because the rains before we arrived were very heavy.  Now, three days in, people are even telling us we are good luck and have brought the sunshine.  It’s sort of funny because we all feel like we are the lucky ones to be here with all these amazing people.  It has been so difficult not being able to share our daily adventures with you all, but the internet has been non-existent (for the most part) since we arrived due to anti-government protests being arranged by social media.  So here it is…our first three days in Ethiopia.  Starting in Addis, finishing in Debre Berhan/Chacha!  It is my hope that these stories and pictures can give you a true depiction of this journey.  Enjoy!

Day 1

Today we hit the ground running…literally.  From the moment we landed in Addis at 7am (after our 13 hour flight) we got through customs, got our luggage, found our driver from Ordinary Hero and headed to the OH Guest House.  Upon arrival we were greeted by many friendly faces and we caught up over fresh buna (coffee)!  We met our friend and the President of Project HEAL’s partner organization in Ethiopia, Dereje!  He agreed to go out on an adventure with us to Entoto Mountain and an orphanage in Addis! We stuffed some lollipops in our pockets to hand out to any children we saw and got our donations for Kidane Mihret Orphanage (also known as the nun orphanage) and climbed right back into the van!  As the van climbed the mountain and headed towards the top we saw woman carrying huge bundles of wood that were double the size of their own bodies.  We were greeted at the top by about 200 children!  We stayed and played for a few hours and got to help with the feeding program that Ordinary Hero runs with the director, Mesfin.  Mesfin shared the story about how the program got started and it inspired us all.

These sweet children get to come here to this beautiful green space while their mothers and fathers are doing daily work (selling injera, making local drinks, roasting grains, etc.) so that they can earn funds to pay for their rent and food for their families.  The children play in this safe place with their friends, while receiving a meal.  If you want to learn more about this program, or sponsor a child in this feeding program, let me know and I can point you in the right direction!  While there was so much joy at the top of the mountain, I witnessed something that hit close to home for me.  There were many young girls (ages 5-7) that were wearing their siblings (age 8-18 months) on their backs.  This was difficult for me to process.  I try to imagine my 7 year old having that kind of responsibility for an entire day, while I went to work.  Sadly, these families do not have other options.  While visiting, we got to see some beautiful scarves and pottery made by the mothers of these children.  Not only is this program helping the children but they are finding ways to empower the woman as well.  It was difficult to say goodbye to all our new friends, but we had to go to our next stop, the Catholic Nun Orphanage.

 We arrived at the orphanage and knew right away that it was a special place.  The sister who runs the orphanage and the nannies were friendly, loving, and they appreciated our visit as it gave them a chance to take a small break from their extremely busy day.  The most amazing part of the visit was when two teenage boys came in to help hold and love on the babies.  They shared with us that they were cared for at this orphanage until they aged out of the system.  All in all, this was a great first day.

Day 2

We awoke to the Muslim prayer at 3am!  Luckily we were so tired from traveling and day 1 that we went back to sleep for a bit.  After breakfast, we left for Chacha/Debre Berhan.  We were blessed with an abundance of sunshine on the way and only right when we arrived at Love for the Children Academy in Chacha, it did drizzle for a bit.  We were welcomed by the families of our students who were waiting in the play yard.  It’s hard to explain the range of emotions that were flowing through me as Dan and my dream of starting a school in Ethiopia instantly became a reality.  The only thing that would have made this moment better would be for Dan to have been by my side.

We proceeded inside to meet the staff and students. We loved meeting them.  They were so kind and prepared a traditional coffee ceremony for us to have as we introduced ourselves.  Meeting the students brought all of us so much joy, but it was difficult at the same time because most of them had never seen a white person before so it was scary for them. They started to warm up as we helped to serve them macaroni and bread for lunch.  One of the main reasons these children come to school is for the meals.  When the children are at home during the day, they are often alone, regardless of age, and could go a whole day or maybe more without food.

After we left school, we ventured into the village where many of our children live.  We got to go into their homes and meet their families and hear their personal stories.  I do not think there are any words that could come remotely close to explaining these visits, so for now, I will show them to you:

With each visit we learned about our students siblings, parents jobs, and about their current needs.  Of course this made my mind start racing and trying to come up with ways to help with any problems they have and to create opportunities in which we could empower their parents.  More to come on this topic in the near future!

Day 3

We awoke early, had breakfast at the Getva/Eva Hotel in Debre Berhan and drove to Love for the ChildLFCA.  When we arrived the students and staff were waiting for us.  We started the day by giving each child a friendship bracelet- and we showed them that we had matching bracelets.  This definitely help them to feel more comfortable with us.  We also helped them create their name tags for their desks which they thoroughly enjoyed.  We finished our time at the school by decorating the older student classroom and plan to finish decorating both classrooms tomorrow.  When school was over, we got to walk home with them to their village and got to visit 35 more homes. Home visit pictures will be coming soon! Stay Tuned!

All our bags are packed and we are ready to go! Project HEAL's inaugural mission team consists of Tara, Jana and Colleen Taylor.

I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of Project Heal Foundation. I’m beyond excited for our upcoming journey to Ethiopia. I’m most looking forward to connecting with the kids firsthand and seeing their vibrant personalities come alive. Being a photographer, my hope is that the images brought back will allow those who cannot go to Ethiopia a look at how their donations are making a HUGE difference by empowering the children with the necessary tools to excel. I can’t wait to witness the impact Project Heal will have on the lives of these children and their families as the foundation continues to grow. - Tara

For over a decade, I have had a heart for Africa.  While opportunities have come and gone, none have grabbed my attention quite like Project HEAL.  From the first moment that I heard Dan and Colleen's vision, I was all in.  Partnering with Project HEAL was the perfect way to engage in something bigger than what we face on a daily basis and an opportunity to get out of the bubble of comfort we have at home.  Jesus calls all of his followers to live on mission where they live, work and play, but he also calls us to the ends of the earth.  Working with Project HEAL has provided a great opportunity to show the love of Jesus to people at home and in Ethiopia.  - Jana

Sitting here at the airport in DC and typing this blog post has made this all very surreal.  Our dreams are becoming a reality and my only sadness stems from the fact that Dan cannot be here with us on this first trip.  I cannot wait to see all of our dear friends when we arrive in Addis and am so anxious to travel to Chacha to meet the students and staff at our school, Love for the Children Academy.  Please keep Tara, Jana and me in your thoughts and prayers.