(Written on Thursday, March 8th)
It’s hard to believe that the adventure is over. Ten days in Ethiopia went by so quickly yet so slowly at the same time. At the beginning of the trip, it seemed as if March 8th would never arrive due to my missing of my boyfriend Tyler (no surprise there) and the hypochondriac within me being afraid of doing absolutely anything during the course of the trip. I missed being able to brush my teeth using faucet water instead of bottled water, opening my mouth in the shower, being able to walk outside without wearing deet, not having the fear of being eaten alive by mosquitoes, and being able to order a meat dish off of the restaurant menu without fear of contracting an intestinal virus. I wouldn’t even drink the bottled (and very safe as well as tasty) mango juice for the first several days because I was not sure if there were ice cubes mixed into it (side note: there weren’t any ice cubes, and by the end of the week I became addicted to the mango juice). However as the days went on and my fears subsided, I let me guard down just a little and worked hard to just be “in the moment” throughout the day. I am the type of person who constantly plans for the future and forget to enjoy the current happenings that I spent all that past time planning, so I made it a goal for myself to slow down and really soak in my surroundings during this trip (you could say I took a lesson from Ferris Buehler for this trip). So as I sit here flying over Greenland and with 5+ hours left in this flight to San Francisco, I wanted to write a sort of “wrap up” blog post about the trip. I apologize in advance if this post becomes lengthy, there are so many memories running through my mind and frankly, the movies on this flight are sub-par, so I have more time to contemplate and less things to distract me.
The past ten days have been great, some of the best I have ever had! The three days we spent in the Shonae and Abaya ADPs are ones which will always stick in my mind due to the many projects we saw in these areas which are improving the livelihoods of the people living in those areas. The people of Ethiopia will also be a permanent fixture in my mind due to their extreme humbleness, generosity, hospitality and beauty. The vast majority of people living outside of Addis Ababa (the capital) live in circular huts or rectangular shaped homes made of eucalyptus wood, mud and straw which cost between $230-280 USD to build. The floors are dirt and there are one or two rooms inside the homes which are shared and slept in by the whole family as well as their livestock at night. They have minimal possessions, usually just straw mats to sleep on, a stove, and maybe a wood bench or chair. Yet when we would visit a person in their home, they would offer us food, drinks, places to sit and would often have their home decorated in preparation for our arrival. Some children who would come to see us and play would quickly run home and change into the best clothes they owned to show our group that their pride. Even just driving down the street would result in countless smiles, waves and shouts from pedestrians both young and old who wanted to greet us. Like I said previously, I will definitely miss being smiled at so many times a day and having our van being followed by a mob of children running and yelling goodbye to us. Going back to reality is going to be tough! The circumstances for these people is terrible, yet the Ethiopian people are blessed in that their minimal living situations allow them to focus on the most important things in life such as family, friends, community, and mutuality. This lesson of truly appreciating those you love, reminding them of it daily, and helping them when the need it is one I hope to carry in my heart and strive to live by daily. Life is short, and it shouldn’t take occurrences like not having enough food, only have one pair of clothes, or having a loved one die from preventable diseases to remind us that relationships are the most important things in life, no matter where or how you live. These are so of the personal things I learned on this trip which was so enlightening and refreshing for me. It was great to escape my home culture and country and immerse myself in something completely different and interesting, allowing some self-reflection from a new cultural perspective.
I learned so much about myself, yet I also learned a lot about World Vision and Abaya, which is what this trip was all about! I went on this trip with my church, Faith Presbyterian in Sacramento, for research and relationship building purposes. Our church is in its third year of sponsoring the Abaya ADP, which means we exclusively focus on and raise money for projects in that region of Ethiopia. Last year we partially funded a reservoir capping project for the region which provides clean drinking water to 7,000 residents in Abaya. Currently we are working towards funding the construction of a new school in Abaya which would accommodate hundreds of children. We sponsor Abaya through World Vision, a Christian non-profit organization which is working in many countries around the world, so we went on this “Vision Trip” through WV to see what improvements have been made in Abaya, what issues they are facing, what future projects are they hoping to accomplish, and to show the ADP staff that our church is truly committed to Abaya. Before this trip I had been sponsoring Marta through World Vision for about a year and half, but didn’t have any other personal connection with WV. I figured they were like every other NGO (non-government organization) working in developing countries to help the needy. I didn’t have any extensive knowledge about World Vision and wasn’t sure whether they just “dropped” aid into communities or if they worked together with community leaders to solve the problems causing hunger and disease. However, this trip has opened my eyes to the amazing opportunities that World Vision brings to needy communities and the long term relationships they establish together. World Vision will remain in an ADP for 15 to 20 years, teaching community members how to build and maintain projects such as schools, wells, health clinics, and more. This is called capacity development, where World Vision teaches the community how to sustain themselves and slowly phases out over time, and is one of the core principles of the organization. It is so empowering for the people, allowing them to take ownership and responsibility of the improvement being made in their communities instead of just being handed a bag of food by Americans and feeling like a statistic. I have experienced the wonderful works of World Vision and am greatly impressed by their staff members who are Ethiopians themselves. They truly understand the importance of community relationships and do not make any decisions themselves but only with community leaders present. For any World Vision skeptics out there, I am here to tell you that the money which is given to the organization by child sponsorships and donations are being utilized in the most effective and intelligent means possible for each community. There is no doubt that the money which is donated is truly changing lives of not only people in Abaya or Africa, but around the world. Personally, as a working college student, it is not always easy seeing World Vision take $35 out of my account every month to pay for Marta’s sponsorship fee. Yet after meeting her and experiencing the wonderful progress being made in Abaya first hard, I will never complain again about money leaving my account and going to improve the lives of many Ethiopian people.
The past ten days have been such an eye opening and amazing experience, one which I am eternally grateful for having the opportunity to take part in. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who supported me, prayed for me, or read this little blog of mine. I hope I could make you feel like a part of the experience, because you definitely were! There would be no me going on this trip to Ethiopia without your support. If you have any questions at all about World Vision, Abaya, Ethiopia, sponsoring a child, Horn of Africa famine, or need anything else, please feel free to email me at natreyes@ucdavis.edu. It has been a once in lifetime journey and I am still trying to comprehend it all. Thank you for reading, and I hope you will read again during my next (to be determined) adventure!
Most of today was spent in the car as we travelled north from Awassa to Addis Ababa. It was extremely bittersweet to be leaving Awassa (and Abaya), as I was happy to be heading home but sad to leave all if the wonderful people I had met over the past several days. Every single person I have met during this trip has been so humble, welcoming, accommodating and sweet and are always wondering how you are doing and if you need any assistance. I have seen so many beautiful smiles this week from both children (like those in the photo above) and adults who have welcomed our team of “forengis” (the slang term for white people) with open arms. I must say, I will definitely miss being treated like a celebrity every time our group went out walking or driving on the road. You couldn’t go 2 seconds without hearing a little voice coming towards you yelling “you, you, you!”, “forengi, forengi, forengi!” or “money, money, money!”. As you would turn to see where this energetic and enthusiastic voice was coming from, the source was most often a young child running towards or behind the van waving and smiling as you drove by. I must have waved and smiled thousands of times this week, yet I truly felt special every single time this sort of incident occurred and a connection was made with a passerby. The Ethiopian people are so grateful and thankful for the help they are receiving around the world and are (almost) always excited and happy to see a strange face who is comes with a compassionate heart. I’d like to start waving and smiling at people as I drive down the street once I arrive home, however I highly doubt I will get the same response as I did here…
Tomorrow we are being tourists, seeing a local church and going to a local bazaar/market before having dinner and heading to the airport. We take off at 11:30pm on Wednesday night (Ethiopia time) and arrive at 4:30pm on Thursday (California time). 28 hours of traveling! I’ve already talked a few of my group members group into enjoying a beer with me at the Frankfurt airport during our 5 hour layover. It will be around 5:30am when we arrive and have our beer, but I guess my body won’t know what time it is anyways. I plan on reflecting on the trip during the flight home and doing a recap blog post on Friday (California time) along with several pictures. THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of your support, prayers, good thoughts, and readership. It really does mean the world to me. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. See you on the other side of the world!
They always say “save the best for last”, and today (our last day in Abaya and essentially the last day of our trip) was definitely no exception. As every other day, we were early to rise and begin the roughly two hour drive to Abaya. About half way through our drive, we came upon a car accident between a large truck (similar to a Mac truck) carrying rocks and a white 14 seater van similar to the ones we have been riding in on the trip. The large truck was overturned and leaking gas onto the road, while the white van was right side up but completely smashed and destroyed on one side. Looking at the degree of destruction which had occurred, all of us in the car assumed that critical or fatal injuries must have occurred, but we could not tell since a large group of locals had crowded around the scene. John Cash (am EMT) quickly grabbed his first aid kit and went along with out guide/translator Tamiru to help the injured. Britney, a group member from Bayside West, also went to help. After about 45 minutes of waiting and observing what was going on at the scene of the accident, John and Tamiru returned to inform us that only the driver of the van was critically injured and taken to the hospital, while everyone else in the jam-packed white van and the truck driver only suffered minor cuts and scrapes. This was such a relief to hear!! One man, who was involved in the accident and received a cut on his forearm, caught a ride in the van with us to the next town. When we asked him about the accident, he explained what had happened and said something to the degree of “this morning I prayed to god for safety, and here I am”. Seeing the smashed remnants of the vehicles and learning that no fatalities occurred, then hearing this man talk to us about the whole incident really struck a chord within me. It was both a visual and verbal reminder of how short and unpredictable life can be, but that trusting in God will provide you with everything you need.
After dropping the man off and continuing on with our journey, we finally arrived in Abaya and headed to the home of Maria’s (or should I say her son Benjamin’s) sponsor child. The little boy lived in a circular hut made of mud and wood with his family of a father, a pregnant mother, and three siblings. Maria was able to spend about an hour with her sponsor child, seeing his home, showing him photos of her family, and playing “catch” with the soccer ball she just given him. Maria even got to see the cow that his family purchased with the money Maria and her family sent as a gift (specifically a gift notification, where the family and world vision decide what they need to spend the money on, in this case it was a cow). We ended the visiting by asking the community to sing us a song, then our group responded by singing “Jesus Loves Me” and praying all together. Of course, the Ethiopians sounded way more beautiful while singing that the 12 of us Americans.
The rest of the day was packed with visiting latrines, seeing another sponsor child, visiting two schools, seeing an improved livestock home, seeing the water reservoir tank partially funded by Faith Presbyterian, and saying goodbye to the Abaya ADP staff. The latrines were an important stop because the Abaya WASH committee has been building model latrines made of local materials such wood and banana leaves in communities. The communities have then been building duplications of the model latrines near there homes, making their families healthier by reducing the risks of stomach viruses while improving the hygiene of the entire community. The school visits were important since one of them had two new building recently constructed and funded by World Vision so more students could attend the school. The improved livestock visit involved going to a local family’s house to see how the owner had taken his one sheep given to him by World Vision as relief aid from the Horn of Africa famine and turned it into four. By continuing to expand his sheep, the owner can then sell them for money to be used for food or the purchasing of a cow. The photo above is from our stop at the last sponsor child’s home, where Jenny and I occupied the neighborhood children by blowing bubbles with them and taking their photos on our cameras. Finally, we ended the day by saying goodbye to the Abaya ADP staff and going over some final thoughts. The staff at Abaya are AMAZING and absolutely love and shine in their jobs of helping the community. They are such strong willed and patient people, the best World Vision has to offer. Seeing so many things today made it all click for me: that sponsoring children, helping fund projects like a fresh water supply or helping to build a school, along with all the other projects being done in Abaya are completely interconnected and work together to improve the livelihood and health of the community. It just made me realize how effective, intelligent and important WV is, and how many lives they change everyday by opening doors and giving the people of Abaya (and around the world) a chance at a better quality of life. My experiences today were truly special and are ones I will never forget.
Tomorrow we drive back (6 hours!) to Addis Ababa. It is a long, bumpy drive (kind of similar to the drive from Sacramento to L.A. on I-5), and it is the only thing we have planned tomorrow. Only a few more days until we fly home. I must say, I am going to miss Ethiopia! The vivid culture, various landscapes, and the most humble, gracious and beautiful people in the world have made Ethiopia a country I will always remember and want to return to in the future.
Today was our rest day, which I was most excited about since we weren’t in the car longer than 10 minutes at a time, as opposed to the two hour trips each way we have been taking to get to ADPs. However, as I sit here on the evening of our relaxing day in Awassa, I am realizing how exhausted I really am! We are constantly going, going, going to ensure that everything fits into our schedule, yet this doesn’t help my energy level when I am not sleeping for very many hours at night. I am just glad that we were able to enjoy a one day break from all the traveling, because the next three days are going to be filled with long car rides and flights across three continents!
The day began by attending a church service at Light of Life church in Awassa. We pulled up to a rather plain looking and large building which seemed like it was a warehouse at some point in time. I questioned whether we had even arrived at the church, since the building looked so neutral and insignificant. Yet I was assured it was the place, and our team was taken inside the building into the main room, where 5,000 people were already seated and listening to the church service in progress. It seemed like the sea of people was never ending, with benches being lined up in rows from wall to wall to accommodate all the worshippers. We were led front row and center, where there were several seats reserved in anticipation of our arrival. The church service was one of the most beautiful services I had ever attended due to the music being so awesome and everyone in the room passionately participating in the service. It was a little different than the services I normally attend at Faith Presbyterian church since this church was an Ethiopian denomination similar to Pentecostal. Although the service contained a little more shouting, dancing, and call &responses than I was used to, I could not stop looking around the room and seeing how feverishly and passionately the congregation was praising God. It really put things into perspective for me in terms of my faith. I kept thinking “These people have so little (not having food security or many personal belongings) and are so impoverished, yet they use all of their energy, ability and love to praise god. However I have everything I could ever possibly want in life and more, and I sit here often questioning, doubting, and discovering my faith”. I caught myself tearing up several times during the service, finding the whole experience very enlightening and inspirational.
Lunch at a local Italian/Ethiopian restaurant followed the two and a half hour service, then a boat ride on Lake Awassa (correction: in my prior post I said we were staying on Lake Abaya, I was wrong). Our hotel is right on Lake Awassa which is roughly 10 miles wide and home to the hippopotamus. The goal of our afternoon boat trip: to find some hippos! Half way during our one hour, twenty minute boat ride we finally reached the opposite side of the lake where a group of about 8 or 9 hippos were wading in the water. We gradually got closer and closer to the pod (the group of hippos), yet the grunts of the hippos trying to protect their young progressively got louder and louder. This was our signal that visiting time was over. On the way back from the hippo visit, we took a detour on the lake to see some local fishermen in action as well as some popular attractions on the coast of the lake.
Overall, it was a very nice day of rest for our group. I was finally able to sit down and fully absorb my surroundings, reflect on my experiences, and have good conversations with group members. Tomorrow is basically the last day of our trip! We will be heading to Abaya for one last time to see more of the improvements which have been made in the community before driving back to Addis Ababa on Tuesday and flying home on Wednesday. Man how time flies!
Wow, today was an unforgettable experience. We began the day by taking a very bumpy, one hour and forty-five minute car ride to the Abaya ADP. Once we arrived, we were briefed by the ADP manager who told us about the work that has been done in the Abaya region. She said of the 3,500 registered children in Abaya, roughly 2,370 are sponsored by donors, which is an outstanding amount considering that the Abaya ADP is only 3 years old. The team has been working to transition the people towards latrine use, providing all children with an education, and working on capacity development. Capacity development is a fantastic aspect of World Visions’ Area Development Program because it focuses on training individuals in the community to master a skill that will be used to help the community, such a teaching people how to maintain wells, school buildings, and other infrastructures. This allows for the community to feel empowered and responsible for the changes which have been made, instead of feeling like World Vision just gifted them with things, like wells, without any knowledge of how to keep it clean and usable.
We were then taken to a veterinary clinic which was build by World Vision but is staffed and run by the Ethiopian government. It is located in a rural village where the cattle are more susceptible to contracting diseases and dying. Around 7,000 cattle are vaccinated there with multivitamins, antibiotics, and receive a treatment which kills flies, fleas, ticks, and prevents scabies. World Vision decided to build this clinic because it is the first thing that the community leaders requested. Without healthy cattle, owners suffer physically by consuming bad products from the cow, and also economically if their cow dies at a young age. I thought the clinic was amazing and a real step in the right direction towards whole community health and well being. Without a healthy food source, you cannot have healthy people.
We then walked for a few minutes in the high noon heat to a thatched roof hut, where Jenny met her little boy sponsor child. I was her “photographer” for the meeting, and was so honored to see the genuine and loving interaction between Jenny and the child. They played with a frisbee, blew bubbles, and kicked around a soccer ball, all while having giant smiles across their faces. Jenny was able to meet her sponsor child’s siblings and their grandmother who cares for them. It really was an extraordinary experience and set the bar really high for the remaining sponsor child visits which would be occurring later in the day.
We then had a very nice lunch at a local restaurant where I got my cat fix for the trip! I hadn’t seen too many house cats running around Ethiopia, however during lunch I was pleasantly surprised to find a little cat sitting right between my legs. It kept looking up at me with big green eyes and meowing ever so softly, attempting to guilt me into giving it some food. I caved, and fed the cat Jim’s leftover fish under the table. I wanted to put the cat in the van and take it home, but Jenny sternly told me “no cats in our room!” Sadly, the cute kitty stayed behind as we left the restaurant and continued on to see more sponsor children.
We traveled to three more thatched roof huts, where two members of Bayside and Maria got to visit their children. These visits were villages affairs, as everyone within the community would gather around the sponsor child and their sponsor to see what gifts were being given. In an attempt to distract the children of the community from forming a mob around the sponsor and their child, the rest of the group began to take pictures of the children and show them on our digital cameras. The kids got a kick out of this, since they do not get to see their own faces very often (there aren’t many mirrors in rural Ethiopia). After hundreds of pictures were taken, a few of us began blowing bubbles with the children, which was also a tremendous hit! Jenny, Jim, Maria and I would blow the bubbles at the groups of children while they ran around and tried to pop them all. After a while, I began to hold out the bubble wand in front of the children’s mouths and told them to “Afoof” (meaning blow). Contests then ensued amongst the children to see who could blow the biggest bubbles. Interacting with the local children and seeing their wide smiles and genuine joy are memories I will never forget.
Due to a scheduling conflict, I got separated from the larger group and ended up with a few people at a local school for blind children in the community, while the rest of the group was at the ADP office visiting more sponsor children. I was supposed to be there, however I was not, and began to worry that my child, Marta, was waiting for my arrival. After some arranging, Marta was driven over to the blind school where I was able to meet her and her brother. She was very shy at first, keeping her head down and not looking me in the eye, but as time went on she began to warm up. I showed her pictures of my family and the children at church, and told her that I would be mailing her the pictures that we took that day at our meeting. I then began to pull out my gifts for her which included: a blanket, a zip up hoodie, flip flips, gum, a friendship bracelet that I made for her, two zipper pouches, a photo album, and a dress that was handmade from women at Bayside West church. Marta told me she loved all the gifts and changed into her new dress to make sure that it fit. I then talked to her older brother and gave him gifts for their 4 other siblings and tomato seeds since he is a farmer. They were very grateful for all of the items I had brought them, and I was grateful and very honored that they came to see me. I began to tear up towards to end of our meeting, as it all began to hit me that I was meeting the child which I support financially every month. It was so surreal to be able to meet the little 11 year old girl who I exchange letters with, send gifts to, and pray for all of the time. I am so thankful to have many more years ahead to sponsor and support Marta while she grows up.
The group then headed back to Awassa from Abaya, looking forward to some emotional and physical rest. Tomorrow is our “rest day” for the trip as we are going to a local church in Awassa in the morning to attend service and are taking a boat cruise on the lake in the afternoon. I am looking forward to a day without driving! It’s hard to believe that our trip is almost over, it seems like we just arrived in Ethiopia. Yet we will be leaving more enriched and gracious people thanks to all the experiences we have had are are still to come!
