Today’s write up might sound a little blurry since I’m writing it now. (Tuesday). Sunday night I had skipped dinner because of feeling under the weather. This morning (Monday) I felt a tad better. I had all the same symptoms except I didn’t have the chills or aches anymore. So I felt as though I would at least make it ok throughout the day. To start out the day, after devotion time we headed out to the town of Korah.... Just two minutes down the road. Driving through the town just set the tone for what we will be dealing with this entire week.
The main road was mud and ankle twisting rocks, making it quite the smooth ride. Certain parts you would see piles of bones on the side of the road scattered everywhere, some knowing exactly where on the body it came from.... of whatever animal it was. Sometimes seeing dogs sniffing or chewing on some..... A dog’s paradise. Full spines, skulls, femurs, etc.... you name it. All of that mixed in with thick mud and swarms of flies. We passed a strip on the way where people were lined up selling the “freshest items on the market” with mud and flies covering the produce (and anything else) and the sellers constantly waving the flies off their products as well as themselves. THIS is the poorest part of Addis Ababa.
We arrived at Project 61 with children curiously staring at our bus as we attempted to make a 3 point turn that turned into an 18 point turn. We finally parked the bus next to the church (in the church “yard”) and got out to children swarming around us holding onto our arms and legs (depending on how little they were) with smiling dirty faces. Beautiful faces might I add. It was very muddy outside... so I wore my rain boots. It rains almost everyday in short strong spouts leaving very little room for sunshine in between each spout. The children were so excited to see us and followed us everywhere we went as Summer was giving us a tour of the orphanage. We first went into the church to let her explain a little bit more about the place and what we will be doing this week. The church was covered by a tarp, which is apparently a luxury to have. Beside the church was a small building big enough for one classroom with one window. It was maybe the size of a standard bedroom..... maybe a little bigger. Very dark inside, even with the one window open. No lights. Another classroom was located behind the church outside. All it was, was a roof and gravel..... and a little bit of tarp for “walls”,
Next there was the third classroom across the road. These roads are only about 15 feet wide. This classroom was much like the first one. A building in it’s own. It’s also where they feed the children. The last classroom was in a bigger building that had a porch on it. You walk into the classroom which is about the same size as the other ones but has another room a tad smaller attached to the side... No doors. That room is a storage area (an empty storage area). Going through the storage area, to the right, there is a tiny room with 4 sets of bunk beds. That is where the girls sleep. Their roof was a tarp... we saw the rest of the place (cooking area and etc.) but I feel as though I have already recorded too much info.
After the tour we started to work on moving the benches in the church into some of the classrooms along with chalkboards. When the children saw that we were cleaning up and getting the classrooms into order, they started swarming to help us. So little they have yet SO eager to help and just be around us! A big truck came by and stopped in the road at Project 61 and dumped a big load of gravel. The gravel is this red volcanic rock which we spread throughout the orphanage, into some classrooms and outside areas including the road it’s self. The rock will help with the drainage and mud when it rains. We lined a bunch of it along the tin walls to fill the gaps between the ground and the bottom of the walls. Hopefully that will help during monsoon rains.
Next, we helped pass out food to the children for their lunch. It was injera with this chickpea sauce called shiera. Injera is an Ethiopian food that acts as a utensil as well. It’s like a very large flat spongy pancake.... almost as thin as pita bread. They pour their food on top of the injera and as they eat they tear pieces off using it to pick up their food. Everything is eaten by hand. When someone feeds you, you are considered their friend. and depending on how big a bite they give you determines how good of a friend you are to them. A lot of the children offered to feed me and I ate from two who seemed to befriend me. Another child offered and I had to leave the room knowing more kids wanted to feed me as I was passing them food. I almost gaged the second time I was fed. The smell of the community it’s self made me want to gag, so incorporating food, whiffs of the trash dump near by, and body odor from some of the children reaching puberty.... didn’t help with the gag reflexes.
The body odor here is pretty bad. So many stinky stinky people! The people in Addis Ababa as a whole stink (although our translators don’t stink....?... our bus driver totally does!), but the community of Korah is located in the dump. Most of the people in Korah, if not all of them, spend the day searching through the dump for wood, food, etc. Most of them search for wood to burn and sell. Sometimes when they can’t find wood they use plastic. There are a lot of random fires that occur in the dump and the people come out covered in ashes. When Summer came back to Korah to start Project 61 she named it after Isaiah 61:3 “To all who mourn in Israel he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.” This verse describes the people of Korah to a “T”.
Later, after having lunch ourselves, we came back to P61 and walked to the near by Leprosy hospital founded by the Germans. There, they just showed us where some of the lepers work and make fabric and weave grass mats. We didn’t see the actual leper hospital part, but we got to meet and see some of the lepers working, making threads and fabric. Some didn’t have fingers or other parts of their bodies. The leper hospital here in Korah is the nicest leper hospital in Africa. They get many patients here from all over Ethiopia and other parts of Africa everyday. Korah, was made up of a colony of lepers 75 years ago and is now made up of their descendants. Many have leprosy and are still considered outcasts still.
For dinner we went into the city to a restaurant called Lime Tree. They had “American” type food and i made the mistake of getting a cheese burger. It wasn’t that it was bad or anything, but with your standards of Five Guys being a really good burger, I just set myself up for disappointment. I just wanted something to taste like I wanted it to. It was a good meal none the less. Today was just a bit draining.... and we didn’t even get to the worst we would see yet. I actually got a “shower” tonight so that was good!
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