DAY TWO - TRIP TO MEKELLE

Monday morning, we awoke very early. Actually, it was in the middle of the night, because my clock was off and I thought that we were 9 hours ahead but we were only 7, so I got up at like 3am and waited for my wake-up call. I even went downstairs and woke up the poor little guest services man who was asleep on his cot behind the desk, thinking he had forgotten us. Silly me! Needless to say, it made for a very long day for Jane and I, the two early birds! We left at 5:45 to make the 23 bag trek to the airport once again, this time a bit more tired, but very eager to arrive in Mekelle, our primary destination. We wrestled with our ticket agent and the supervisors for nearly an hour over our luggage, which was 155kg more than they allow. We were told it might not all fit, we might not all fit, we were going to be charged $200, etc. etc. until finally we settled on a $50 excess baggage fee and the hope of having at least half of our bags arrive with us. As it turned out, we watched most of them be loaded on to our small Faulker plane, and all but one arrived with us in Mekelle. The other one had been accidentally unloaded in Axum, our short stop on the way from Addis, and since it wasn’t labeled properly (it had fallen off) they needed to hang onto it for 24 hours to make sure it didn’t “blow up”. Once it made it for that 24 hour period without exploding, then they assured us they would send it on to Mekelle. (Afternote: It DID arrive yesterday morning, as promised, and they eagerly handed it over at our local Ethiopian Airlines office. I really do love that airline!)

Arriving in Mekelle is always like a homecoming for me. First of all, I love that the passengers all clap when the plane touches down, and the women often make that tongue clicking the roof of their mouth shrill call of praise, as they do in weddings and celebrations. I love walking off the plane, seeing the beautiful terrain of Tigray, and feeling the dry wind as we disembark the plane and walk across the tarmac. Waiting inside were our friends Laura and Kiros, as well as Getachew, the NGO director with whom we partner for most of our work in Ethiopia. We unloaded our bags, made it to the cars, and headed to the new HIV care home where we would unload the 11 bags of donations (minus the one that was missing) so they could be sorted later in the week. It always feels REALLY good to unload those heavy bags, and praise God that He enabled us to get those 500 pounds of clothes, medical equipment, shoes, medicines, baby supplies, electronics, and Braille supplies to their destination. Thank you Jesus!

After resting a bit and a snack, we headed to Missionaries of Charity to search for the birthmother of an HIV positive little girl who was our first care home resident 16 months ago in Mekelle. The little gal is now a happy, healthy toddler in America, and I brought pictures to show her mother how well she was doing. Unfortunately, the mom had left, with no indication of where she had gone. She had been very sick when she placed the girl, so I wasn’t sure what that meant for her.

We headed to Operation Rescue where we enjoyed interacting with the little ones. My first hug was from “Sara”, one of our 6 year old residents at House of Promise No. 1. She was BEAUTIFUL and gave me a wonderful embrace. Next, I saw her older sister “Mimi” who greeted me with a smile, told me thank you when I mentioned bringing new DVD’s and wanting to spend some time with her, and later brought her report card to me to show me her wonderful grades from grade 3, when she stood number one in her class. Just 2 years ago she was struggling to survive in a shanty house with her 21 year old sister, begging with her nephew on her back, and rarely eating one meal a day. Now she is a beautiful young girl, and I beamed internally knowing that this week I would have the chance to tell these two girls we have a new family for them in America, and they will be joining me in Kansas by next spring. These are the highlights of my time here.

We took loads of pictures, drank coffee, made plans for the week, and became acquainted with the 3 new residents at House of Promise I and the new HIV care home, House of Promise III. Little “Lydia”, our 9 year old HIV positive girl was so tiny and fragile, but beamed when given attention. She has frequented our laps so far this week. She and another 9 year old boy and his mother are all living together, going to school, and receiving ARV medications. The home is lovely, with purple walls, and will soon be filled with 10 children. Already we have been told this week of 2 kids struggling to survive together in Mekelle, another 8 year old boy languishing in the hospital with no possible caregivers, and a 10 year old girl who will go for her T-cell count next week before we share with her that she had tested positive in April and now needs to begin medications. Seems it may be full before the month’s end. Thank you, God, for providing for at least these 10 children. There are an estimated 30,000 plus HIV+ children in Ethiopia. If not medicated, most don’t reach their 5th birthday.

By the way, all 3 ladies are doing SUPER and AMAZING so far…I am really impressed. They are taking photos, loving on children, buying momentos, seeing the devastation from poverty, HIV, increasing food prices and lack of education that have devastated this country up to this point. More changed lives, for sure. It is impossible to spend a good amount of time seeing real needs in Ethiopia and not leave here with a new perspective, or a new mindset about what is really important.