Day 10 - A Drive To Adigrat

Today was adventure day. We headed out in the am for a trip to Adigrat, north of Mekelle by about 2 hours. We went to scout out a new site for ORE to expand and visited with the social affairs office (similar to our DHS or SRS) about their needs. They met with us for about 45 of their precious minutes, during which they shared that they have 2200 registered orphans in their 5 neighborhood sections. Their total number of organizations in Adigrat to serve those 2200 orphans and 1,000 disabled people they showed in their computer-generated report? TWO. One simply serving educational needs and the other serving aids victims or families affected by aids. When the families come to them for help, all they can really do is register them and then tell them to hang in there. They welcomed us with open arms if God provides the money for the expansion. To replicate an ORE project in a community takes about $30 per child per month, plus some initial capitol costs for building and furnishings. We then drove on past Adigrat so that the director could show me the “way to Eritrea”. This eventually turned into an hour-long detour which led to the BORDER OF ERITREA. Yup. Right to the line being held up by some soldiers. Very exciting. The town on the border, Zalambesa, was so destroyed by the war and conflict and you could just see the devastation in the people as they went about their lives in that war-torn community. It was really eye-opening. We got back in the evening and I spent some time packing and getting ready for my flight the next day. I am ready to see my family, but I also always hate to leave THIS family. Mixed emotions. Swung by the care home to check on our new little admission. A cute little 6 year old gal who was settling in quite nicely. She had been washed and given new clothes and was all polished up by the housemother. The other little girl in our home was overjoyed to have a new baby sister and insisted that she sleep with her. Meanwhile, another 6 year old boy began to cry as he became jealous of the other boy’s photo album of his family from America. I scooped him up and rocked him while he cried, and told him how much I love him. The housemother tried to explain that he had a mother, but she is just in prison right now…that is why he isn’t being adopted. Impossible to explain to a 6 year old. I rocked him till his eyes closed in sleep and then tucked all 4 little ones into their beds. Such a treat!