addis3

If I look like a happy lady in these pictures, it is because I was !
I have taken many trips abroad over the years, but a mission trip,
such as this, is by far the most exciting, fulfilling, rewarding experience of a lifetime.

Along with our missionaries, Walt and Kelli, three of us volunteers held two camps while in Addis.
The first was a three day camp held at the Popolary Library.
This is not the kind of library we have in the states.
These young people come to a barren looking room with concrete floor and one wall of textbooks. They sit on wooden picnic benches for hours, to have the opportunity to read an English written book. They have about 200 students a day and close during lunch simply because if they did not, the same students would stay the entire day.

We had 25 students and below is the group I had during small group discussions. Our day was from 9:00-4:00, during which we had a formal English lesson, games, music, films and small groups.
We used parables from the Bible for our lessons and in the small groups the students read with eagerness from the Bible and we discussed the passages in depth.
Most of them had no Bible at home and certainly not an English Bible.

The students were an absolute joy to teach.
My heart was broken when I heard the dreams of these bright young people. There is so little future for them in their country.
They have all completed the 12th grade, which is quite an accomplishment. The school system tests out (drops) 40% of the students in the 5th grade, another 30% in the 8th grade. Only a very small percent have even a chance at getting to a university.

Endris was the only Muslim that we were aware of in both camps.
He was a bright and seeking young man and I believe he will one day become a believer.
But this would be dangerous to relationships and perhap to life, so it is not a lightly taken step.

Endris asked me to please bring him a wife from America......"No, SIX beautiful wives from TEXAS "!I told him I would work on it, but I wasn't sure I could find a woman who could handle him!
This is a coworker, Dee, with Endris.

The second camp was at a church across town. It was a four day camp.
The students here were equally bright, attentive and wonderful. In both camps, the girls had less grasp of English and I leaned rather heavily on the others in the group who could help translate.

This picture of my group was taken on the last day of camp.
At lunch we always took them to a place to play volleyball and basketball. This is a REAL TREAT for them. Sports equipment is practically nonexistent there. On the last day we did fun relays and played water balloon volleyball !

The church (made of poles, tarps and pieces of tin) is located adjacent to the refugee camp.
The homes are barely separated enough to walk between them.
A beggar lady lay on her side by the side of the road every day, head propped on a brick with a small cloth over it.
One day a group of ladies were washing clothes by the road. They had a small pot and were using their feet to "agitate" the clothes. I saw no evidence of fire for heating the water and am not sure they had detergent. I'm sure they felt lucky to have caught some water from the rain earlier.

I did not take pictures of the sites here, but you can see a street behind us and get some small idea of the conditions.
Tsega, on the left, is a Christian, but said to me the last day of camp,"I do not have an English Bible". We had enough English Bibles for the first camp, but I felt so badly that we could not offer them to the second camp.
Abiot, the lovely girl on the right, made a profession of faith on the last day of camp ! You may read about this and other wonderful results on the "Answered Prayers and Miracles" page.