Use at Your Own Risk

Do you know what this is?  This tiny tin building with big gaps in the doors?

It's the bathroom at Kind Hearts that serves 200 kids and the staff.  This tiny, reeking building with the holes in the concrete slab floors and the doors that don't offer much for privacy.

When my team of volunteers is at Kind Hearts all day to work with the kids, I always advise with a smile, "use at your own risk", and I have helped my own daughters balance and aim while stepping carefully and balancing myself on the edge of my foot trying not to step in anything left behind by 200 other kids. 

Sometimes it's just easier to use the ground outside ... but then we notice that many of the kids have had the same thought and it's treacherous everywhere around the "toilets" too.

But that's about to change ...

Our dear friends at St Joseph Christian School in St Joseph, MO challenged the entire student body, staff and parents to raise enough funds during the school year to fully fund a new block of toilets for the kids at Kind Hearts.  Their goal for the new building - plumbed to the well for water, with a septic system, separate facitilies for boys and girls.  Three toilets and a shower for each side along with hand-washing stations on the outside.  By the end of the school year as they celebrated their 25th anniversary as a school ... $25,000 raised for the new bathrooms at Kind Hearts!!!!  $25,000 needed and $25,000 raised!

The bathroom block is being worked on along with the new classrooms being built at Kind Hearts!  The plan is to have both ready (classrooms and bathrooms) when the new school year starts in September and new children are enrolled!

THANK YOU to St Joseph Christian School!  As soon as these projects start to reach completion, I will share photos and updates here. 

She described those days as "Miserable" ...

We stood in the shade of the trees as Libby greeted Asenaku with a warm hand shake and then wrapped her in a hug.  Asenaku held her children close and shyly eyed Libby as her daughter, Eyerus reached to be pulled up into Libby's arms. 

Libby and her parents, Jim and Maureen, are sponsors for Asenaku's children, Eyerus and Abel, providing for them so they can attend Kind Hearts school for nutritious food, clean water, clothing, medical care, education and Christian discipleship.

One of the highlights of our trips to Ethiopia is when each sponsor family finally meets their child face to face, and gets to visit that child's home to meet their family OR the family comes to the CarePoint to meet each other.  In this case, Asenaku came to Kind Hearts to meet her childrens' sponsor.

Libby was worried about what to ask and wanted to be sure her questions and sincere concern for this family were not interpreted as inappropriate or culturally insensitive, so I helped ask questions through a translator so we could understand the family's situation a little better.  Libby's genuine interest and concern and gentle encouragement made Asenaku feel at ease quickly.

We asked where she lived and what she did for a living.  We told her it was clear that her children loved her very much and that she was a good mother to them.  She nodded earnestly.

Later in our conversation when we asked about the childrens' father, she started to explain in rapid Amharic and as the story poured out, we could hear her voice start to tremor and her eyes welled up with tears.  With sensitivity, the translator did not interrupt to interpret for us and so Asenaku plunged on, emotions building until she buried her face in her hands and sobbed.  Pent-up feelings of fear and rejection finally pouring out as she explained her situation to someone she could tell genuinely cared about her and her kids and would continue to walk beside her and help.

Asenaku was married to a man named Mulugeta and they lived together in a small rented room.  Mulugeta was a daily laborer, an unskilled worker who sought work where he could find it.  Sometimes finding manual labor that provided a small wage, and other times not.  They were able to get by until Asenaku became pregnant with Eyerus, their first child, a little girl. 

Now that Asenaku needed to stay home to care for their baby, it was even more important for Mulugeta to be able to find work every day, and when he couldn't, there was a baby going hungry now too. 

Soon another baby was on the way, this time a little boy named Abel. 

But as work became more scarce and food wouldn't stretch as far with the birth of another baby, the pressure was too much for Mulugeta.  Fifteen days after Asenaku gave birth to Abel, Mulugeta did not come home from work, and she never saw him again.

Asenaku described those days as "miserable".  She was alone with a toddler and a newborn baby, with rent to pay and food to purchase, with no provision to do either.  She was scared and alone.

Once Abel was old enough to carry on her back, she left Eyerus with neighbors and tried to find work anywhere she could find it.  Again, she used the word "miserable" to describe this period of time.  Barely hanging on to her rented room and barely feeding her children.

As Abel and Eyerus neared school age, she knew she would never be able to give them an education.  The school fees, books and school uniforms were too much for her to afford and the fact that her kids would never get an education was too much to bear.  Until she heard about Kind Hearts ...

Today, Abel and Eyerus are attending Kind Hearts school and Libby was able to spend time with both kids and meet their mother.  Lots of tears were shed that day and I lowered my camera out of respect.  Some moments are better left to words and hugs without a camera's nosy lens. 

I know that Libby was forever impacted by her time with Asenaku, Eyerus and Abel and I know that Asenaku felt that Libby, Jim and Maureen are walking alongside her and supporting her as she seeks to be a good mother and provider for her children.

 Helina (on the left) works for Children's HopeChest in Ethiopia and disciples the children during regular weekly CarePoint visits.  We are blessed to have such an outstanding team of people working with the children on a daily basis.  This is one of my favorite photos because Abel is mesmerized by Helina's embrace as she rubs his ear while translating Libby's letter.  Our kids at the CarePoints are in good hands with the CarePoint staff and the staff of Children's HopeChest.

If you are intersted in sponsoring a child, there are 4 little boys left who are still waiting for a sponsor family.  $34 per month provides nutritious food, clean water, clothing, medical care, education and Christian discipleship for one child.  Please contact me at kjwistrom@yahoo.com

I didn't realize how emotional ...

Next Friday, a team of 20 people will be flying to Ethiopia to work with the kids at Kind Hearts and Trees of Glory CarePoints.  Led by Lindsey Kerby, this team from Illinois has been planning and praying for this trip and the kids for the last few years.

I first met Lindsey three years ago when she joined my team of volunteers.  We travelled to Ethiopia together and her heart was bonded forever to her sponsor child, the kids and the staff.  She has been planning and dreaming of leading her own team ever since ...

And next week, that dream gets underway.

The photo below is Lindsey's team of volunteers at church last Sunday, being covered in prayer by their church family as they get ready to leave for Ethiopia ...

All of the sponsor families here in the USA had the opportunity to send a care-package to their child with Lindsey's team.

As care-packages started to arrive, Lindsey wrote me this note ...

"I sure didn't realize how overwhelmed with emotions I would get as I opened all the boxes and marked off each child's name from the lists!!

All of a sudden I had tears running down my face thinking about each child as they looked at the pictures and listened carefully to the notes that were written to them. I also thought about all of the families here who are praying for each of the children and how they carefully picked their care package items. I just thought of Jesus and his love for us!!

Then, i would read a nice note thanking our team for taking the package and the sponsor families' words of encouragement as they told me how they would be praying for our team. I just didn't realize going through the care packages could be soo emotional!!"


Lindsey's team will be on the ground for 10 days as they seek to serve the kids and the CarePoint staff in Ethiopia.


Would you also cover Lindsey and her team in prayer?

Team members ran a 5K race to fund raiser for the trip. 

Hand-made dolls for all the little girls. 

 Packing teaching supplies and packages for the kids.

And getting everything to fit in a 50 lb suitcase!

Mother's Day ...

 

It's Mother's Day and I'm teasing my youngest as he excitedly holds out an envelope for me to open. 

 

"What's it say Mom?!"  he asks and I pretend like I can't read it ...

"To Mom, love Jayden?" I ask ...

"No try again!", he says.  "To Mom, love Maea?"  I question.

I run through all the kids' names and finally say ... "I'm not sure what it says."

He snort laughs and says, "It says Wesley!" as pleased as can be. 

I read his note out loud and come to the last line. 

I pause for effect, his eyes on my face, and I make a frowny face and say "How come you called me "Smort", that's not very nice."  And he giggles ...

 

Then he hands me one more envelope and I unveil the necklace he made at school (Thank you Mrs. Sanderson!) and proudly clasp it around my neck.

 

 

We finish lunch and off the kids go, tummies full, without a care in the world, to play with friends and do the carefree things kids do on a sunny day ...

 

I take care of a few emails, catching up on questions from sponsor families, looking through photos to find a picture of a specific child for a new sponsor family ...

 

And my eyes pause on a photo and I think of these moms in Ethiopia ...

 

The difficult choices they have had to make.

 

The fear, gnawing at their hearts like the hunger gnawing in their bellies.

 

Some who have had to make the most difficult of choices ... to give up a child, choosing life for them by giving them up.

 

And others who have watched a child waste away from an illness that could have been cured by a basic antibiotic ...

 

or from malnutrition that has wasted their bodies ...

 

Sometimes when we meet the moms of the kids who attend Kind Hearts or Trees of Glory CarePoints, they weep openly as they recount their past fears.  Babies withering away, single moms alone in the world, no hope for their future and the future of their precious kids.

 

They want what all moms want ... healthy kids full of hope.  Opportunities for a better life.  A good education.  A care-free childhood without fear, without hunger, without hopelessness ...

 

And because so many moms and dads here have chosen to come alongside moms and dads there ... the kids at Kind Hearts and Trees of Glory CarePoints in Ethiopia,

 

all four hundred of them ...

 

... can finish lunch and off the kids go, tummies full, without a care in the world, to play with friends and do the carefree things kids do on a sunny day ...

 

and these moms smile with confidence because they have hope for their children's future.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goosebumps rippled on my arms ...

Holding my hands, she struggled to find words.  To find words in English.

I asked again if I should get a translator.  And she shook her head firmly, "No."

She swallowed hard and we settled into the shade of the building, with the well visible just beyond the fenceline. 

Sun glaring, heat radiating from the dry ground, and the musical sound of water splashing, women talking and toddlers laughing.

As we watched, Simret's eyes continued to well up with tears.  I pulled her closer and said, "It's ok, tell me when the words come to you."

She started again ...

It was a familiar story, one I had heard bits and pieces of before, but there was more ...

Simret had left a good government job to come out into this arid, desert-like place alone.  To care for children, for orphaned and destitute children.  No running water at the time.  And no electricity. 

The government had an abandoned property, with broken and dilapidated buildings that could be refurbished over time.  A well was once drilled on the property but it had been abandoned, filled in and vandalized.

In broken English, starting and stopping and searching for the right words she explained ...

"I awoke one night to hear the voice of God. 

Telling me to care for His children. 

Children in this remote area that needed care, needed help.  Beautiful, precious children made in His image, who He loves. 

And the local villagers too. 

Widows and families living in such poverty with no hope. 

Poverty in spirit too, without knowledge or understanding of God."

Her voice hitched in her throat again and tears ran down her face as she gestured to the well. 

Water gushed and flowed from the taps.

"He told me," she said.  "He told me ... they will come to you for water."

And they have.  Trees of Glory has become an oasis, a sanctuary, in this dry desert place.

In this area that is predominantly muslim or animist (those who assign spirits and divinity to natural or inanimate objects like animals or trees or rocks or rivers), the CarePoint's Christian foundation was not always greeted with acceptance or warmth.

Initially there was some hostility, and some families removed their children when they found out Simret's Christian beliefs.  Choosing hunger, dirty water and no education rather than have their children exposed to Christian teachings.

But that was early, when the CarePoint was first being established.

Now with so many benefits for the surrounding villages ... clean water, access to medical care, counseling for young mothers, incredibly valuable education for children along with milk, chickens, eggs and produce becoming available in the local markets to supplement their own nutrition ... and Simret's respectful, gentle nature ... the surrounding communities have embraced the CarePoint and have befriended Simret as one of their own.

The women at the well turn and wave to Simret, cross their arms over their shoulders and give a little bow, a bob in her direction.  To me it looks like they are sending her a hug.  She puts her hands together as if to pray and gestures toward heaven.  They grin and nod and raise their own hands to heaven.

Simret gestures toward the little mud and stick structure being built at the center of the CarePoint.  A small building with a traditional thatch roof and a mud bench around the perimeter inside.  She is building a church because families have asked to be able to come and worship together here.

And then she goes on to finish what she is trying to tell me.  Something very personal and profound ...

She continued, "It has been fulfilled.  God told me ... "They will come to you for water...but I will give them LIVING WATER"."

Goosebumps rippled on my arms,

my throat closed up

and tears welled up in my eyes and spilled over.

It HAS been fulfilled.

As these families come to the CarePoint for water, Simret is sharing and living and demonstrating the Gospel to them and it is LIVING WATER ...water that doesn't just quench thirst once, but living water that fills and fulfills and flows like a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

John 4:5-14
So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. ⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)  ¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

How things had changed here ...

Our footsteps kicked up little puffs of dust as we walked along the fenceline at Trees of Glory CarePoint in Ethiopia. 

I shielded my eyes from the harsh sun and my fingertips grazed my nose and cheekbones to see if I was getting a sunburn.  I felt in my pocket for a tube of chapstick to soothe my dry lips.  My steps jarred sharp stones loose from the dry dirt and they rattled down the slope.

Simret pulled me along by my hand, intent on telling me something important as we stopped to watch women filling large yellow jugs with crystal clear, cold water.  In this hot, arrid terrain, even the sound of splashing water was refreshing.

Women and small children gathered at the water-point, talking animatedly.  We watched as jugs were filled and hoisted on their backs to be carried home.  Water continued to gush from the spigots as toddlers washed their hands and put their mouths under the water.  Where the water hit the ground, it splashed and sprayed creating a cool mist.  I was mesmerized by the sound and the sight of water against this desert backdrop.

We paused in the shade of a building to watch and I marvelled at how things had changed here. 

A few years earlier, Simret had felt a calling to leave her government job, go out into the countryside and start this CarePoint for orphaned and destitute children.  The government provided the land and buildings ... and 84 children were assigned to her care... to feed, clothe and educate.

It wasn't easy.  No electricity, a harsh environment and water for nearly 100 children had to be carried on the backs of donkeys to the CarePoint every day.  A year ago, I could see the worry and the strain on Simret's face.  Today her eyes glistened with tears, a huge smile on her face as she pressed my hands in hers.

She had something important to tell me and I could see the emotion welling up inside her as she swallowed hard and pulled me close. 

To be continued ....