through another's eyes ...

In December, when I spent time at Kind Hearts care-point in Ethiopia, the children captured my heart and I was inspired by the director and the teachers - by their vision for the future. These children who have known heart-ache and fear and loneliness that we cannot even fathom, and who have literally NOTHING .... possess something amazing. They possess joy. JOY! A friend of mine, Joey Austin, is in Ethiopia right now ... and earlier today her team spent some time at Kind Hearts. They spent time with 68 children who have come to know what HOPE is .... and it means everything. Joey posted to her facebook page about her visit to Kind Hearts today and I wanted you to get a glimpse of these precious kids through her eyes. All of the kids at Kind Hearts are currently sponsored - but there will be more children enrolling soon. And ... in May we will begin developing a sponsor program at another care-point in Ethiopia with nearly 100 children. If you are interested in getting involved or sponsoring a child, please contact me at kjwistrom@yahoo.com and I will let you know as soon as we have children needing a sponsor. Here are Joey's words after her visit to Kind Hearts today .. There really are no words to describe our day...I mean honestly, we are all speechless! This was by far such a beautiful experience for everyone-not because of the scenery (which was, in itself so pretty-on the side of a mountain, eucalyptus trees dotting the land, and green grass!)...but the heart and souls of the children which were the epitome of the school named Kind Hearts. After our 45 minute van ride through rocky streets and clogged round-a-bouts, we headed to the outside of the city into the mountainside where the Kind Hearts School is located. Our van pulled up outside the school gates and children immediately started to run, wave and shout to us in sweet excitement. We could barely drive the van through the sea of children! Our group was greeted by the children and as we trudged towards the school building with at least a dozen children clinging to our legs and holding onto our arms, the kids sat down and the director welcomed us. They opened the tour by singing "God is so Good" in a sweet African accent...then treated us to another song. The kids were so proud of their program and most of us were an absolute mess. I choked out who we were and why we were there...to build a well...and the director told the kids and the entire school-staff and children erupted in singing and cheering. Their clapping and shouting brought nothing but tears from us and they had our hearts from that moment on. We then headed down to the "river" where some of the children must cross every day. I put "river" in quotes because actually it is more like a polluted dump--brown sludge in some places, thick gray in others...with a stench that makes your head pound instantly because the smell burns when you inhale. We were bothered by simply the smell and sight of the river...yet some of these children and villagers must walk through it every day. Animals drink and die from how sick the water is...in fact skulls littered the bank of the river. They wanted to show us where a bridge is located, but it is too far away for the kids to use. As we walked, we saw the villagers and donkeys crossing over the river. We were able to actually cross the river ourselves by jumping on rocks and make it to the other side where our translator talked to a woman who must cross it every day. She pleaded with us to help clean up the water and provide a well. She blessed us and said thank you as we left...we all left the river and quietly walked back to the school. Next it was time for us to hand out some supplies we were able to bring; there were 63 children and we had homemade blankets that were made and prayed over specifically for this trip, along with notebooks, pens and pencils. The staff lined up the children in two lines to receive the presents (picture this: these children were SO well behaved, they quietly lined up with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front of them, and waited to be called to the table where after receiving the supplies, they bowed and whispered "Thank You.") It was a precious, precious time. In about one minute I looked out over the school yard and the children had taken their new blankets and wrapped them around their shoulders. They were so pleased with their gifts; the colorful blankets were honestly one of the prettiest sites I've ever seen. You might expect the kids to be crazy and wild with their presents but they seemed to be in awe of what they were holding in their hands, like they weren't sure what to do with the notebooks and pencils. So Kelly, Olivia, Laurie, & Julia sat down and started showing them what to do. "Draw a zeee-bbrrraaa please!" was the common request...and soon the pages were filled with hearts, I Love You's, animals and rainbows. Tammy & Jennifer led a group of kids in singing songs: head, shoulders knees and toes...Jesus Loves Me...If You're Happy and You Know It...Tooty-Ta and more. They tried to follow along and repeated every word the best they could. We loved how they mimicked our actions and tried to repeat our words. After a lunch of injera and wat, along with a traditional coffee ceremony, our time at the Kind Hearts School was coming to a close. We left with a challenge from the director to "Please keep your promise...don't forget us...we need you...tell people about us...spread the word...we can make a difference. And God will show us the way." Please consider--if this blog has touched you--to make a donation to help build a water well at the Kind Hearts school. It not only means clean drinking water for the children along with providing water for sanitation--it can mean healthier crops so the villagers will have a chance to support their families. We are all changed after today. Thank you to Children's HopeChest for partnering with this incredible school and allowing us to partner with you. May God bless our efforts...and never take HIS eye off the children of Kind Hearts.--

Just normal family life ...

It's Mid-March and it's 50° - in Minnesota, that's considered balmy and it makes us feel like doing this .... (see above)! About a week ago, we still had a few feet of snow on the ground and it was looking to be a late spring ... again. But then it rained for several days on end ... several cold, misty, gray days .... and then this ... sunshine and 50°!


A friend recently asked me how all the kids were doing since I rarely comment about them on the blog lately. And I realized that sometime late last fall ... everything kindof became "normal" for us as a family again.

We no longer feel like our lives are so very different and novel, after the adoption of our two sons from Ethiopia just over one year ago. Every now and then, something will remind us of our first winter or spring with our sons, and we pause to reflect on how far we have come as a family ... but somewhere along the way, everything started feeling "normal" again. That's a good thing!

I work full-time (Vice President of Marketing for a cabinet manufacturer) and my evenings and weekends are beyond full with being a mom to 4 kids, a wife to an amazingly understanding and supportive husband, and volunteering on behalf of 68 kids at a care-point in Ethiopia called Kind Hearts! The 3 older kids have been busy with basketball all winter long, and now that the season has just wrapped up, they have already started soccer practice.

Above: Jayden (8) and Maea (11) ...


Above: Wesley (3) and Emmelyn (13) ...


When we brought the boys home last December, both of their heads were shaved because of lice outbreaks at the orphanage. We have not cut Wesley's hair yet - he has the most amazing ringlet curls - and I'm happy to let them continue to grow. We found a nice big hat for him to wear in the winter, but it still mats his curls down just a little and they need fluffing after.

The girls affectionately call him "flounder" when he wakes up from his nap, with both sides of his head completely flattened from sleeping on his curls. A quick spritz with water, and a scrunch with leave-in conditioner, and his curls are back in place. Little Wesley never stops smiling and laughing ... and if we don't join him, he's content to laugh and entertain himself!

Now that we've had a little taste of spring-like weather ... we are very ready for winter to be over!

*********************

Post update: Don't you just love Wesley's hat??? It was one of our best finds ... it barely crushes his curls. I'm getting asked about where we found his hat ... it was the Gap. It was even on sale. Don't know if they still carry it but it's worth checking. It even keeps his cheeks warm.

School Uniforms for "Kind Hearts" Kids!

There was a last minute flurry of donations today to the "Kind Hearts" School Uniform fund, and one final donation of $350 that pushed us over the top! We have met our goal and are now able to purchase school uniforms for ALL the kids at Kind Hearts!
THANK YOU for cheerfully and generously supporting this project - we met our goal in 2 weeks! I will post pictures here as soon as we have photos of the kids proudly wearing their new uniforms. (For more information about the school uniform project - please see the previous post.)
On another note ... about a month ago, Hopechest and Kari Gibson's Simply Love Project did a Valentine's campaign where the purchase of a "Simply Love Africa" t-shirt would provide a shirt and shoes for an orphan in Ethiopia. That campaign is now providing shirts and shoes for over 800 orphaned and destitute children in Ethiopia - and 68 of those kids attend Kind Hearts.

Last week, ALL 68 kids at Kind Hearts were measured for NEW SHOES!! Not the flimsy, plastic or rubber shoes they usually wear ... but quality leather shoes with laces and rugged soles, to last a long time and protect little feet. The photos below were taken last week at Kind Hearts. The kids feet are being measured with an old-fashioned, wooden shoe sizing device. In a few weeks, their new shoes will arrive and I will post pictures here.

These children are seeing the tangible results of your love, prayers and concern! It is amazing to see the difference in these kids since I was there in December and they were about to close down the school for lack of funding. The children were lethargic and weak with hunger and were only being fed ONE TIME EACH WEEK at Kind Hearts.

Every child currently attending Kind Hearts is sponsored (getting 2 nutritious meals a day, clothing, medical care, education and Christian discipleship) but there will be more children enrolling at Kind Hearts in the next few months. In addition, we will begin coordinating sponsors for another location, North of Addis Ababa, with 75 children, most of them orphans. If you are interested in sponsoring one of these kids, please send me an email at kjwistrom@yahoo.com and I will contact you as soon as children are available to sponsor.

School Uniforms Needed for Kind Hearts Kids!

The kids at Kind Hearts could really use school uniforms. They cannot afford them on their own - and this is something we can step in and directly help with. Only $19 will provide a uniform (and a much-needed change of clothes) to a child at Kind Hearts.

I was asked why uniforms are so important for the kids. Now that the children are getting nutrititious meals every day, and their basic needs are being met because of their sponsors, these are the types of projects we can focus on to make things just a little bit easier and a little bit better for these kids.

In the Ethiopian culture, all children attending school wear uniforms. In the mornings, the streets are filled with children walking to school, all of them wearing matching uniforms to signify the school they attend. From our balcony high above the street, we could easily see where the children were heading based on their uniforms, as their classmates clustered around the school entrance in matching uniforms. A school uniform represents that that child is a "student" - an honored and respected title "student". And that that child is enrolled in a government approved education center.

Going to school is a privilege in Ethiopia, and families pay a monthly fee in order to enroll their child or children. They need to purchase a uniform, books and specific notebooks. Of course if a child is an orphan or destitute - they cannot afford the monthly fees and they don't get an education. A sad cycle of events because education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty. The Ethiopian government has made good strides in recent years, as they strive to identify orphaned and needy children and provide the opportunity for an education.

That is the opportunity 68 kids have at Kind Hearts. The government has provided the land and building to the Kind Hearts organization - and the sponsor families are providing the teacher salaries as well as food, clothing, medical care and Christian discipleship. It is an opportunity that none of the kids take lightly. Before we had sponsors for the kids, they were coming to school every day with empty tummies, weak with hunger - trying to concentrate and learn - in their filthy, stained clothes that many of them wear every day, and sleep in at night.

$19 will provide a school uniform (shirt, pants and jacket in a quality fabric) for one child at Kind Hearts. That uniform will not only provide a much-needed change of clothes - but I can promise, each child will treasure it and wear it with pride because they have the honor and privilege of going to school!

There are only 68 kids at Kind Hearts right now and we are half-way to our goal of raising enough funds to provide uniforms for ALL the kids. If you would like to help with a school uniform - please go to the Hopechest website at http://www.hopechest.org/, click on "GIVE", specify $19 and clearly specify "ET2110 UNIFORMS" in the "child reference/notes" area. It is very important to specify ET2110 UNIFORMS so the funds go directly to the Kind Hearts school uniforms fund.

I will post again when we meet our goal - AND when we have pictures of the Kind Hearts kids proudly wearing their new school uniforms!!

In the photos below, this is an example of children in Ethiopia (in Kombolcha) with their school uniforms.

Kind Hearts Kids to get NEW SHOES!!

I take shoes for granted. Most of us have several pairs (if not several dozen pairs) in our closet. But imagine not having shoes ... or not having shoes that fit ... and walking to school every day through mud, and dust and dirt, sharp stones, broken glass and thorny bushes.

Our kids at Kind Hearts in Ethiopia know what it is like to not have shoes. To them ... shoes are a luxury!

Their clothing too, is tattered and torn, dirty and stained. The pictures we get of our kids show them wearing the same clothing day after day. Most likely, the clothes they are wearing ... are the only clothes they have. When they go home after school ... they don't change into their "play clothes". They don't get to take a bath and then change into their pajamas for bedtime. Most of them fall asleep on a dirt floor in the same clothing they wore all day.

The dirt and the stains we see? Water too is a luxury ... and must be used for important things like drinking and cooking, not for baths or washing clothes. So if their clothes get too dirty, they can rinse them in a puddle ... but not in the nearby river because it is polluted with toxic and poisonous chemicals.

My friend, Kari Gibson, recently partnered with Hopechest to raise funds with her "Shirts for Shoes" Valentine's Day campaign. Her "Simply Love Africa" shirts are super-cute and I was happy to buy one knowing they were for a great cause. For every t-shirt purchased, an orphan in Ethiopia would get a pair of shoes and a shirt! Many of our Kind Hearts sponsors bought t-shirts as well. Never realizing that the shirts we bought would DIRECTLY benefit our Kind Hearts kids!!!!

Our Kind Hearts kids are being measured for shoes next week. Not a flimsy pair of plastic or rubber shoes that hardly last a month in the rugged terrain of Ethiopia. But a sturdy pair of leather shoes with nice, thick soles and laces. Ahhhhhh - what luxury! And they will get a new shirt as well. A clean, new shirt. Can you imagine their joy and excitement???? I can imagine it ... I've seen them cry tears of joy over a pencil and notebook! They will be so proud and so happy to have NEW SHOES!!!!

Right now, there are 68 kids at Kind Hearts in Ethiopia. ALL of our kids are sponsored and are feeling the impact of the love, financial support and prayers of their sponsors. More children will begin attending Kind Hearts soon ... if you are interested in sponsoring a child ($34/month provides food, clothing, education, medical care and Christian discipleship), please contact me at kjwistrom@yahoo.com.

Kind Hearts Update!!

One of our sponsors was in Ethiopia recently and was able to visit Kind Hearts and spend time with the children. Here are a few photos she took last month at Kind Hearts in Ethiopia. As a sponsor, it's so rewarding to get photos and updates, and to actually see the child you are sponsoring as they benefit from healthy meals and a nurturing environment!!

This is Becky Burk with her sponsor child, Meskerem. I hope every Kind Hearts sponsor gets the amazing experience of meeting their sponsor child someday!!

There are 68 children attending Kind Hearts care-point and school and they are ALL matched with sponsors. Each sponsor family has committed to contributing $34/month to cover all of their basic needs. These kids are now able to rely on daily meals as well as education, clothing, medical care and Christian discipleship. Each child at Kind Hearts knows that there is a family in the United States that cares for them, prays for them and writes letters to them - and they treasure that relationship!
Both of our teachers at Kind Hearts are sponsored as well - so that we can ensure that they get a monthly salary and are able to devote their love and attention to each of the kids without worrying about an occassional missed paycheck because of short funds.
In the months ahead, more children will begin attending Kind Hearts (there are currently 68 children but they have capacity for 110). If you are interested in sponsoring a child, please email me at kjwistrom@yahoo.com and I will contact you as soon as more children arrive at Kind Hearts.

Oceans of Justice!!!

When I was in Ethiopia 2 months ago, Tom Davis (president of Children's Hopechest) shared something powerful with us as we ate a quick breakfast. It was the morning after we had driven 11 harrowing hours through mud and fog and narrow mountain passes to visit a care-point in Komblacha that serves over 400 children - 180 of them orphans.

These children were gaunt and thin. Tattered and stained clothing that covered skin stretched across bone. Eating grass when they thought we weren't looking. Some had lice, some had sores that weren't healing. All of them were hungry. All of them were longing for the reassuring, loving and protective arms of a mommy or daddy.

Every one of us went to bed that night with the question on our lips and hearts ... why? These innocent children, through no fault of their own, are left to fend for themselves. Hungry, scared, sick ... and alone, with no one in the world to love them, to soothe their fears, to stroke their forehead when they are sick and feverish, to kiss them goodnight. Why? It's so unfair.
And like a child, my mind shouted ... IT'S NOT FAIR!!!
That morning, Tom read from Amos, 5:21-24 (The Message).



"I can't stand your religious meetings.
I'm fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects, your pretensious slogans and goals.
I'm sick of your fund-raising schemes, your public relations and image making.
I've had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?


Do you know what I want?
I want justice - oceans of it.
I want fairness - rivers of it.
That's what I want. That's all I want."




I realized when he finished speaking that I was holding my breath - I think we all were. God's Word was speaking so clearly - about the oppressed, the poor, the hungry, the lonely, the sick ... and the orphaned children we were about to visit again that day.
Later in the week, as we visited another orphange with about 50 children and 3 babies (the babies had been left at the gate by desperate family members unable to care for them). I noticed a piece of paper taped to the wall, with a child's hand-writing. It said "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." John 14:18.




I have to admit, my first thought was .."how can these kids actually have the faith to believe that? With all they have been through, where is the evidence? They have seen mothers and fathers die. Many have been abused, enslaved, raped and left homeless and hungry. Many have died. How can they take comfort in that verse in the midst of what their reality is right now?"

As I glanced up at the sign again after emerging from the baby room - with my arms still feeling the weight and warmth of the tiny fragile baby I had been holding. It dawned on me ... If WE are to be the hands and feet of Jesus .... then He does not leave them as orphans. He comes to them through me ... and you.

Our 68 kids at Kind Hearts are absolutely seeing and feeling the difference in their lives. Sponsor families love them without having ever met them. How can that be? And they are praying for them by name.
I am looking forward to the day when our first group of sponsors visits Kind Hearts this year, and demonstrates what the love of a father or mother feels like - and in that, the kids can get a glimpse of the love of their heavenly Father.