It has been just over 3 weeks since our team from All God’s Children International (AGCI) and Rain City Church visited the government-run orphanages in Addis Ababa (see my previous post “A Hard Day in Addis Ababa“). I am now back in the safety and relative luxury of the bubble which I’ve carefully created for me and my family here in Seattle over the past couple of decades. However, what I experienced in Ethiopia then, and in the days that immediately followed, will stick with me forever.

When we returned back to our guest house after visiting the orphanages, I felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness and despair for those children. How could they ever have the opportunity to break out of a generations-old cycle of poverty, let alone survive, without the benefit of family and a support structure capable of preventing them from falling through the cracks?

The next day, we flew to Mekelle, the capital of Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The landscape was beautiful in an Arizona desert sort of way. The beauty of the surroundings, however, was obscured by the reality that the rocky soil was not exactly conducive to a healthy, sustainable existence. The evidence of that reality lay in the rundown buildings and tattered clothing which seemed to be the unwitting uniform of the people–especially outside of the city. This is the stuff I expected to see long before we arrived in Tigray.

What I did not expect, however, was to see the smiling, joy-filled faces of so many otherwise orphan children and their grateful guardians (often single parents fighting serious health battles of their own or other relatives). These children in Mekelle and Samre were not hopeless like the kids we met in the orphanages in Addis Ababa. Instead, they shared with us story after story about how the Educational Sponsorships they received through AGCI allowed them to go to school and help support their families.

At this point, I could drone on about my feelings; eventually segueing into an appeal for you to consider helping these kids. Well, if a picture is worth a thousand words, and videos can deliver 60 pictures per second, then I have a feeling that the following vids will be much more effective. Many of the people I met (including the tireless, dedicated local AGCI staff) and the things I experienced are captured by Tati in these videos when she took a similar trip about a year ago. I urge you to please take the time to watch this series (about 22 minutes total) as they do a much better job than I could ever do in this blog.

Sincere thanks ~ Paul

 

The Path to Hope – Series Intro from All God’s Children International on Vimeo.

The Path to Hope – Episode 1 from All God’s Children International on Vimeo.

The Path to Hope – Episode 2 from All God’s Children International on Vimeo.

The Path to Hope – Episode 3 from All God’s Children International on Vimeo.

The Path to Hope – Episode 4 from All God’s Children International on Vimeo.

 

** Featured Image by @angelyn_lauderback (Instagram) **