MAMA'S ORPHANAGE

Last week Melinda Kinghorn told us about an orphanage that is about 30 k's away.  We collected money from some of the missionaries in the office to buy food.  Melinda had been there before and knew some of the things they would need.  We went to a grocery store at Norwood Mall and filled two carts.  We bought rice, maize, potatoes, oil, powdered milk, beans, diapers, etc. and seven rubber balls. We also took some quilts and newborn kits from the Area Office Warehouse.   On Saturday morning ten senior missionaries climbed in cars and drove to the little town of Tembisa.

The name of the orphanage is ‘Tembisa Tots – Bulamahlo Orphanage’ and is owned by a wonderful lady they call Mama Regina. She has been doing this for 20 years. Mama Regina is 70 years old.

 We pulled up to the orphanage and a little boy opened the gate for us.  We drove inside and were immediately swarmed by the children.

Unloading the car

They hugged our legs and held our hands.  We had them help us carry the food and blankets into a small building.

  They loved the balls and we could see immediately that we should have bought more. There were a few spats and tears over them because the kids didn’t want to share. 

The oldest children were girls and they were about 12 years old.  There were about 30 kids all together.  They turned some music up really loud and performed some dances for us.  A tiny little girl was the star of the show.  She is about 2 and tried real hard to keep up with the older girls.  She was darling.

The little girl in front was the star

Everyone doing their dance

 


  The kids that had the balls played catch with us. One little boy took my hand and escorted me into an empty room.  Three other boys followed and we had fun throwing the balls around.  One time the ball hit me in the side of the head and they thought that was pretty funny.  They started aiming for my head and so I had to really pay attention. 

One of the ladies with her baby that helps at the orphanage

He just wanted a lap to sit on

Walt kicked a ball back and forth with 3 or 4 boys in the yard for about an hour.  He then played volleyball (over a clothes line wire) with some of the older girls.  You could really tell that they just loved having someone to pay attention to them.

Whenever we looked at this little boy, he cried and ran to his mother.  We finally found  him a ball and he was much happier.

We took lots of pictures of the kids.  For a while we sat on a little cement ledge and the older girls started combing our hair. 



Putting braids in Sister Turndown's hair

"Your hair is so soft"

They ran a brush through my hair for half an hour and kept telling me how soft it was. 

  We took four of the quilts and put them on the older girls' beds.  When one of them came in and saw her bed, she jumped up and down and gave us a big hug.  They were all so very appreciative.

These girls were so happy to get a new quilt on their bed.

Two of the girls asked a couple of the sisters if they would be their mothers. 

Mama Regina was not there when we first arrived but came after a while and it was fun to meet her.  She gave us all big, big hugs.  She wrapped one of the blankets around herself and began to sing.  That was fun.

Mama Regina

 

We asked her where she lived and she said she lived right there at the orphanage.  It was a fun morning and we’re so glad we went.  We stayed for about 2 hours and no one was really ready to leave.

Mama Regina's orphanage

 

ETHIOPIA PART III

 

Another one of the projects that Clyde and Delores Moses worked on was helping the 'Mekedonia Home for the Elderly and Mentally Disabled.'  The Church was able to supply the home with 150 blankets, 300 mattresses and 400 sets of sheets (they go through a lot of sheets with so many old, infirm, residents).

 

Delivering sheets and blankets to one of the dormitories in the compound

  They also provided them with two looms and some sewing machines. One gentleman was sitting at the sewing machine repairing some pants.  We watched as some men were making a beautiful rug.  Another gentleman was weaving a delicate "Gabby" which is the typical scarf and/or head covering worn by many of the women. By making and selling these  items, they help with some of the expenses of the home. 


 

Weaving a Gabby

 

 

Chewy (one of the 2 office employees) and our hostess modeling Gabbies

 

Doing some repairs on the foot treadle sewing machine

Making one of the many beautiful rugs

The home is taking care of men and women who have no other means of support.  Most of them had been living on the street.  Three years ago they had 40 patients and now they are taking care of 750 men and women. The goal of the home is to provide basic services such as shelter, clothes, food, hygiene facilities, health, education and medical attention so that hopefully some of them will be able to live on their own. Some of them are bedridden and will never leave but some are able to change their lives and get a job.  They also help the mentally handicapped.

The sitting room

He was happy to see us

They have a display with pictures of some of their success stories and the change in some of those men and women was amazing.  There are 150 volunteers that come to help, including doctors and nurses.  Those people are saints!

Some of their  success stories

A place for them to worship

We were a bit surprised at the poor condition of the buildings and facilities.   Some of the floors were just dirt or covered with tarps. 

As we walked around, we went in some small, dimly lit rooms filled with beds. In the men's section we visited two dormitory type rooms filled with about 100 bunk beds each.There was a small room for the doctor and it certainly wasn't some place you would ever want to visit. 

The laundry



Washing one of the many sheets

The clothesline.  Notice the donated firewood (used scaffolding)

 

The country of Ethiopia has recently given them 30,000 square meters of ground (about 7 1/2 acres) to build a new facility that will house 3,000 people.  The home is supported mostly by local donations.  

There was another small room where women were making ‘enjera’. One of the ladies was stirring some of the dough in a large barrel.  It is a large, gray, pancake like tortilla that is cooked only on one side. The uncooked side looks like a sponge.  It is made from a grain that is mixed with water and then left to ferment.  It is used like a spoon to scoop up different types of food. It is one of their basic foods.   We tried some at a restaurant and did not like it.  It was cold, wet and slimy and had no flavor.

 

The Kitchen (preparing the grain)

 


A pan of flour.  Note the lady in back stirring the dough in the big plastic drum

 

The Fare (What! enjera again??)

 

 

 

ETHIOPIA PART II HUMANITARIAN PROJECTS

Elder and Sister Clyde and Dolores Moses are from Parma, Idaho, a small community near Boise.  They just finished up their mission and returned home Friday night.  

We first met them in January at the Area training meetings we attended the first week we were here.  They are a quiet and unassuming couple but they surely are great humanitarian missionaries.  Unlike so many of the couples, they don't complain and whine about how hard things are to do.  They just go ahead and do good work.



Elder & Sister Moses with a thank you plaque from the Mekedonia Clinic
Their badges have only their names because they can't use the Church's name in Ethiopia

In the humanitarian program of the Church, there are Major Initiatives, now called "Signature Programs," and Area Initiatives.  The Signature Programs are things such as clean water, wheelchair programs, immunizations and neo-natal training.  The Church has specialized in these particular projects because it does such a good job with them and can really make a difference.

These types of projects can run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars and usually specialists from the US come and help get the project underway.  Elder and Sister Moses have been involved in several clean water projects where wells (boreholes) are drilled, and pumps, water lines, storage tanks etc. are put in place so people in villages can have access to clean and safe drinking water. 

These water projects are located quite a distance from Addis Ababa, so Susan and I didn't have the chance to go out and visit them.  We did, however, get the chance to see a couple of their Area Initiatives. 

Area Initiatives are smaller projects, generally under $25,000, and located with 100 kilometers of a couples home base.  The country couples are encouraged to search out needs in their areas, then propose projects along with costs, etc. to get approval from the Area Office. 

The Church had found that in order for a project to be really successful, it has to be sustainable.  That is, it needs to be able to keep on going even after a missionary couple has left and gone home.  So many of the projects done in Africa have been "one and done" where after just a little while, the people are back just where they were before the project was done.

Because of this, the church is very opposed now to "giveaways" where we just go in and give things away to people or groups.  The exception to this is Disaster Relief, where food, clothing etc. is given away after natural disasters such as floods and fires.

One of the most important parts in choosing a project is finding a "Champion."  A champion is a person or organization who is passionate about their particular cause.  The champion will still be there working long after the missionary couple has left and gone home.  A champion can be an individual, another charity, a church, or even a government bureau.  The goal, then, is to find such persons and partner with them to accomplish the desired outcome.




Such a person is the pastor they partnered with, who runs the James Non Morira Podoconiosis Care Center. (We didn't get the name of this valiant soul and have been waiting for  E/S Moses to get back to us with it. In the mean time we thought we'd go ahead and post this entry anyway)

Wikipedia

Podoconiosis: (also known as nonfilarial elephantiasis) “a disease of the lymph vessels of the lower extremities, caused by exposure to irritant soils.” “…is the result of inflammatory reaction to mineral particles in irritant red clay soils from volcanic deposits.”. See Youtube videos  HERE  and   HERE:




This gentleman has been in treatment for several months.  The swelling is mostly gone but he would require surgery to regain toes, etc.

After driving down a long alleyway, we came upon a small, open area where patients had just been receiving treatment.  Because of horrendous traffic, we were almost an hour late and most of the patients had already left.  The treatment for this disease is simple.  It involves daily washing with soap and water and bleach, applying an emollient and elevating the feet at night.  AND WEARING SHOES.  Treatment usually takes about three months.  Some of the extreme cases require surgery. 

Notice the giant shoe under the bench.  That's how big his foot used to be.

Quite often, when someone gets this disease, they are said to be cursed.  It is usually very painful and some are forced to crawl on their hands and knees. This disease is sometimes called the 'hidden disease' since families hide the afflicted from sight, not wanting to suffer the social embarrassment of being associated with the disease. They are abandoned by their family and become homeless.  Because they are banned from school, church and the community, they can't get an education and support themselves. They have little chance for marriage and a family. Married women are often cast off by their husbands.  They will never be completely cured of the  disease, but once they have received proper treatment, they can return home, with a pair of shoes.

After being in treatment, this person's feet are almost normal again

 

The project was to provide supplies used in the treatment of Podoconiosis.They also provided specially made shoes for people that have the disease.  These shoes are 3 or 4 times the width of normal shoes to accommodate the enlarged feet.  The disease starts in the feet, which become swollen and deformed and in order to get better, they need to wear shoes and keep their feet clean.    

    In the office, Walt and I take care of the finances for these projects but we don’t get to see the results of all the hard work the senior couples have done.  We are grateful we were able to visit with the Moses’ before they left.

Ethiopia part III will tell about the Mekedonia Center in Addis Aababa

ETHIOPIA: Part 1

Saturday March 28, 2015      

            Well, Walt and I got back from our first trip out of the country and it was an eye-opening experience. The flight is 5 1/2 hours and a longer distance than flying from Los Angeles to New York. We arrived at night in the capital, Addis Ababa, and so we weren’t able to see the city. 

 

 

Elder and Sister Moses picked us up from the airport and said they were anxious to drive us around the next morning to show us the city.  Most of the main roads are paved but any of the side streets are dirt and rocks – not gravel – rocks. They have a 4 wheel drive truck and we could see why. The sides of the streets, from the pavement to the door of the shops, are dirt and rocks and there’s trash everywhere.




Need to get your cattle across a main thoroughfare?  No Problem!



Housing development in the suburbs

The drivers there are definitely crazy.  If they're going one direction down a divided road they may just decide to turn around and come right back at you.  Several times at roundabouts, we saw drivers driving the opposite direction of travel (because their exit was shorter that way) and they were coming right at us.

 

These children were carrying water cans back to their home


Of the main streets that were paved, very few had any lane markings.  We would be traveling down a 2 land road and all of a sudden one of the cars would decide to make it a 3 land road and just squeeze between cars and force everyone to move over.

 

The government gives men jobs chipping rocks into cobblestones for a few pennies each




We went on a four-wheel ride down in to this valley which was the scariest ride I have ever been on.

 

 

We saw lots of donkeys hauling things, horses pulling carts, plus goats and cows being herded everywhere.  It was like going back in to the past.  There were lots of people everywhere, most of them walking and lots of them on the ground begging.  There were make-shift shelters everywhere, with shredded tarps for the roofs. 

These boys were on the back of a donkey

 

With such poverty, we couldn't figure out why everywhere we looked, we saw big buildings that were in different stages of construction. The interesting thing is that the scaffolding on the sides of these 5 and 10 story buildings was just four inch poles cut from the eucalyptus trees.  The poles were nailed or wired together and there were men climbing all over on them, which looked really terrifying.  Some of the buildings were 13 stories high.  I only noticed one building that was using steel scaffolding. Clyde said the money is coming from China which is making a big investment in Ethiopia.

Lots of the buildings look like they will be apartment buildings which they sure can use.

Go Figure

Empty apartments

One of dozens of small lumber yards around town.  These are the poles they use for all the building scaffolding.

The Moses’ have a two story home with two bedrooms and so it was easy to stay with them.  They have a big wall around their yard, and even so, they made their landlord put razor wire on top of that so they would feel safer

 

 

  We went to their office Wednesday morning and learned about their finances. They have two employees that help them, which is a unique situation.  One of them is in the office with them and he goes by ‘Chewy’.  He was very nice and fun to visit with.  He makes their appointments for them and does most of their errands. 

 

 

 In our next post we'll talk a bit about two of the projects Clyde and Dolores Moses have done in

Addis Ababa.