Overwhelmed with Opportunity

The trip was great! I can't go too deep emotionally just yet or I'll just be a weepy mess, so I'm going to start with something a little more lighthearted.

On Sunday night, we picked the nine kids up from the trash dump/landfill. We went to eat pizza and drink coke with them (coke is a staple for me in a foreign country) and then headed back to the guest house. To hear the giddy laughter of three girls in the shower together is indescribable. When Sumer turned on the water, they just reached their hands in and touched the water. They've most likely never had a shower before. Korah doesn't have running water or toilets (more funny stuff about that later). They were just giggling like crazy in the shower. It truly made the long hours of travel worth it. A sweet kiss from God...hearing three teenage girls giggle with joy over a shower. (By the way, they took three showers during their two nights at the guest house.)

We drove four hours (it seemed like 20), to a boarding school. We are hoping to send 100 children from the dump to boarding school in September. They will have toilets and running water and three meals a day and an education and be overwhelmed with opportunity. There future is dependent on it. Right now, they don't go to school and really have no hope. Some of them are double orphans (both parents deceased). Some of them have lost a mother or a father and the other parent is a beggar or visits the trash dump every day and makes a living on selling trash. They are in desperate situations. It is not a healthy home life. Boarding school is a great opportunity for them. The kids all loved the school and the school is on 180 beautiful acres of Ethiopia.

It only costs $700 a year to send these kids to boarding school. If you're willing to sponsor a child, please email Erin at erin_k_allen@hotmail.com

Our family is sponsoring this sweet 12 year old boy Yasen. Let me give a big shout out to Yasen. He was the only teenager that didn't fall asleep during our long English speaking meeting. He made me a proud mama sponsor. He is going to do well and I believe his future is bright.

Yasen is in the brown in this picture. This picture was taken on Saturday.





My parents are sponsoring Habtamu (not sure if I spelled it right). He was a last minute addition to our already full bus, but I'm so glad he came. We shared a very small seat together on the way home.


What can your family sacrifice this year and in the following years so that these kids can have opportunity? Pictures and words cannot describe the desperation and despair that we saw. We cannot turn away and do nothing. To whom much is given much is required. Let me tell you again, America has been given MUCH. Much will be required of us. Let's make our "much" count for something that has eternal value!