My heart is for the gospel, but the humanitarian need in Ethiopia is also high. I wanted to buy bread and give it to the people in Harar, but I was told at the beginning by the full-time missionary there that giving to the poor causes problems for those who are left after we would be gone, so I refrained. But wow, even though I never gave them anything, the children flocked to us. Well, one time it was especially to me because I was carrying my purse. Just a whole gang of them came all around me, even pulling on my purse. The Somali girl that we lived with was walking with my teammate a short distance behind and she said something to them in Ahmaric which caused them to leave. We wanted to learn how to say whatever was said to them that would get them to leave us, but we were told it was too hard to learn.
The four of us American young ladies would have small rocks thrown toward us as we walked from where we taught ESL in the second month. We would try to leave with our students and walk behind them for protection.
I remember the child in Addis Ababa who was begging us for food. He looked like he had been badly burned and disabled. It moved my heart in two ways. One out of compassion, especially since I had spent the summer before with those who had special needs and disabilities. The second way was anger because I had learned to sometimes a parent will wound their child and then send him or her out to beg, knowing their disfigurement will illicit more compassion and a better chance of getting money or food.
They were just children... children with needs. Children hungry and looking to us foreigners for material goods
Oh! once I spoke to a small group of children just outside our home there about Jesus. The crowd grew as people walked by and I was so excited! It wasn't until much later that I realized they weren't able to understand a word of English I had been speaking to them! A teenager had tried, but had said he had trouble with my accent. I would have loved to learn their language so I could share Christ with them in a language they understood.
The four of us American young ladies would have small rocks thrown toward us as we walked from where we taught ESL in the second month. We would try to leave with our students and walk behind them for protection.
I remember the child in Addis Ababa who was begging us for food. He looked like he had been badly burned and disabled. It moved my heart in two ways. One out of compassion, especially since I had spent the summer before with those who had special needs and disabilities. The second way was anger because I had learned to sometimes a parent will wound their child and then send him or her out to beg, knowing their disfigurement will illicit more compassion and a better chance of getting money or food.
They were just children... children with needs. Children hungry and looking to us foreigners for material goods
Oh! once I spoke to a small group of children just outside our home there about Jesus. The crowd grew as people walked by and I was so excited! It wasn't until much later that I realized they weren't able to understand a word of English I had been speaking to them! A teenager had tried, but had said he had trouble with my accent. I would have loved to learn their language so I could share Christ with them in a language they understood.
No comments:
Post a Comment