Whew! Today was a FULL day! We ate breakfast, and then went to AGCI's office here in Mekele where the sponsorship distribution was to take place.
We talked to some of the kids, and were then split into groups to help the AGCI staff get videos and photos for sponsor updates.
Mekele street scenes, taken from the office building:
We met Chris's parents' sponsored child, and got our photo taken with her:
We met Ebud...such an inspiring young lady! She is one of AGCI's graduates this year. She had no education until a few years ago when someone decided to sponsor her. Now she is at the top of her class, and wants to be a doctor. She has incredible English, and told me that she never took English classes. She learned it just by listening!
Matias was the next familiar face we saw. Chris's cousin Richard sponsors him, and it was Matias's mother who asked me back in 2014 if we could give him money to go to school. Chris and I asked the AGCI staff if he could be in the sponsorship program, and Richard has supported him ever since.
We also saw the older brother of the adopted children of K, one of my adoptive mama friends. I was able to send K some photos of him.
We met with another graduate in Tadesse's office, visited with her for a bit, and then AGCI presented her with a gift...a leather journal.
We took some more photos and then drove to Metekle school, where we added a 2nd story 3 years ago. The original plan was to expand the school through the 8th grade, but in order to do so, they must have a basketball court and soccer field. Basically, more room for children to play. The plan was to buy more land behind the school, but the government would not allow it since a road runs through just behind the fence. Since the school officials didn't know what else to do, the project came to a standstill. The classrooms we built are being used as a library and for storage, and it was very disappointing to see. However, Chris came up with a plan to repurpose the current land by moving a few small buildings and the current playground equipment. He bought a tape measure, did some calculating, and came up with a rough plan of action. There should be plenty of room to add the required sports fields. Hopefully, the school officials will be in favor of it.
Darci and Angela's first bajaj ride!
After lunch, some of our group went back to the hotel, Chris went with Welde and Haile back to Metekle, and I went with Tadesse, Mathewos, Angelyn, and Angela Hansen to meet with the head of MOWA (Ministry of Women's Affairs) in the Tigray region. He was a super nice guy, and he expressed his thankfulness for the work AGCI is doing. He begged us to expand the sponsorship program because the population of street children in Mekele is exploding due to displaced children. Most of them end up working in the commercial sex trade just to survive. There is also a high drop out rate among students because of lack of funds to continue school. Most of the federal money to help children stays in Addis because the need is great there, too, so the funds hardly ever get to the outlying regions. AGCI is the largest child sponsorship organization in the area. They currently have 404 children in the Ethiopia program total, and are hoping to expand to 1000 by 2021.
It wasn't until we got back to the hotel that I recalled my nephew Yikealo's older brother, Edil, being in the sponsorship program at one time. I texted Larisa, who thought he probably still was. I asked Haile, and it turns out that Edil was at the sponsorship distribution this morning! I had seen him but had no idea it was Yikealo's brother! I SO wish we could have told him who we were and gotten our picture taken with him. Haile did send me the photo and video that he had taken of Edil this morning, and later, as I was going through my photos from the day, I found a couple more to share with Larisa.
Soccer field behind the hotel.
Then, Tom came to see us! It was great to see him again! He calls Chris his dad, and says we are all his family. We talked over a potential business opportunity with him, and promised to keep in touch.
We then walked through town to the market to do a little shopping. It was sunny when we started out, but soon turned into a torrential downpour. We waited in one shop for quite awhile, and Chris purchased soccer jerseys for the boys. Haile found one that he really liked, so Chris secretly bought it for him. Malia wanted to give it to him back at the hotel.
Mathewos and Helen soon caught a taxi back to the Axum since they had to fly back to Addis in the evening. Helen told her dad that he has to buy her a plane ticket to come to the U.S. so she can visit us in Ohio. She also wants to come with us to Lalibela next year, so Mathewos said she could as long as she keeps her grades up. He is so funny with her. He told us the other day that she is the last child at home. "What should we do?" he asked. "She manages us!" Apparently, all she has to do is complain or cry, and she gets her wish. Shana and Malia had so much fun with with Helen and with teasing her dad about how much he spoils her.
Live electrical wires at shoulder height that Darci almost ran into. Definitely not up to code.
Check out these keen Instagram shoes. We had so much fun finding all of the copy-cat off-brands.
We finally caught a taxi back to the hotel since it was still raining. We ate dinner again at the hotel restaurant. Poor Angelyn had quite an awkward moment. Keep in mind that while we're in Ethiopia, we can't eat any fresh fruits or vegetables. If they're not cooked, they will most likely make us sick. Anyway, Angelyn ordered an Indian main dish, and when it arrived, it was nothing more than a pile of some kind of cooked, leafy green vegetable. She ate what she could, but left most of it. The kind, attentive waiter noticed that she hadn't eaten much, and was so sorry that she didn't like it. He brought her a complimentary plate of fresh fruit so she could fill up her belly, and then stood there watching her. She knew she would probably get sick if she ate it, but she said, "I just can't break his heart like that." She dug in, saying, "I can't turn back now!" Praying she doesn't get sick...
After supper, Malia decided that she wanted to ding-dong-ditch Haile and leave the soccer jersey Chris had bought for him at his door. Shana, Darci, and Malia knocked several times, but he didn't answer. The girls then went to the front desk and requested that the bag be delivered to his door. There was a knock on my door, and I opened it to find the girls, who wanted to camp out in my room so they could watch the delivery take place from the doorway since Haile's room was right down the hall. They had told the hotel worker not to tell him who it was from, but I was convinced he would see them peeking around the corner giggling...
There was no wifi tonight, so we couldn't talk to the boys or send messages back home. Maybe tomorrow...
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