Monday – February 7th

Compassion International
Five of the team members met for an hour on Monday morning with Tenanye, a dynamic woman who is the current President of the Compassion International country office in Ethiopia. Tenanye reviewed for us the holistic focus of Compassion’s intent to release children from poverty. Compassion is a Christian child sponsorship organization whose main focus is linking sponsors one to one with children in need, whereby sponsors can correspond with the children via letters while providing them with increased opportunity to succeed and develop through Compassions programs. Compassion works through established evangelical churches in the field and through these partner churches, Compassion provides assistance to the children in four main areas: Spiritual, Economic, Social, and Physical. Doug passed off some gifts he had bought for his daughter’s sponsored child in Ethiopia and Alissa gave some gifts for a couple of her sponsored children as well.

Meeting with the Mayor
Mid-day Monday, twelve of the team (including Dr. Minas of Hope Enterprises) went to the city offices for a short meeting with the major of Addis Ababa. We sat in the major’s modest office around a beautiful arrangement of roses. Doug and JD gave introductions of the team and told the mayor a little bit about our initiative and our desire to develop a knowledgeable heart for Ethiopia. We then listened to the mayor as he described his own vision for reforming the city and many of the city’s policies that have in the past been very time-intensive and corrupt. The mayor talked of a governing structure that is significantly more flat and spread out through the municipalities and regions. He has significant interest in providing funds for micro-enterprise and for increasing the involvement of women in government. The mayor spoke to us for about 25 minutes and then had to quickly close before his next appointment. Our last request was made just before leaving - an appeal (on Dr. Minas’ behalf) for the mayor’s help in releasing a plot of land as a site for the future Hope College. The mayor said, “We’ll see what we can do.” And Dr. Minas was able to hand him the proposal just before we were wisked out of the room.

Final Dinner
The entire team along with our faithful drivers and Hope Enterprise hosts gathered at a local Chinese food restaurant (of all places) for our final dinner together. Seated around a very large rectangular table, we feasted on all sorts of excellent food and reminisced about our experiences throughout the last 10 days. There was a time for sharing of gifts and for expressing our appreciation and affirmation to our Ethiopian hosts. Zenebe was excited to receive his Stanford sweatshirt. The sharing time was touching and emotional. Several tears were shed as we tried to convey our thanks and love to our wonderful Ethiopian brothers. It has been such a joy to work with Dr. Minas, Zenebe, Worku, Temesgen, and Luel. After dinner, we all stood, held hands around the table, and prayed. It was a perfect way to end this stay in Ethiopia. We left from the restaurant and headed to the airport for our long journey back to the U.S.

I think I can say that we all look forward to our next interactions with the wonderful, beautiful, and loving people of Ethiopia. It has been a whirlwind journey these last few days. We have seen so much poverty, suffering, hope, joy… and the impact that God’s love has on society!