Shopping and Hanging Out With Kids - Day Nine

From Kyle:

Today was another amazing day.

We began by going to the bizarre. It was so cool. It’s a gathering for all manner of evangelical NGO’s to sell all kinds of Ethiopian crafts. I bought a number of souvenirs, including 10 of the embroideries.

Then, we came back to talk with the visitor from Kenya. Pastor Ochoo heads an orphanage in Kenya that serves some 1,000 orphans. He was with us throughout the day, too. We had dinner with him tonight. Then, this afternoon, we visited a start up orphanage for street children and orphans. While they currently only minister to 7 children; those were the most adorable kids. These were filthy, dirty kids with the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen. They loved the shoes and craved touch. Even though it is the smallest place we have visited, I think it was my favorite. It’s being run by a young Ethiopian man who is still in seminary and a young Ethiopian woman who is a teacher. Many of the kids still run the streets during the week, but they hang out at the orphanage all day on Saturdays.

Then, we went to Marta’s house in Addis with John and his entire team, Jerry and Deniese and Pastor Ochoo. She was very gracious and her house was elegant. It’s amazing that a woman of such privilege cares so deeply about and spends so much of her life working with the poor. I’m looking forward to driving out to Project Mercy tomorrow.

I’m tired tonight and we leave out early tomorrow. So, I’m going to wrap it up and get ready for bed.
I love you and miss you all
Good night,
Kyle