“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you HOPE and a future.” Jeremiah 9:11 (NIV)
By Frank Betzer, Development Director, AGCI
As we walked across the steaming, hot tarmac to our waiting plane, I was filled with anxiety. Only two hours before, I had been entrusted with a responsibility that weighed heavily on my heart—to carry Hope from Ethiopia’s western province of Gambela to the capital, Addis Ababa—the next step in a journey that would bring a child closer to a forever family.
Earlier in the day, I had joined Almaz, AGCI’s Ethiopia country director, and Yilma, the director of Brothers and Sisters Orphan Home, in once-again boarding the blue minivan that had transported us around Gambela for four days. It had become our caravan to adventure as we explored the wonders of this exotic, almost forgotten part of Ethiopia. Located in western Ethiopia, the Gambela Region is the smallest of the country’s nine ethnic divisions, encompassing an area about the size of Vermont. Unlike much of the country, Gambela is a land of lush tropical rainforest with banana plants, mangroves, and swamp grasses all fed by Ethiopia’s Baro and Akobo rivers.
We had flown into Gambela three days earlier to learn more about the orphan care needs in the region. We arrived at the start of the rainy season, when temperatures drop to the mid-90′s Fahrenheit with 90-percent humidity. Although we were sweltering, we were thankful for missing the dry season when temperatures top 110 to 115 degrees each day.
Our trip included important meetings with the Region’s governor, minister of women’s affairs, and other government officials, but my heart was captured by the children and staff at Brothers and Sisters. In a land visited by few Americans, the children were enthralled by my pale skin and straight hair. They reveled in playing kickball with me or seeing their photos appear on my camera screen. Mostly, they gave great hugs and cuddled close.
Since opening just over a year ago, Brothers and Sisters has become an important influence for the safety and security of Gambela’s children and families. As the Region’s first and only orphan home, Yilma, the co-directors, and other staff have profoundly impacted the more than 15 infants and children in their care each day, as well as the people of the greater community.
Most of the Nuer and Anuak peoples in the Region survive day-to-day by hunting, fishing, and gathering food in the surrounding area. Monogamy, let alone marriage, is uncommon; most families consist of women and their children, while the men live separately or move from house to house. Many people still live in traditional villages of round huts made from sticks.
Yilma and the other men and women who founded Brothers and Sisters Orphan Home are different from their counterparts in Gambela. Their care for the children and families extends well beyond the fence around their yard. We visited a field along the Baro River where they are helping start a women’s farming cooperative. They provided the women with rudimentary tools, metal hoes, and picks in place of the sharpened sticks that other farmers use, and rented the one available tractor in the region to till the soil before planting. The results were staggering. As we watched the women work the rich, black soil, we could see that their corn had grown to almost a foot in height in just ten days. The neighboring field, planted at the same time, was just reaching four inches in height. Together, these women will generate four different crops from their field this year and have enough food to feed their families, as well as earn money to provide other necessities.
Similarly, Brothers & Sisters is providing farmers in another community with bee hives to produce honey as a cash crop. They are also planting an experimental crop of okra and plan to introduce this highly nutritious food source into the Region’s diet.
All these thoughts flickered through the back of my mind as I settled into my seat on the plane. More importantly, I was focused on the young boy, Hope, who had been lovingly handed to me earlier in the day. Having raised two children who are now grown adults, it had been a long time since I’d cared for a toddler in diapers. Almaz had her hands full with an infant girl and all the responsibility of navigating us through the airport security checkpoints. I was feeling anxious and did not want to make him nervous.
Nervous—who was I kidding? I could only imagine the thoughts running through his young mind; traveling with a stranger who looked so different and spoke words he couldn’t understand, wearing new clothes and shoes, all the overwhelming sensations of plane flight, and worst of all, having to sit in his own seat with just a stranger’s arm to hold during the takeoff and landing.
As I tried to comfort him, I began to pray. I gave thanks for Hope, whose birth mother had given him that name with the desire that he would have a better life than she had known. I gave thanks for his birth mother, that she would know the fulfillment of her plans for her son. I gave thanks for the staff at Brothers and Sisters in Gambela and the special mothers at Hannah’s Hope, whose care for all the children is so important. I prayed for his forever family, the loving couple I would probably never meet but who had begun preparing for this young life months earlier.
He did really well on the flight; better than me.
As we exited the airport, one of the special mothers from Hannah’s Hope was there to embrace him with hugs and words of comfort. Before I knew it, we were at Hannah’s Hope and he was out of my sight, getting settled with food and a much-needed nap. I looked down and found that I was holding Hope’s baby shoes—and my heart—in my hands.
Sadly, I left Addis Ababa the next day and was not able to see him again. For weeks afterward, I continued to pray for Hope and his forever family.
Recently, I received an e-mail from an adopting father whose friends want to help the children of Gambela — where his soon-to-be-adopted son is from! With the exchange of just a few details, I learned all I needed to know. My prayers had been answered and I was meeting Hope’s father, via email. I look forward to a day in the near future when I will be able to see Hope, again.
If you are interested in partnering with us to serve children and families in Ethiopia and around the world, learn more about our Orphan Care and Missions programs by contacting us at missions@allgodschildren.org, or begin your support by making a DONATION.
