(Pictured: Some of the many children being released from poverty through Compassion.)
He worked as a soldier for the former government, clearing land mines. That was until a mine robbed him of his eyesight and one of his legs. These days his small pension and meagre earnings from what little work he is able to do just can’t stretch far enough to support his wife and five children.
We were welcomed into his tiny dwelling. His entire home is about the size of a small bedroom. It’s dark and there’s some rough covering on parts of the concrete floor. The high corrugated iron roof has made it possible to accommodate a very roughly made mezzanine across half of the room where he sleeps alongside his two sons. Mum and two daughters sleep below. Their eldest daughter has moved to live with close relatives because there’s just not enough room for her at home. The large poster of Avril Lavigne on the wall seems completely out of place in this small Ethiopian home.
As a couple of local Compassion representatives and us five Australians huddled together in the cramped conditions, we heard the story of this fammily and their struggles.
With rain bucketing down outisde and thunder that made it sound like the entire neighbourhod was about to fall down, we also heard about how one of their daughters is now being sponsored through Compassion. Now there is hope in their home. She dreams of becoming a civil engineer …. and she’s only seven.
In just a few days in Addis Ababa we have seen a lot of desperate poverty but we’ve also seen incredible hope. We’ve seen hope amidst some of the toughest circumstances imaginable and we’ve met young people who have overcome poverty through their Compassion sponsorship. Lives are being changed and children are being released from poverty in Jesus’ name.
Before we left that small home today we prayed for the precious family we had just met. We prayed that Jesus would be their comfort in their difficulties and that he would also be the one to change their current circumstances. It was an honour to spend time with their family and to enter into their world, even for just a few moments.
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