Farewell Ethiopia

July 15, 2014
by Rodney Olsen
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It’s been just over a week and our time in Ethiopia is almost over. Tomorrow we fly to Kigali, Rwanda.

During our time here I’ve seen the most devastating poverty I’ve ever witnessed. I’ve sat in homes feeling broken inside as I’ve heard heart breaking stories of extreme poverty and how it effects people. It robs them of their worth, of their hope and their dignity. What do you say to a man who breaks down and sobs as he tries to tell you how he has been bed ridden for two years because he can’t afford medical help? He told us he, his wife and children face eviction because he can’t afford $25 a month for rent.

How do you begin to comprehend life in a town where water is incredibly scarce? A place where even the local hospital, as basic as it is, can’t wash the blankets on the beds between patients because they have no water. The basins are dry and dusty. The taps haven’t had water running through them for a very long time.

It’s been tough to see how others are forced to live but right there in those circumstances hope breaks through. Compassion is there.

While there is still so much to be done, Compassion is working with local churches to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. That has a flow on effect to the families of those children and ultimately to the community around them.

Hope is sitting in a small room that serves as a house for a mother and her child and hearing her say that if it wasn’t for Compassion they’d both be dead by now. It’s seeing the joy in children’s faces as they experience the love of those at the local Compassion centre. Hope is hearing about mothers who have been able to start small businesses with the help of Compassion so that they can earn desperately needed money for their families.

Compassion is working through local churches to shine a bright light into some very dark corners, bringing hope and a future for many people.

I leave Ethiopia with mixed emotions but I look forward to seeing the same hope growing in Rwanda.



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Hope Breaks Through

July 10, 2014
by Rodney Olsen
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(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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Welcome … We Love You

July 9, 2014
by Rodney Olsen
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It was quite a drive out of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia today to get to a church which partners with Compassion. While the sights on the way were amazing, nothing could prepare our group of five Australians for our arrival and the welcome we received.

A throng of children moved towards us. A small girl made her way over to me, handed me some beautiful roses and said, “Welcome, we love you.” I only just managed to hold it together.

From that point on we couldn’t go anywhere without several children holding onto our hands as they chatted excitedly amongst themselves and with us. They were all children who are benefitting from the holistic child development offered through Compassion. We had the honour of being shown through the centre where they are receiving help to improve their physical, spiritual, cognitive and socio-economic outcomes.

The joy exhibited by the children was only part of the story. As we found out more and more about this particular centre, we were told that many of those who had graduated previously had moved from desperate poverty to living fulfilling lives. Three graduates have become doctors, four have become lawyers, others have started their own businesses and the list just went on.

The love the staff at the centre have for each child was obvious. The fact that they could point at photos of many previous graduates and tell us what they were now doing and about how many children they now had showed that this was no passing interest. They are fully invested in the very best outcomes for each and every one of the children they serve.

I wonder what potential is hiding in each of the children we met today. I wonder how different their lives would have been if they didn’t have someone somewhere else in the world who loved them enough to sponsor them.

I wonder what potential will remain undiscovered simply because there are not enough sponsors for every child who deserves a chance to be released from poverty. Will you consider sponsoring a child through Compassion today?



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Days like today …

July 9, 2014
by Rodney Olsen
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Days like today remind me why I work for Compassion.

After some long flights I made it to Ethiopia last night. I’m here with some Compassion supporters to see what kind of difference is being made in young lives through churches that partner with Compassion.

Today was our first full day in this amazing country. We visited Ethiopia’s Compassion office and got an overview of the work here. Over 90 000 Ethiopian children are being released from poverty in Jesus’ name through Compassion in this country alone.

Next, we visited one of the churches that partners with Compassion to see first hand how lives are being changed and even saved.

After the church visit we went to the home of one young mother to the home she shares with her infant son. Her home was about the same size as my garden shed … and I have a small shed.

With a concrete floor and old corrugated tin sheeting for walls, this home is a very basic place for them to live and lay their heads. They don’t have much room but the area is still uncrowded. They don’t own enough to fill the space.

All the while as his mother told us her story, her son played with my camera, hugged some of his other visitors and generally lit up the room with his antics and an apparent love for life.

With tears rolling down her face, this mother told us that if it wasn’t for Compassion neither her or her son would still be alive today.

With tears rolling down her face, this mother told us that if it wasn’t for Compassion neither her or her son would still be alive today. Her tears weren’t the only ones being shed in that tiny room. None of us could help but be caught up in the story of this woman and her boy.

Days like today remind me once again why I work for Compassion.



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