Everywhere: Articles: Faces Shining in a Subsistence Setting

I visited a small home in Ethiopia and was touched by the beauty and the courage of the faces that greeted me.

Gleaming Smiles in Ethiopia by Anne Beach

Children crowded into the home of the World Vision boy. You would never know they are surrounded by such poverty.

My daughter and I visited two World Vision boys she sponsored in Ethiopia. It was such a privilege for us to actually be able to sit with them on the floor of their simple home. There was one small table in the room, and the room was about as large as my kitchen. This room was living room, kitchen and sleeping room. I think there was a very small second room, and that was their home. The walls were mud or dung or something painted white. The floor had some cloths and an assortment of pillows to sit on around the perimeter but was mostly bare. I wanted to take so many more pictures, but I was so worried about somehow seeming condescending as I marveled at their simple and basic lifestyle. To get to the home, we had waded through a narrow path of mud that wound rather circuitously through a crowd of simple homes that seemed to be placed randomly adjacent to a deep thicket of brush and trees. There were so many people crowded into the hut to see what was going on, we had no idea who was a relative and who was an enthusiastic neighbor. I don't know how many of his family we met actually lived there, but I am guessng about ten.

When we walked back out into the waning day, we were surrounded by the neighbors who craned their necks to see what we looked like. I took pictures as best I could, always trying to ask permission as well as I could, but I wish I could have taken so many more. It felt awkward to be so fascinated with their difficult way of life. I wish they knew how moved and impressed I was by the courage it takes to live each day literally one hour at a time.