Photo Essay: World Vision Visit in Kemisse, Ethiopia

We went to Ethiopia primarily to visit my daughter's two World Vision boys. They were about 17 years old, and she was afraid they would be ready to go out on their own, and then she would never find them. Instead, when we found them, they still looked like young boys with no intention of being on their own any time soon. My daughter had called me from college once to say she was dropping out of school to go see them. She had graduated (a maternal sigh of relief) and waited reluctantly, but now we were actually in their simple homes. It was a long, harrowing 5 hour drive from Addis to this rural location in Kemisse. I would not trade that drive for anything in the world. Sometimes flying in Ethiopia is the only way to cover the major distances between sites in the number of days you have, but make sure you have a long drive into the countryside at some point. It was a narrow, winding road, and I covered my eyes more than once as we seemed dangerously close to hitting a herd of cattle or goats or a donkey carrying dung or frewood. Very young children had the family responsibility of herding cows along the mountain roads to graze for free or to take dung in for the few coins it would bring to the family coffers.

Visiting a country where the average annual income is only $110 will put your travel budget in perspective. Only 22% of the population have access to decent and safe water, a prominent cause of disease and death and lack of productivity. In Ethiopia, 110 out of every thousand children die at birth, where in the US, we lose 7 babies. You can hope to see your child or yourself live to the ripe old age of 48--the average life expectancy. 97% of the population eke out an existence with subsistence farming, earning barely enough to feed their own families. 31% of children attend school, and the literacy rate is 42% there, as opposed to 97% in the US.

These are not statistics, these are living , breathing children and adults who have the same hopes and dreams as you do for their families. Well, not the big house and the boat; they just dream for their children to be safe and haelthy and to survive. They do not love their children any less than we do.

We visited her two boys in their two separate homes in Kemissee, and we were invited to saty at the World Vision Kemisse project quarters overnight and toured their facilities. For me, nothing could compare to the actual visit in the actual homes, but it was interesting to see the length and breadth of the services WV provides. We saw the pharmacy and the AIDS counseling center, the clinic with the patients waiting grateful to have a doctor to visit in their rural location. We saw the irrigation canal and the wells they were digging to help improve farming conditions. They also provide farmers with seed and fertilizer and information on how to improve crop yields. they supply school uniforms and supplies so kids can attend school and educate them and their families in the value of nutrition, AIDS prevention and hygeine.

They offer help to children and families, regardless of whether they are Christian. I was somewhat worried that World Vison would connect services to conversion, but we had to sign a paper in their offices promising not to try to influence their religion in any way. A child is a child, and I was glad to WV honored that. I was incredibly impressed with the quality and the energy and devotion of the WV administrators and staff. We saw in the main office, a long wall of cubby holes with gifts from sponsors, waiting to be delivered to the designated child. When we visited my daughter's child, he still had a few things she had sent along the years.

It is rare that a sponsor actually visits, so we were almost embarrassed by the attention and interest they showed in us.

more pics and story coming