Visit with Almaze

Yesterday we traveled to the town of Asela to visit the child we sponsor through Compassion International. If you have your Ethiopian map handy, follow the road south from Addis Ababa to Nazaret and go southwest until you see Asela. Almaze is almost eight years old and participates in a program sponsored by Compassion which provides the children many opportunities that they wouldn't normally have. We will write much more about this after we get back home. Almaze's town, Asela, is about 110 miles from Addis and it took us about 3 1/2 hours to get there. It is at a very high elevation and is from where many of the top Ethiopian runners such as Haile Gebrselassie come. I asked a few locals what the elevation is there but no one knew. Based on my map, I would guess it is between 9,000 - 11,000 feet.

The day was one of the most incredible Anna and I have had so there is no way words can convey what we experienced. Our driver from Compassion, Demissie, was fantastic and provided great insight into the Ethiopian people and was very good company during our 7 or 8 hours in the car. We traveled in a Toyota Land Cruiser just like you see in Africa in movies or television and it was obvious to us why vehicles like this are needed when traveling in Africa. By getting out of the city and traveling through the countryside, we were able to get an entirely new picture of Ethiopia and its people. There was not a time during the 100 miles we drove where there weren't people along the side of the road either walking, tending animals,or just hanging out. In the rural areas, and especially in the small towns, cars share the road with people and animals.





The landscape is stunning. We left the green, lush highlands of Addis ababa and moved into more arid desert-like areas before ascending back into the lush mountains of Asela. After navigating some roads which were nearly impassable, even with the Land Cruiser, we pulled into the project and Almaze was standing in the yard of the compound holding a bouquet of flowers for us. While at the project, we had the opportunity to learn more specifically about the work Compassion is doing and to present a backpack full of presents to Almaze. We also got to play and sing with at least 30 other kids from the project. After 2 hours at the project, we spent the last hour of our time visiting Almaze's house. Her parents died a couple years ago so her aunt takes care of her and her sisters as well as her own children. It was pretty amazing to see the conditions in which they live. I've spent more time than I intended describing the day but we will definitely post more about this when we get back.

As for Tesfa, it was great to get back to the care center and pick him up after being away from him for almost 24 hours. He gave us some of the biggest smiles we've seen yet when he saw us. I think he's getting to know Mom and Dad! We had another good night with him as he just woke up to eat a couple of times. We all slept pretty well and are energized for another day. We plan to stay at the hotel all day today rather than going back to the care center. It will be good to just have the three of us hanging out today.

Thanks for reading, Grant