November 4, 2005

Evergreen Valley Church sponsors Ethiopian feeding program

By Donna H. Eliason
Staff Writer

She was hungry. The small barefoot girl wearing a tattered, soiled dress approached the nine Evergreen Valley Church members in a Dessie, Ethiopia, restaurant last September. They gave her what was probably her only food for the day.

Evergreen Valley Church members who volunteered in the church’s Ethiopian Feeding Program include: Top left: Steve Moore, Sally Anderson, Pam Wood, Tim Wood (right behind her), Sandee Sebring, Irene Trapp with Greg Trapp right behind her, Stan and Vicki Ciraulo.  Photo by Donna Eliason

The stark contrast between this starvation and memories of food wasted daily in the United States will not be forgotten by church team members Sally Anderson, Stan and Vicki Ciraulo, Steve Moore, Sandee Sebring, Greg and Irene Trapp, and Tim and Pam Wood.

“I took her picture and showed it to her. She leaned over and kissed my camera,” says team member Irene Trapp. “I didn’t have the heart to wipe off those cookie crumbs and lip marks from my camera for two days.”

The Hope International School Director recognized the child, a product of rape, living under a plastic sheet with her prostitute mother and baby sister. She was one of the fortunate children registered for the kindergarten program, entitling her to a uniform and shoes.

Hope for poor, street children
Hope International Schools help some 6,000 students in Ethiopia, but 750 are in the kindergarten through l2th-grade program in Dessie. Here the very poor and street children are fed and taught marketable skills for future self-sufficiency.

“Hope takes the poorest of the poor,” says Anderson, who has been heavily involved with the Dessie ministry during the last five years. “They take one child per family. They ask for recommendations of what children should come, then post that information where everyone can see it.”

During the last few years, Evergreen Valley Church has provided a medical clinic and nurse practitioner, washing machines, showers and a baking oven to help meet the overwhelming needs of these students. They also sponsor a breakfast feeding program, which consists of tea and a small loaf of bread. It costs only $20 per school year for each child.

Sally Anderson shares photos of some Ethiopian children.  Photo by Donna Eliason.

“These children have lost their parents due to the war or AIDS,” says pastor Tim Wood. “It broke our hearts as we served the bread and tea to these grateful children. Our whole team was moved as these children bowed their heads to thank God for this meager meal.”

Thankful for little
One morning after breakfast, “a child held my hand as we walked back to the classroom for music. She patted her tummy and looked up at me and smiled. She asked me, ‘Are you grateful?’ That innocent question still haunts me today,” says Irene. “We have so much and yet we are not as grateful as those who receive a piece of bread and cup of tea for breakfast. We’ve been granted a new perspective.”

Five years ago, graduating seniors wanted to attend college. “They didn’t just want a vocation, but wanted to make more of their lives,” said Anderson. “Most of these students are orphans, but some live with relatives. Ethiopia is a very family-oriented country.” However, extreme poverty is everywhere.

When Anderson arrived she said, “Just about every student we had helped in the past showed up with grade sheets in hand to let us know they’re in need of sponsors and scholarships. $240 keeps one of these youngsters in college. I have 40 applications and will raise money to help them all.”

Hyenas may eat grandson
Heartbreak continued when team members visited some student homes. “One home was made of sticks held together by clay. Little Nasoud, an 8-year-old boy lived in this home with his grandmother, who was near death,” says pastor Wood.

The grandmother “was beating her chest and begging us to promise to help her because she was afraid she would die and the hyenas would come through the open window and eat her grandson,” continues Sally Anderson. The l0-by-l0 foot dirt floor home had no electricity, water or bathroom.

Sally Anderson shares photos of some Ethiopian children.  Photo by Donna Eliason.

“Without organizations like Hope, Nasoud would end up like many other children in Ethiopia—begging. What a joy it is for Evergreen Valley Church to partner with HOPE to make a difference in the lives of children in Ethiopia,” says Wood.

In another home, a grandmother cares for the children because the parents died of AIDS. “Her granddaughter, our student, had just been diagnosed with HIV,” Anderson says. “No one spoke after the church team members visited these homes.”

Starving people rush for food tickets
Because the extreme poverty affects all ages, the team members purchased six-cent lunch meal tickets and distributed them to people on the street. “For many of the 660 people, this was the only meal they would have that day,” says Sally Anderson.

With tickets in hand, “most of us were very quickly mobbed and had to hand over the tickets to several over 6-foot-tall men.”

“It broke my heart to see so many people waiting their turn to eat, hoping there would be enough food for them,” says Pam. “Nothing was wasted. There weren’t overweight or obese people.”

Pam continues, “I was impressed with the vastness of the poverty. It seemed that I cried every day over something I saw. At one point the interpreter said, ‘Don’t you have poor in America?’”

“I said, ‘No, not like this. Our poor still have places to get food, clothing or medicine. The children are still able to go to school. And we do not have this many who are poor.’ It was overwhelming. It seemed each day there was something worse than the day before.”

Sally Anderson holds a handmade fly swatter and to her left are a handmade picnic basket and woven basket. Photo by Donna Eliason

One crowded road to Dessie
Getting to Dessie was no easy experience. A grass runway, small planes without radar and difficult weather conditions are some reasons why a plane ride to Dessie is a rare occasion.

The alternative is a very long l0-hour bus ride on the only road that is also used by people, donkeys, cam-els, sheep and goats. To avoid the people, animals and numerous potholes, drivers swerve from one side of the road to the other. The problem is that “the oncoming truck drivers are doing the same things,” says Anderson. Besides breathing constant unpleasant diesel fumes, there are no restrooms or other stopping places.

After reflecting upon their trip, team member Greg Trapp said, “These people have nothing, so they value what’s truly important—their relationships with each other. We came to minister to them, but it was really them who ministered to us. What a bond we shared together with our brothers and sisters half way around the world.”