While We’re Away

One of the questions that we get the most is, “So, while you guys are away from Ethiopia, who is taking care of the Day Care?”  It is one of those questions that I love answering, because we have such an amazing team on the ground in Ethiopia that everything continues without missing a beat.   I’d love to introduce you to these absolutely amazing people.  These folks spend each day loving on the kids in the project, caring for the moms and demonstrating God’s love in action among those in need.  So, today I’ll introduce you to these guys and brag on them a bit.

Alayu

Let me start with Alayu.  Alayu  and The Shannons have been friends for almost 3 years and he and his family are amazing people.  Alayu has vast experience working in the relief and development field and is currently working on his Master’s Degree.   He serves as the Project Director.   Alayu is married and has a 1 month old baby Boy named Emanuel – “God with us.”

Sisay

Next is Sisay. Sisay serves as our Social Worker.  Sisay also has experience in relief and development, having worked with Compassion in the past.  He works hard at building a bridge to the moms as well as ensuring a level of care for the children and the moms in the project.

Nebiyu serves part time as our accountant – a necessity within Ethiopian culture and law.  He also brings background in relief and development, so he not only crunches numbers, but he does so with a heart of compassion and justice that goes very deep.

Embracing Hope Ethiopia Staff (from right) Sisay, Jerry, Etagene, Alyanesh, Caia, Beyalf, Yirga, Desta, Joshua, Christy, Martha, Hareg, Tsion, Hanna & Beza. Front is Yaiye and Micah.

Our Care Givers work so hard to ensure that our kids are getting proper care.  They handle everything from the very practical issues of diapering and feeding while at the same time being on the front line to catch health issues, give medication, help the children learn through play, provide more formal education, bathe the children, lead a daily music time, etc.  They are the hands on people caring for the children, while at the same time demonstrating God’s love and acceptance in a very tangible way to children.  They are: Hareg (Lead Caregiver), Martha, Tsion, Alyanesh, Beza and Beyalf.

Our Cook, Desta, is outstanding.  She cooks daily for all of the children as well as 10 mothers who return at lunch time to breast feed their babies, the staff and occasionally our visitors.  She stays quite busy making our food from scratch and much of her time is occupied sorting lentils – which is time consuming.  She is a gem!

Our Cleaner, Etagene provides a very essential role for the day care.  Serving as cleaner, she has the endless job of keeping the center clean as we’ll as washing clothing and reusable diapers for the 31 children.   Her job is further complicated during the rainy season as we struggle to keep the center as mud free as possible!

Our Guards.  We have three guards who work in shifts.  They are named Yirga, Yaiye, and Tazib.  They are very vigilant in ensuring that the children, moms and property are kept safe as well as maintaining many of the things around the center that break on a regular basis.  They also lend a hand in prepping materials for our moms to make handicrafts.

That’s our staff.  They are an amazing team!   It is wonderful being here in the US while knowing that things are in very good hands in Ethiopia and our staff is making a difference in the lives of vulnerable families daily!