As our week in Ethiopia was drawing to a close, we were able to visit two very special places. On Wednesday night we had a traditional Ethiopian dinner at Yod Abbysinia. This was a wonderful experience. While we were eating our dinner we watched a beautiful display of the Ethiopian culture, lots of singing and dancing. A.J. danced right along with the performers and that was so fun to see. The food is "shared" with others out of a large, center platter. Lots of different types of meat, rice, spicy stew, and sauces. Everything is eaten with injera, a thin, spongy type of bread....just tear some off and scoop it up with your fingers. A.J. loved it!! (By now I was really craving a cheeseburger and fries!?!)
On Thursday all 23 of us (adults and children) crammed into a 16 passenger van and went to Bethzatha, named from the Pool of Bethesda in the Bible. This is the home A.J. was in before going to Hannah's Hope. It is run by Samuel (see picture), a Ethiopian man that walked away from his lucrative career to serve the Lord and help the orphaned children in his country. He was amazing and it was a joy to hear him speak of his experiences. I could not fight back the tears as we toured Bethzatha. The conditions there were not as good as Hannah's Hope. It broke my heart to see the children with severe special needs. The dedicated staff had no washer and dryer for their laundry (there were 66 children). The food was cooked in a concrete shed. But, you can see the precious faces of the children. Their eyes begged for love and attention, and as you can see Jody was happy to give it!
