Reckless Abandon Day 5

Wednesday

This was one of my favorite days of the trip. After devotions and breakfast we split up: the guys left for their Train the Trainers, where they would be teaching and training about 40 church planters. The gals headed first to Embracing Hope, a ministry run by Jerry and Christy Shannon. This was one of the coolest and most creative efforts I've seen to serve the poor women and children of Ethiopia. They have opened a free daycare for single moms so they can go to work and know that their children are well cared for. The Shannons said when they approached the government about opening this daycare, they were met with some raised eyebrows. Daycares were something only those in the upper class used. It was a new concept to offer this service for free to the poor. They opened their doors last April as today they have 60 children in their program. They help the moms find work, encourage them in their independence, and even offer micro-loan grants to help with those moms who have an entrepreneurial spirit. And they are finding these moms are discovering community through this program in a way they have not experienced before.

We spent the morning touring their day care, talking with the Shannons, and playing with the kids. It was such a blessing.

The afternoon was spent at Peter and Elizabeth Abera's project, Compassion Families International. We are doing a VBS for the next three afternoons (Wednesday through Friday) there, so I will write more about them tomorrow.

We all went to dinner at Island Breeze for some American fare (some of our team has had their fill of traditional Ethiopian fare this week, although I can't get enough!) Afterwards we went to the new Radisson Hotel for free wifi. It was like a bunch of kids in a candy shop--we were so excited to have some high speed, American internet!

We are so blessed by the ministries we have been serving with--so timely in my life--more on that later. Thank you--as always--for your prayers and love.

(I do not have good internet right now so I can't post pics, but check out our facebook page for the team's photos!)