Korah

Korah is the village located on the edge of the city near the garbage dump. People walk from their home in the village to where the dump is located hoping to find their daily meals and other items to sell at the markets by digging through the trash. The government is no longer allowing people visiting to drive through the dump or walk around the dump so the pictures I took are driving by from the main road in front of the dump.

It was for the village of Korah that we raised funds for formula and medical supplies. After trading in the money that you all donated to Birr, we figured out we were able to purchase 180 containers of formula. We dedicated part of an afternoon to driving around to different grocery stores and buying all the formula that each store had and was only able to purchase 130 containers. With the money left over we were able to purchase 6 sheep for some of the children living in Korah who are sponsored and attending school nearby. On Thursday, the day we were visiting to drop off our donated medical supplies and formula, we served lunch to the children who were on their lunch break from school (the children are served a lunch meal Monday through Friday during their school day). Having meat in their sauce is a real treat for the children who typically eat a bean sauce over their injera (a native bread).

Ethiopian grocery store

In preparation for our visit to Korah on Thursday we needed to purchase the sheep on Wednesday. We met with Emily of Project 61 at a market where we thought we would “observe” this purchase. We thought Emily would be taking the animals and we would not see her until the next day. As it turned out Emily thought it would be better for our travel guide (and friend) who is a native Ethiopian to negotiate this purchase. Our guide was also taken by surprise because he had only done this one other time in his life. He did the best he could and soon came back with 6 sheep being pulled by their front legs by 6 men. When we asked Emily where she wanted the sheep she said she didn't have a car and we should be able to get them in our van even if we needed to put them under the seats. We had been shopping that day for souvenirs and also had purchased the formula so we already had quite a full van. After some reorganizing we got all 6 sheep and formula in the back, we all squeezed in the 2 couch seats, including Emily and all of our souvenirs, and our driver and guide up front! 11 people and 6 sheep in all!! We drove to the compound in the village to drop off the sheep then back to the guest house for the evening.

 

 

all six sheep plus formula in the back of the van

Thursday morning after breakfast we loaded our van with all the medical supplies and formula ( I also had two suitcases full of clothes from cleaning our closets before we left) and headed over to Korah. Emily started our day with a tour of the different programs they offer to the people in the village. Our first stop was at a program where 25 women are being taught a new trade, such as, making beads out of paper, sewing and learning how to weave on a modern loom. These women are widows and part of a family sponsorship program that has started a couple of months ago. Their children come with them. Project 61 is hoping to open a day care there at some point.

 

One of the little boys whose mother is part of this program is in need of a heart operation. Project 61 along with the family that sponsors them has been trying to find a surgeon in the US to perform this procedure for him. There is a list of reasons why this has not been done yet, but because Mussie had open heart surgery soon after coming home and was just in to see his cardiologist a few weeks ago for his one year check up, I mentioned I would call Mussie's cardiologist in Green Bay and see if he was able to help in any way. (At the time of Mussie's last visit his doctor talked about other surgeons he knew who had done mission work, so if he can't help maybe he can refer us to someone he knows.)

Next we went to the compound where the meal was being prepared and where the clinic is located. After parking the car near the front door, kids from all over started appearing and greeted us with big smiles and would reach out to hold our hands. We started to unload the medical supplies, clothes and formula to bring into the clinic. Women were already lined up along the wall of the clinic waiting for formula. They give out formula every 2 weeks and day we were there was the day! Emily informed us that she actually did not have any formula to give to the women so if we had not dropped it off she would have had to turn them away. They were so grateful but we feel so sad because as much as we brought we know it will not last long enough. It was rewarding to see them handing out 2 cans of formula to each of the women. This formula is all that they would get for 2 weeks.

 

women waiting to receive formula

 

After observing in the clinic for a while, we left to start the lunch. We headed across the street to bring the 2 large pots of meat sauce, 2 large platters of injera, and stacks of plates. Soon the children began to arrive from school. They sat quietly while they waited for their lunch to be served. Steve prayed before their dinner and row by row they would come up to receive their lunch. They were so grateful for the meal and many of the children shook our hands before leaving to go back to school.

We left that afternoon knowing God is alive and working in Korah. We could see the amazing work that has and is being done by ministry's who had a dream to follow God's vision. Hundreds of children that used to relay on the dump for survival are now being sponsored and fed daily through Project 61 and other ministry's working in Korah. These same children have been given the opportunity to attend a local school or a private boarding school two hours away. We are a family who listened to God's call in visiting these children and widows. The clinic was out of formula and we were able to provide for these babies proper nutrition for a short time, hopefully another team will visit soon so these babies will continue to get the care they need (their mothers have HIV and are unable to nurse). The clinic was out of children's vitamins and because of your donation we were able to provide vitamins with their lunch. Some of the clothes we brought was already being handed out to the mothers for their children.    Korah is known as the forgotten community, the outcasts and the unimportant people. I pray that we brought the Hope of Jesus to these children to show them they are not forgotten and they are important. Our trip to Korah opened our eyes to the many areas in Ethiopia that are struggling.