Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Salomno! Today was another exciting and jam packed day beginning with the usual wake up and breakfast routine. Just before our first activity, we learned that one of the guests staying in the house with us is from Greensboro and went to UNCW, so Lauryn and Mary Ashburn went to talk with her about their hometowns. We began in the living room to have an Ethiopia 101 class with Nahu. We are now much more knowledgeable about the history and government of Ethiopia because Nahu was an excellent teacher!

After our Ethiopia 101 class, we loaded up the van and headed off to lunch. We ate lunch at a restaurant called Savor, which served traditional American food. Savor also provided Ms. Turlington with a little blast from the past because last year’s group found out that the owner of Savor was from Durham and was at NC State at the same time as Ms. Turlington. We all ate our fill of pastas, pizzas, and burgers before loading up to head to Berhan Yehun.

Well… at least we thought our next stop was Berhan Yehun, but it was actually a surprise trip to Igloo, which is an ice cream shop. Special shoutout and thank you to Ms. McGlohon for giving us money, before we left, for this sweet treat today! We all enjoyed our various ice creams and the garden/patio area that they offered. Lauryn and Leann even got to swing on the swing set they had while having their ice cream. Once again, thank you Ms. McGlohon for our Igloo ice cream – we all loved it!

After our stop at Igloo, we made our way to Berhan Yehun, which is an afterschool program for children that live in the poorest areas of Addis. On the way there, we enjoyed a game of Sweet or Sour. Sweet or Sour is where we intentionally smiled or waved at the people we passed and would see if they would reciprocate. This game was so sweet and heart- warming because the Ethiopians were so kind and we received an overwhelming amount of smiles and waves back. When we first arrived, the children were not out of school yet so we enjoyed talking with each other and the owners of the afterschool program. Yet again, we had the opportunity to show off our professional athlete skills from our hackey sack team and played volleyball and tips with the children. We took a break after the exhilarating games and gathered together to sing and talk. They began and sang us some Ethiopian praise songs. Julia gave us a pitch to start with, and we followed and sang Waves of Mercy and Jesus Loves Me. Once we finished singing, we played Four Corners which Mary Ashburn facilitated until we had a winner, and then the winner facilitated the next game. After Four Corners, we played Simons Says and we all took turns being Simon. Despite the constant switching of Simon, the children were not rattled because we ended up having to end with three winners.

We declared our three winners of Simon Says just in time for their snack time so we went to talk with the owner and watch a documentary on the history of Berhan Yehun. The afterschool program provides children with meals and a place to go to have fun and be happy. The documentary was very moving and informative and emphasized the impact they have on the children’s lives. Last week, the area where most of the children live was struck by a landslide of the landfill, but thankfully none of the Berhan Yehun children or immediate family members were killed in this tragedy. Berhan Yehun was a great experience for all of us and was mentioned in everyone’s highs and lows. It was so impactful to see the children get so giddy and excited over Four Corners and Simon Says, despite their living conditions. We are so grateful that we get to spend time with them again on Thursday.

When we arrived to load into the van after we finished at Berhan Yehun, Dagim was already there and had prepared for praise hymn sing and DJ Mash continued the sing-a-long on the way back to the house. Unfortunately, Anna missed out on this sing-a-long because she fell asleep on my shoulder after all the exhausting fun we had with the children. When we arrived back at the house, we had just a little bit of down time for showering, journaling, and napping before another wonderful homecooked meal. After dinner, we shared our highs and lows before winding down for the day. We are so excited for another day to spend another day with Destiny Academy tomorrow!

XOXO- Suzanna

-Suzanna Wason, ‘17