I finally finished reading, There is No Me Without You, a gripping book about HIV-AIDS devastation in Ethiopia particularly on the most vulnerable people in society, the children who have been orphaned.  Melissa Fay Greene tells the story of Haregewoin Teferra who ends up unwittingly being at the forefront and center of orphan care and international adoption in this country being decimated by AIDS.  Here is one poignant excerpt as Greene recounts a conversation between Mikki, an American mother, and Mekdes, her adopted daughter from Ethiopia.

“On another day, she began a story and stopped: ‘When I was with my mo—I mean Mulu.’ (her birth mom)
‘Baby, you can say Momma,’ Mikki said.
‘Do you like Mulu, Mommy?’
‘I love Mulu!’ said Mikki, and Mekdes embraced her.
Mekdes soon told her mother about the day her aunts took her to Haregewoin’s house. (to give her up) ‘Yabsira (her young baby brother) cry a little.  I am scream.’
‘Why did you cry, baby?’ asked Mikki.
‘I don’t know this Ethiopia.  I want my Ethiopia with Goshay (Grandfather) and Fasika (her aunt).  I don’t want new Ethiopia.’
‘You were sad,’ said Mikki.
‘No hope, Mommy.  I have no hope.’
‘Oh, honey . . . ‘
‘Because no one told me, Mommy.’
‘Told you what?’
‘That you are here in America.  I will not feel so sad if I know you are here.’
‘Yeah, I was here getting ready, getting your rooms ready.  I was here, me and your daddy, waiting and getting ready.’
”I am cry because I don’t know you will coming.’

Of course, for most of Africa’s ten million, fifteen million, twenty million orphans, no one is getting a room ready.  No one will come.”

Pastor Oscar Muriu from Nairobi Chapel one time challenged us to take a second look at all of our empty guest rooms in our homes and fill them with children who need a home.  And it’s happening!  Now when we have child dedications, we see African, and Asian, and Latin American children sprinkled among our other children.  An incredible organization called Safe Families has started placing children from families in distress into temporary homes of our church families.  Hands of Hope is making it easier for families at our church to pursue international adoption.

Let’s give orphans around the world a reason to hope.

What happens when you have a good job, one of the few good jobs in your country wracked by poverty, lawlessness, murder, racism, and AIDS.  Stable, safe, comfortable, living in the big, cosmopolitan, thriving city on the coast.  Access to some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  And it’s a ministry job, but you’re paid very well by a multi-national ministry to do good work.  So your conscience should be good.

For Russell, it wasn’t.  After hearing about baby after baby being abandoned by the scourge of AIDS on families, he convinced his wife to leave his cush job, spend all his life savings buying a home in one of the poorest townships, and building an orphanage there for 15 infants orphaned by AIDS.

15 infants in addition to his own kids.  No running water.  The water had not been working for the last several months.  We asked Russell when he thought the water would be fixed by the authorities.  “Maybe in six months.”  The nearest neighbor is a witch doctor actively fighting against the orphanage.  When we asked him about that, he calmly answered, “We don’t see life the same way.”

Nothing but love and care for these precious kids.  We were all struck by Russell’s peace, calmness, and graciousness.  Living eyes.  Hopeful eyes.  Real clarity and focus in those eyes.  It seemed like this was the most incredible privilege in the world to care for these children.

Abandoned children in a world of AIDS.  Who will care for them?

Russell

Let’s imagine that you’re driving on one of the beautifully paved roads in the rolling hills around Durban, South Africa.  Really, the roads are so much better than the pot-hole encrusted things we call roads in Indiana.  You’ve got your handy dandy GPS to guide you.  Turn right, stay in the left lane, 2.4 more miles to the T.  You’re on your way to find a small orphanage in the Valley of 1000 Hills just West of Durban.

Imagine your complete surprise when all of the sudden your GPS turns black.  Zippo, nada, blank screen.  The road is still there ahead of you.  But which way do you turn?  Why is it not working?  What happened?

Oh, I forgot to tell you.  GPS doesn’t work in the townships in South Africa.  Apparently they still don’t officially exist.  100,000 people may live there, or more.  Roads, schools, houses, businesses.  But the people don’t matter enough to be mapped, at least not for the kind of people who use GPS.

South African Township

Townships are the unofficial “suburbs” outside of large metro cities in South Africa where the minority white South African government moved the vast majority of the black population during apartheid.  Apartheid may be history, but the townships still exist.  Well, not officially according to GPS.

We were in several of the townships on our trip with Loving South Africa September, 2008.  And we did find the orphanage.  I’ll tell you about Russell, the remarkable young man we met in my next post.