Visiting Korah...

Well...I don't really even know how to start explaining our day at Korah....Korah is the city trash dump where 30,000 people have found home.  It is full of tiny little one room shacks where families gather and call home...they are lined up one after another...there are smells and flies like nothing I've ever experienced before.  Children are rarely fully clothed and run from us in fear lots of times....  I handed one little guy standing in the street covered in flies a sucker...I saw no adult around.....I snapped a pic of him standing alone...and then out of the blue comes a screaming mother that was mad at me for talking to her child and taking a picture...I thought I was going to get beat up...but instead she snatched the sucker away from him and handed it back and grabbed him and yelled at me and we quickly walked away....little unnerving :)

We walked down many paths and visited with many different families in their home where they graciously welcome you in and ask you sit...My favorite was this beautiful HIV positive woman who was trying to raise her HIV child...they didnt' have enough money to eat...but they had gotten on medication and were feeling much better..She was beautiful, gracious and kind...It was an honor to meet her and hug her....  We told her we'd be praying for her and her daughter and she just cried...

We kept walking and were quickly surrounded by adorable school children that just wanted to shake our hands..it was too cute..I loved every minute....Lots of children at Korah still don't attend school..but it was a breath of fresh air to see the cute backpacked kids walking down the street laughing and singing and enjoying their day at school.  I slipped kids suckers as I could...but you don't want all the kids to see OR you'll get quickly swarmed by little bodies begging for a taste of sugar...

I had fun at one point pulling out my computer and showing street children pictures I had on my lap top...They loved when I'd name all my children and would yell "martha" (i told them her Ethiopian name) every time they'd see a pic of lucy lane....They also seemed to love "george" and would yell with laughter every time they saw him with LL too :)  I showed them the beach and sand...and many other luxuries the u.s. has...they just sat smiling and squealing through them all..... 

We also go to visit the twin babies that my friend Jody talks about so much...Jody if you are reading this...we had fun visiting with them and taking pics...I had read about the twins so much from when Jody was here..it was surreal being there myself now.....  I also enjoyed seeing the Project 61 building and church and program they have sat up here...Wow...was a difference this group is making in this community...Praising God for people like Summer and Ashley and others that are spending countless hours bringing hope to Korah....

We shopped a little (like 10 minutes) and had fun talking with the street children around the shopping area...we've eaten out quite a bit and enjoyed Kaldi's coffee which is a take off of our Starbucks....  I've handed out more food and suckers and donations everywhere....quickly running out..... 

We're headed to the new AGCI Hannah's Hope this morning...So excited about seeing all my peep's kids there....And, I can't wait to visit with Almaz too....  I've lost my cord to get my pics from my camera to my computer...so using Kelly's pics here...I guess I'll be posting lots more when I get home so I can show all my pics...

I can't moderate any comments here...but I appreciate you all praying for us and taking the time to live out our trip with us via blog/facebook world....missing my babies back home  :)  happy thursday to you all, kj