The Tiatia Family in Ethiopia…who are we and what are we doing here? Part 1

Two years ago we set sail from Auckland, New Zealand, the only home we had known as a family except for a year we spent in Rotorua.  South Auckland to be exact.  Otara, then Takanini were places that we called home.  Our first boy was born on the North Shore as that is where we resided as 19 year old parents, Michelle from Glenfield and Asaua from Otara.  Shortly after his birth we gave our lives to Jesus and moved to where that dedication was made- Flat Bush, South Auckland where we served in Children’s Ministries and eventually youth ministry. 

In the meanwhile, two babies came at the same time!  Beautiful little girls, the ones I had longed for after having a boy and being limited by the amount of clothes I was able to dress him up in.  They never looked quite as pretty as the girls dresses I would see in the shops.  Two and a half years later, we had another boy to balance out the family. 

Not long after the girls were born, in 2001, a couple who were missionaries to Ethiopia for 10 years then Kenya for 15, came and visited our church on what just happened to be our Missions emphasis weekend.  They shared slides and spoke of the years they spent serving God in Africa.  I (Michelle) grabbed my first opportunity to speak to the wife of this couple and told her of my long desire to go to Ethiopia as a missionary.  She said to me, “They need missionaries in Ethiopia!” and a large lump formed in my throat at the very thought of it ACTUALLY becoming a reality and all I could say was “Well, you need to convince my husband of that” to which she replied, “No, we need to let God convince your husband of that.” 

So there we started a conversation and a journey of understanding what and how and when and if God was really calling us to Ethiopia.  After one more baby and ten long years of growing and learning and discerning and waiting, we set sail for a place called Debre Zeit.  The both of us had come on separate trips to Ethiopia.  Firstly myself, with a group called the Mocha Club accompanied by 12 others from the States and Canada.  I visited a ministry called Women at Risk in Nazaret who worked to rehabilitate women who had been involved in commercial street work.  Then we visited a church in Ambo who were working to reach out to Street kids who numbered about 100.  That trip changed my life forever.  I wrote this poem as a result in my frustration of what to do from there. 

“New Flower”*

I was six years old when God gave me the dream

Through images of poverty like I’d never seen

Children crying – so hungry and poor

Death stealing the lives they knew once before

To go to Ethiopia a dream had come true

Though I feared the long flight over the ocean blue

To know a world that was close to my heart

To make a difference and give a fresh start

But nothing could ever prepare me to see

The raw streets and culture that was before me

The eucalyptus scaffolds, the pavements of mud

The beggars, the markets, the horses that trod

On the street with the people – so many there were

But where they were going, I could not answer

HIV/AIDS so many had carried

Fistula relief was why women tarried

So long and hard their journey began

With labors that left dead babies in hand

Nazaret prostitutes number five thousand

Living for money but lowering the standard

Women At Risk reaching them slowly

Offering hope and love to the lowly

Healing and forgiveness is what I had witnessed

Knowing God’s love now through Grace and Forgiveness

The Street boys in Ambo so dirty and torn

Not just their clothes but the families in which they were born

No dad or mum to kiss them goodnight

No house to call home, no hope in sight

So broken and hungry but kings of the street

Orphaned and lonely no shoes on their feet

But hope was given as we entered their vision

For education, restoration, love and provision

What a blessing it was to be Jesus to them

To serve and feed, to show love through men

But now I have seen my heart breaks much more

Each life I have touched I feel responsible for

To bring them more hope? To bring them home?

To bring out my heart, to touch yours alone

So what would you do if you saw their pain?

Would you come back empty? Would your trip be in vain?

Or would you want to change the world One Soul at a time

That was my Ethiopia trip 2009

In April of 2010, Asaua came for only 8 days and spent his time in Addis Ababa visiting different ministries including similar ones to which I had visited.  He too came back with the conclusion that we had to do more than just a short term trip but when we would go and what we would do was still a mystery.  After doing some searching on the internet, we found an organization that seemed to fit our vision of working with orphans and street kids as well as women.  It was able to accommodate our needs as a family and also our financial needs, so it seemed.  We contacted them but then left the idea for a while until one morning Asaua woke me up at 5am on a Monday morning.  You can read about that here .  He told me that we have to go to Africa.  So we made arrangements, sold our house, our car, all our furniture and belongings that we had held so ridiculously dear and we moved into Asaua’s parents house for a month.  During this time we worked as much as we could to raise the extra money we needed but we still left New Zealand short of the deposit we needed to pay the organization we were coming with.  And also fully short of the monthly commitment we had made to pay.

So for two weeks we took our kids on a journey to see what it looked like outside of New Zealand.  We visited family in Melbourne, hung out with my cousin and her daughter in Kuala Lumpur and then spent two nights in a hotel in Dubai paid for by old friends.  During that two weeks, God fully came through and provided for us to stay in Ethiopia.  He has continued to do so in so many different ways.

So for almost two years now, this has been home.  We have met so many different people, run into so many different embarrassing situations, fumbled in so many conversations and been blessed in so many different ways.  We went from the known to the unknown, the comfortable to the uncomfortable, from familiar relationships to total estrangement.  But we knew without a doubt that this was God’s calling for our life and our season to make a change in other people’s lives outside of ourselves. 

And it’s been a journey that sometimes feels like is still in it’s infancy stage.  We learn the language like an infant, by totally immersing ourselves around people who speak it.  So we sound like babies with funny accents.  We have learnt the culture and seen how similar it is to that of our Samoan culture where relationship is so important, but we are still challenged by the different systems and processes that exist.  We have seen great need yet we feel like we haven’t even scratched the surface on helping to make a difference in that place of need.  We have met babies who were struggling and who are now toddlers walking around and laughing with their friends. 

And we have all had a different part to play in this journey.  I just wanted to introduce you to our family, in case you don’t know them and how they have served in this place.  This is our mission team: The Tiatia Crew.

Wesley is our youngest and came here when he was six and just turned eight.  As a cute six year old, living in a culture where physical affection is part of the norm, he was smothered by anyone and everyone who wanted a taste of his cuteness.  Still now his character draws people to him and he loves to just ignore them and just get in there and play.  He has made some good friends here and loves to join in where he can in being a part of what’s going on.  His friends age from 7-12 as his maturity level is higher than most.

Matthias is now 10 but came when he was 8.  For the most part, when people see him walking on the street, they will say “China!” which means they think he is Chinese with his straight hair and round face.  But he has adjusted and doesn’t flinch at it.  He also has made some great friends here at school and from our church service.  Matthias loves the local food and says that if we ever move back to New Zealand we have to take back as much as we can.  He loves to get involved in making food when we have guests and even just cooking for our family which normally takes a lot longer as most foods have to be cooked from scratch.  He has also grown so much spiritually since we’ve been here and prays and reads his bible from a place of passion. 

Lydia is the second of our twins who graces the stage of our English church service every Sunday with her beautiful singing.  She is now 12 and a half and counts down each day till her 13^th birthday.   She has gained a love for horses through our South African friends who have horses and a cow and chickens on their farm in Koka.  She has also gained a love for photography and has taken over my instagram account to display some of the beauty she has captured.  She is a girl who sees beauty all around her and often points it out to our unseeing eyes.  She has also been a big part of our ministry and is always willing to help  out especially when it comes to working with children. 

Kiara is the eldest of the twins and is at least five centimetres taller than Lydia.  I always have to tell people that they are twins and always receive a shocked reaction because they look so different.  Kiara is great with people and especially children.  Her heart exudes through her smile and her welcoming hugs.  Out of all our children, she has probably been the one who has most caught the vision here as her own.  She has a dream to build a village to house orphaned children and get them off the street.  She knows what it looks like, what she will call it and she plans to be a part of looking after the children in it.  She is superbly artistic and is constantly putting out works of art that blow me away.   I have seen her take control of a class full of children in a way that totally eluded me and she totally excels in that area.

So they are the youngest four of our team here in Ethiopia.  I will let you know about us older three in Part 2!