Every Child Needs Some Love and Care

While establishing our vision statement to explain why we do what we do, this was what seemed to encapsulate it all:

  Because we believe that EVERY child should have access to the BASIC necessities of life; LOVE, CARE, FOOD, CLEAN WATER and FAMILY.

Recently we joined a movement that is giving us the opportunity to live that out and I write this blog to explain why WE decided to get involved.  That movement is called Love and Care for His Little Ones and it is "a team of volunteers with a passionate heart to serve orphans and vulnerable kids." LOVE and CARE...the first two components of our vision statement. It seems silly NOT to get involved right??!

"We were all created to be recipients of Love" 

Sam Chapman - Indigenous NZ development expert

As I stared across a sea of faces ready to begin a day of festivities, I saw children; big and small, with hearts that were hungry to receive that LOVE that they were created for.  If there is ever an instance of entitlement that a child deserves, it is this one- to receive love.  And actually if there is ever a gift we are expected to give, it is ALSO this one - 

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to LOVE one another, for whoever LOVES others has fulfilled the law. 
Romans 13:8

For with IT, partnered with a caring environment a child can develop and thrive and BECOME all that God has created them to BE. Love is SO important, for without it our hearts are left void of their most necessary component for growth. 

In seeing their faces I knew that their hunger to BE loved existed because of their lack of receiving it.  These children at some stage in their lives had been orphaned or abandoned. This is what qualified them to be here on this cold Saturday morning on the outskirts of Addis Ababa.  This event had been planned, prayed for, and implemented because there were a group of people who wanted to GIVE them the basic necessities of life- LOVE, CARE, FOOD, CLEAN WATER and an EXTENDED FAMILY. This is why WE were here. Because we joined a movement that exists to meet this need for Love and Care for His Little Ones.  

Rahel Asheber and Dawit Getachew (pictured above) are the ones who are leading this movement with an amazing team of young volunteers- students, graduates, young professionals and youth workers; people gifted to serve in so many ways to make this movement the success it has been for the last four years.  

We heard about this program because Dawit is an award winning Gospel Artist whose music has broken tradition in Ethiopia and connects young and old with the heart of God.  After finding out about his amazing music, we found out about his heart for orphans.  He in fact was present at a conference I attended in 2012 and blogged about.  It was around this same time, they started to gather young people to attend orphanages on a weekly basis to help support the children educationally, socially and emotionally. What they started is so PROFOUND.

Dawit shared a story over the weekend, as they were motivating the newly formed Hawassa team, to go and connect with the kids in the orphanages to build relationships with them.  The story was about a visit they made to an orphanage in Addis Ababa where they were going around and asking the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Typical replies were vocalized- "I want to be a doctor" says one child, "I want to be a teacher" says another and more shared their desires for careers and jobs.  Then they came to one child whose response was "I want to be a ferenji." So they asked him "Why?" He said because life seems so much easier for ferenjis (foreigners).  It's easy he said for them to find work, to get money, to study and have a good life. Sadly he wasn't offered role models that could show him otherwise until Love and Care showed up. 

After discovering that most visitors to the majority of orphan centers in Addis Ababa are short term foreigners who come for a small trip and leave again, they knew that something had to change. What young Ethiopian volunteers have to offer is so much more valuable- they speak the same language, they are consistently in the area, they are young people who can inspire as these children relate to them, and they genuinely have a heart to love and care for children who don't have the parental love they need. 

Not only do they have teams all around Addis Ababa going into centers every Saturday morning, they also hold these events three times a year on special holidays.  At each event there are fun activities for the kids to participate in that they would have NEVER otherwise had the opportunity to be a part of! They have an awesome time of worship and story telling and then they feed them and give them a gift to take home.  This year that gift was a towel for each child as some children within the orphanages didn't have any at all. 

What Love and Care for His Little Ones are doing is motivated by their desire to do FOR these children what God has done for them- He has called them out of the darkness and into His wonderful light (1 Pet 2:9), He has shown them Love and Grace, been a Father and a Provider, so in turn they are doing the same for Him... 

Donate towards this New Years Carnival by clicking Go Fund Me Page 

850 children from 22 Centers, 

over 2 cities and 2 weeks 

made up what was the 

LOVE and CARE Easter Carnivals!
You can LIKE their Facebook Page
And YOU can ALSO join the movement- Stay in touch to see when you can donate to the festivities or sign up to volunteer if you live in Addis!


Also if you want to check out Dawit's music, you can listen to one our faves by buying his instrumental Jazz style album on itunes here, or you can check out his YouTube Channel!

Be blessed!

Help us, help them to Dare to Dream

Most of us in the western world take even our dreams for granted. Our ability to have big visions and dreams for our future often stem from the opportunities that surround us and the people who have inspired us to take advantage of them.  We see people realize their dreams and in forgetting their initial struggle in attaining their dreams, we think that if they can do it, well so can I.

We have a dream. Its a dream I am going to share when I get to New Zealand and pray that people will catch it and support it. Its a dream I believe was Divinely inspired.

I have so many dreams that I find myself having to control them. I have to filter which ones are worth chasing and which just need to be swept into the dust pan in my mind.

But today I sat with a room full of women who struggle to dream.  I have   lived in a country where people struggle to dream for the last two years. They struggle because of lack of opportunity, lack of inspiration, lack of resources and presence of political and economical obstacles. Yet some still dare to DREAM.

Yet these women face a greater struggle. Their struggle is against their own worth. Their own value. Their own shame. The greatest enemy of their dreams are themselves.  Yet we live in societies where the greatest enemies of our dreams are the ones closest to us! We struggle against the Tall Poppy syndrome where we are so insecure about ourselves that we need to chop the heads off of those around us who dare to rise above their circumstances and chase their dreams!

But these brave women openly shared their minute dreams. They were limited by their desire for survival and their visions were blurred by their desperation. Desperation for the immediate can alter our patience for the eternal.

We want immediate change when God wants eternal. "For our light affliction which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and ETERNAL weight of Glory. While we look not at the things which are SEEN, but at the things which are NOT SEEN: for the things that are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Cor 4:17-18

"How can I dream when I am like this?" One girl asks as she points to her 39 week pregnant belly. And the others dreams weren't far off her mark. Dreams of change. Dreams of deliverance. Dreams of a home with no pressure of a landlord who expects you to pay your rent with your body. Dreams of a home where the focus is on their children. Even if that means eating less, earning less, exposing less.

They see what more they can gain: their dignity, relationships with their families, their FREEDOM!

So today I want to ask you, yes you, big dreamer, to dream FOR these women.  This week I was in a development training with our church and we learnt about going into the community and establishing relationships with community leaders BUT we also learnt the importance of going in with a vision. People want to know that you have a vision. And when

I told these ladies that I had a vision for them today, I saw the reality of that lesson in action. As they right now find it hard to dream for themselves, we need to dream for them.

They have dreams. They are locked away along with their potential. But what we want to do is give them the keys to help them unlock this treasure chest that has been hidden to keep them safe.  And its going to be a process that will take a few months - maybe a year.  And we have a plan. We have  put our dream on paper and we need others to run with it, to advocate for it, to financially get behind and support it. For the sake of these women and the next generation.

So right now, we need sponsors.  We need you to give, to share, to ask, to sacrifice, to reach down into your treasure chest and give us a hand up. We want these women to be able to help themselves but first we need you to help us help them.  There is a ship load of treasure just waiting to be found.  Here is how you can help:

Sponsor one lady to get off the street for one year for  $50 a month. This will enable her to be rehabilitated and self sufficient after the first year. We will give you a name, her story, her photo and help you follow her journey.

Sponsor a Social worker to work with these ladies through the program @ $100 a month.

Buy a loom for $150. This will help these women train in scarf making and hopefully earn themselves a good living off the street.

Buy a spinning wheel for $100 for the same reason!

Plant a seed. As start up costs are often high, we need people to help plant a seed.  We currently have these set up costs needing some assistance:

Rent of some land: $5000 for the first six months.  This land has buildings for accommodation for the women, warehouse space for cotton weaving, classroom space for addiction rehabilitation and life skills training, office space, child care space and agricultural potential.  For more info, contact me.

We also need to buy beds, mattresses, desks, chairs, tables, ovens, kitchen utensils, cupboards, couches, linen, mats. All of these can be made locally and aren't too expensive. 

Your seed of anywhere between $10-$1000 can help us purchase one item. Depending on how much you give, we will let you know what the fruit of your seed is!

This is us dreaming again but also having a bit of faith in what God is able to do.  Please, give generously.

You can give to Redeeming Love World Missions Fund in America or through PayPal to Michelle.tiatia@gmail.com and we will make sure 100% of your money will go towards what it was gifted for with full reports.

Merry Christmas everyone. Now go buy something that will last for eternity!

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moths and rust can corrupt and where thieves can break in and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven...for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." Matt 6:19-21

Break my heart for what breaks Yours

There's a line in the song at the end of this blog that says, Break my heart for what breaks Yours.  I've known this song for a few years, but recently it has been the song of my heart.

When we get close to the heart of God, we hear his heartbeat for people.  We can hear His heart break as we come into contact with people who need His care most – who need that extended touch of love that they have neglected to receive; who have not known the grace and mercy that only a Father can give, and who look to only God as their source of supply and provision.  

When I came to Ethiopia in 2009, I wrote a poem as a therapy for what I had seen and what I was still trying to process.  It was called “New Flower” and you can read it here.  I read it out at church when I got back to New Zealand as my Powerpoint presentation failed to come together in time.  Instead I struggled my way through this poem and then totally choked up on these lines:

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

Feeding the street boys in Ambo 2009

This was the heart breaking God did for me when I was here and then when Asaua came to Ethiopia  a year later.  Our heart was for the street kid and the orphaned.  I went back home and struggled with the fact that we had spare room in our home and in our communities, but these boys lacked the basic necessities of life.  This is the reason why we joined in the work at Blessing the children- because they were reaching out to orphaned children. 

This past week, God has once again broken our heart for the orphans in Ethiopia.  Even though we work with orphaned children, our hearts had become desensitized to their plight in some ways because we hear their stories every day and we feel like we’re doing something about it.

We attended a conference about the orphan crises in Ethiopia these past two days and I told one lady how we have 145 children in our programme, to which she replied “wow, that is so many!” But the response in my words and on my heart is that we are hardly scratching the surface.  There are around 5 million orphaned children in Ethiopia – that’s more than the population of New Zealand!  Orphaned children who either have no parents or just one, and the vast majority of them are orphaned because of HIV. 

Testimonies were shared at this conference and scriptures were given to endorse the reality of our mandate as Christians to care for the orphans and widows.  Some of these scriptures were as follows:

James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Matthew 25:31-40 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you.  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Isaiah 1:17  Learn to do right; seek justice.  Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.

Ephesians 1:3-6  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

1 John 4:7-11 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

The theme that ran through these verses is that adoption was God’s idea- He, out of His love for us, adopted US!  The heart of the gospel is adoption.  He desires that we take up the cause of the fatherless, that we are used by Him, because He first loved us, to show His love to others – the least of these, those who need to be fed, loved, clothed, given shelter and when we do this, we do it for Him.  There is Jesus in each child we care for.  His heart beat is as close to them as it could ever be.   God’s sheep should do it instinctively because their heartbeat is that close to His.

A few days ago, some children who walk around our streets, and who often say hello to me were all together as I walked past.  These children are often seen climbing up on the rubbish dump trying to get some food.  They have no shoes and have obviously not been washed in a long time.  I like these kids because they don’t often ask me for anything, which compels me to give to them.  I didn’t know what their story was, but I have become more curious.  I tried talking to one girl the other day but she couldn’t give me any responses and I found out that she doesn’t speak Amharic. 

As I walked past them the other day, with my daughter Lydia, one boy said to me “Money” (in English), to which I replied “No” (I hate it when kids say money to me.) Then he said in amharic “Caramella yellum?” (You don’t have lollies/candy?) To which I replied “Caramella Yellengium” (I don’t have any lollies/candy)…so he asked one final question in Amharic – “What do you have?” and as I thought about what to reply, as I literally had nothing on me at that time, I said “Fikir, Bizu Fikir” (Love, much Love).  He said in amharic “Bonet? Bizu fikir Alish?” (Really, you have a lot of love?) Which I replied in Amharic “Yes, I have a lot of Love”. This is all I have to give - the love of Jesus.

And this is what these kids are hungry for, more than anything else.  As me and Lydia walked around to the guest house last night, we heard the children talking in an empty building they currently call home.  They look after themselves, but like the street boys in Ambo, they have no one to call mum or dad, or to tuck them in to bed at night, or to send them off to school with a packed lunch in the morning.  They are the kings and queens of the street.  We are compelled to help these children, if even temporarily.  There is something that needs to be done and as a representative of Christ, we can’t turn a blind eye. 

Our hearts are broken, as we pray and sing, break our hearts God, we must be ready to action the brokenness He shows us for His people..  Who will these children be?  What is their potential in Christ and how can we help them to realize it?  What can YOU do to help?  We’ll let you know.