There's no such thing as solving for x

It’s been a solid couple of days.  And by solid, I mean I’ve been humbled, encouraged, frustrated, excited, dreadful, joyful, overwhelmed, surprised, homesick, and emotional at the thought of leaving.  I guess a “bumpy” couple of days would be a better description. BUT here's me trying to explain what we're doing!

MONDAY highlights

 Britt and I found a smoothie place down the street from ICS (the International school).  I had a strawberry banana smoothie AND a peanut butter banana smoothie (yes, we went twice in the span of 4 hours).  BEST. DAY. EVER.

We had a 4 hour team meeting on Monday night to talk about the program.  It’s tough, because there’s no such thing as “solving for x”.  It was really interesting to see Katie and Rudy working together as a team – to lead the groups to success, Rudy breaks everything down into the “business plan model” (income – expenses = profit), while Katie is much more on the “we have to encourage the guardians and bring them together as a GROUP”  (Rudy is an engineering professor, Katie has a Ph.D in developmental psychology.  Some things just make sense).  But it was neat because BOTH inputs are crucial in helping these groups move forward.  It’s tough because there’s not a right answer and things will always go wrong.  This program is different because it focuses on helping the guardians to be independent instead of forcing them to be dependent on outside aid, but that also comes with a lot of room for failure.  I can only imagine the pressure of feeling the weight of the lives of these guardians on your shoulders – Rudy and Katie started Because of Kennedy and have taken 200 families under their wing – it would be SO hard feeling like you were responsible if they didn’t succeed.  So the night was full of a lot of circled conversation and people trying to prove their points and arguing and laughing, but it was REALLY cool to see the genuine heart behind the program.

My first bead! (Katie taught Britt and I how to make paper beads so that we could help lead guardian training on Weds.)

TUESDAY highlights

-          GIRLS TRIP TO THE MERCATO (the biggest open air market in Africa) to buy supplies for the necklaces.  It was insane – people everywhere, the most RANDOM things I’ve ever seen for sale, and the most BIASED forengie prices.  When we asked Tsion (the nanny) to take us to the Mercato, she looked at Katie and went “Go to the Mercato? With 3 white people?”  When we got back in the car to leave, she turned around and said “You guys are coming with me every time from now on.  That was hilarious!” Lesson learned: forengies make you popular.

Almaz and Meseret.  They made me rings out of
candy wrappers! The other kids just wanted in
on the picture

-          At the guardian meeting in Burayu, we had a long discussion about the difference between SVO/BOK and Compassion.  One of the women challenged the program (she wanted to know why her child wasn’t being given as much as the Compassion kids were) – it was amazing to watch as other guardians stepped up to defend the program.  They are so adamant on making this about leading towards self-sufficiency instead of increasing dependence.  It was just a cool testament to watch women stand up and speak to each other on behalf of the program because of what it had already done in their lives. We didn’t have to say anything.  Another woman brought up how her child didn’t have an individual sponsor yet, and wanted to know if that would ever happen.  It’s the first time I’ve ever heard someone bring up the fact that their kid wasn’t sponsored.  I got to see that it’s more than just the $$ that these families desire.  There’s something powerful about knowing that someone specifically chose you and is praying for you and cares for you.  We assured her that there were random people praying for her family and giving $$ (the random donations are how she’s able to participate in the program) and that we were working hard to get her son individually sponsored so that he (and she) would have a personal relationship with someone  who deeply cares for them.  It was just neat – I’d never really thought that people who weren’t individually sponsored cared because they were still getting the financial benefits (through outside donations), but it’s so much more than that.

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     WEDSNEDAY highlights

- AMBO TAKE 1: Teaching how to make paper bead necklaces.  Each of the guardian groups is working towards starting a business.  Every member of the group contributes 5 birr a week towards their group’s savings account.  Most of the groups have saved about 8,000 birr, but they need about 20,000 to start a small business (one group estimated their starting cost at 120,000 birr.  At this rate, they’ll be starting in 21 years.  We’re working with them to “re-evaluate” their short term vision, but their long-term one is AMAZING).  In order to increase their savings accounts faster, we’re teaching them how to make necklaces out of paper beads.  We’ll buy the necklaces from them and then sell them in the US.  Half of the $$ will go directly to the guardians who make the necklace, while the other half will go into the group savings account.  This way, the work they put in helps supply food for their family NOW, but there’s also a long-term benefit.  The necklaces aren’t meant to be a sustainable business; they’re just a step to help speed up the process of getting to where each group is able to start one. 

I've never been so excited about seeing someone cut in a straight line.
When the first woman (Firewot) succeeded, I held it up, made everyone
clap for her, and gave her a HUGE hug.

We had to start teaching from the VERY basics, because most of the guardians had never used a ruler or scissors before.  Katie led the main instruction with a translator and then we split into groups to work individually.  I’ve always taken for granted how to draw a straight line with a ruler, but there are so many things you have to make sure you do! (line the ends of the ruler up to the marks, hold the ruler down as you run your pen along the edge of the ruler, etc.)   I’d also never thought about how to teach someone how to cut without creating jagged edges.  Since my group didn’t have a translator, it was a lot of hand-over-hand demonstration (you should try teaching someone to measure in a different language.  It’s way more fun than in English).  Once one person mastered a skill, he/she would stand up and explain it to the rest of the group! It was a BEAUTIFUL picture of international teamwork.

The necklaces are also a really good way to teach the guardians to work together.  While most of the groups developed “specialists” in each skill (cutting, measuring, drawing lines, and rolling), they were all really excited to teach each other. 

Abavech, Alam, Abebu, and Diribe with their first beads! 

Mulu!! (I don't know if you can see this, but the bead is on
top of her head) 

Abebu and Firewot

Diribe laughing at me – I’m trying to memorize all of the Ambo guardian’s names, so I’ve been taking their pictures and writing their names down.  I gave Diribe a hug and said “Denanush” (hello) , and then one of the other women said “Salamnachu, Foto?” (“What’s your name?”, “Photo”?) and they all laughed (it’s my natural progression of meeting them: “Hello, What’s your name?, Photo?”).  BUT even though they laugh at me it’s totally paying off – I’ve gotten a few of their names down, and it’s WAY worth seeing their face light up when I’m able to call them by their names. 

This is Feraol.  I’m proud to say that I got him to take his first selfie EVER. He’s laughing at me (it’s become a common trend).

HIGHLIGHT OF THE DAY (other than getting to make beads with men and women who I can laugh with and learn with and spend time with even though we can communicate a maximum of 10 words with each other) was watching 2 of the Burayu guardians (Buzi and Yodit) come and teach the Ambo guardians how to make paper beads, and then lead the self-help groups in the afternoon.  The Burayu program is a year older than Ambo so Buzi and Yodit have been involved in the program for a year longer than the Ambo guardians.  It was SO cool to see them sharing their testimonies of how the program had affected their lives and give their advice to the Ambo guardians.  I’ve never seen the guardians so engaged during a meeting – it’s just really powerful/affirming to hear from someone who has walked the same path as you encourage you.  AND it was cool to see the unity between people who had never met, but who were all fighting poverty together.

Feraol and Amansisa.  They were my "guadenyas" ("friends".  I don't know if it's Amheric or Afan Oromo, but I know what it means!) They both ROCK.