After four days in Addis, we are preparing to begin heading back towards the Western Hemisphere. If all goes well, tomorrow we will be in Sudan by mid-day. We are not home yet, but we are headed back in that direction. (for those praying for us, we still need it)
There were some long blog posts that I intended to write, but Windows Vista has not yet caught on in the Horn of Africa. (sometimes it is good not to be right on the cutting edge) As my word documents were written in vista, the computer in this cyber-cafe is being very temperamental about my files.
I had written before that one of my goals on this trip was to learn how to see the people of Ethiopia as family; brought together by common faith and being of a common species.
After a few days here, I think I have clarified this goal slightly. Seeing the people of this city as different from me only in geography and language was not hard. Seeing the children lying in the dirt next to the road as being like me is the hard part. For some it is easy. Their hearts are moved immediately by the sight of young boys sitting next to a wall staring aimlessly into space.
Regrettably, I am not so easily moved. I have learned the damaging effects of cynicism this week. I am ashamed to admit that it is surprisingly hard to tear down a lifetime of thinking that the poor somehow deserve it because of their failure to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. That sounds awful when I see it in writing, but it is the truth. Until recently that is how I saw it.
I am more convinced than ever that there is a drastic need to help the orphaned children here. There is no way you can look at what is happening in this city and deny that there is more we can do.
What I am also convinced of is that it takes more than just money. Every NGO imaginable is here. I have seen their expensive Land Cruisers all over town. They can never build enough infrastructure to care for all these kids. What these kids need is love. What these kids need is not to be seen as a problem or a spectacle.
What these kids need is for someone to see them as people. Sadly, I am still working on that.



