Day 2 - Addis Ababa, Ethopia

Addis Ababa is the capital of Ethiopia. It is a city of more than 2 million people located in the foothills of the Entoto Mountains. It is a very underdeveloped region marked by extreme and widespread poverty. We arrived at the end of the dry season and everything was coated with a layer of red dust.After being reunited with the rest of our team over breakfast, we headed out to the Mercado District - the largest slum in Addis Ababa. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw here. Even the worst 'slums' in Detroit can't compare to the conditions here. The Mercado is home to many street children, some as young as 7 years old. Latest figures place the number somewhere around 60,000 street kids in Addis alone. Most are orphans, having lost their parents to AIDS. Many have come from the countryside looking for work. Instead they end up begging, stealing (or worse) in order to survive. We met with the LIA Mercado Street Children Team and heard about their program that provides education, housing, food and training to @150 children each year. We were introduced to a young man, Ficadu, who is about to graduate from the program. Orphaned at a young age (both parents died of AIDS), he had lived on the streets, fending for himself for 10 years. We visited his home, where he lives with 3 other young men from the program. It was tiny, sparse and tidy. On each mat where the boys slept was a Bible. Ficadu says that before, his life was hard and he was scared, but now he's happy and has hope because he knows Jesus. Other boys in the program look up to him as an example of what their lives can be like.

After lunch, we went to Antioch School and were greeted by the children who sang for us. These children are part of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Program and receive food, clothing and other assistance to enable them to attend school. Most of the people I met in Africa realize that children are the future and they place great value on education. We visited their classrooms and got to play with them on the playground before they headed to their homes.