Where's Ethiopia?

"Papa, where's Ethiopia?" Liv asks me.
"It's far away, Liv, across the ocean, in another land called Africa."
"Is it in another world, papa?"
"No, Liv, it's in our world, just very far away."
"Is it farther than grandma and grandpa in New York?"
"Yes, much farther. Abraham will have to take a plane to get here."



Before we met him, we just had a digital picture of him and his dad. His dad stands behind him, a lanky man in his 40s, smiling broadly, his hands on Abraham 's shoulders. They stand against a clay or concrete wall, maybe the wall to their home. Abraham wears a sober expression, a green and white striped polo, and his hair is shaved close. His left eye is nearly closed and has a lot of excess skin on his eyelid. He looks to be about seven or eight, just a bit older than Owen, our oldest. I got a sense of a tough environment surrounding him, maybe a tough lifestyle. Maybe that's just the American in me.

He was still just another boy at that point, removed from us emotionally, like the pictures of our World Vision sponsored child or the ones from many missions pamphlets I've considered over the years. For the month of April, all we could do was wonder what he'd be like.

He needed corrective surgery on his left eye and would need a place to stay for a few weeks while in Maine. Of course, I found out about this arrangement after it was settled. Kimberly rang me at work to let me know that she'd just agreed to an amazing opportunity presented by a friend from church. Apparently, they usually have several host families to "share the burden" but Kimberly couldn't bear the thought of this little boy being passed around from family to family while away from his home and family and after surgery. I'm glad she had enough compassion for both of us.

Three weeks seemed like a long time. At least he'd be on his way home in time for us to celebrate our 15th anniversary. So I just held my breath and bit my tongue. Sure, I agreed, it sounds great. "Does he speak any English?" I wouldn't exhale again until late August.

Abraham is from the capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, in the center of the country. He was brought here through the efforts of a ministry called Grace for All that is run out of Atlanta by a man named Yonas, who is also Ethiopian. The official language spoken is Amharic, a language as different from English as Chinese or Russian. We were told that Abraham lives in a culture and environment very different than ours and there would be some adjusting. Ethiopia is also a much warmer climate and a landlocked country, several hours from the ocean. So Abraham would be in for some surprises.