Leper Colony Thoughts

A school uniform, which is required for all students and consists of a sweater, pants and shoes, cost 150 Berr . . . which converts to 11 US Dollars. People in the Colony make money by scrounging for items in the local dump which could be cleaned and sold. In Ethiopian society, the men have it made!  The women are responsible for cooking, cleaning, taking care of the children, etc. etc. The wheat we gave out will be used to make "enjeria," the Ethiopia bread.  The wheat is ground into a powder and mixed with salt and water.  It is cooked in a special enjeria maker that most Ethiopian families have . . . some are electric while others use fire.  Some of the people were wearing clothes that were so tattered they are falling off of them . . . both adults and children. Despite the poverty, lots (but not all) of the children go to school and learn to read and write.  At the Church compound, a set of twins got hold of Brita's notebook and wrote the English alphabet . . . and yes, they sang the song while they did so! Old Converse tennis shoes . . . with no laces . . . on an incredibly old lady as she was caring trash, on her back, over the rocky streets . . . Mud huts and flies everywhere! Missing fingers, hands, arms . . . deformed feet . . . unable to walk . . . scars on faces . . . Bright Hope School is located in the Leper Colony . . . it has Grades 1 – 8, and the children go to school Monday through Friday, 8:00 – 3:00-ish . . . Struggles . . . constantly . . . yet happy and so grateful to see us coming . . . Pied pipers with candy . . . There is a gym behind the church . . . where both men and women are welcome to come and work out.  There are benches and a few pieces of equipment.  The dumb bells are handmade by melting car batteries!  How clever is that? TV's . . . it's the must have accessory!  Even in the Leper Colony . . . really, the poorest of the poor . . . some families have TV's and they make sure you see it . . . mind you, there is no running water in the colony . . . but they have TV's!   Life is too short and the planet is too big to stay in one place too long!