Addis Ababa

Today broke my heart. Addis is a beautiful place but one thing that is so different about it, is the number of homeless people and children on the streets, and I don't just mean a few and I don't just mean just the poor. I mean many and beyond the poor I mean the destitute. People in wheel chairs with mangled legs, children with faces so badly burnt that they can not close their mouths. Mothers with wrapped up in rags with their little children curled up next to them just sitting in the middle of the side walk with literally no place to go and with nothing.  I know I am not the most travelled person, but I have been to Haiti, Angola, South Africa, Tejewana (sp?) but no place on earth have I seen so much sadness. Their are so many children. They sell gum or kleenex or just begging for food. They will follow you for blocks and wait outside the stores for you. Some so sad, not even the coldest heart could turn away.  Today though was heartbreaking. Ella, T and I were walking to a restaurant to get dinner and there in the middle of the sidewalk was a little boy, probably 10 or so. He was laying on his side, it looked as though he may have passed out because his box of kleenexes he was selling was beside him but in his other hand was a few Birr (dollars)  laying  out  for anyone to steal. I stopped and so did a couple of other Ethiopian ladies, we tried to wake him but couldn't, finally after a couple minutes he slowly sat up, his eyes were swollen and he began to cry a bit. The ladies asked him what was wrong, I felt his forehead and he was not hot but he slowly pointed at his mouth and opened it for me, his teeth were all full of cavities and infected. I could not imagine the pain he must of been in to just collapse on the side walk and not even being strong enough to protect the few precious dollars (cents)  he had earned. He said he had no family and did not want to go "home".  A lot of the street kids work for someone and I am sure he would not be welcomed home before the his work was done. The ladies helped him up and we talked, they said they would help him. I don't know what they were going to do, they spoke amharic to him. He looked so sad I will never forget his eyes, scared, hopeless, full of pain and sorrow.  

Tonight I think of him again and pray for him, what else can I do? It makes me again so grateful for everything in my life, grateful that at least one of my children was born in a country of prosperity and grateful that my son will never be alone on the streets, but I can not help but be heartbroken for all those children that are. That did not have the luck that we have. It seems so unfair. I don't know why I felt compelled to share this with you all.  It is something that you have to see with your own eyes, the impact it has on your soul is profound and humbling. I don't know how to make this better, how to help. I just know that the need for help is great, so great it is beyond words.