Kore (Korah), Ethiopia is the most desperately poor area of the world that I’ve ever seen in all of my years of traveling across the globe. Most of the homes are made of mud or tin. All of the people live in desperate poverty. There is a major road through the middle of Kore, but it’s the road to the Addis Ababa city dump. The most desperately poor and those with leprosy, climb the mountain of that dump every day to search for things to sell, or for food to eat. Many people find their daily food in the garbage that they dig through, on the top of that dump.
Our day in Kore began at a place of great hope in this city of hopelessness. We gathered with about 200 people in the Bethel Christian Church in the heart of Kore. The people raised their hands and worshipped the living God. There was incredible preaching of the word, and then there was a time of celebration worship. It was deeply moving to see the people with nothing, give everything in worship to the living God. This was not a traditional worship service. It was dancing and singing from the very depths of their hearts.
After the church service we traveled through the streets and walkways of Kore, visiting families that are supported through Adoption Ministry 1:27. This is an amazing ministry that we partner with through Streams of Mercy. Adoption Ministry 1:27 rescues families that are facing imminent collapse. Without significant intervention, these families would totally disintegrate. Many of the families are widows with children that they are unable to provide for. Some of the families are the extremely poor, and have no hope other than living off of the dump. It’s a major struggle to provide even one meal a day for their families.
The first person that we visited was a young girl 14 years old. She and her 18-year-old sister are supported by Stephanie and her son, Jacob. What a joy to meet this young lady and to hear that through Adoption Ministry 1:27, these girls now can have a home, food, and the basic necessities of life. These girls are orphan! These girls now have hope through Stephanie’s donation of $40.00 per month!
The second family is a widow and her three daughters who are supported by Charlene and Eric. It’s so good to have Charlene and my grandson Will on this trip, and for them to meet the family they support. We asked the mom what the greatest blessing was of Adoption 1:27. She said the greatest blessing is being able to provide three meals a day for her daughters. Before Adoption Ministry 1:27, they barely had enough food for one meal a day. Now their lives are totally transformed.
We visited several other families in this desperate place. All of their stories were very similar. Families at the point of collapse, who were totally transformed by this unique ministry. You can be a part of this through streams of Mercy as we partner with Adoption Ministry 1:27.
