It’s 4:30am here in the Lemlem neighborhood of Debre Zeyit, Ethiopia. Most of the dogs stopped barking sometime after 3, and the predawn quiet has settled in. I think the whole world takes this silent pause before dawn. Just another thing we all have in common.

We have a full day planned and I’ll be tired later if I don’t go back to sleep. My mind is busy trying to wrap itself around all the newness of gifts like these…

Tekele gave me warmth. He presses his face and neck beside mine and holds me tightly in an uninhibited embrace mere seconds after meeting me. He doesn’t know me, he wasn’t expecting me. There’s no particular reason he should care about me, but he does. He reaches out to me with a fearlessness i want for myself. Tekele is an Ethiopian man with short gray hair and a healthier figure than most people here. I imagine he eats better than most because he has a good job as a teacher of leadership, research methodology, and English. As I sit through, and he eagerly drinks in, a lengthy church service in Amharic, a language I know literally three words of, he mercifully passes me notes with English headlines from the lyrics and sermon content. My favorite says “This is no time for sleeping or passing the time in idleness. Bear fruits!”. With great energy and generous sprinkling of echoed Amens, the Ethiopian preacher thousands of miles from my home and completely outside my culture was articulating a concept that touches deep convictions in me.

Ebenezer gave me inspiration. He sits next to me on a couch in the children’s home where he lives with nine other children and two foster moms. He’s 15 years old with a face that speaks of total sincerity. Like many here he is very thin and looks young for his age. He’s energetically eager and obviously smart. While we talk I’m eating popcorn one of his foster moms has popped for us on a small charcoal fire in a pot nearby. Now she’s roasting coffee beans in a small pan over the same coals. We’re here for this coffee ceremony which I gather is a way of formally welcoming us to town

Ebenezer

He tells me about civics class and describes in detail the legalities of how Ethiopian citizenship is obtained by birthplace, blood relationship, or naturalization. He also comments on the legalities of American citizenship. Then using considerable time and energy he asks me a question he has been unable to find an answer to. If an Ethiopian woman marries and American man in Ethiopia, and gets pregnant with his child who is born over Germany while on an airplane flight from Ethiopia to the US, what citizenship(s) will the child have? This is not a game of stump the teacher, he is intensely curious and he really wants to know. He is earnestly hoping someone in our group of Americans will know the answer and he is disappointed that we don’t. He said it is not addressed in the Ethiopian constitution and he doesn’t have access to the German and American constitutions to see what they say. Ebenezer wants to be a doctor, but his first love is soccer. He says when he watches soccer it gives him such joy that he wants to play like that someday. He says he will leave it up to God which career he follows. I promised him I’d try to find an answer to his citizenship question.

The sun will be up soon and I never did go back to sleep. I’ll post this the next time I have Internet access. Today we plan to participate in art and sports classes at BCI Academy, the private school part of Blessing the Children International. Word is we might play a game of soccer against the students. My money is on the kids in that game.