September 14th

Oh I wish you were here now. The women are having a party to celebrate the New Year. About fifty percent of the ladies are Muslims so they just started Ramadan. The have to watch the Christians eat. Bummer! But everyone is having lots of fun. They are all clapping and making the dance beat, then they sing to each other. Everyone joins in, yes, even me.Yesterday I spent going from house to house to get to know the women better. We now have 14 houses open and are opening three more while I am here. We are moving some of them to a bigger facility where we can have lots of little houses together.I sobbed as I heard their stories. I sat with each one and asked her how she found us, what happened to her. Don’t forget about thirty of the current women are new since the last time I left. Some stories were worse than others. One lady was so shy she could not be coached to move away from burring her face in the wall as she talked. What could have happened to make this kind of abuse?Another lady couldn’t finish her story as she broke into sobs talking about how her family had rejected her. One more awful thing, last time she was with us before her surgery she had a live baby with her. I haven’t had the courage to ask her where the baby is now.A beautiful lady I was drawn to was full of laughter. She was dressed in the traditional white Ethiopian clothing. She joked with the other women and was having such a nice time. Finally, she looked at me and said (in Amharic) “don’t you remember me?” I didn’t. Suddenly it came back to me the last time I saw her she was like a caricature in a bad play about poverty. Her clothes were torn and she was exposed everywhere. She was filthy, she moved like a wild animal. It was her! She had her surgery and could not be cured so she went back to the country side until she could earn enough money to come back. She worked as a maid for over a year at less than $2.00 per month. She worked over one year seven days per week until she had enough. I’m so glad we have a place to offer her hope. It really is worth everything we have given up to help. She’s on her way to learning how to read and write and have her own beautiful life.I have learned some lessons about showering out of a little pink bucket: (just in case you are ever without water for weeks)

1. Don’t use a lot of soap.
2. The bath tub is easier to clean if you only use 1/2 inch of water.
3. Really you don’t need to shower that often….
4. Cold water in the morning is better than coffee to wake you up.
5. God invented leave in conditioner.