One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

Living with kids who used to work in the trash dump you learn a few things. Like that empty jelly jars bring 1 birr each, and empty coke bottles bring 2 birr. As you are driving through town, they will point out which trash trucks carry food, where the food came from, and the name of the driver. You also learn that the only people in Ethiopia who use trash bags are the Hilton, the Sheraton, Ethiopian airlines, and Sumer’s family.

The children living in my house are covered in scars. When you ask about them, the stories are not bicycle accidents or falling from trees like the kids in America. They are stories of standing knee deep in the trash truck carrying food from the Hilton and getting cut by the glass bottles. Stories of fights, lots of fights, dog bites, and battling the hyenas for food.

There is a new group of boys who has just started coming to the summer camp. For the past year they have been involved in another program that made promises it cannot keep. There are about 15 of these boys, and they all spend both their days and nights at the trash dump. Worldu who lives with us now, used to be one of those boys. These new kids are his best friends, and he is my son which makes them family. When I look at them I cannot imagine the lives they have known. The heartache and struggle that they face daily. Worldu convinced them to take courage, and believe in promises again, and give the church a try.

From the moment they arrived, I loved them. And I told one of the leaders, if we do not help them, who are we helping?

Isubalew is 17, he has two brothers, and both of his parents are alive. His mother cannot work, and his father lost his job awhile back. They built them a small house on the edge of the dump, and all the family work and eat there. The house is not big enough, so for the past five years Isubalew has just slept on the trash with his friends. He stopped going to school five years ago (6^th grade) as well, but you can hardly tell. The first day that he came to class he volunteered to read aloud. He was a better reader than the kids currently enrolled in 10^th grade. So much potential…wasting away.

When I asked him how he felt about school, he said that he was so excited. Waking up everyday and struggling at the trash dump, he said you don’t even dream of an opportunity like this.

Abdisu has also lived at the trash dump for the past five years. His mother works there as well, and his sister who is 10 or 11 works as a day laborer somewhere in the city. He is missing his front tooth from a fight that happened late one night, but when you talk to him about going to school, he has the most beautiful smile. He says that he is also so excited to go to school, and he wants to make me proud. He will not waste the opportunity. He just needs a sponsor.

This is the last chance for these boys. I am so thankful for them, and that God has blessed them with a chance they could only dream of.

There are 25 older boys that still need a sponsor. If you would like to sponsor Abdisu or another boy, please contact erin@p61.org . The older boys are harder to get sponsors for, but Sumer's heart is that the older boys will be the oaks of righteousness that will change their community.