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September 26, 2010
First Baptist group visits Ethiopian orphanages
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FIRST-TIME MEETING — Heather Sims recently participated in a missions trip to Ethiopia and had the opportunity to meet Meseret, a young orphan she sponsors. Through Sims’ sponsorship, which is a cost of only $33 each month, young Meseret receives food, clothing and schooling.
Ethiopia — It’s home to 5 million orphans.
“The life expectancy in Ethiopia isn’t what it is here in the U.S. Whether it be through AIDS or malnutrition, parents don’t live that long or they have too many children and they’re unable to take care of them. So they take them to an orphanage,” said Jake Stum, associate pastor of young adults and community ministries and missions at First Baptist Church.
Stum, along with 20 college students and chaperones, recently took a missions trip to Ethiopia.
Since the group’s return, they have decided to participate in a marathon to raise support funds for an Ethiopian orphanage for a year.
“My wife and I adopted a child from Ethiopia. When the opportunity came along for a missions trip, I decided to return and lead a missions trip there,” said Stum.
“At first, I was nervous about the thought of traveling to Africa. But I prayed and prayed about it and the Lord led me to go,” said Heather Sims.
Although the missions trip focused predominately on orphan awareness, the group also visited the leper colony of Korah and the capital city of Addis Ababa.
According to Stum, Korah is home to more than 100,000 people who are banned from other cities because of their association with leprosy.
“We got in the van one day and our tour guide said, ‘Today we’re going to a leper colony.’ We were like ‘OK,’” said Stum.
Stum said although most of the Ethiopian people in Korah do not have leprosy, because they are descendants of lepers they, too, are banned to the city. The people of Korah travel to Addis Ababa to beg for money and scavenge through dumps to salvage food and any produce they might find to sell at street markets.
“They were just tickled that people would come and visit them. They were so happy that we just hugged them and shook their hands. It was just mind blowing for me,” said Stum.
Sims’ 7-year-old daughter, Anna Kate, also accompanied the group to Ethiopia.
“When we got there these children came up behind my daughter and they just touched her hair. When Anna Kate turned around, she just smiled at them and shook their hands. They just had such huge grins,” said Sims.
Sims said the simple act of holding a child’s hand in Ethiopia was something the children valued greatly.
“When we left Korah our tour guide, Sammie, said to us, ‘Thank you so much for being willing to come. You have made them feel important.’ I was kind of blown away by that. I mean, we shook hands and said ‘hi.’ That was a big deal to them. It just makes you want to do so much more than just shake hands,” said Sims.
At the many orphanages the group visited, Stum said the staff and children were appreciative of their visit.
Because of the millions of orphans in Ethiopia, orphanages have very little food, funding and resources to operate.
“They just don’t have the resources. When it comes to access to formula, you get whatever formula you can find. There is no such thing as this baby might be lactose intolerant or this baby might need a formula with more nutrients. They all get the same. You’re either able to thrive or you aren’t. At some orphanages, survival is the only goal they have,” said Stum’s wife, Merica.
At one particular orphanage the missions group visited, there were 20 small children, both infants and toddlers lying on pads in a room, lined up against the wall with only two staff members as caregivers. Other orphanages, which actually have cribs, will put as many as three or four babies to a crib.
“The orphanages do the very best they can with very limited resources they have. The staff at the orphanages care for the children very much. I mean it’s amazing. They love them as they’re own, but they have so little to work with,” said Stum.
The group also visited orphanages who have children saved from child slavery and prostitution.
“They’re trying very hard to teach the young men a trade and the women how to weave baskets or make scarves, in hopes they can learn a trade, make income and a living,” said Sims.
Since the missions trip, Stum and his missionaries have decided to participate in the Walt Disney World Marathon weekend program to raise money for an Ethiopian orphanage.
“It’s called CFI (Compassion Family International) Orphanage and if we raise $26,000 this will fund the orphanage for an entire year,” said Stum.
“We want to get these children on a much better path,” he said.
The First Baptist group is asking for 20 runners to volunteer for the marathon, with each runner raising approximately $1,300 each.
“I have had the opportunity to be in lots of places all over the world, but the Ethiopian people are by far my favorite people on the planet. There is something about them. They’ve been through so much, famine and drought, starvation and AIDS. But, yet, they still have this joy about them that’s indescribable,” he said.
Stum and Sims said they want to invite the community to help with the fundraiser — a fundraiser that will literally change the lives of many innocent children.
“I really feel that once we are aware of needs like this going on in the world, especially those of us who are Christians, it’s our obligation to take some of the extra that we have and give to these kids who are truly in need,” he said.
To participate in the fundraiser in any way, contact Stum at 476-5526 or send an e-mail at jstum@clevelandfbc.com.
Stum’s wife, Merica, will also be coordinating training plans for marathon runner participants.
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