A Story of Transformation

A few days ago we had the chance to visit the town of Woliso with Zerihun as he was checking in on some GHNI projects. I was especially excited as it was a chance for me to return to the neighborhoods I had worked in and see the people I had met previously on my short term project. It was on that trip that I fell in love with Ethiopia, and now ten months later I am back. Our team of volunteers had helped to build houses for four AIDS affected families, and to construct a small store for Aschelew, a young man with a tragic story. As a teenager he lost both parents to AIDS and became suicidal. In an effort to protect him, his brother and sister tied him up in his house, cutting off the circulation to his arms which both had to be amputated above the elbow. On our February trip, our team built him and his brother a store to run, giving him the ability to help himself out of a life of begging and poverty. We had completed the framing and roofing on the buildings before our team left, but I had yet to see the finished projects.

Ian and I drove down to Woliso from Addis Ababa with Zerihun, his wife, and his two young sons, all crammed into a little Toyota corolla. When we arrived in Woliso and began weaving our way between busy townspeople, dilapidated horse carts, and scruffy donkeys, I started to pick out a few familiar sights. Zerihun announced, “We are here!” In front of us was a clean, sturdy building with a man at the store window that I suddenly recognized as Aschelew’s brother. As we walked up to the store we heard someone calling and turned around to see Aschelew hurrying towards us. He looked great! He had a huge smile and a confidence about him that I hadn’t seen before. I gave him a big hug and he invited me into his store. We looked over his merchandise, bought some snacks, and pretended to sell random items to his neighbors. It was so cool to notice the pride he had in his store and his home, and to see the positive attitude in both him and his brother. We heard from Zerihun that soon he will be receiving artificial limbs so that he will have the use of his arms back. It was amazing to see the hope that had come into Aschelew’s life and to observe the transformation of a hurting, helpless individual to a motivated, optimistic young man.