So Mikki is a street boy that we met about 6 months ago. Weekly we go to the streets and build relationships with these precious kids. From the first time I met Mikki he asked if we could help him get back to his region he is from in Ethiopia Dire Dawa. What I always tell the kids is that I alone can do nothing for them but they must go to God and pray. God knows if there heart is true or if they are just wanting to a free ride of some sort.
Here we are 6 months later and he asks again. He tells me that he has been praying and asking this God to please help him get home to his mom. He is tired of being on the streets. "When your a kid the streets are fun but now that I am older its time for me to get back in school or get some work so I can help my mom".
We too have been praying that if it is Gods will for us to help Mikki that we would know. Not only Mikki do we pray this for but every street kid that we have relationships with. One week after hearing his words we were in the process of HELPING MIKKI get off the streets. This is what we do, this is what we were created for. This is what Make Your Mark Ethiopia is all about.
We go and buy a bus ticket for him. You never give a street kid anything that they can go sale so we keep it. Yes this means clothes and shoes to even if they have bare feet on the filthy roads. That is enabling them instead of empowering them. As hard as it is to not give give give because that is our American mentality. We thank God for the street smarts HE has given us through many years of bad choices our selves. Now HE uses those choices for HIS glory.
Saturday we went and took Mikki to get a new outfit. He couldn't show up to see his mom after 5 years looking like that. We then brought him to our home to take a shower. He spent the night with our 3 sons so that we could leave at 4:45 am to get him to the bus station.
Mikki was very happy and super excited to go find his mom and get off the streets. We put him on the bus and stood outside the bus for two hours in the cold crisp morning air. For two reason we did this. One was just to be there to celebrate with him and let him know that we all loved him and cared for him. The second reason was because we wanted to make sure he didn't get off that bus. We all know how the enemy works in our minds when we are trying to the the right thing.
We over the past 6 months have planted the seed about Jesus and how much he cares for Mikki. Pleapray that HE would bring someone to grow and water that seed so that Mikki will know Jesus in his heart.
So I have anxiously been waiting for a phone call from Mikki. I must know has he found his mom???
We received a call this morning. My heart jumped with excitement to know that he arrived safely. With the money we gave him 100 birr a little over 5 usd he rented a bed for the evening. YES he didn't sleep on the streets for 2 nights in a row. Woooooooo Hoooooo
The words he said next made my heart sad. He hasn't found his mom and has heard that she had moved away to Djibouti. Djibouti connects Somalia and Eritrea. It a port where things are shipped in and out from. There is no way at the moment that he can even get close to the border much less cross over the border.
He found his aunt and she said that his mom was sad and cried a ton while waiting many years for Mikki to return to her and he didn't so she moved away, for work as house help. His aunt is angry with him and is not sharing any information that she has on his mom with him. When we spoke he said she wouldn't even give him injera to eat.
He found a friend from a long time ago and was with him yesterday. His friend lives with his family so Mikki can not stay with them. He was going to find another group of friends to spend some time with when we last talked.
PRAY THAT THERE IS SOMEONE THAT KNOWS MIKKI'S MOM'S NUMBER. Imagine being a mom and not hearing from your son for 5 years then all of a sudden you hear his voice on the other end of the phone. Or being Mikki and craving to be back with his mom for many years but had no way and finally gets to hear the voice he has sketched out in his mind from the last time he heard her voice. That is how AMAZING GOD is expecting IMMEASURABLY MORE!!
A little background on Mikki: in 2005 there was a flood in Dire Dawa before this flood him and his family were doing well. His father owned his own business and could take care of him and his mom. The flood came and ruined their home and business. 150 people died during this flood. It happened at night while they were sleeping. After the flood they went and lived in a community shelter where many many families all lived together. Shortly afterwards his father died, leaving Mikki and his mom with nothing.
Mikki came to Addis Ababa Ethiopia for some hope. That is what many from the country side do. The city is like the land of opportunity for them where they can get work and take care of themselves. The problem is that most come here thinking that then find their selves living on the streets, digging through trash dumps for food, stealing and begging for anything they can get.
That is where Mikki has been for the past 5 years. In a place of darkness that would suck him in squeezing the life out of him. Mikki is around 19 years old. His ebony round face is the only thing that looks of his age. He is skinny and malnourished and has stopped growing due to the lack of nutrition. When I picked up the pants we had bought for him I told my daughter Amilly there is no way that he fits in these tiny pants. Then I saw them on him. That is when I really realized how malnourished he is really is. He is the size of my 10 year old daughter.
PLEASE continue to pray for Mikki and his journey ahead of him. Pray for him to know JESUS and pray that he gets his mothers phone number and that they are connected very soon. Pray that GOD will lead him in the exact direction that he needs to go. Pray that through the time of waiting that GOD surrounds Mikki with a group of people that will love him, feed him and care for him. Pray that he can find some work soon so he can take care of himself until he is reunited with his mom.
