Nightlight has partnered with Together for Adoption to send a mission team to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (June 10-19). Here’s what happened on day one:

Joy McCarnan reports:

This morning (of our first day in Ethiopia), we ate breakfast together (eggs with tomatoes and peppers, coffee, bread and jam) and then went to visit Children’s Home Ethiopia (CHE, which partners with the Memphis-based The Forsaken Children organization). CHE’s kids are street kids learning to transition into safer, more permanent homes–hopefully their own homes (with resources that would enable them to eat and attend school in spite of dire circumstances at home) or, if necessary and if possible, into foster care. The administrators here hope to begin a halfway house system with fostering house-parents. The staff is competent and innovative, very kind. The kids greeted us with songs and roses and hugs and kisses. They put on a series of skits to help us visualize what life is like for them on the streets. We ate lunch at CHE (injira, potatoes, onion-based ground ox stew sauce, cabbage and carrots) and then went to the courtyard for coffee, popcorn, and more hanging out with the kids. The good-byes were difficult, but we hope to return.

Pictures from day one:

Children’s Home Ethiopia exists to rescue Ethiopia’s children at risk, insuring they remain in, or return to a loving home by providing Christ-centered programs that meet their physical, emotional, developmental and spiritual needs.