More about Girma

[Post from Julie]

We’ve struggled some this week, coping with two sick children without the benefit of a bathroom. (Both Lily and Eliza are on the mend thank God, and our bathroom is due to be repaired this week!!) As I hung out the many laundered sheets and towels we’d washed in the kitchen sink, it occurred to me that the challenges we’ve faced this week are the same ones most Ethiopians face every day, no indoor plumbing and a sick, or perhaps hungry, crying child. 

We met one of those former hungry children last week as he was introduced to us by a widow from Arizona. Dorothy’s parents were teachers at the school where we work when she was a child.  She married in the US and lived and worked there as a nurse.  When her husband died, she returned to the place of her childhood to live out her life serving the people of Ethiopia.  Dorothy met Girma when he was a young boy of about 11 selling tissues to automobiles along the roadway.  She was captivated by his friendly smile.  Girma has no memory of any family.  He ended up at the Sisters of Mercy (Mother Theresa’s group) after three different bouts of sickness from living on the streets without shelter in the rainy season.  It was there he asked for a  name and how old they thought he was.  They gave him a name and made up a birth date for him (June 18^th).

On a couple of occasions, Girma has been our guide in the markets of the city.  He negotiates prices for us to make sure we are safe and not taken advantage of.  He is a young man of (approximately) 17 who walks an hour each morning to get to school with the hope that he will one day become an engineer.  He lives with another young man in a place without running water, takes showers at the soccer club when he can find the extra money, and carries not an ounce of bitterness in his countenance.  Instead, he is hopeful that if he studies hard, he will score well enough to continue his studies at a University some day.  He told me that he does sometimes worry about his future because he knows he will never be able to afford college and he cannot get a job easily unless he has connections.  He shrugs as we walk along, “Without family, jobs aren’t easy to get.” 

  We’d asked him several times if there was anything he needed while we shopped.  He continually shook his head “no.”   Our last stop was at a stationery store to purchase a couple of pens and post-it notes.  Girma eyed a small calculator in the case.  Benjamin noticed and asked him if he needed one.  Reluctantly, he smiled and said that he did.  When the shop girl placed the calculator in his hands, his eyes lit up like he was given the keys to his own car.  Perhaps it will help him go places - one small $5 dollar tool that might help him get somewhere. 

[Girma is surprised by Pop Rocks!  before and after shots]