Will you provide for Dawit and Mulugeta?

 

We have an urgent need. I met Dawit playing in the streets near BCI Academy on my way to teach Spoken English. From the Amharic I knew, I got to learn his name. He was dressed in very old clothing. His shirt had holes and tears through the shoulder and into the sleeve. His pants were the same. He had shoes on, but barely as he had outgrown them and his toes were sticking out the ends. I also noticed there was something wrong with his eye but I wasn't sure what. I didn't think he was enrolled in school given that he was outside most of the time that I saw him. He would be playing football (or soccer) with his friends or after it had rained, the boys would play in the mud puddles. How else do you play when this is your life?

I knew God did not place Dawit in my path without a reason.

Daily I would take their hand as these impoverished boys (like many we have met in Debre Zeyit) smiled from ear to ear just happy to see me and so wanting to be known, so hungry for love and affection and care.

Immediately, I wanted to get him checked out for medical treatment on his eye and I wanted to buy them clothes. I wanted him in the program at BCI and to find him sponsors. I came back to the guest house and told Kelkias and Eshetu about him. I showed them the pictures he so willingly let me take. The pictures you see here:

In the next days, Kelkias sent Eshetu with me to assess and evaluate their situation. The mom was not home at the time but we did find out more about Dawit and his family. He is seven years old and the friends I saw him play with were not just friends but his brothers. Dawit is a twin to Israel and they both have an older brother named Wandimage. The fourth boy I saw with them is their friend, Mulugeta who also lives near them. They live near the Academy with their mother and father. The mother is currently stay-at-home and the father is a plumber who sometimes finds work and sometimes doesn't. Due to prayers for this boy, his eye was healing the next time we saw him. He could open it fully. I could have sworn I saw ringworm on his forehead as well, but it was not there.

Because BCI focuses on serving the poorest of the poor with children who either have one or both parents deceased or they have been abandoned, while poor, Dawit did not meet the criteria to be placed in BCI's program. However, due to the special circumstances given a medical problem and the inability to be enrolled in school at Bole downtown where his brothers attend due to disbelief that he is a twin to Israel and they are the same age, we are taking on Dawit's case and asking for sponsorship to enroll him in school and asking for donors to help provide for his medical needs for further treatment of his eye. While it is healing, it's not completely healed.

Because the Lord drew me to them, after my class on Thursday the kids were waiting for me with their mom who I find out is named Wendishet. When I left BCI Academy and shut the door behind me, Dawit came running to me barefoot along with Wandimage. They were wearing the same clothes they had worn the days before. I was henceforth "kidnapped" by these kids in the street and given a tour of their home. Their home is small like most I've met here in Ethiopia but they seem to have a lot of things they need like a bed to sleep on at night and a dresser and they even have a tv. These are things not many here have. They told me more about their medical needs and their lack of food.

I shared with the mom how I wanted to buy her kids clothes and wanted Dawit to be treated for his eye. I took pictures of the kids shoes in hopes of creating awareness, and perhaps they would help in guessing a shoe size for these kids given the fact that the size had worn off the inside. The tongue of the shoe was not even there anymore.




















It was in these moments the kids went and grabbed a BCI teacher who knew more English and he could translate what I was saying to them. In these moments of talking about treating Dawit's eye, I learn Mulugeta, the boys' friend is perhaps worse. He has been having headaches and a nosebleed for two months. I took pictures of this beautiful family and went back to find Kelkias. As you can see here, Dawit's eye looks much better. (From left to right: Wandimage, Dawit, Israel, and in front their mom, Wendishet. The father was not present at the time).

 

While Dawit's eye was concerning, Mulugeta's symptoms are more so. We thought Dawit may need an eye specialist in Addis, but given that it is healing, the two boys are currently seeking treatment in Debre Zeyit, but given Mulugeta's symptoms, Mulugeta needs to be seen by head specialists in Addis Ababa, where they may order a catscan of his head to find out an exact diagnosis. If that is the case, this could cost nearly (or over) 3,000 ETB, or $150.10 USD.

Here is a photo of Mulugeta:

 



 

Will you consider giving toward these families medical needs and starting Dawit in school? If you can contribute, please donate via www.blessingthechildren.org/donate and write which you are giving for; either type "Dawit" or "Mulugeta" and our accountants will be able to process it more efficiently. 

 

The boys and I thank you for your generosity!



UPDATE:  After taking the two boys to the local clinic over the weekend, Dawit could not be seen until the next week for his eye because that doctor was not in house at the time.  Mulugeta was seen and after some blood work and a head xray, he was given the diagnosis of a severe sinus infection and a prescription to help clear that up quicker.  If he does not get better soon, then he will need to see an ears/nose/throat specialist in Addis Ababa.  Thanks for your continued prayers!