Before we went to Ethiopia, Ty had the idea of getting a guitar donated to take to Mahelet'sorphanage. As soon as we started asking around we had some amazing friends in Carthage, Missouri that jumped on the opportunity. Just days later the UPS man arrives with a HUGE box. Inside...a shiny guitar in a brand new hard case! We were so amazed by the generosity and so excited to be the bearers of such a gift! This guitar brought SO much joy to this trip...even way more than we expected.
While in Ethiopia, we had the pleasure of staying with some amazing families at the Ethiopian Guest Home. One sweet family in particular holds a special place in our hearts. They adopted 2 older girls. They are 2 beautiful, smart, lovely girls. Zenash is the older of the 2 sisters and she was Mahi's buddy. She really was key is getting Mahi out of her shell that 1st day. Every time Mahi would see Zenash that week she just wanted to go right to her. They lived together in the orphanage for about a month and Zenash helped take care of Mahi. So you can imagine how special she is to us. Her little sister, Tarikua is a precious little girl! Tarikua is deaf. And here is where the guitar comes in...
One afternoon we were all sitting around. Ty had the guitar out just messing around. Tarikuajust lit up. She looked at her Daddy as if to say "can I go over there and touch that?" Her Daddy anxiously nods and sweet Tarikua goes over to the guitar and lays her head on it and starts to squeal with excitement. We all just watch in amazement as this little girl "heard" the music. Her Daddy (who is a worship leader and music lover) later told me that he and his wife had quietly mourned the fact that Tarikiua would not be able to share their love for music. And here he saw that he had underestimated God. And that this was holy moment for them. I think it was a holy moment for all of us in that room as we watched a deaf little girl hear and play a guitar for , who knows, maybe the first time ever.
And here is Daddy and Mahi playing together for the first time.
Here is Ty playing for a group of kids at a drop in center. This is a center for people (mostly single Moms) to take their kids for free. Here they get 2 meals a day and school up to 2nd grade. It was a wonderful day with these kids. They loved the music and my hair! They wanted us to teach them an American song so we thought "Jesus Loves Me" would be a good one. We sang just that line for about 20 minutes and all of the kids got a turn to come to the front and sing it. They did great and we all had a blast! The director said most of these kids had never heard this song before. Well, 2 days later, Ty went back to visit the kids and when he walked in they all started singing, "Yes Jesus loves me, Yes Jesus loves me!"
And, for the last stop for the guitar...Mahi's orphanage. This little one got so excited and into the music that he peed his pants! He had no time to stop dancing, he might miss something. And some things are just more important than peeing your pants. This little guy was full of soul and he expressed it with his dancing...just precious! The older kids were at school when we first arrived and when they got home they were so excited to see Mahi. They loved the guitar and playing and singing. Ty taught them as much as he could in the time we had with them.
That was where we left the guitar, I hope these kids are playing it and enjoying the sound of music they are making. Music is such an important gift and we are so grateful to those who donated this guitar.
