How does the Thomas Family fit into the Make Your Mark Ethiopia puzzle and how can you help?

In my last post I took some time to fill everyone in on some of our experiences from our three week trial trip with Make Your Mark in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 

After several weeks we've been asked a couple questions numerous times...

1) Who is Make Your Mark ministries?

and...

2) What will you guys be doing when you move there?

I'll try my best to answer both questions. 

So who is Make Your Mark Ethiopia? Here is the organization's mission and vision statements:

Mission Statement: "We are the relationship in the lives of at-risk youth and their families, to provide the resources, encouragement and LOVE that will lead them into their full redemptive potential.

Vision: To empower street and abused children through education, counsel, encouragement and a relationship with Jesus Christ. Using these tools we will prepare children to be adopted locally. We will train and equip local families to adopt, as this is what must take place in order to make a drastic impact in the street kid/orphan population.

Make Your Mark Ethiopia exists to act as a voice for the voiceless street children and at-risk youth of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Not only do they work with the actual street children, but they also work with the families of children who are at high risk of being abandoned to the streets or given up for adoption by their family because of their extreme poverty. No family should have to make the decision to relinquish the child whom they love based on poverty alone.

Here are the current ways and capacities in which Make Your Mark Ethiopia is engaging the local street kid and at-risk youth population:

The Day Center- Make Your Mark House
This is a safe place where the street children can bathe, wash their clothes, eat healthy lunch, get biblical teaching, some basic education, games, some counseling and any minor medical issue they may have. This first step will act as a filtering process for us to see who really wants to change their lives because many say they want off the streets, but as we’ve found out many don’t want to put in the work to stay off the streets.  Those who show consistent desire to come off the streets by their daily efforts; we invite them to the next step:

The Transformation Home- Rehabilitation. 

The ones we’ve evaluated and feel really want to change and get off the streets we bring in to these homes. In this home they stay for 1-2 years depending on progress shown. Our purpose and goals in the homes will be to teach them how a family functions. We teach them responsibility, they begin to going to school, dig deep with intense counseling, do a lot of role playing for family situations; for our goal is to have them prepared for a family. The Homes are not a place to live as the final step for each child is being placed in a local family. There is a need for house sponsorship and the cost is around $525 a month.

Domestic Adoption (Adopted by Ethiopian Family) 

We are currently working with the local church and other NGO’s to train and equip Ethiopian families in adoption. This is a new idea to this culture, but we are highly encouraged as God is having us meet families that have this desire. We are working towards having a yearly national adoption conference here to bring awareness and action. Why domestic??? Let’s look at the Ethiopia orphan crisis, as we said above there are 5.5 million orphans in Ethiopia. It would take 125 million USD and 2500 years for international adoption to be the solution. There are 80 million people in Ethiopia; if only 6.5% of the population would take in a child, there wouldn't be any orphans in Ethiopia, this has to be taught and this is what we’re teaching.

Keeping Kids Home Initiative

Our street kid prevention plan is coming alongside the poorest of the poor families to provide the needed resources to keep their children at home and not in the streets. At first we build relationship by providing some food assistance and full educational needs for the child. Our long term goal for each family is provide specific training to the parents in order to generate more income, in turn becoming self-sustaining. We also provide family consul and teach God-centered family values to strengthen the family’s core.

As you can see, Make Your Mark Ethiopia attacks the street kid and orphan problem in Addis from all angles...there is care for existing street children, but there is also street kid and orphan prevention through the Keeping Kids Home Initiative. 

So where does the Thomas Family fit in with all of this? What will be doing once we move to Addis?

Well as some of you may know, I (Ryan) recently graduated from Liberty University with a B.S. in Religious Studies. Trent and Carmen Post of Make Your Mark Ethiopia approached me a couple months before my graduating with a proposal...to move to Ethiopia to head up the ministry department of Make Your Mark ministries in Ethiopia!

My role would include:

- Biblical teaching and curriculum for the street boys who come daily to the Day Center.

- One on one counseling with the boys who utilize the Day Center. 

- Training and encouraging the Make Your Mark Ethiopia staff (caregivers, social worker, manager, accountants, etc.)

- Working alongside a local evangelist and secretary for the ministry department. 

- Networking and connecting the local churches to Make Your Mark Ethiopia's ministries. 

- Training and facilitating small groups with the Keeping Kids Home families. 

- General pastoral care concerning all facets of Make Your Mark Ethiopia's network of ministries. 

Courtney's roles:

- Homeschooling for Nara.

- Coming alongside me and assisting in all the ministry areas mentioned above. 

- Possibly taking in Ethiopian children and serving as a Transformation Home. 

Without saying, there is much work to be done in Addis. This work requires lots of prayer/spiritual support and of course...financial support. I can honestly say that raising the financial support for our family is what I've dreaded the most about this whole life change. Not that I'm not willing to put in the hard work that is fundraising, but I just truly don't like the thought of asking people for money, ha. But in order for our family to fulfill the calling that we know that God has on our lives and family, it will take the support of many to help us serve the least of these in Christ's name. 

How can you help?

We just got word today that our family's fund has been added to the Make Your Mark Ethiopia giving page. 

You can access this giving page by visiting the Make Your Mark Giving Page. Go to the bottom of this page and click the "Secure Giving Page" banner. Fill in the amount beside "Thomas Support". You can then select  the frequency of your donation...one time, weekly, bi-weekly, 1st and 15th of the month, or monthly. 

We would love to come to your church, small group, or business to share our passion and the vision for Make Your Mark Ethiopia. We'd even love to sit down for a meal with you to do this as well. 

You can contact us @ 704-506-8212 or email @ rydog4041@hotmail.com

"Jesus just told me something guys"...What Nara thought about our trip.

Going into our trip one of our biggest concerns would be how Nara would do being back in Ethiopia so soon. Many of you asked, so I'm gonna share a bit about our trip from Nara's perspective. She was super pumped about flying and requested to sit in the window seat of the plane. During take off and landing she had her face glued to the window and excitedly kept pointing and showing me the clouds.   We definitely have a travel lover on our hands. Almost a day later we finally arrived in Ethiopia. From the get go everything seemed to feel familiar to Nara in a good way and not a bad way like we had feared it might. The first few days at the day center she acted a bit stand offish and was really taking things in. I'm sure the street boys smell, clothing and the building may have reminded her of some past memories. However it didn't take her long and after a few days was joining in on the fun at the day center and picking around and playing with them. The most exciting day we had there was when we witnessed three of the boys moving off the street and into a Transformation home with their new house parents. The boys were overjoyed as they saw their beds and clothes. We were going to have them burn their old street clothes but the rain was too much. They threw them over a steep cliff instead symbolizing leaving their old life behind. The perfect visible representation of the old life being gone and how Jesus washes us and makes us new, giving us new life! We then gathered around the boys as Mr. Kramer led a prayer. He prayed Ephesians 3:20 over the boys and I couldn't help but stand there with tears streaming down my face. "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more that all we could ask or imagine because His power that is at work within us." This verse has continually kept resurfacing over and over again during this past year. Before I left for this trip the girls at work asked me what my favorite verse was. I told them that I had many but for some reason Ephesians 3:20 had been one I'd pondered over a lot lately. My coworkers later surprised me with a handmade sign with the verse written on the back and messages of encouragement. Praying this prayer daily now and that God would do more in Ethiopia than I could ever imagine and also in my own life. Not because of my own strength and power. That won't get me far at all...but because of HIS power that is at work within me.

STREET BOYS NO MORE...

 Ok so getting back to my story...Trent was driving us home that night and as we pulled away from the transformation home, out of the blue Nara says, "I hope someone takes those other boys home." She was talking about the other boys, our newest friends at the day center who would still be sleeping on the streets that night. Then we asked her what we should do about that? What's your strategy? She replied, "we should just go in the street and look for them." She gets so much to be so young. Better than most adults do. We thank God for her heart for the hurting and the orphan. The next day we were having a family day and Ryan and I are discussing our feelings over moving to Ethiopia. Again, out of nowhere, Nara says, "Agghh, just quit talking about it." We told her it was important and and kept talking. Nara stops us again and says, "Jesus just told me something guys." We asked her what and she replied, "Jesus told me that we are 'posed to move here." Jokingly we asked her how He told her that and she replied, "Cause He lives in my heart." Duh, right? We told her we should pray about the decision and she volunteered to pray. She prayed, "Dear Jesus, thank you for mommy and daddy. Thank you we have fun today. Help us if we move here. Amen." Nara's depth of understanding amazes us daily. Child-like faith. We are praising Him for already whispering truth and His love into her little heart and preparing her for the days ahead. A trip that we thought may cause her to be confused or mistrust actually did the opposite. Since we brought Nara home last year we have had trouble getting her to sleep in her bed all night. She usually would wake up and feel the need to come check and make sure we were in our beds and that she hadn't been left alone. On our trip the three of us had to sleep in a bed together. I always swore I would never let her get used to sleeping with us and felt she would certainly be ruined after three weeks of this. Since we have been home from our trip she has slept in her bed every night! Our trip was like a trust exercise. She sees that no matter what we are a family. Whether we are here in the states or traveling halfway around the world to Ethiopia. She even said herself a few weeks ago, "Daddy, I love you no matter what and we are gonna be together forever. Me, you and Mommy." She's got that right ;)

NARA AND I WITH OUR FRIEND AMY WHO IS ON STAFF AT THE DAY CENTER