4

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA

It was hot and muggy, even at 1:00 a.m. Allan tossed and turned on the lumpy bed in the modest bedroom of an equally modest guesthouse. Street noises sailed through the open windows at constant but irregular intervals. But these weren’t the causes of Allan’s insomnia. He’d grown used to these things in the first few days of his trip.

Allan couldn’t get the images he had seen earlier that day out of his mind. Not just the sights but the sounds . . . and the smells.

He thought he’d seen it all before. This was his fifth trip to Africa in three years. His third to Ethiopia. Extreme poverty, the wholesale lack of basic goods and necessities, broken down or nonexistent roads . . . he had seen all of these things plenty of times. Allan knew you didn’t get used to it if you were from America, no matter how many times you came here, but the shock value wore off after the first few days. You couldn’t function or fulfill your mission if you let it get to you.

But nothing Allan had seen thus far prepared him for what he had seen today, about fifteen minutes outside the city in a little village named Korah.

8:30 A.M.—THE DAY BEFORE

Allan and his friends were just finishing their breakfast when Ray Jenkins walked in all excited. Ray was a full-time pastor, in charge of evangelism and missions at the church Allan and Michele belonged to back home. Ray was leading this trip, but he had unofficially made Allan his right-hand man. Beside Ray stood a short African man, who Allan guessed was a native Ethiopian. A troubled expression on his face caught Allan’s attention, since it contrasted with Ray’s smile.

Everyone stopped talking. They had been expecting Ray to lay out their marching orders for the day. “Guys, let me introduce my new friend here. This is Henok. Met him last night after our outreach meeting. We stayed up talking for hours. He has some amazing stories to tell about where he grew up. It’s not far from here. There are hundreds of orphans living there. Right, Henok?”

Henok looked around nervously, as if concerned someone might be listening. “Yes,” he said quietly, with a strong African accent. “Many orphans there. Many lepers and elderly too. Many people with AIDS.”

“Henok and his wife have been trying to start an orphanage for two years,” Ray continued, “but they lack the funds and resources. They actually adopted a little boy from there themselves.”

“But our home is very small,” Henok said. “There are so many more who need help. Our hope is to get a bigger home and rescue other children.”

Allan started tensing up; he didn’t know why. Well, he knew one reason. He wasn’t nearly as adventurous as Ray. Ray seemed fearless, willing to go anywhere or do anything if there was even the slightest chance of reaching people for Christ. Allan was just getting used to the routines they had established on this trip, and they only had a few more days to go before they flew home. He wondered what new adventure Ray had in store this time. “Is this what we’re doing today?”

“I wasn’t thinking all of us,” Ray said. “At least not right away.” He looked at Allan and said, “I was thinking you and I could go check this place out. See if we think it might be a fruitful place to spend our last few days as a team.”

Allan smiled. Inside, his stomach was still tensing up. “Sure, Ray. I’ll go,” he said as he stood.

“Ed,” Ray said, “why don’t you lead the guys back out and pick up where we left off yesterday until Allan and I get back?”

“You want to meet back here?” Ed said.

Ray looked at his watch. “Sure, how about 12:30 for lunch? Henok, we can get back here by then, right?”

Henok nodded. “No problem. The village is only about fifteen minutes from here.”

“Great,” Ray said. “Then that’s our plan. How much time before you’re ready to go, Allan?”

“I’m ready now.” Technically, that was true. He was ready on the outside. What he wanted to do was suggest Ray let him and Ed switch places.

“Then let’s go.”

The rest of the men stood, and each one, in turn, shook Henok’s hand. Allan noticed he was actually smiling by the time they finished. But Henok’s smile faded as they made their way through the tables and out to the street, where their car and driver awaited.

Allan’s smile had faded well before that.

Allan had grown used to driving through the streets of Addis Ababa by now. Parts of the city were quite modern. Large commercial buildings were beginning to appear. More of them with each trip. Lots of construction was under way. Plenty of paved roads. There were still far more people walking to their destinations than you’d ever see in a US city, and far more merchants selling fruits and vegetables along the curb. But Addis Ababa definitely gave the appearance of a city trying to find its way into the mainstream.

Still, unmistakable poverty abounded. Even more so the farther they drove from the center of town. After five minutes, the paved roads disappeared, and things became very bumpy.

The driver did his best to follow in the ruts created by a large garbage truck ahead. Ray sat up front with the driver; Henok and Allan sat in the back. Henok sat on the edge of the seat, leaning forward, answering Ray’s questions. “So the village is named Korah?”

“Yes,” Henok said. “Korah.”

Ray asked the driver, “Have you ever heard of this place?”

“Yes. It is a terrible place. People from the city never go there. It is where we dump our garbage.”

“It’s the city dump?” Allan asked.

“Yes. You will begin to smell it long before we arrive.”

“After you are there awhile,” Henok said, “you get used to the bad smells.”

“I don’t agree,” the driver said. “The smell stays in your nose for days, and on your clothes. It is a town of lepers. It is where they have always sent the lepers, for many years. Many with AIDS are there too.”

Allan looked at Henok. “Didn’t you say last night that you grew up there . . . in Korah?”

The driver shot Henok a look through the rearview mirror. A sad look came over Henok’s face, and he slid back in his seat. Allan realized he had asked the wrong question. Henok was clearly embarrassed.

Henok looked out the window. “Yes, I grew up there. But that is not who I am anymore. I escaped.”

“Do any of your family members still live there?” Ray asked.

“Yes.” Then a long pause. “Some do.”