To Addis, with love

During the months preceding our move to Ethiopia, I must have said these words dozens of times: “We’ll spend the first several months in the capital city studying language, and then we’ll move down to Soddo where the hospital is.”  In that sentence, the months in Addis Ababa are followed by a comma—a brief pause—and then move to Soddo.  But now we’re about to live the second half of that sentence, and the transition doesn’t feel like a comma sort of thing…it feels like it deserves paragraphs.  So here we are...

Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia.  Twenty years ago, I couldn’t have named it or found it on a map.  But then in 2003 that changed, and my life changed with it.  My first time on a plane landed me here, my first time for so many things.  Addis Ababa showed me beauty mixed with suffering in a way I had never seen before.  It showed me dedicated people pouring their lives out in love and service.  It showed me the man who would become my husband—and out of all the places we’ve lived together, I still like him best here.

I’ve grown up a lot in this city…I’ve learned so much about God here, and I’ve learned so much about myself.  I spent time as a college student here, then as a newlywed, then as a young mom.  My faith has been challenged and questioned and has grown stronger through experiences here.  Visiting sick people in their homes, talking to kids who live on the streets, spending time at the hospital—you can’t do those things and stay the same person you were before you did them.  The person I am today has so much to do with this place.

God has given me so many dear friends here…oh how I’d love to look back and count all the laughs I’ve shared with Ethiopian friends, the cups of insanely strong coffee I’ve drunk, the amount of injera I’ve eaten in this city.  The sights, the smells, the sounds are all burned into my memory and evoke an intense brand of nostalgia.  I love this place.

And now we leave it.  When we made this plan, I didn’t realize that leaving Addis would feel like this to me.  It seemed logical and expected, like a blip on the radar.  But now that we’re upon it, I think it deserves more than that blip.  So thank you—thank you, Addis, for welcoming me and for being a second home to me all these years.  Thank you, God, for choosing this place as the setting for so many things in my life.  Thank you for meeting me here time and again, and thank you for teaching me and changing me through it.

And now as we move to Soddo, there’s a new city to learn and a new group of people to drink coffee and eat injera with.  New roads to learn, new stores to shop in, new faces to meet on the street.  The thought of learning a new place in Ethiopia intimidates me, but then I try to remember that God who led me to Addis in 2003 and walked with me faithfully here—He does not change.  He will walk with me faithfully wherever He calls us, and one day I will look back with thankfulness at what He did in my life in Soddo.

But for today, I look back with thankfulness at what He did in my life in Addis.  I love you, Addis Ababa.  And mark my words, you can’t get rid of me that easily.  I’ll be back to see friends, to eat yummy food, and to buy cheese.  I’ll see you then.