Love Travels

 

Tecle is planning a trip in mid August to bring hope and love back to the unaccompied children of the Mai Ayni refugee camp in Eithiopia.  All donations will go toward helping him fund this trip where he plans to hold a revival in which he will share his story of hope, connect the local church to these children and host a sporting event.

 

Tecle’s Journey from Eritrea to Idaho

 

When I was 14 years of age, I left Eritrea and traveled many days searching for my future.  Somehow, I survived an entire dark night in the jungle, near the longest River Nile.  One morning, I realized that I was in another country called Ethiopia.  For the first few days, I lived in a refugee camp called Shimelba, in a forested place in southern Ethiopia. The blood of thousands of youngsters did not dry on both countries borders.... I saw it.  The flame did not yet end ... I smelled it. Coffins were on the ground ... I walked over them.  I was told legally after a few days about several relief agencies ... about the work they do and why they do it. I realized after a few months that without assistance from these agencies, I would die sooner rather than later in this very place.  But thanks to the world community, small gifts save lives in other parts of the world.

 

Life in the refugee camp was very difficult.  Even though the food provided in the refugee camp is not something most people would call food, it was like a medicine for living. I could eat only once a day.  If I chose to eat a couple of times a day, I would not have any food for the next day.  It is said that our world is 75% water; I can’t believe that, because I suffered for lack of water every day. This way of life lasted for years and years.  Luckily, I remained in the refugee camp but, unfortunately, many friends were unable to live in that terrible situation. And so they continued the journey to Sudan. We soon heard that some were eaten by alligators; some were shot and killed for fun by unknown gun owners; some of them died in the Sahara desert and some traveled far only to drown and be eaten by the fish in the Mediterranean Sea.

 

Since then, I have found peace.  I understand who I am.  I understand why I am here.  I understand how to function and I understand why I am living.  Life’s dictionary did not change my physical being, but it changed my spiritual view.  It did not move me to another place but to another peace. After eight years in the refugee camp, I am able to say, “Everything that has a beginning, has an end.” Thanks to God, the United States government gave some refugees the chance to resettle in the land of opportunity.  And I was one of them ... traveling to my destiny - Boise, Idaho in 2012.

 

Today, you see one physical Tecle walking and working in America. But my heart is divided in two ... the other half was left with more than 1,500 unaccompanied children who are starving for love in the Mai Ayni Refugee Camp in Ethiopia.  I can’t feed myself the good food here while my little brothers and sisters are starving there.  I can’t build my own house here while those children are living in tents.  How can that happen?  I was once there. I lived it. I know the feeling they feel, when they are trying to sleep with empty stomachs.

 

Ever since I came to Boise, I have been waiting for the day to come when I would be able to see them again; not to make a dynamic change but simply to offer the love that I have. By giving a single candle, we can change the massive darkness into a hope-giving light. I plan to be among those hopeless refugee children; giving  hope to feed the soul, as one gives food to the stomach.  I have hope to feed them spiritually for their future and a better tomorrow.