Korah, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Korah. What can I say about Korah, other than every human being should know of it. The reality that is Korah. It exists.

I knew of Korah before we traveled to Ethiopia. Unlike so many tourists, I never wanted to experience it. I knew about it. Wanted to stick my head in the sand and not think about it. But we should think about it.

You see.....there is an enormous garbage dump in Addis Ababa. I am talking acres upon acres of garbage. In that dump lives the community of Korah. This community consists of nearly 80,000 men, women and children. Originally, King Haile Selassie had given the land to a group of doctors wishing to construct a hospital for leprosy. He wanted them separated from the healthy population. When the King was overthrown, the new regime wanted to eliminate the leper community and began rounding them up and beating and killing them. But, they survived there. Now Korah is a community for the outcast. The unwanted. Today the population is largely made up of people with leprosy and HIV/Aids. Prostitution is rampant. Many of the children are orphans.

Korah is a mass of garbage, wild dogs, filthy people, gut wrenching smell and circling vultures. There is rotting garbage, streams of black waste water and amimal carcases. And, the people of Korah sift through this mess for scraps of food, cloth, and metal that they can sell for pennies. This is the bottom of the poverty barrel. They have nothing. They only hope to survive. I have heard that the people there raise animals like goats and pigs and often plant gardens amidst the trash.

Unfortunately, as I mentioned above, it has become a tourist destination. Perhaps it will bring more than gawking folks with cameras. Perhaps it will bring recognition. Perhaps it will bring help. I hope it does. HelpKorah.com is helping. Visit the site. Help the people of Korah. Help those children.