August 2023 Mission Trip

In August of 2023 a group of 5 of us from Jacksonville, Florida journeyed to Netsanet Children’s Village (NCV). A non-stop flight from Atlanta to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital city took us 14 hours. Our group included an optometrist, two children’s advocate mothers, and two college girls. We were welcomed into NCV with open arms and a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony.

Joe De Spirito, the group optometrist, came with several hundred frames and performed over 400 eye exams during our week. Renée Farrell brought 2 sewing machines and taught the young mothers to sew in order to supplement their income and thus be able to care for their children. Mari Cemin spent her time in the infant transitional home and with the special needs children providing additional love and even baby massages!

Mari was accompanied by her 2 college age daughters and this trip was a bucket list item for them. Carol and Julia conducted morning workout sessions with all the children and kept everyone fit while having fun. In the afternoons, they played soccer, got ice cream and immersed themselves in the lives of the all the children on the campus.

The mission trip was designed to meet each person with where their passion and talents lay. The days were long and busy and the week went by very fast. To say the time spent at Netsanet Children’s Village was memorable would be a complete understatement. Immersing our group into Netsanet and life in Ethiopia was truly life changing.

If you are interested in a mission trip to Netsanet Children’s Village, please send a message online through our Request Information form and we will get in touch as soon as possible. You can make a difference!