Alumni Impact

By Lane Bunkers, ‘94 Tbird alumnus

When you work overseas for an international aid agency, it’s not just the employee who takes on the adventure. Spouses and children also have to put on their traveling shoes, which can cause some blisters when you move a family to the other side of the globe.

I remember well the look on our oldest son’s face when my wife Kelley and I sat our three children down last year to announce that we were leaving our very comfortable and familiar life in Latin America for our first-ever experience in Africa.

“Where?” Benjamin, then 9, asked with more than a touch of incredulity.

“Ethiopia,” I replied enthusiastically, whipping out maps, globes, photos, details about the international school, and any other material I had been able to lay my hands on. “Africa,” I emphasized over and over. “Just think of all the great adventures we’ll have!”

Benjamin looked at us with a querying eye and asked, “Do we get to ride an elephant to school?”

Sadly, we have not been able to produce an elephant for our children’s morning commute, but we’ve made good on the promise of exotic adventure. During a recent school holiday, we traveled with our three children—Benjamin, now 10; Isabella, age 8; and Simon, age 5—to the ancient rock-hewn churches of Lalibela in northern Ethiopia.

Featured on many travel posters and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the ancient churches were carved into the rocky ground during the 12th and 13th centuries by devout Christians of the time. We were awestruck by the history and majesty of these structures, and what kid wouldn’t love climbing the rocks and exploring the tunnels?

Tourism wasn’t the only objective of this trip, though. We also wanted our children to visit Catholic Relief Services projects in the same region to give them a firsthand understanding of what CRS does in Ethiopia and—more to the point—what their dad does each day that led us to move to this far-off place.

One of the stops on our two-day agenda was the Missionaries of Charity Home for Sick and Dying Destitutes in the town of Mekelle. This is one of 17 centers run by nuns in Ethiopia who are keeping Mother Teresa’s legacy alive and well. (This is a picture of Isabella, in a CRS hat!)

Kelley and I thought twice before taking the kids to the home, as some of the sights can be disturbing. In the end, we decided that we wanted our children to learn the powerful and unforgettable lesson of love taught by the sisters as they compassionately care for each home’s residents—whether they are frail men dying of tuberculosis, women stricken down by AIDS, or highly disabled children abandoned by their families.

Our kids were hesitant at first until they spotted a room full of babies and toddlers. Isabella started going from crib to crib rocking the babies. Simon jumped right in and began playing and speaking to his new friends in a nonstop stream of English they didn’t understand at all but didn’t seem to mind in the least. We were all so captivated by the activity in the nursery that we momentarily lost our oldest son, Benjamin. We finally found him out in the garden teaching a group of the older kids how to play hide and seek.

After an hour of playing, we climbed into the car, dirty, dusty and tired. Benjamin leaned over and asked if maybe there was a similar place near our home in the capital of Addis Ababa where he could go and make the kids laugh and teach them some new games.

That simple question made my wife and me know that he was starting down the path of understanding this crazy career and lifestyle that his parents have chosen and subjected him and his siblings to over many years.

Now if we could just find an elephant to take him to school.

Lane Bunkers, a 1994 Thunderbird alumnus, serves as Catholic Relief Services’ Country Representative in Ethiopia.

Posted: 05|6|10 at 11:35 am.
Filed under: Alumni Impact, Alumni stories from the field.
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