Ethiopia Lighthouse 2011 -- 3rd Post

It’s now Friday, and we are starting to wind down our time here at Project Mercy. It has rained for the last three days, so it is quite muddy. The power has also been off much of the time which makes life a little more challenging but we are getting along fine.

This is the last day of teaching for the team. Most of them finished yesterday since today is exams for grades 1-4. The KG still has regular school today so some of the team are working with them. Next week will be exams for the upper grades and then they have semester break for a week.

The student with the “bite” ended up spending three days in the hospital. His foot looks much improved and he is in good spirits and has been playing with the kids. If he were in the States, I doubt that they would have hospitalized him at that point since the antibiotics hadn’t really had much time to work; but I think that they wanted to make sure that it didn’t get any worse since they weren’t sure exactly what had bit him. The entire bill for his stay was 250 birr. Translated into US dollars that is about $15.00! He got adequate care and recovered; sooo I’m thinking that something needs to be done to American healthcare. What that something is, I’m not quite sure.

I was able to spend some time volunteering at the hospital on Tuesday. I helped out in the ER taking vital signs. Some of the staff are able to speak a little English so they were able to guide me through what I was to do. Their equipment often does not work well so it was a little challenging at first until I got the hang of it. I guess it goes to show that you don’t always need the top of the line to obtain the same results. We Americans are used to doing it the lazy way, by pressing buttons for instant results. When we first arrived there, the sister (head nurse) was preaching to the people in the waiting room. They want to make sure that the people who come to the hospital get told of God’s love for them. They also continually play the Jesus film in Amharic in the waiting room. Many people stay and listen.

Wednesday was Timkat here which is the Orthodox celebration of Epiphany. In Ethiopia, Timkat is a celebration of Jesus’ baptism rather than the coming of the wise men. It is the most colorful holiday here. On Tuesday night, we watched a parade of people marching from the two Orthodox churches in the area. They were dressed in colorful outfits, singing and drumming and carrying a replica of the tablets in the ark of the covenant. They danced, sang and ate all night and the next morning continued their celebration. We walked down to see some of the celebration in the morning, but, obviously, we didn’t understand much of what was happening. However, it was very interesting to watch.

Tomorrow, we are supposed to climb up to a waterfall. I’m not sure what happens if it is raining and muddy. We’ll see.

Some of the older guys that live at Project Mercy have been our guides when we go places outside the compound. They do an excellent job and our team members love them.

Sunday we will head to Addis Abba for two days before we take off late Tuesday night. We will do some debriefing, shopping and sightseeing around the city. This will probably be my last entry for this trip. Keep praying for a safe and uneventful trip home. See you soon.

Love, Roger and Carol

Ethiopia Lighthouse 2011 -- 2nd post

It’s been quite awhile since I last wrote. Internet access is almost nonexistent here except for one of the volunteer American teachers who has rigged up her computer to pick it up but we don’t want to bother her too much. A lot has happened since our last posting. (Thanks to Ryan for posting this from the US since Blogspot can’t be accessed in Ethiopia. :))

School has started and the team is teaching English in small groups to the children every day. They are doing a great job and seem to be enjoying the experience even with its challenges. A few days ago, we heard people wailing and crying on the compound. Evidently, one of the upper grade teachers had been found dead in his room. From what we have heard he died of a bleeding ulcer but no one knew that he had been having any trouble. He was only 27 and a mile from the hospital which makes it seem such a waste. He was a believer so we were all encouraged by that. The grieving process here involves much wailing and crying, a funeral the next day and mourning where friends and family come to the home to bid their condolences. He was from Addis so the body was taken there in a truck. The people followed the truck down the road wailing, until they couldn’t see it anymore. School was dismissed for the next two days and the flag was placed at half-mast.

A little about the school here at Project Mercy. They have around 1750 students from KG to grade 12. The KG is housed in a new building up the road and they are building a nice new high school at another site not too far away. Every morning at 7:45 the students line up in very straight lines and very quietly. At the sign from the headmaster, they sing the Ethiopian national anthem and raise the flag and then head to their classes. The classes have about 75-100 per class. After grade 5, they are taught in English. Many of the children here walk 2 miles to and from school daily, over mountainous rocky paths. Since education is valued here and everyone would like to attend the Project Mercy school, they are placed in this school by a lottery determined by the area elders.

The ‘bug” hit the team last week and as many as five were sick with the flu at once. They have all recovered well and are back to serving in any way that they can. One of the guys on the team got bitten by a “something” on his leg. It became very redden and swollen so we took him to the PM hospital where they gave him some antibiotics to take orally. The next day it looked worse and was more swollen so he has been in the hospital overnight so they can treat him with IV antibiotics. He has been a good sport about the whole thing and they have been taking good care of him. Hopefully, he will get released tomorrow. His leg looks much improved and he is in good spirits. The team was able to take a tour of the hospital last week. It is a fine facility and they are doing a great work in the community dispensing healthcare. Patients are brought here from miles around to receive the excellent care that they give.

There are around 80 children ranging in age from 2 to 20 that live on the compound and are called the “house kids”. Our team has connected with them very well and has spent much time playing games, talking, teaching and just “hanging out” with them. They love the attention and love being shown to them. It will be sad when we have to say good-bye. I’m sure that many tears will be shed. This evening there is going to be an Ethiopian vs America volleyball game. We will probably get whipped. They are pretty good athletes. Speaking of sports, we did here that the Colts got beat, so Roger says that he doesn’t care who wins. We have some diehard Packers fans on the team. We shall see.

On Friday we went to the market in Butajira, a town fairly close-by. The infrastructure in the city is almost nonexistent and that extends to the market as well. There were hundreds of people sitting on the ground displaying their wares–anything from clothing, spices, vegetables, cooking supplies and much more. We divided up into two groups so as not to be such a large group, but when all the white people show up, all eyes are upon you. We became like the Pied Piper and had a trail of children following us though the market and all the way back to the hotel where we had parked. It was poverty like nothing Roger or I had ever seen. The children are so beautiful but dressed in ragged, dirty clothing with flies all over them. They are so used to them that they don’t even swat at them anymore. A very humbling experience!

Yesterday, we went on a hike around a crater lake and again attracted quite the crowd of children, many asking for money. They stuck with us the whole time. Some of the team hiked down to the lake’s edge which was steeper than this writer wanted to go but Roger, not to be outdone by the younger generation, did just fine and enjoyed it. At the end we hiked farther inland from the lake to a cave where a “Muslim holy man” has been living for twenty years along with his three wives and many children. Interesting to say the least. He makes his living selling “chat,” a type of addicting stimulant containing amphetamine that is chewed by many Ethiopians.

Project Mercy is a very busy place and well thought of in the community development world. Yesterday, four doctors from Norway and the USA were visiting. Today, four photographers from Johnson and Johnson arrived to take photos for the company’s annual report which is going to feature Project Mercy. Tomorrow, the architect that is doing work here is coming. Demi and Marta, the Ethiopian founders of PM, are such gracious and humble servants of God. They truly exemplify God’s love for the world and how that plays out in practical terms. God has blessed them with the right gifts to minister in this community and they are following his call.

Today, we attended the church down the road. It is about a twenty minute walk down a rocky road. Worshiping in another language is always challenging but exhilarating at the same time. The lack of understanding of the language but the smiles on the faces of the people and listening to the singing brings smiles to our faces as well. It impresses on our hearts that God’s family is made up of all tribes and tongues.

Hopefully, we will write again before we head home on the 25th. We leave here for Addis a week from today where we will debrief and do some touring of the city. Thanks for your continued prayers.

Love, Roger and Carol

Ethiopia Lighthouse 2011

We arrived safely at our hotel in Addis Ababa after a 34 hour trip, one lost passport, three lost bags and many hours of no sleep. Needless to say, we were happy to see a warm bed and a place to stretch our legs. We lived through the ultimate “God story” and the team was excited to see how He had worked out all the details. At the beginning of our trip we passed out the passports and gave the speech about “guarding them with their lives.” However, after our flight to Chicago, as we were getting ready to board the plane to Frankfurt, one of the team members came and said that she thought that her passport was left on the previous plane which had already left for White Plains, NY. What to do? Make many phone calls to the Taylor Lighthouse director and the student’s parents and cry out to God for guidance and His ability to find a lost passport and fix this big problem. To make a long story short, the plane was returning to O'Hare after we were supposed to leave for Frankfort, so the team member and her luggage had to stay behind. If it wasn’t found she would either have to return home or try to get replacements of her passport and her Ethiopian visa which could take days. The team had a six hour layover in Frankfort so if the passport turned up she might be able to hook up with us since another plane was leaving shortly after. As it turned out, the plane arrived, the passport was found in the seat pocket, she was placed on the next plane to Frankfurt and caught up with us in the Frankfurt airport. The United staff at O'Hare were wonderful and took her under their wings and made sure that she would get there in time to meet the team all for no charge. We were all so relieved to see her. Now, her luggage hasn’t arrived yet but the team girls are keeping her supplied with clothes.

The next morning, which was Christmas Eve in Ethiopia, we left for Project Mercy (PM) in Yetebon, a three hour trip. Ethiopia is a very poor but beautiful country and the PM site is at the base of the Gurage mountains--a beautiful setting. PM has frequent overseas visitors so the accommodations are more than adequate. The team is staying in small round buildings resembling the homes in the area called tukels.

Marta and Demi, Ethiopians who started PM and have run it since it started in Fort Wayne, have a heart for this area. They have started a school, hospital, an orphanage, and are teaching gardening, construction crafts, sewing and glass blowing. It is remarkable what is happening here. They are completely self sustainable and are well thought of in this predominantly Muslim community.

Yesterday was Christmas so it was a holiday here although a less elaborate one than at home. We had a meal of injera and wat, cheese and cooked cabbage and cake brought from Addis. Our group was able to serve the orphanage children their Christmas meal and interact with them for a short time. We even sang some Christmas Carols for them and didn’t sound too bad considering that our team isn’t necessarily blessed with musical skills. In the afternoon, the team played various sports and other games with the kids. They did a great job of interacting with the kids and loved every minute of it.

Today, we went for a hike up to an Orthodox Church in the mountains behind the compound. It was a fairly easy hike but, considering we are 8000 ft up here, it was a little more taxing than you would think. The scenery is glorious, the air fresh, the people friendly, what more could you ask for?

We are excited to see what the remainder of the trip will look like and are praying that the luggage will arrive, that the team will stay healthy (I had my yearly laryngitis already and am on the mend now), and that they will bring their servant hearts with them each day as they teach English at the school and play with the children.
Thank you for your prayers and concern for us.

Love, Roger and Carol