Cheryl says, “Someone has to begin”...
Ethiopia STM trip update
It seems like a whole lot has been going on the last couple of days.
On Tuesday, as part of the construction project, we carried large
rocks from across the street to add to the foundation. Quite a workout
for me but then again, I was told that I needed to exercise more. The
large rocks are used on the perimeter of the slab to provide support.
Again, the techniques used to build in this area are an education. We
attracted an audience while hauling rocks. On Wednesday, Curtis and I
went with two of the leadership of the Addis Kidan church to another
church in a rural area about 130 km SE of Addis Ababa. I think it is
called Minjar or something like that. I don't remember the name of the
church as even hearing the language is somewhat of a problem for me.
Everyone speaks so quietly. About 1/3 of the trip was on dirt roads
that at one point degraded to a rocky trail with switchbacks working
their way down into the Great Rift Valley. Upon arrival, the front
suspension and radiator of the truck needed to be repaired. The trip
and the meeting with the church leaders took about twelve hours. I was
told that decisions were made and it was a very positive trip. The
meeting was all in Amharic. The church has 85 members and is in a very
poor area. There is a significant number of HIV+ individuals and there
is inadequate help or even education. The pastor asked for prayer. –
Richard
Taking in the sights, sounds, and smells…… No we’re not on
vacation……The sights – Everywhere you go there are people, there is no
space, or breath. There is nowhere for people to go, and little work
for people to do. If you are not infected with the HIV virus you can
sell used clothes, maybe make injura, some can buy spoiled fruits and
try to resell them. Some boys shine shoes, other repair shoes, or try
to repair clothes. Many women try to clean houses, lots of women are
leaving their children behind with other family or friends to go to
“the Arab country” to work, and are not coming back (not by choice –
the women are tricked into slave labor, their papers are taken away
and they end up staying illegally). We went to the city with all of
these huge modern buildings. The architecture is amazing, the
construction is amazing in that it stands. We went into the city twice
and saw 2 men who in the next day were in the same position, and
looking as if they have not moved or breathing. You think how are
people just walking buy without acknowledging this? I guess what do
you do? Along the streets of the city are people with no hope, or
place to go. Imagine existing in a 6 x 8 space, no food, no running
water, no bed, just some plastic to cover you at night. We use the
word home, everyone here uses the word shelter. Sometimes the
government comes through and plows down huge chunks of land for a new
road, and the people lose their shelters. Taking in the Smells.
Whether we are walking in the poorer districts or in the City there
are no public bathrooms. The smell is almost unbearable. You can
hardly breathe. We are staying by the dump, where people forage for
food in the day, then at night the kids and hyenas come out to look
for food. They burn trash here and it smells up the area. There are no
regulations here and you can smell all of the diesel fumes from cars
every where. The sounds…. There is a mosque 100 feet away from the
church with 2 loud speakers. They do their call every day 4 times a
day. Loud trumpet calls followed with long prayers. You hear the
sounds of people everywhere. At night you hear the dogs, and hyenas.
– All this to say yesterday I reached my max of taking in the sights,
smells, and sounds. I gave a short devo to some of the moms in the MTN
program – thinking this would be good and fun because I too am a mom.
Every person has a story. Everywhere we go we listen to people’s
hopeless stories. I think I am guilty of taking them in, rather than
giving them back to God. In the situation you wonder what can I
possibly do here? What can we offer? There is soo much, I am only 1
person. We offer hope through Christ! We encourage them from the
scriptures, and we pray, pray, pray. Jenn
Today we went to the Macarto, which is the largest open air market in
the world. People everywhere, bumper to bumper traffic, it seems like
mass confusion, both in the streets and on the sidewalk. But somehow
people buy what they need to buy and get their business done.
We had several visits with HIV positive people in their homes. The
word I keep hearing from the people is the word HOPE. Looking at their
homes and living situation, it just looks so hopeless, and their
health looks hopeless, but they find real hope in the Lord and what He
has done for them. There is not much we can really do for them, but
the little we do for them and encouraging them in the Word, coupled
with what God has done for them and will continue to do for them is
simply amazing. It is amazing taking part in God’s work, but really it
has not much to do with us and everything to do with God. As a father
my heart goes out to the one young women with HIV, we visited with,
that has a 5 month old baby and a 5 year old son. Her husband left her
when he found out she was pregnant again. We gave her some words of
encouragement and some scripture verses. We will see her again
tomorrow at the HIV feeding and service we will be having tomorrow.
Steve
This week was hard, but I’ve seen hard before. The difference this
week was that I couldn’t see any solutions to the problems we
encountered. There were many stories that didn’t have a good way out.
Many of the difficult things I’ve seen before could be fixed with more
resources, more time, more effort. But sometimes there simply isn’t a
good fix, and those are the God-sized problems. It was obvious when we
came across them because if God wasn’t the solution, everything looked
hopeless. It was only by acknowledging God’s power that we could have
any hope for the outcome. A person can only put things in perspective
by acknowledging that this life is temporary, that we are finite, and
that God is God. This seems hollow and cheap coming from a rich person
to a poor person on their deathbed, unless you really consider the
implications of the perspective. The truth is that my health, status,
money – anything that might differentiate me from this hopeless person
– these things are all very temporary. In the bigger picture, I’m not
guaranteed anything more than the person I’m encouraging. We both face
eternity. -Alvin
Honestly, I am not quite sure what I should share with you. I arrived
in Addis two nights ago after two weeks in Swaziland. I have not yet
completely processed what I experienced in Swaziland. Overall, it was
an incredible blessing to be able to reconnect with friends I’d made
in the local church and visit places that the team I was on ministered
at four years ago. It was encouraging to see my local Swazi friends
living out the gospel and looking after the orphans and the widows in
Swaziland. I joined a Christian medical organization called The Luke’s
Commission for a rural mobile health clinic. The prevalence of HIV in
Swaziland is the worst in the world. The challenge this presents for
the country is huge, specifically for how to provide for the orphans.
Although, the situation in Swaziland is tough there is a clear
contrast between the overall quality of life there and here in
Ethiopia. I was heartbroken by stories of the people that I we met my
first day in Ethiopia. After joining with the church leadership for
devotions yesterday morning, we went on home visits to people living
with HIV. Their stories were heartbreaking but getting to read
Scripture and pray with them seemed to be an encouragement. We were
able to help some with physical needs and brought sugar with us to
give them. This HIV home visit program that was started by the church
is called The Good Samaritan program with 400 beneficiaries. The HIV
treatment (anti-retroviral tablet) causes miserable side effects and
is less effective if not taken in combination with appropriate
nutrition. One of the goals of this program is to help provide food
for those who are suffering from the virus. However, the program is
currently operating with little to no financial support. Not only are
physical needs attended to at these visits but also the gospel is
shared. Every Friday a service is held at the church for those who are
part of the program. Tomorrow we will get to participate in this event
which includes a meal and a message on finding your security in
Christ. This is a ministry that I would strongly encourage
consideration of how you might be able to financially contribute to.
There is more that I would love to share with you but there are still
others that need to finish. Please pray that God directs us in our
remaining days here in Ethiopia and reveals to us what our roles are
in the situations that come our way. Much love I will talk with you
more soon. –Linda
Dear friends and family, after reading all the words written I want to
encourage you through a few answers to prayer. We asked you to pray
for us that we would be an encouragement to the leadership here as we
serve alongside them. This morning they shared with us what a huge
encouragement we have been in being here and sharing the load. You
have read what the team has written about the difficulty here so you
can imagine that having others work alongside and share the burden is
a huge encouragement. We also had a feeding program today for those
living with aids. There were 150 adults with additional children. They
each had meat (probably 2x’s only in a year) with injera and vegetable
watt. Five hundred dollars had been given for this and they used 150
dollars. Praise the Lord they can now help to supply milk for infants
who need to discontinue breast feeding in order to prevent spreading
the virus. We asked you to pray for our sponsored family as the mother
has been sick for a long time. I spent several days with MTN director
Agidew taking her to the hospital and clinic and am delighted to tell
you that we finally have a diagnosis. She has stomach TB. And is on
medication. She at last has some hope for remaining with her children.
It will be a very long road as the treatment is 8 mths and she is
terribly anemic. Pray for the kids as they continue to care for her.
Today her son Ashagrey who Jon sponsors came to the guest house to say
thank you. He told me “I am so happy” my mom is well. She is far from
well but he has new hope that she will live. Thank you so much for
praying.
Please pray also for Jenn who is not feeling well today. We started
her on an antibiotic this afternoon and would ask you to pray that she
is feeling strong and well tomorrow when she leaves for home. Pray
also for Curtis, Alvin, Linda and I as we remain behind to visit
medical facilities looking for possible opportunities for Curtis and
Linda to serve. Linda, Alvin and I will leave on the 22nd and 23rd.
Curtis will remain until April 26 and still his schedule is not very
laid out. Pray for clear direction and a schedule. Again thanks for
praying. Cheryl for the team
These last couple days have been like a roller coaster ride for many
of the members on our team. Riding public transport on minibuses was
an exciting experience as we learned just how many people we can fit
into an old Toyota van. It was good to drive around town and see the
development, but very hard to see the huge gap in class level. In many
areas of town we would see nice cars and very well dressed businessmen
walking by the impoverished who were living and begging along the
road. It is disheartening to see so many people who are struggling to
survive and knowing that there is very little I can do. On the other
hand, it has been very encouraging to see the ways that these problems
have been addressed. It has been great to see the way the Addis Kidan
helps many of the aids patients and the impoverished families in the
area. MTN (Meet the Needy) has been able to provide enough support for
over a hundred families to afford to go to school and stay together.
One of my highlights for the week was when Richard and I got the
opportunity to go to Minjar to see one of the Addis Kidan church
plants. It has been great to see how they have partnered with
compassion to support over 200 kids and provide running water for the
entire community. - Curtis
--
steve henry
