We were on our way for a school outing. Our Bus was loaded with 59 students. I was seated directly behind the driver but couldn't see much because a partition was between the driver and me. The driver suddenly slammed on his brakes to avoid a mini-bus taxi that stopped abruptly in front of the bus. The driver swerved to avoid crashing into the taxi. The fellow sitting beside me, who had a clear view said "Oh NO". He very courageously jumped up and flew into the arms of two adjacent lovely ladies (he claims he was protecting them from the crash). We had swerved right into the path of an oncoming bus.The driver of the other bus tried to avoid a head on collision and struck our bus a glancing blow
as it then proceeded to roll into the ditch. Miraculously there were only bumps and bruises on our bus, including the driver and there were no life threatening injuries on the other bus.This last week was March Break for the school and we made a return trip to Bahir Dar to try and finalize arrangements for next year. We are hoping to start an urban ministries program in Bahir Dar that targets street kids, women-at-risk, orphans etc. Since there are currently no project agreements with the government we can't get work permits for that. We can't get project agreements unless we have someone there to do the necessary research and write them up. So
our first job is getting there. This next year I plan to teach part time at Bahir Dar Academy and continue to lay the ground work for future urban ministries.On this trip we met Fray Shibaba, the director of the school, and her husband. Both have incredible stories. Her husband was imprisoned for many years while the communist regime rampaged Ethiopia for 17 years. Many of his colleagues died in prison. On occasion when they were very sick, prisoners were taken to the local government hospital for treatment. He was so appalled at the conditions with people dying in the waiting room that he vowed if he survived prison he would
become a doctor. While in prison he met a Christian (most of the jails were filled with Christians during the communist era), and he also became a believer.To make a long story short he now operates a private practice in Bahir Dar and saw more patients last year than the government hospital (more than 35,000). His wife (a former patient who he rescued from the verge of death) also became a believer and tried to open a school.
Because of their faith they experienced great opposition and received death threats, were on hit lists, and experienced many attempts to shut them down. They persevered and in only 4 short years,
Fray now has more than 1200 students at the school and all the government officials and everyone else are now sending their kids to the school. She says it all happened by prayer.Sue had an opportunity recently to teach massage to HIV/AID's patients who SIM has organized support groups for. By learning to give massage to each other, it is hoped that they can offer pain relief and emotional support to each other. The response to the teaching was very positive and Sue has been asked to come back and do some more teaching on massage and stretching.
