Christmas in Ethiopia

Christmas in Ethiopia. For most Ethiopians our Christmas slips by almost unnoticed. They are on a different calendar and even celebrate a different day for Christmas. We tried to make the most of it by baking Christmas cookies and having various groups of Ethiopians over for celebrations. They thoroughly enjoyed it and said they had never had any Christmas celebration like it before. We had some gifts and things to give like books, food and home-made play dough and they seemed to appreciate them a lot.
We received several packages from Canada and the US the week before Christmas so the girls were delighted to have many wonderful gifts on Christmas day.
After Christmas the SIM had a conference at a place called Sodore. We weren't sure what to expect as the flyer the SIM sent on the conference called it "The bi-annual Endurance Test" with rabid thieving monkeys, green slime specially shipped in from abroad and added to the pool at no extra cost, and fasting food (food that will give you the desire to deny yourself). I think they intentionally put reverse psychology to work as it was much better than we expected. The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves as there was a team in from Canada that had a whole children's program planned. Sarah cried at the end of the conference as she enjoyed it so much. The hot springs pool was clean the first day but went downhill rapidly as the week progressed. (They only fill it once a week and don't use chemicals and bus loads of local school students drop in to swim.)
After the conference at Sodore we had a northern team meeting at Babagaya (the SIM conference/retreat centre). This was the first time that those working in the north of Ethiopia had gotten together. Everyone was scattered in different areas of the north and doing completely different types of ministries so it could hardly be a team as they only saw each other once or twice a year. It was a great time of sharing together and planning how we could help each other more with resource sharing and strategy input.
We arrived back in Bahir Dar last night at midnight. We had planned to stop half way but the one decent hotel between Addis and Bahir Dar was fully booked so we decided to keep traveling. It's good to be back. There were a few minor incidents of trouble while we were gone but no major unrest like we experienced before.
My sister Beth and her daughter Gypsi will be coming out in a few weeks to help us with some program and project design. Beth has a wealth of experience in development projects and will be invaluable as we look at how to target assistance for the street kids and helping girls forced into prostitution to get off the streets and lead productive lives. We have found a core group of university students here who are keen to take a lead role in addressing these needs. Gypsi, who is attending Trinity Western University has started an Africa club to partnership with the university students here. We are excited about how this can work together to strengthen the effort of the students here.
I will be sending out shortly separate updates on needs for various items in case some of you want to help or know of solutions to current needs.
As you know the school I am teaching at has 1300 students and only 7 working computers. When I mentioned this last time, Jim Melvern and my brother-in-law Grant were able to find 50 computers from a school board in Canada, however, the shipping costs will be around $160 per computer. If you want to help with this or know of a good shipping solution let me know.
The Church in Bahir Dar has opened their leadership training centre (Bible School) after being closed for years. They have 18 students from various communities across the north but have few resources. They were lacking even the basics such as blankets (temperatures plunge into the 40's at night during "cold season"). I just received a phone call asking if we had a VCR as a guest lecture has come with training materials but they have no way to show them. They are needing many resources including a photocopier as well as vocational training resources for their leaders. If you are interested in finding out more or helping with the Church needs, let me know. In spite of their meager resources they are finding a way to move forward and train leaders for the north.
We are also in the process of helping start a vocational training school. This is just in the formation stages but you will hear more of this later.