Bob and Sue Black

Little can be Much

2009-04-30T07:25:00.000-07:00

In April I was able to return to Ethiopia after being away for nearly a year. I was somewhat apprehensive not knowing what I would find left of the many projects we started when we were there. Amazingly all the projects were going as well and in some cases better than when we were there. There is way too much to try and update you with all the exciting developments- something like trying to drink from a fire hose. In order to keep this email brief I will only talk about one thing or project for now and then will send you an update every month with details on each of the other projects.

I'll start with the smallest project. This goes to show how "little can be much". This project was started by a donation from Sarah and Rachel's best friend Anna, who went door to door selling cards she had made. Sarah and Rachel also raised money by rolling coins donated by family members and friends, and selling their custom greeting cards. A small micro-loan project was started with members of Sue's Bible study group. When they became Christians they wanted to do something for their communities. One of the lead members stated that previously she would not think of giving anything to her neighbours. Even if she had extra clothes she said she would hoard them and never consider helping anyone. She said that before she felt dead inside, but since she became a Christian she said she now feels a real love and desire to help others. With the help of some dear friends and funds that Sarah and Rachel raised, they were able to start to give small loans to the most needy in the community. We've come to feel that loans to start small businesses are much better than outright gifts. One of the first recipients was Adamu who wanted a loan for a shoe shine kit so he could help provide for his mother. Adamu not only paid the loan back and provided monthly income for his mother but started contributing monthly to a local community savings plan where every month a recipient is selected to win the jack pot. He has already won the jackpot once and is contributing to the second savings plan.

They also started a spiritual lending library in the community so neighbours can borrow books, Bibles and spiritual resources. Emabet one of the leaders has now moved to Addis and is starting the same program there as well as a local Bible study in her home. This project has really taken off with dozens of benificiaries now. Silinat has taken over for Emabet in her community in Bahir Dar as well as Demelesh is on fire coordinating the loans, reporting and expanding in his community. The micro-loans are making a huge difference- Demelesh says there is hardly a family not affected in his community. He spends a great deal of time visiting their projects and sitting in their homes witnessing and talking about life issues. Once they repay the loan a larger loan is possible if they have a plan. Some have expanded their business starting out by simply selling tea to having multiple streams of income from things like seed distribution, basket weaving etc. The little shoe shine boy says that one day he hopes to be a merchant with a large store. He has definitely shown his ability to make the most out of little. I expect he will go far.

Future projects I will update you on are- the People Living With AIDS project (it is going unbelievably well). Vocational Training for young women at risk, The Multi-purpose centre, the Gumuz agro-forestry project, Scholarship projects as well as new partners with a host of new projects. There is much to write about but I'll have to save it for later.

Sarah and Rachel the Fundraisers

2009-02-18T10:37:00.000-08:00

Sarah and Rachel have been doing a good job continuing to raise funds for projects in Ethiopia. They have been rolling pennies, selling home-made greeting cards etc. They raised over $300 for the neighbourhood micro-loan and credit project that we started in Bahir Dar. Demelesh, our right hand man while we were in Bahir Dar continues to monitor and run this program. He makes loans available to the poorest of the poor to start their own micro businesses. He has had close to 100% repayment of these loans and it has been a life saver for many.In the meantime I have been beating the bushes trying to find funding for some of the other projects.So far we have rasied over $18,000 for the Gumuz agro-forestry project.

Through the rotary club of Barrie we have the promise of funding for the People Living with AIDS project . I have a presentation to make the first week in March concerning that. They have already sent over a member to see and verify the project. The Christian Salvage mission from Hamilton has agreed to provide and ship a 20 foot container of books from Canada to Djibouti. Now, I just need to find the funding for the inland transport from Djibouti to Bahir Dar. This could be as much as $5,000. We helped set up a community library through KHC while we were there but the shelves are nearly empty.I am the official project support officer for Devxchange and we are expanding to some exciting new projects including a reconstruction project in South Sudan. http://www.devxchange.org/SUDAN%20.html We have some new partners coming on board who are currently in Ethiopia. Heather and Elias and the Entoto Outreach team and they are looking for volunteers. Lots of them- So if you have young people and university students who are looking for ways to make a difference - here is an opportunity- put them in touch with us. Heather and Elias are partnering with a local organization- Beza International http://www.bezainternational.org/

Projects in Bahir Dar

2009-02-04T12:25:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our blog. After four years in Ethiopia with little or no Internet service- it was frustrating trying to keep in contact with friends and supporters. Now that we are in Canada we have little or no excuse.

Whether anyone will actually read the blogs is something we will have to see.

One of the unique things about Devxchange is that it is member driven so members need to do more of the information and promotional aspects of the projects they are involved in as opposed to the organization doing the PR work. Thus we are launching on setting up this blog more or less as a running story for you to keep up to date with what's happening.

Fund Raising for Projects

2008-09-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Sarah and Rachel went off for their first day of school. They were both quite apprehensive as it is quite an adjustment coming out of a home school environment in Ethiopia and jumping into the public school system here in Canada. We felt a little bit like we were throwing them to the wolves, but we do know that God is with them.
They both survived their first week and seem to have gotten over their anxiety fears- thankfully for Mom and Dad!
We are adjusting to living back in Canada after 4 years out of the loop. I have attached an update of the various projects with Devxchange so that you have an idea of the various ministries. Currently I am working part time with Devxchange and Sue is looking to work part time in developing her business as a registered massage therapist.
One of the reasons we returned from Ethiopia at this time was to help Devxchange develop a stronger funding base for the overseas projects. There is so much that can be done in the north of Ethiopia through the partners we've established there, but the resources are lacking. I am working at trying to find some organizational funding for projects like People Living with AIDS, vocational training and agro-forestry, but it is going to take some time to make in roads into institutional funding.
We currently have an emergency situation with our Gumuz project. I am super enthusiastic about this project and the incredible change for the better that is coming to this primitive tribal group but we need some interim funding to keep it afloat until I can get some institutional funding to shore up the funding base. The project was initially started with the promise from a major donor to cover 80% of the project. That funding all fell through leaving us with a huge funding short fall. Anything at all that you can do to keep this project going will be very rewarding. The project manager we have through the KHC church is the best I have seen anywhere. He has risked his life on this primitive unreached tribe and he and his family are living in some of the harshest conditions to be found in Ethiopia. It is nothing short of a miracle to see the changes happening among the Gumuz as a result of his efforts with God's help. I promise I won't be sending out appeals on all the great projects in Ethiopia but I want to make you aware of this one because of its importance and current critical state.

Gumuz Success

2008-07-13T11:46:00.000-07:00

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Everything seemed to be going against us when we started the Gumuz agro-forestry project. The Gumuz have lived for centuries as a war like tribe where killing is one of their highest virtues. They have always been hunters and gatherers eking out an existence by foraging for food and hunting anything that moved. Last year when we visited it was only one month after what was supposed to be a harvest and they were already out of food. This type of existence causes the adults to daily hunt and forage for food leaving the children in the village on their own with only the elderly and the sick to care for them. The mortality rate is extremely high for children under 5 and they suffer from all kinds of health issues including a high rate of malnutrition. An environmental disaster was also in the making as they were cutting down all the trees to sell for charcoal. No one gave our intervention efforts much hope as harmful traditions and cultural practices are ingrained and not changed readily.
I visited our Gumuz agro-forestry project through KHC church just before leaving and the changes in the lives of the people is more than dramatic - it's unbelievable. We visited all of our target project villages and the change was uniform. Fences had been constructed around all the huts and yards of the Gumuz- they were planting crops around their houses and planting medicinal plants, fruit trees, trees for timber, shade, water conservation and others by the thousands. They were staying at home and working hard instead of hunting and foraging. There are also many new believers being discipled through the KHC church and evangelists.
This last year in Bahir Dar we were able to help more than 40 young women at risk and commercial sex workers get vocational training in hair dressing. The graduation included members dressed up in bridal fashion- demonstrating hair styles for weddings. One of the bridal party members was one of the street girls (a little sister) from our big-brother /sister program with the university students.
I returned to Canada June 26 just in time for my nieces wedding (Elise). We will now be stationed in Barrie Ontario for the foreseeable future- working with Devxchange part time and continuing to promote and assist the projects that were started in Bahir Dar.
My work with Devxchange will include Office management, Data management, volunteer coordination, project and project lead member support, financial management support, public relations and promotion. As a project lead member for the many projects that were started in Bahir Dar, I will also be raising funds to continue to see these develop and make an annual trip to monitor the developments.

Trouble in Gumuz Land

2008-05-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Ever since Tadesse (KHC church leader) was in Bible School he had a vision and burden to reach out to the fierce war-like tribe of the Gumuz. After hearing many missionary stories of martyrdom in Bible School, he said we will go and die among the Gumuz. His words nearly came true as recently our project team leader and the agriculturalist were running for their lives with a Gumuz man and his gun coming after them bent on killing them.
To make a long story short this may have been a key event in opening up in roads into the Gumuz. It forced community leaders, KHC leaders and local government officials to get involved to prevent the killings. Reconciliation and a peace pact was formed by all concerned and the project members now have unprecedented cooperation, peace and security in their work amongst the Gumuz.
There are now quite a number of new believers among the Gumuz and two churches have been started among the target villages. The Gumuz are also enthusiastically welcoming the inputs of the team in the area of agro-forestry as it will make a huge difference to their health, income security and the environment.
Several of the Devxchange volunteers have been working with former commercial sex workers in helping them to get some vocational training in hair dressing and get out of the commercial sex business. They were involved with the Mulu Wengel church in setting up a shelter for the girls and see them go through training. The girls have all come to faith in Christ and are now active in the church. The church is helping them to start businesses on their own.
The KHC church also put 20 girls through vocational training for hair dressing and is helping them get jobs and businesses set up including Mekedes- the first girl we helped last year and started the ball rolling. She now has her own business and is doing well, thanks to some Australian donors who provided the loan for starting the business.
For the past two years Sue has been running a Bible study with our guards, house help and a shoe shine boy. All of them come from a strong Orthodox background except one, Demelesh. This year all of them have come to faith and are now starting their own ministries in their local communities. Sue and Alex, a volunteer from Australia, bought or donated many books to them and they set up libraries in their communities. They are calling them "Spiritual Libraries". They have become real lights in their communities. They also started helping some of the poorest in the area. They told the people if at some point they were able to pay back the loan it could help others like them. To their surprise all the loans were paid back. They then started helping others and it has now grown into a substantial micro-loan assistance program. They say people are jumping up and down in the community with joy.
As you know by now, this is our last term in Ethiopia as a family. Sue and the girls have already returned to Canada to close a house deal in the Barrie area. I will be continuing part time with Devxchange to help with administration as well as provide support for the projects we have started in Ethiopia.

Project Updates

2008-02-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Every year the Ethiopian Orthodox Church celebrates what is called ‘True Cross’. This is the symbolic receiving of the Cross Jesus endured. Coincidently the Gumuz also have a cultural ceremony on this day however, it is not in the light of redemption and love. This particular holiday is focused on the local village hero (the most skilled warrior/hunter) who will honor his village by taking the life of another. This hero is placed in isolation to concentrate on the charge he has been selected for and when the time comes he will kill either another Gumuz or Ethiopian man.
The Gumuz have a deep history of animism amongst their tribes and villages. This belief subjects the Gumuz to a constant fear of the dark world, evil spirits and appeasing the organizer and inflictor of it all – the Devil. Sacrifices and offerings are commonly seen around the villages in order to deter evil spirits from bringing harm to their life. Sicknesses are often thought of as punishment from the dark world for not pleasing their requests. Animism holds the Gumuz in a constant fear of the unknown.
On the way into the Gumuz in January we stopped to collect bamboo seeds as the bamboo plant only seeds every 15 years or so. As we stopped to collect seeds we discovered a body. There was a group of visiting Canadians that were traveling with me- they were a little bit nervous as we continued our trip into Gumuz land.
We have helped the KHC church start an outreach program to the Gumuz through agro-forestry. This project is going well and my sister Beth, who visited in February was able to introduce valuable concepts for the Health component. The church has also had an impact spiritually with the Gumuz with about 80 believers now in the 4 targeted villages. They were meeting under the trees but have recently built two multi-purpose church buildings for meeting and training. I am making an urgent appeal for funding for this project as it is critically in need of funds to continue. To read more about this project and help support it click here .
February saw the official opening of the multi-purpose centre with more than 350 people in attendance. This project started with memorial gifts given at my Dad's funeral almost two years ago. A simple block maker was purchased and work began not knowing where the rest of the funding would come from. God provided and the work has taken off in all directions with computer lab, library, People Living With AIDS and micro-finance project, Vocational Training programs, the re-opening of the Bible School, Compassion Project for 250 of the poorest kids in the area and 5 fold increase in the number of members in the church.
After 4 years in Ethiopia we have come to the decision this will be our last term. From the beginning we wanted to make sure that whatever we did we would work with local partners so that when we left the day to day operations would continue on and not depend on us. This enabled us to be involved in starting numerous projects from everything to working with commercial sex workers to a Big Brother/Sister program with the University Students and the many projects with the KHC Church. We are no longer needed in the day to day operations of these projects and will be able to continue to be involved from Canada raising awareness and funding for numerous ongoing issues. Devxchange is also rapidly expanding into new countries with numerous partners that require administrative support in Canada. I hope to continue to make annual trips to Ethiopia to encourage and support the work as well as channel volunteers to assist in various needs. We plan to end our term in Ethiopia the end of June but will continue part -time with Devxchange in the home office so hope many will want to continue to support us in this new phase of ministry. We will keep you informed as things develop.

Christmas in Ethiopia 2007

2008-01-15T10:42:00.000-08:00

Christmas in Ethiopia was celebrated January 7. We met with some of the Big Brothers and Sisters from the University and the street kids. We helped start this program a couple of years ago with the Christian university fellowship. The university students become big brothers and sisters to the many street kids in Bahir Dar. This program has really taken off and has now spread to a second university campus. Every time we meet with them there are new members and new street kids that now have a big brother or sister to look out for them.
Earlier in the year our niece, Gypsi Fellows (with a degree in psychology) assisted in conducting several workshops for the university students on being a "street educator". It is very encouraging to see the development in relationships between the university students and their little brothers and sisters. They have really helped change the lives of the street kids. They used to see themselves as creatures destined for the street. They didn't see themselves as children or adults but creatures with only blackness as the future. Many are now attending school regularly and can be seen studying under the street lights at night.
One of the little sisters is now old enough to work full time and we were able to enroll her in our vocational training program for hair dressing. The university students are able to share their lives and Christian faith in a way that is transforming lives.
Sue and Sarah took on a big challenge to share the Christmas story in Amharic using flannel graph material donated by Allon Mack of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Barrie. Sue did an admirable job telling the story in Amharic and Sarah followed right along putting up the appropriate pictures on cue. The story was well received and they asked many questions upon hearing the story. The street kids all come from an Orthodox background and the story of why Jesus came is something that is often misunderstood.
We have exciting news from our last update where we talked about the crisis of people living with AIDS around the church. Women were showing up at the church in tears saying they were on their way to dying with no one to help. So far we have been able to help over 50 individuals, with more than 120 dependents, start small businesses. They are involved in just about every business including small shops, selling oil, making injerra (the staple), painting, horse and gary, carpentry, cutting hair- the list goes on and on. For many it has been a life saver. We organized them into accountability groups of 5 or 6 and they will pay back into the revolving fund every month enabling us to help others. They are asking church members to come and pray for them when one becomes sick.

People Living With AIDS

2007-12-13T10:31:00.000-08:00

"We are on our way to dying with no one to help!" We have somewhat of a crisis looming with people living with AIDS (PLWA) in the community around the KHC church we are working with. Every day crying women are coming to the church pleading for help saying that "they are on their way to dying with no one to help." Their condition speaks for itself many are sick and malnourished and they say within two months they will be dead. It is not only them that is of concern but they have many dependants. The support group has about 60 members with over 150 dependants. In Ethiopia 70% of women with AIDS are infected through their husbands. In the group surveyed 40% have already lost their husbands and now they are left infected and with many dependants. Close to 80% of the group have no monthly income.
We have been using volunteers to research the situation. While there are many groups, government and NGO trying to do something for the crisis in Bahir Dar, this particular group have tried all resources and have not been able to get help. It has been particularly frustrating for me as well as I have tried to push my contacts and sources to do something. It reminds me somewhat of the story of the Good Samaritan. Everyone has a good reason why they can't help the man bleeding and dying in the ditch. Thank God that some good Samaritans from Australia (Steve Mackay and Noel Towns) responded to the need and have raised most of the funds needed to help. Our plan is to help setup small retail businesses for those well enough to work- to provide some immediate cash flow. We will provide additional interventions for those not well enough to work. In the long term we want to get them recognized by the government and see land provided for them for urban agricultural products. This is a real opportunity for the church to demonstrate the love of Christ to those forsaken and rejected by all. Click here to contribute to the vocational livelihood fund or for more information.
In November, 14 young women were enrolled in the Vocational Training Fund for Hairdressing (See picture above). This kind of training is to help in keeping young girls out of the commercial sex business, which around 10,000 young girls in Bahir Dar are currently engaged in.
Also in November the new multi-purpose centre was completed and they were able to have their first service. Amid much persecution the church has persevered here in Bahir Dar and it was encouraging to see a small group of less than 30 members a few years ago now with more than 200 worshipping on a Sunday morning and many in small groups in the community throughout the week.

The Gumuz agro-forestry project is well underway. I wrote much about this group in my last update about their values of murder and treachery. For details about this project click here. Much funding is still needed for this project.
With the help of Gypsi (my niece) we were able to conduct several days of training for the Big Brother/Sister program with the University Students. This program reaches out to some of the 6,000 street kids of Bahir Dar by linking up University Students as Big Brothers and Sisters. The students are very enthusiastic about this program and there are many new members this year.

Gumuz Agro-Forestry

2007-10-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

Murder and treachery these are values held highly by the Gumuz as a symbol of power, manhood and status. The more men you kill the higher your status. Last year we began to research starting an agro-forestry project among the Gumuz as there seemed to be a desire for change among them including the establishing of several churches through the KHC (Kale Hewett- Word of Life) Church. However, during the recent rainy season June through September the killings have continued even escalating from previous years- a sober reminder of the challenges ahead. Last year the police did a sweep attempting to clear the weapons out of the area but they are all back and in greater numbers. The Gumuz typically hunt and forage with bows and arrows but these days they have machine guns and AK47 assault rifles.
We are setting up a base camp in the town of Gilgel Beles the regional centre for the Gumuz. Two of our volunteers Dan Rossi and Jesse Town accompanied me to help set up the base. They visited an agro-forester with the SIM Janet Winch- who has been working with the Gumuz for several years in an area south of the area we are targeting. While they were there at least 6 killings happened in the villages surrounding the base camp. The SIM runs a school for the Gumuz and 5 of the students had been shot at in the past few weeks with 3 escaping and 2 being killed. 5 of the Grade 10 students have been killed this year so far.
The Gumuz have little or no knowledge of forest management, improved agricultural and health practices or water management. They have been neglected in the provision of services because of their reputation for killing and taking revenge/ payback. Through the KHC church and the efforts of their evangelists some believers and new churches have been established among the Gumuz. These churches and new believers will be key to seeing changes come to the entire tribe. The president of the region is a Christian and is encouraging us that now is the time to do something. In addition to the agro-forestry project we want to see established a leadership development centre and Bible School in the town of Gilgel Beles that can train up Christian Gumuz leaders.
So far this year we've had six volunteers , through Devxchange, over to help us in everything from Teaching English to helping set up vocational training for FCSW's (Former Commercial Sex Workers). They have been a real boost and have fit right in. They are involved in local sports programs through the church as well as music, art, English, micro-loans, people living with AIDS, street kids and vocational training. They have been a real blessing and their enthusiasm has really gained them a place in the heart of the people.
Sue and the girls are doing well. The girls enjoy having so many Aunts and Uncles around (Volunteers). Sue is busy in many things and is continuing her Amharic Bible studies that she started last year. They are now being led by one of the participants (Demelash). They are encouraged by the hunger and growing in faith of the participants. One of the new participants had nothing but a glazed look on his face for the first 3 sessions this year (and he couldn't read), but he is now learning to read and the lights are coming on

Gumuz Startup

2007-08-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

This next week I will be leaving for Assosa with Tadesse and Amsalu (two elders from KHC) where we hope to sign an agreement for work with the Gumuz. It is a two day trip one way over treacherous roads so we will be gone for at least a week.
Thank you for all who have helped us transition to Devxchange and ICCM. We are still affiliates of SIM in Ethiopia and the work we are doing remains the same but our funds are now channeled through Devxchange and ICCM.

The Year of the Volunteer

2007-07-15T08:18:00.000-07:00

It is now only about a week until we return to Ethiopia and a good time to update you as to developments for this next year. Our departure date has been set for July 29.
Our partner church in Bahir Dar recently had the graduation of 18 from the Bible School. It is the only Bible School north of Addis Ababa. These leaders will be specifically going into church planting ministries throughout the north. We have a real need to find resources and teachers to keep the Bible School open and see a new group of students for this next year.
We have many volunteers coming out to help us this next year. They are coming from 1 to six months. We thought you would like to know who they are so that as we give updates from Ethiopia you will recognize them and pray for them.
Amy Hyong is coming out for August and September to help set up a program through the church for People Living with AIDS. Nearly 1 in 4 in Bahir Dar are HIV positive. The issues are complex but the situation is not hopeless. The church has a real opportunity to play a major role in the community in stopping the spread of AIDS, sharing the love of Christ to those suffering and providing vocational training.
Jessie Town and Gypsi Fellows (Daughter of my sister Beth) will be teaching English at Bahir Dar Academy as well as helping out with the multi-purpose centre and the Big Brother/Sister program.
Oliver Veit, Dan Rossi (Photo not available), and Lizzy Delani (Photo not available) will be helping to get an agro-forestry project going with the Gumuz. Dan just finished as the team leader of a 2,500 kilometre walk charity fund raising drive from Halifax to Markham. Here is a quote from a newspaper "Mr. Rossi said the secret strategy to surviving the often difficult conditions, including heat, stinging insects and cramped rest quarters was to begin their daily 3:30 a.m. walk with a prayer and to never go to sleep angry." The article can be found at http://www.yorkregion.com/article/36191. Dan will be in excellent shape for work amongst the Gumuz where long walks through searing heat is an every day occurrence. The details of this project can be found at http://www.devxchange.org/agro-forestry.asp
Carol Van Overloop with Bachelor of Science in Commerce will be helping to set up our micro-loan credit and financing through the KHC church. Just before I left in May more than 100 prostitutes came to faith in Christ through a special outreach program of a church in Bahir Dar and are in need of finding alternate professions for livelihood. We are hoping to get many of these into vocational training and help them set up viable businesses. Details of this project can be found at http://www.devxchange.org/hair.asp
We also have one volunteer coming from Australia -Alexandra Bennett (Photo not available). She writes "I want to be able to make a difference and to make an impact on people's lives in the name of Jesus. To serve and encourage and help those who struggle to meet the basics ... "
We have greatly appreciated the encouragement and support as we have made the transition from SIM. This next year will be an exciting challenge as we try to get many of these projects off the ground with the help of these enthusiastic volunteers that want to make a difference.

African Adventures

2007-04-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

"Who did it?". The Mechanic scowled as he looked at my back wheel. "I did!", I replied. At that he broke out in laughter. It really was no laughing matter, however, when we were on a dirt road, over 2 days way from our destination - Addis, and we saw the sickening sight of our wheel passing us and felt the car coming to a crashing halt. It all started when we had a flat tire. No big deal- we changed the tire and continued. We weren't too far down the trail however, when the wheel fell off. Absent mindedly I had failed to tighten the lug nuts after lowering the jack. Here we were in the middle of nowhere, nearly three days journey from Addis, no phone coverage and our wheel sitting in the middle of a field. Extensive damage had been done to the back wheel and bits and pieces of brake and shrapnel were everywhere. Miraculously within 15 minutes a trucker came along and stopped to help. He disassembled all the broken bits and pieces and somehow was able to secure the wheel minus brakes, drum, and other parts. We were able to make the trip to Addis through mountainous terrain (complete with storms, mud and fog!) with brakes working on three wheels and no emergency brake. Needless to say, we were very thankful to God for the many ways He protected and provided for us throughout the entire experience.
My sister Beth, and a group from Canada that included Susan Black (my nephew's wife who brought the "Sue Black" count up to two!) had come to Ethiopia to assist with some survey work and project planning for our work here. The first part of the trip involved returning to the Gumuz area where we had first looked at a possible agro-forestry project among the Gumuz. Jocelyn Green, one of the survey group members, remarked that this was as close to the end of the world as she had been. The landscape had an eerie surreal appearance as the Gumuz burn the land every year to clear undergrowth and hunt animals.
The Gumuz have so many destructive cultural practices that keep them in chronic poverty and poor health not to mention the environmental disaster they are creating. The good news is that through the Kale Hewet Church over the past three years efforts have been made to contact this group. They have established good relationships and an openness to learning in several villages and one of the towns in the area. Now is the time for the church to reach out to 14 of the villages in the area. Unfortunately there are no roads to most of these villages. The survey team had to walk up to three or four hours in searing heat to visit some of the villages. Even though they took as much water as they could carry, they ran out long before they returned. Some were so parched they could hardly talk.
Water is a major problem for the Gumuz. Finding adequate clean water will be one of the major challenges.
In addition to the agro-forestry project among the Gumuz, the multi-function centre continues to develop in Bahir Dar. In addition to the multiple programs from the centre including English, computers and sports, there are two projects we would like to help launch. One is working with local burial associations and community leaders to develop a program for People Living with AIDS in the community. The second program is for Orphans and Street Kids. We currently have a list of 150 kids we would like to enroll in this program.
This is Sue here. Bob asked me say a little something about a Bible study I'm involved in. A number of months ago I felt a real desire to try to start an Amharic Bible study in our home. So with much prayer, and an Ethiopian friend's language help, we started. After the first study, one woman said to me that she had appreciated it when I gave her the Bible last year because she thought it was good for warding off evil spirits, but she had never thought to read it! She said that she was now very excited and happy to be apart of this study group. She said she didn't realize that God loved all people - she said she was going home to read more. Most people here follow a lot of religious traditions and have many superstitions and fears. Many acknowledge the Bible and Christ, but people usually either don't have access to a Bible and/or they aren't allowed to read the Bible, and especially not the New Testament , and as a result they don't know what the significance of Christ's death and resurrection is. They've responded with such love and gratitude towards God as we've studied the book of Romans together and they've started to discover for themselves what God has done for them through Jesus. It has been an incredible blessing for me to get to be a part of this.
Next year we plan to continue as affiliates of SIM but our donations and receipting will be handled through Devxchange. We will be mailing a written letter shortly with details concerning this.

Ethiopian Culture

2007-02-01T07:37:00.000-08:00

For the past couple of weeks Sue has been teaching English to the Bible School students from the KHC Church. Towards the end of the week she gave each student an English to Amharic and Amharic to English dictionary. They were delighted to receive the books, however, they had never seen a dictionary before and had no clue as to how to look up words. She had been teaching using both Amharic and English, but was unprepared that day to explain in Amharic, to people who didn't understand the order of the English alphabet, how to use an English-Amharic dictionary. She tried without success in explaining but they kept asking "what page number?". Eventually with the aid of an Ethiopian friend and great persistence they grasped the concept. It just goes to show you things you take for granted in the West are so foreign to Ethiopia.
My niece asked me to write her some stories on Ethiopian Culture (which reminds me that I haven't done that yet). Almost every week something different seems to hit you. You know you're in trouble when they have a different time (6 hrs different from the rest of the world), a different calendar (they have 13 months), and a different year (it is 1999). Every week you are stumbling on different cultural values. The other week I was asked to drive someone to their home area as they had a death in the family and there was no transport to get them there. I discovered that when someone dies they don't tell the family members who. All they tell them is there has been a death in the family and to come immediately. The anxiety for them is incredible as they don't know if it is spouse, parent, or child or other relative until they arrive. Once they arrive the wailing and the crying starts up and they still haven't a clue as to who has died until they get inside the house. I was a nervous wreck let alone the person I was taking. The many very unusual Orthodox traditions and practices I'll save for another day.
Work continues on the multi-purpose centre. We are hoping it will be finished in May.
My sister and some volunteers are coming at the end of March for a couple of weeks to help with a variety of project plannings including the Agro-Forestry project among the primitive Gumuz, HIV-AIDS program in Bahir Dar as well as Orphans and Street Kids. We will write more about that after their visit.
We have some volunteers coming out this summer for a variety of projects so Sue and the girls are going back to Canada in May and I will be joining them for June. We will be coming back the first part of July.

Gumuz Survey Trip

2006-11-01T07:22:00.000-08:00

A little over a week ago I took a survey trip to the Gumuz area in Ethiopia. We were exploring the possible site of an agro-forestry project. The Gumuz are a people originating in the Sudan but spill across the border into Ethiopia. In the past they have been slaves of both Sudanese and Ethiopians. They are a primitive tribe still existing by hunting with bows and arrows and foraging for food.
The area they live in is fertile and also rich in minerals. It could be a very rich area but is extremely impoverished and the ecology is being destroyed. The Gumuz are killing all the natural wildlife in the area and are cutting down all the trees for charcoal, firewood and lumber. When they clear out one area they move to another.
The local church we are working with in Bahir Dar has been targeting this group for the past three years. Several of its members have been working out of a little town called Gilgel Beles. This is the regional centre for the Gumuz that are located north of the Nile (there is another group south of the Nile). They have established good relationships with several of the villages and meet weekly with about 150 of them under trees in the villages.
Here are some of the findings of our survey trip.
Malaria is the number one killer. More than 50% of deaths are caused by Malaria.
There is a high prevalence of malnutrition as their main diet consists of a slop made from millet with little else. It is one month after harvest and their storage bins are empty.
Almost anything will grow in the area, however, fruit trees were all but non existent.
There used to be abundant wild life including elephants, wild pigs, cheetahs, leopards, deer, and many indigenous birds, however, the Gumuz have killed off most of the wild life.
The Gumuz are cutting down most of the trees in the area to sell as charcoal, firewood and lumber without any programs of reforestation.
The Gumuz have a long history of violence and inter-tribal fighting. Armed police are afraid to go into the area. This has prevented much being done in the way of development. Through recent efforts by groups and churches like KHC good contact and relationships have been established to the point they are now wanting to change their past ways for a better future.
We are hoping to see an agro-forestry project established through KHC to address some of these concerns. We are also looking at the need for a more comprehensive health project to address some of the major health concerns.
University Students in Bahir Dar are back at school and we have kicked off the Big Brother/ Big Sister program this year. We are looking at increasing the numbers of participating students this year and have some practical ideas for the students to do that, Lord willing, will improve the life and future of the street kids.
Things continue well at the school I am teaching at and Sue continues to teach the girls at home.

Bahir Dar Academy

2006-10-07T06:55:00.000-07:00

It has been some time since we put out an update. Ethiopia has the second highest population in sub-sahara Africa yet is characterized by the lowest access to primary education. Only 51% of eligible children attend school. Only 40% of eligible girls attend school. Secondary education is only accessible to 10% of the population. Those who manage to attend school usually receive very poor education with very limited resources. Fray Shibabaw and her school Bahir Dar Academy is doing a great deal to change that. There are more girls attending than boys and the girls are consistently getting the higher marks. Recently many students from Bahir Dar Academy took national exams for Ethiopia. The average grade for all students across Ethiopia was 50%. The lowest grade for students from Bahir Dar Academy was 94% and several got 100%. The quality of education at Bahir Dar Academy is miles above the national average.

This year we have a new computer Lab with 25 new computers PTL! We also have a junior computer Lab with an additional 10 computers. I have 750 computer students which are taking a great deal of my time at the moment. I have two assistants, however, that will be able to take over more responsibilities once they get up to speed- hopefully freeing my time for the many other " irons in the fire."
Some of the other ideas we are working on is to develop several vocational training centres that will be an opportunity to address the incredible unemployment plague of this country. We are working with my sister Beth and her organization Dev-xchange to see some of these ideas become a reality. Their website is http://www.devxchange.org/. There are two ladies from Barrie that are helping to start an International Hair Salon and cosmetology school. We see this as one opportunity to give young ladies an opportunity to earn a living other than prostitution. Devxchange has been set up to give professionals the opportunity to give something back to developing countries like Ethiopia so if you have any skill to offer in just about any field get in touch and we'll put you to work. Contact mailto:info@devxchange.org?subject=Information.
We are also continuing to develop the multi-purpose centre with the KHC church. Due to the high cost of cement we are exploring some new technologies that may introduce revolutionary building techniques to the typical cookie cutter construction techniques they use here. We'll keep you posted as this develops.
Sarah and Rachel are continuing their home schooling with Sue. Sarah's favourite subject is Math while Rachel's is Art and Recess.
The University students are not yet back to classes so we haven't kicked off our Big Brother- Big Sister program this year yet. We recently took a seminar on storytelling. This was designed to communicate with non literate people. We hope to train the university students in some of these techniques as they work with the street kids.

Big Brother Sister Program

2006-05-01T06:44:00.000-07:00

This week we are in Addis for a home schooling weekend conference followed by a week of standard testing for the girls to see if they are keeping up with their peers at their appropriate grade levels.

One of the exciting developments is our "Big Brother/Sister" program. We have been working with the University Christian Fellowship this past year to get them involved in reaching some of the many thousands of street kids in Bahir Dar. They officially started their program with the core leadership group running a trial program to learn from it. They are excited about the results as they are already seeing lifestyle changes in some of their "little brothers". Some are studying diligently under the street lamps at night. Others are recognizing the importance of hygiene and are making an effort to improve their sanitation and hygiene. The university students are also enjoying taking the kids on special outings for swimming and are looking after essential needs such as shoes and medical attention. They are beginning to expand the program this week to bring other university students on board. The last two Friday's I was invited to speak to the core group of university students about getting involved. It was well received and hopefully will see many get involved. It provides an opportunity for the students to get involved with the lives and homes in the community.

Sue is continuing to work with "the Sisters". She is visiting the local hotels and trying to get their interest in carrying deserts on the menu which she wants to train the x-prostitutes to develop into a business. We are also in the research stages of developing an outlet for Dairy products such as pasteurized milk, cream, cheese, butter, yogurt and ice-cream. None of these items are currently available in Bahir Dar and we think there is a market for them among the hotels, tourists and foreigners living in the city. She is also developing small group Bible studies with the girls.

The computers continue to be a challenge. I brought one with me when I came back from Canada and a data projector. However, with three sitting at a computer it still takes three weeks to cycle through a class once. I have 8 classes with 400 plus students with only 6 computers. If you want to send out work groups and each person carry a lap top in let me know.
We've recently started an Alpha program, together with another Christian family, for foreigners living in Bahir Dar. This program is a small group discussion on the big questions of life. There are a number of foreigners living in Bahir Dar and we hope this will be a good opportunity for their involvement.
Around $6,000 has been donated from the memorial gifts given in memory of my father. This will be used towards the multipurpose youth, education and worship centre in Bahir Dar. While I am in Addis this week I will be looking for an appropriate block making machine.

Bahirdar Project Startup

2006-03-06T06:23:00.000-08:00

It has been some time since you've heard from us and a lot has happened. My sister Beth and her daughter Gypsi spent a couple of weeks with us and were a big help with planning some of the programs we want to launch. Beth has worked as a consultant for years with both government and non government organizations. Beth sat down and diagramed in a tree chart all the things we are involved with or plan to be involved with. There were many pieces in the jigsaw and at first we wondered if any of it would make sense.
Eventually things began to clarify and she even color coded areas that would be our direct responsibility. There are three main partners that we hope to develop programs and projects with. They are the KHC Church, University Groups and Bahir Dar Academy (where I am currently teaching).
We are in the process of developing concept papers for each project and program. I plan to post these on our website so you can download them and help us find any resources (including personnel) that may be needed for them. The List of the Partners and proposed programs/projects are as follows.
University Students- There are three groups of University Students we plan to work with targeting street kids, and prostitutes. Gypsi is providing a link as well to Trinity Western University (in Canada) that will provide input, support and linkage. Sue will take a primary lead in getting this program off the ground starting with a University Group called "The Sisters". She plans to start some income generation projects and a discipleship group with an x-prostitute, some of her contacts and "The Sisters". With another group of university students we hope to launch a big brother, big sister type of program with street kids and other needy kids in the town. This could have a real impact not only for the street kids but also as the university students get into some of the other homes of the town and have opportunity to share their faith.
KHC Church- The KHC Church has struggled for years in the north against great odds. Last Sunday we were in Addis to see Beth and Gypsi off and we met an elder at IEC who said that years ago he first went as a missionary to Bahir Dar and was in prison many, many times. The church here has persevered and the many walls of prejudice and religious persecution are slowly coming down. We plan to work with the Church to see them develop a multi-purpose youth and education centre which will also serve as a place to worship. We also want them to continue to develop their leadership training through the Bible School and find vocational training ideas that will enable them to go into new areas as tent makers. We are also looking at how the church can reach the deep rural areas where 80 to 90% of the population live. While Beth was here we visited some work that the southern churches were doing in areas like Chencha. It was quite impressive how whole communities were being changed with spiritual, economic and health development. There is a lot that can be developed in this area in the north and it would be great if the church could take the lead in it.
Bahir Dar Academy- What Fray and her husband are doing in Bahir Dar is going to have a huge impact in the coming days. Not only has Fray developed a quality elementary school that is expanding to the high school level but her husband is developing a medical school and hospital that will be unequalled in Ethiopia. Fray is also the head of a 3,000 member women entrepreneurs for Ethiopia. When she took over a few years ago there were only 60 members. She is also wanting to develop a vocational training centre. One of the ideas we are working with is an abandoned resort hotel where the owner died before completing it. It is now under power of sale from the Bank. Fray wants to turn it into an East Africa Tourism training centre. Ethiopia has so much to offer in tourism but is badly underdeveloped with poor standards of quality in almost every sector. This could also be used for church denomination conventions, leadership training etc. This weekend the University leadership group is having a retreat but there is no place for them to go. They are using the KHC facilities which is merely 3 rooms, no beds, no kitchen, no water. Anyhow lots of pipe dreams but God has blessed Fray and her husband with not only vision but the ability to get things done.
PS- On a sad note I just received word that my Dad is in the hospital with a possible heart attack and pneumonia. His condition is not good and he is not expected to recover. Please pray.

Christmas in Ethiopia

2006-01-15T06:06:00.000-08:00

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.

Street Kids Startup

2005-11-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

We are all fine and there is a degree of peace for the moment. We don't feel under any particular danger for the time being but will need to keep a breast of situations as they develop as things can happen quickly.
Just hours before the trouble broke out a week ago, through the university students, we were able to launch our pilot project for street kids. They were able to get some of the kids off the street just before the shooting broke out. It was a very dangerous place to be on the street and the police were chasing down anyone they suspected of throwing stones and were arresting them or in some cases shooting them. Our own language helper narrowly escaped as did the core group that is meeting at our place Saturday nights. They indicated they were running for their lives as police came on campus and were shooting wildly. This was followed up by several nights where the police would come at night with lists of students and take them from their beds. Most of the students have since been released as well as most of the thousands that they took prisoner from the surrounding areas of town. Most of the opposition leaders as well as many newspaper editors have been arrested and are being charged with treason. If convicted they could face the death penalty. Last year I taught computers to the son of one of the chief opposition leaders (the current mayor of Addis Ababa). Pray that peace and sensible minds would prevail on all sides and that it would diffuse the current powder keg. Troops have also been amassing on the border of Eritrea. We live on the main road to the north and for two weeks convoys of troops and equipment were heading for the border. It is estimated that there are 300,000 troops now amassed on the border.
In spite of all the unrest we are continuing to be encouraged by the development of the urban ministries program. When we were doing some survey work last year we discovered there was a university here and that there was a large Christian Fellowship in the university. Immediately we sensed that the key to tackling the overwhelming needs facing this area may be to mobilize the university students. God has given us a core group of key leaders that meet weekly at our place for prayer and planning. Before we even connected with them they were already forming plans on what they could do. We thought it was going to take years to develop a relationship with the students to the extent that they would be interested in doing something concrete about the needs in Bahir Dar. It happened almost over night and the pilot project, though in it's infant stages, is up and running, for which we are very thankful

Streets of Bahirdar

2005-10-16T11:51:00.000-07:00

Yilalu is a 15 year old girl living on the streets in Bahir Dar. When she was 5 years old she was kidnapped from her home and forced to work in the home of her kidnapper. She was greatly abused by her abductor and lost her left eye. 7 years later she escaped and started searching for her home. Till now she has not been able to find her family and is living on the streets of Bahir Dar.
Habtel is a 7 month old living on the street. Her 17 year old mother lost both her parents and had been living on the streets. A man who she didn't know raped her and now she has a baby who will grow up knowing nothing but street life.
According to government estimates there are 5 to 6 thousand kids living on the streets in Bahir Dar. The primary cause is that both parents died. They are deprived of shelter, food, education, medical help and most importantly family. Most will end up in lives of crime to survive. Many say they see only blackness and death for the future.
We have started to gather some information and try and understand what is happening in Bahir Dar. We are humbled and amazed at how God is putting together the pieces for us. The vision we had was to mobilize the University students to tackle some of the issues and act as big brothers and sisters to the destitute children. We didn't know how we were going to convince students who have a very heavy study load to give of their time for these castaways. But, God has already been guiding other people's hearts just as He has ours, and God has already put us in touch with a core group of university students who have the identical vision, they simply lack the resources to carry it out. We plan to meet weekly with this core and (with God's guidance), start to put together an action plan to tackle these overwhelming needs and hope to expand it to include prostitutes and other destitute women and girls who end up on the streets.
Sue has started the home schooling program with the girls. They are enjoying it and according to their teacher, both are doing well.

Arrival in Bahir Dar

2005-09-15T11:37:00.000-07:00

It was evening as we arrived in Bahir Dar to start our second year of service in Ethiopia. As I turned the key and opened the door of our new home a big lizard dropped on my head. It's a good thing it wasn't Sue opening the door or the whole town would have known we arrived.
We are thankful to John and Phyllis Coleman who have loaned us the use of their Land Cruiser while they are in Canada. It has sure made the move north a lot easier. The trip north from Addis was spectacular at times as we crossed the Blue Nile gorge winding our way down several thousand feet and back up the other side.
Animals and market goers considerably slowed our trip and it took nearly 12 hours to complete the trip. It has been an eye opening experience trying to get settled in Bahir Dar as there is a scarcity of most things and household furnishings of any description are frightfully expensive. We scoured the town in search of a simple wooden chair to buy and came up empty. Sue asked some local help to purchase some simple groceries, thinking they would be more successful than us. Sue had 7 items on the list but the local help came back with only one item, however, we were informed that bananas would be available in the afternoon.
Sarah and Rachel have already been hard at work planting a garden. We also have passion fruit and mango trees on our property that we are looking forward to.
Our house is made of mud but it is not a mud hut. It is simple but adequate and we are starting to get settled. A kind couple from Canada, Brian and Cindy McConnell donated a water purification system for us to take with us to Ethiopia. We have that installed and operational.
We arrived on New Years Day. Ethiopia has their own calendar and it just turned 1998. They have not yet entered the new millennium. For all those who want to celebrate the ushering in of the millennium again you are welcome to join us in Ethiopia in a couple of years. I would not want to be a sheep in Ethiopia around New Year as the roadside was full of people buying sheep for the big New Year's feast.
We are in Bahir Dar to set up an urban ministry among the many street kids, AID's orphan's and women-at-risk. It is an overwhelming task before us as Bahir Dar has the highest HIV rate in Ethiopia and more than half the town seems to be under 20 years of age. Since no project agreements have been formed yet with the government I am teaching part time in order to have a residence permit. Initially I was going to be teaching English but the school has asked me to teach computers instead. This will probably work out better for me plus hopefully give some valuable skills to the Ethiopian kids.
The story of the school I am teaching at is incredible. Fray and her husband (both Ethiopian) are an incredible example of self sacrifice and trusting God to help them turn a hopeless situation into something of triumph. Both are well educated, have lived many years in the States and could have settled for a comfortable life but they have dedicated themselves to doing something for Ethiopia. He became a Doctor and opened a practice in Bahir Dar that saw 35,000 patients last year. He is now opening a medical school. His wife started a quality school that has grown in a few short years to 1300 students and has plans to expand to High School in the next year or so. We are happy to be able to join them this year and do what little we can to help them.

Election Unrest

2005-06-15T11:29:00.000-07:00

Things have remained calm in the capital for the past few days as the European Union, the UN and US have put pressure on the government and opposition parties to seek a peaceful solution.
How long this will remain is anyone's guess as there are continued reports of mass arrests by the thousands.
We have reopened school and only have a few days until school is over. For Sue, school has already ended. She is feeling on cloud 9 to have it over. She was told that her class had one of the highest class average's in the history of the school and Sue was in the top half of her class. She worked very hard at it as Amharic did not come easy for her.

2005-05-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a wild boar outside our tent. Then I realized the sound was inside the tent. I was disoriented trying to figure out where I was. When I finally got my bearings I realized I was on a trip to the south of Ethiopia with my Grade 9 class and the wild boar was the erratic snoring of one of the students. (towards the end of the trip they insisted I have a room of my own due to my own snoring).
Our trip took us south to the Bale Mountains, an area my Dad pioneered in opening a base for the SIM. We went by horseback up into the mountains but weren't able to reach our target due to heavy rains and impassable rivers. We had to turn back and were able to set up camp at the first base camp for the mountains. It rained heavily but we stayed relatively dry and safe in our camp. It caused us to wonder, however, how the rest of the trip would play itself out as almost everywhere we were to go was dependent on the weather.
The next day we got on the bus, were able to swim in some hot springs at Wando Genett and set up base at Lake Awasa at the Norwegian guest house. Spirits were still high and things were going as well as could be expected. The next day would be the challenge when we would try to get a bus up rugged mountain roads to Chencha.- Any rain could spell disaster.
On the way up we encountered one bus where the sides of the road had caved in and it had rolled into the ditch. The bus was totaled, however no one was seriously injured. We took the driver with us as we continued our ascent to Chencha. Miraculously we had no rain and made it up to Chencha without incident.
In Chencha we visited a Church that has become a leader in Ethiopia in self-improvement projects for the people as well as cultivating numerous herbs that treat everything from HIV to cerebral malaria. They introduced apples to Ethiopia. At first apples were something strange and few people wanted them, however now they can't keep up with demand and it is spreading to other areas of Ethiopia.
The battery on our bus cracked and leaked acid, leaving us with a bus that wouldn't start. By the time we got the bus started (using a jump start) it was growing late. Our destination for the night was Arba Minch. We had the choice of going back the way we came which would have been 3 hrs and we would have had no lights (battery dead) or going straight down the mountain (1hr.) on a very treacherous road. (no vehicles had made it up that day). We chose straight down and miraculously vehicles that had been stuck all day and were blocking the road, cleared just minutes before we got there all the way down. There's nothing like a harrowing ride down the Chencha mountain to challenge your prayer life.
The next day we took a trip on to Lake Chama where we saw plenty of monster size crocodiles and hippos. The walk out to the boats was a little disconcerting as we had to wade through knee deep water in spots with crocodiles less than 100 metres away not to mention 150 types of snakes in the area with 2/3 rd of them being deadly. The students took it in stride and the weather cooperated. I think it was the only afternoon we didn't have rain.
That evening we had a monster storm. It flooded under our door and by morning I was soaked since I was sleeping on the floor. A driver who was sharing a room with me had made his bed on a table (he was afraid of bugs and snakes on the floor). We nick-named him Noah as he was the only one ready for the flood.
From Arba Minch we were planning to travel further south to Konso, Turmi and El Duba. This area is home to the Hammer and Buna tribes. We abandoned our bus and picked up two more land cruisers to make the trip. The road, however, had been cut in too many places and the risks too great for the short time we were to visit these places.
Fred Van Gorkam, who accompanied us on this trip and who had worked for 14 years among the Buna, had himself been washed down river in a land cruiser. God miraculously spared his life and his family as they had several young children in the cruiser at the time. It was a difficult decision to abandon the quest for El Duba, however, the parents of the kids are probably just as glad that we didn't pursue it. As it was we crossed several places where flooding had washed out the road.
Fred told us the difference that the Christian message of peace with God through His Son has made to the Bunna people. They have lived in great darkness all their lives and have been at constant war with neighboring tribes. The men all have notches on their chest showing how many men they have killed. Any efforts by government or education to change them has failed. In areas where Christian believers have been established it has brought peace to the area. It has paved the way for schools, clinics, education and even police to move in where previously they feared to go.
It was a great eye opener for the Grade 9 class and also a time of personal reflection on their own lives and values. For some, I believe, it was a turning point in their lives. We had many opportunities for devotions, Bible study and personal sharing.
When we couldn't complete our trip to El Duba we returned to a base at Lake Langano where we helped Dan and Kimberely Scheel with some of the work that needed to be done around the place. I had gone to school in Ethiopia with Dan years ago. It was a great reunion and time to reminisce. They operate a clinic at Langano that sees 15,000 patients a year.
This weekend is elections in Ethiopia. There is some concern for peace and stability. I am also traveling to the north this weekend as it is the last opportunity I have to make arrangements for our return next year. Pray for peace and stability
Sue is busily wrapping up her language course with many exams and presentations in the next couple of weeks. The girls are continuing to enjoy and do well in school.

Bus Crash!

2005-03-31T10:36:00.000-08:00

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.

Northern Historical Route

2005-02-03T09:45:00.000-08:00

The Simien Mountains are called the roof of Africa, with good reason. At many points you are high up on plateaus looking down on mountain ranges thousands of feet below you. Over the Christmas break from school we had the opportunity to travel through much of northern Ethiopia- including a return trip to Bahir Dar and north to Gondar and Axum. Many of the peaks in the Simien mountains are over 4,000 metres high.
A few teachers from school joined us including Jim and Andrea Rawson, Sarah's Grade 1 teacher (Miss Jennie Ruim) and a good friend from Canada, Karen Zabawa. Karen previously accompanied us on our two trips to China for our adoptions of Sarah and Rachel. She found Africa a little more challenging than China and is just now getting over her flea bites. She is also involved in other charities one of them being starthrowerfoundation.org
We had left for Bahir Dar a few days earlier than the rest of the group to meet with several leaders concerning the urban ministries program that we hope to launch next year. Since there is an exorbitant amount of red tape to go through for getting a program approved by the government, we may initially start out by teaching some English and or computers part time at a local school in Bahir Dar until we get our feet on the ground and have the time and resources to put together an official government approved urban ministries program.
After a few days the rest of the travel group joined us and we visited some of the island monasteries, blue nile falls and several other local attractions around Bahir Dar. Many people from the outlying areas still come by papyrus boat to market the same way they have for a thousand years.
New Years Eve we spent in a police station. Some say I can't go anywhere without ending up at a police station. While we were visiting a local village, where they make papyrus boats, all of our jackets were being stolen from the van. Our guide insisted we try and get them back (we were also heading for the Simien mountains where it can go below freezing). Our guide along with the local police and village elders pursued the thieves until all the jackets were returned (around midnight).
Soon we were on our way by Land Cruiser up to Gonder and from there to the Simien Mountains and Axum. Gonder was the capital of Ethiopia for 250 years with a succession of kings making their home there. There are many interesting castles and old palaces to be explored. I remember visiting Gonder years ago and seeing live lions running through the ruins. It kind of added to the adventure. Fortunately there weren't any lions this time.
From Gonder we went into the Simien mountains and then wound our way up and down spectacular mountain gorges on our way to Axum. The trip was uneventful apart from flea bites and hundreds of cock roaches appearing as soon as the lights went out. We decided to leave the light on in the bathroom to avoid "the crunch in the night".
On the route to Axum we saw lots of burned out military vehicles, remnants from the various wars Ethiopia has been involved in over the last 20 years.
Axum is the home of the Queen of Sheba, the famous Queen who visited king Solomon. The Amhara tribe claims to be descendants of the King of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. The Ark of the Covenant also is said to be in Axum guarded by the Orthodox Church.
At one time the Axumite kingdom was the most powerful in the ancient world with its kingdom extending all along the Mediteranean. Axum was also a cultural centre of a quite advanced civiliztion. We visited the Queen of Sheba's palace, her pool and varius underground tombs etc. Only about 2 or 3% of Axum has been excavated so there is still a lot of history to dig up.
We were running short of money by the time we hit Axum and we had to pool all our resources as a group to cover our hotel bills and travels in Axum. There is no using of credit cards, ATM's or any way to get money. Everything is cash only.
We are back into routines teaching at school and Sue with her Amharic studies. The girls are enjoying school and will be participating in Field Day over the next couple of days. Field Day is a long tradition at Bingham that goes back to the days when I was a student here. It is essentially a major track and field event where everyone in the school has to participate in at least two events.

Survey trip to Bahirdar

2004-12-08T09:23:00.000-08:00

As we arrived in Bahir Dar and got settled into our hotel room for the night we received a phone call. We wondered who could be calling us and who knew we had arrived. Assuming it was a wrong number I picked up the phone anyway and the voice on the other end asked "do you remember me- Amsolu, my wife Geddam and I worked with you in the Sudan." I couldn't believe it. His wife had been the cook for our Relief team and we hadn't heard from them in 13 years. They had returned to Ethiopia and he was a key leader in the church in Bahir Dar that we are planning to work with, in fact they are responsible for the entire northwest area of Ethiopia. He was the one who had drawn up the recent proposals for SIM for work among the Youth, Street Kids and other needs. It was a great reunion and chance to sit down with him and discuss the needs in Bahir Dar and what can be done about them.
He has not had an easy time of it, being asked to move 5 times in the past few years because of religious persecution. The army had to intervene one time to prevent a mob from decimating their newly established church. The government strongly supports freedom of religion and has recently given him some land of his own, so if he can scrape enough money together to put up a house, he should be free from further evictions.
We surveyed some of the social concerns in Bahir Dar with more than 6 thousand street children, some of them as young as three or four. Bahir Dar has the highest HIV rate in Ethiopia. We discovered several factors that are exasperating and perpetuating the situation. Many young women end up on the street for a variety of reasons including they have lost one or both of their parents. The town is both a university town (10,000 students), a tourist town, and an army garrison town. Many young women turn to prostitution to provide an income for themselves and to try and provide for their siblings.
The street children organize themselves in little bands, which become their family. To a certain extent they look out for each other but we are also told there is a lot of treachery. At least half the kids we met needed serious medical help. Many had open sores and wounds. The task is far too big for any kind of institutional approach.
One of the other key leaders in the small church we hope to work with in Bahir Dar is a key leader for the University Students. He is the only staff member for a totally indigenous university fellowship of Christians. There are many students meeting in small groups to study the Bible and grow in their faith.
We see the University Students as the key for addressing the social and spiritual needs of the town. The street kids and the young women all look up to the University students. In fact many of the street kids are already following the university students around and follow them right to their small group Bible studies. If you could mobilize a force of students to address the social and spiritual needs of the town, they could have a huge impact. Ebenezer is also responsible for the university fellowship in Gondar, a town 150Km to the north of Bahir Dar. He says there are many students meeting in small groups in that town.
We are encouraged at the potential we see for God to do great things in the north of Ethiopia, but we also realize the challenges are enormous and many of the problems are rooted deep in the culture and values of the people.
Bahir Dar is located on Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia. They still use traditional papyrus boats to navigate and fish the lake. We had opportunity to take an excursion on the lake, visit one of the many island monasteries and sight some hippos.
Over the Christmas break (from me teaching and Sue in language school) we plan to return to Bahir Dar and continue our survey work as well as take an excursion farther north to Gondor and Axum.
Sue is doing well in her Amharic course, but she is really putting a lot of work into it and is finding it quite challenging.
Sarah and Rachel seem to have totally adjusted to life at the school (Bingham) and really love it here. If we move to Bahir Dar next year they will find it a lot more difficult to adjust.

Thief

2004-10-17T08:25:00.000-07:00

"Laba at Meskel Square"! Laba is the Amharic word for "thief". Towards the end of September there is a huge celebration by the Orthodox church called "Meskel". The origin of it is shrouded in legend and superstition. It goes back to the time of Constantine when his wife is said to have discovered the true cross of Christ by following smoke from a burning fire. For the Ethiopian it also signifies the end of rainy season sort of like the arrival of spring (they can now visit relatives that were cut off due to swollen rivers). At any rate as I was observing these celebrations, I had my pocket picked. I think I was distracted by one policeman who started beating indiscriminately on the crowd with his billy club. In the ensuing chaos and flight for my own safety I ended up without a wallet. I lost my Ethiopian drivers license and Canadian Citizenship Card. I started having flashbacks to my time in Brazil where I had my wallet picked with all my id and then had my passport destroyed on one of my river trips. At that time I ended up in jail for two months.
It took me trips to 5 police stations, most of them twice and one of them three times, 11 1/2 hrs. and 2 days of waiting in lines and chasing signatures before I was able to replace my Ethiopian drivers license. I still haven't replaced my citizenship card.
Sue has started her Amharic language classes. She is finding it brutal but is persevering. She is also getting exposure to different types of urban ministries that will be useful for when we start things in Bahir Dar. She has visited a women's shelter as well as some self help projects. One project involved taking people who lived on the street and organizing them into a little Co-op where they were trained on using a brick making machine. A whole community of homeless people that used to live against walls and under plastic sheets now have houses they made from the bricks and are getting income from the sale of bricks.
We are making plans with the SIM director for the North of Ethiopia to visit Bahir Dar around the third week of November. We will meet with various officials and people working in the area at that time as we start things rolling on getting an urban ministries program started there.
This weekend is mid-term break at school and we took a trip about an hour and a half north of Addis to an Orthodox monastery called "Debra Lebanos". The monastery was started by a monk named Tekle Hynot who is said to have stood on one leg in a cave for 29 years in meditation. As the legend goes his one leg eventually fell off. We climbed up to the cave where this event supposedly occurred and were met by a monk in a cave. Apparently a lot of monks still live in caves.
The Orthodox church in Ethiopia has a lot of history. The area we are going to, God willing, in northern Ethiopia is the heart of the Orthodox history in Ethiopia including many legends of the Ark of the Covenant as well as many ancient island monasteries on Lake Tana.
Not far from the Debra Lebanos monastery is "the Portuguese Bridge". This bridge is more than 400 years old and is located along the "Nile Gorge". Sue and the girls are standing on the brink of the gorge with a sheer drop off of thousands of feet to the Nile river below. The Grand Canyon has nothing on the "Nile Gorge".
The girls were fascinated by bands of monkeys and baboons that could scale sheer rock cliffs without falling (as far we knew).
School continues to go well. Both girls are now healthy after a couple of weeks of sickness. They are both enjoying school and have made lots of friends. Sarah and Rachel recently competed in a school "House Competition". The school has divided students into what they call "Houses" named after famous missionaries (Carey, Scott, and Taylor). Sarah and Rachel are members of Carey and their team came in first place. Rachel didn't compete much, she was the smallest on the field and she said she "didn't want to get sweaty".
In my Grade 9 Bible class I am having a good opportunity to discuss many important issues of life. We recently completed studies related to "Why does God allow so much suffering" and "Why are there so many injustices that seem to go unchecked". I am discovering that many of my students are struggling with deep issues of their own including thoughts of suicide, abusive home situations, caught in the middle of messy divorces involving their parents etc. Pray that I will have God's wisdom in helping them at this important time of their life.

2004-09-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

We are now into the second full week of school and the pace of things has picked up substantially. Sue has also started language study so is gone before the girls leave for school.
Sue is learning to roast and grind coffee beans the traditional way as part of her culture and language training. I'm hoping she learns how to carry wood and start fires next as our apartment is freezing.

Just before school started our building took close to a direct lightning strike. It was the middle of the night and I thought a bomb had gone off. Sue leaped up hitting me at the same time, adding to the sensation we had been hit. The lightning fried a couple of staff notebook computers including mine as well as damaging some network equipment. Fortunately we were able to recover data off the computers but will need to send them out of country for repairs.

Ethiopia Arrival

2004-08-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

On August 17 at 6:30pm we left Toronto for Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The total trip took more than 30 hrs. before our arrival at the school where we will be located for this first year.
After an eight hour stopover in London, we continued our journey and arrived in Addis Ababa at 1:30 in the morning local time. Clearance through customs and immigration was uneventful except Rachel wasn't listed on our entry permit (although it was listed on our copy). After some delay they decided to keep her passport and give a ticket for her to go to the immigration office to obtain a valid entry visa.
Eventually we cleared the airport and were taken by waiting van to the school.

We were taken to a spacious 3 bedroom apartment that will be our home for the next year. We were both delighted and surprised to find that from our residence we have a phone and Internet access (although slow).

It looks like both Sarah and Rachel will be able to go to school this year, although they had to make an exception for Rachel as she isn't old enough for their kindergarten.
We had our first taste of authentic Ethiopian food last night. Sue and I are accustomed to it, however it will take some getting used to for the girls.
Although it has been nearly 40 years since I lived in Ethiopia, with the exception of structural changes, things look pretty much the same. Sarah and Rachel are pleased to see donkeys and sheep walking down the middle of the road. There is still a great deal of poverty and suffering for the average person. The needs can be overwhelming. The girls seem to be adjusting well inspite of the huge changes and have already made some friends.
We are quite impressed with the facilities at the School. It has a good computer setup as well as excellent gym.
We haven't met with the Central Office of SIM yet to discuss the development of the Bahir Dar program that will target ministry with street kids, orphans and women at risk. We are already making plans, however for a trip up to the area around Christmas time.

The Beginning

2004-06-28T07:34:00.000-07:00

Homeless! This last weekend we had our garage sale as we are in process of selling our house and getting rid of years of junk as we prepare to leave for Ethiopia.
As we were putting things on the chopping block for sale, the girls were trying to rescue them. Our house closes the end of July and we hope to leave for Ethiopia mid August.
We have given them so much space and told them they can pack whatever they want in their allotted space. Sarah will likely fill her space with seeds as she seems to be a gardener at heart and is already planning her mango trees, vegetable garden and flower gardens. Sue and I have zero interest in gardening.
This next week we will be going to a Bingham reunion. Bingham is the boarding school that Bob went to in Ethiopia as a boy. He has not seen most of his classmates in 40 years. It will no doubt be a memorable time. Bob will be teaching computers at Bingham this coming year in addition to getting plans and approvals for the work in northern Ethiopia working with street kids, orphans and women-at-risk.
We would like to be at 100% support status by the end of July so feel free to let others know who may be interested in Ethiopia, the AIDS epidemic now facing that country or are interested in praying for us.
Thanks again for your interest, prayer and support. Pray for our work permits as we were told this week that we would need to have the permits before we leave, even though we were told earlier that we could come on a business visa and get the work permits in country.