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.
