World Together Children's Choir

A few weeks back I had the opportunity to attend the National Theatre in Addis Ababa and watch the World Together Children's Choir sing.  I used to love to go to plays, musicals, and concerts in America so I wanted to check one out in Ethiopia.  I am so glad that I did!  We took a van-full of 10 people and drove into the city to watch the choir.

They started the show with an Ethiopian montage.  There are approximately 85 different tribes in Ethiopia and they all have their own diverse culture, customs, singing, and dancing.  It was really cool to see a performance that combined a few of these tribes.

They sang songs from different parts of the world such as Germany, Russia, and the Netherlands.  It was really interesting to see a choir of Ethiopian children yodeling!!  They finished the performance with "Heal the World" by Michael Jackson and "O Happy Day".  "O Happy Day" was a different version than I have ever heard but it was so cool.

I really had a great time at the concert and I tried to upload video so you could enjoy it as well but there was an issue.  So you can go to my facebook group:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/185514348167457/

Semester Break Program at BCI Academy

BCI Academy was on semester break February 6th-10th.  But that didn’t stop the missionaries from having fun with and ministering to the children.  The long-term missionaries that are currently in Ethiopia planned a fun-filled program for grades 5-7 that was held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

The days were scheduled with activities that included praise and worship, a sermon, ice-breaker games, crafts, challenges, and sports competitions.  There were approximately 60 children that came out to participate in this special program.  The children were divided into four teams that they would stick with throughout the three day program.  The children were asked to pick a team name and to also create a team chant.  The teams were called:  Abraham, David, Samson, and Exodus. 

The children were told that they would work as a team throughout the entire three day program and at the end of the program there would be a prize for the winning team.  The teams were able to earn points for good behavior such as: being quiet, teamwork, helping others, winning challenges, etc.  However, the teams were also able to lose points.  They could lose points for not wearing their team wristbands, fighting, being disruptive, etc.

Each morning was started with prayer, praise and worship, and a sermon.  The children sang songs in Amharic and also English.  The children really got into the worship with clapping and raising their hands in worship to God.  The praise and worship was followed by a sermon.  On Tuesday, twenty-eight children went forward to give their lives completely to Christ.  What an amazing way to start our semester break program!  The children were also very receptive to the preaching and they asked questions and lead good discussion about what they learned.

Team challenges were done throughout the day to build excitement for the overall team challenge and to build team rapport.  The teams were given assignments that they had to perform and points were given out to the winners.  The hardest challenge that the teams had to perform really taught the children what it meant to work as a team and it taught them problem-solving skills as well.  In this challenge, two adults held a jump rope chest high and the children had to get all of their team members, plus their assigned social worker, over the jump rope in the shortest amount of time possible.  There were many different strategies used to complete this challenge.

Some teams decided to just throw over their smallest team members, others decided to run and jump over the jump rope, others decided to use each other as human steps and walk over the rope.  Even though their were many ways to accomplish this task, each team ending up finishing the challenge and they were very excited that they were able to accomplish this.  When the challenge was first assigned some of the children thought it was impossible and some of the children were scared to go over the rope because it was so high.  But each child learned that even though you think something is impossible or even though you are scared, as long as you work together as a team-you can accomplish your goals.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the children were separated into boys and girls and the social workers led discussions that were entitled “Life Skills Training”.  There were a variety of topics in these discussions and the social workers allowed the children to ask as many questions as they wanted.  The boys talked about what it meant to be a responsible man and the changes that their bodies are going through.  The girls also talked about the changes in their bodies and also how important it is to stick to your goals and not to get distracted by having boyfriends at such young ages.  Their was a lot of good discussion in these groups and the children enjoyed being able to talk freely and openly.

On Thursday the children went on a field trip to Kiriftu Lake in Debre Zeit.  The children were very excited about this field trip and it sure showed in their grand entrance.  Without being asked, two teams decided that they wanted to dress in their team colors for the last day of the team competitions.  Of course these two teams earned extra points for their dedication to their teams!  Also, the children ran down a big hill that leads to the lake chanting their team chants.  What a way to start the day!

The children did many more games and activities “field-day” style.  There were human pyramids, piggyback races, and other similar games.  Then the children got to go on a hike around Kiriftu Lake.  The children definitely loved this part of the day.  They stuck with their teams and sang songs while hiking the trails.  What a way to praise and worship-by singing songs to God while walking through His beautiful creation!

The day ended with the awards ceremony.  Prizes were given out to the team captains, the mvps of each team, and of course to the winning team.  And the winning team was. . . .David!  Each team member received gifts which included personal hygiene products and art supplies.  The missionaries gave a small gift to every child that attended the program because every child was on his/her best behavior and every child participated well and tried really hard in all of the team challenges.

The semester break program was a great way to allow the children to have fun and to take a break from school.  It was also a great way for the missionaries to be able to spend time with the children in a social setting and to be able to get to know them better.  Also, some of the children didn’t know each other that well before the three day program but because of the team challenges, they have made new friends. 

The semester break program was a huge success and the missionaries are looking forward to the next opportunity to minister to the children in a similar way!

Washing Laundry

So I thought that every now and then I would put up a blog of what my life is like here.  As some of you may have guessed, I do not have a washing machine here in Ethiopia.  Tragic, I know.  So. . .that means I get to hand wash my clothes.  It is a process, let me tell you.

I choose to wash my clothes in the bathtub because it is easier to fill up the water buckets there and I can just dump out the water right there when I need to get more water.  If I wash them outside, like the habeshas do, then I have to lug water around and dump it out on the ground and then I end up walking around in puddles.  

Process:

1. Fill up the wash basin with soap and water.
2. Fill up two smaller buckets with only water.
3. Scrub the article of clothing in the first wash basin. Making sure to get all of the dirty areas and any stains that you may have.
4. Wring out all of the excess water and soap.
5. Dunk the article of clothing into the first of the two smaller buckets.  Dunk vigurously to try to rinse out the soap.
6. Wring out all of the excess water.
7. Dunk the article of clothing into the second small bucket of water.  This is your final rinse.
8. Wring out all of the excess water.
9. Admit to yourself that you will never rinse out all of the soap.
10. Turn the article of clothing inside out so when you hang it outside on the clothes line the sun will not fade it.

After you wash a few items of clothing you must dump out the water, rinse the buckets, and refill them because the water gets really dirty.  It is very dusty here and even if your clothes look clean, as soon as you put them in the bucket of water you realize how dirty they actually were.  

Sheets, jeans, towels, and sweatshirts are the hardest for me.  They are really hard to wring out.  But plus side, I am building arm muscles!!

I don’t exactly love washing my clothes by hand but I put on praise and worship music while I am doing it and it gives me an opportunity to praise God.  While I am praising Him during this time, I usually end up thanking Him that I have clothes to wash.

Holidays

I apologize that it has been so long since I have posted. I don’t really believe in New Year’s Resolutions but it is my goal to post more often. Even if it is just a picture or something short and sweet.

Well, this holiday season was especially long for me. It started as normal with Thanksgiving but then it ended with Ethiopian Christmas which is January 7th. I already posted about Thanksgiving so I won’t talk about that again but we celebrated “ferengi” Christmas and “ferengi” New Year’s.

The New Zealand family and I planned a Christmas Eve dinner. We invited the BCI management staff and their families. It was a great evening of sharing our Christmas traditions with the habesha that have become family. We had “ferengi” food only and the habeshas loved it. We also decorated the house which was really cool. My sister sent me a gingerbread village kit so earlier in the day the NZ kids and I made gingerbread houses and we used those as decorations. The house looked really good.

In NZ they line up all the kids and throw candy at them and then the kids scramble around to get all of the candy. So we did that with the kids and they thought that was just amazing. We ended the evening by playing with sparklers.

Ethiopian New Year is in September so I had a “ferengi” New Year’s Eve with the NZ family. We had a wonderful dinner and we played cards and board games until midnight. I told the kids about the New Year’s Eve ball drop that happens in New York City and I pulled up the 2011 ball drop on YouTube so they could see it. Although, I remember the ball drop being bigger and flashier when I was little. What happened to it?

We ended the evening in prayer and then shot fireworks. On Sundays I do a home church with the NZ family. The Sunday after New Year’s the message was on putting off your old self. So we wrote down all of the bad habits that we have and things that we want to leave behind in 2011 and we burned them. It was such an awesome time to release the bad. We also wrote down goals (spiritually or otherwise) for 2012 and sealed them in an envelope. We are going to open the envelope in June and see how far we’ve come.

Ethiopian Christmas was an experience. I started the day with my daily morning run and on the way I saw many families in the streets slaughtering and skinning animals for their Christmas dinner. Right down the road from my house a bunch of men had killed a cow and they were skinning it. The pictures are kinda graphic but they tell the whole story. Still, 5 days after Christmas, there are random hooves in the road and in fields. The day after Christmas Kevin and I were walking home at night and right in the middle of our street there was a random cow head. It was gone the next morning so I assume a pack of dogs or hyenas ran off with it!

I went to Addis (Capital city of Ethiopia) on Christmas day and there were piles of skin along the road. Apparently when people skin the animals they then sell the skin so there were just heaps and heaps of animal skin! I tried to get pictures of that but I wasn’t able to. The interesting thing is that when they skin the animal they do it in one big piece. So basically they just de-stuff the animal. Other than the heaps of animal skin, Ethiopian Christmas is celebrated very much like how Americans celebrate Christmas. There are Christmas Eve services, feeding programs on Christmas, gathering with family and friends to eat a big meal, and gift giving.

The thing that isn’t here and that I definitely did not miss is the commerialization of Christmas. It was so nice to enjoy the holiday without being concerned or stressed about what I am going to buy for who or feeling obligated to buy something for everyone or to out-do whatever I bought for that person last year. It was great to just sit back and truly celebrate the real reason for the season. . .Jesus.

Living as a Ferungi

Ferungi is a word that I hear quite often.  Most of the time it is hurled at me as I am walking down the street, riding in a bajaj, or when people are speaking in Amharic and for some reason they think I don't realize that they are talking about me.  In the Amharic language a ferungi is a non-Ethiopian.  Actually, it is more than that, it is a person that doesn't look like an Ethiopian.  If you are a "ferungi" that was born and raised in Ethiopia-you will still be called a ferungi.

Little kids run up and just want to touch my skin.  I think it is funny, so do they.  Some babies scream and cry if I try to touch them.  One little girl screams and cries if I just look at her.  I realize that I look different but I don't feel any different.  This is my home now and sometimes it is weird to have people basically point at you and tell you that you don't belong.  I know that they don't mean any harm when they scream out ferungi at me but sometimes it does hurt my feelings.  It is like a reminder that no matter how long I live here I won't ever truly fit in.  I know this isn't the case with the people closest to me but it is true for others.

I think it is more weird for me to understand the fascination of the color of my skin because I come from a country where we have a little bit of every nationality and race.  I lived in the DC and Baltimore area for a long time so I am used to seeing many different people all of the time.  I realize that here they are not used to that so maybe it is fun for them to see "outsiders".

These are just my random thoughts for the day.  :)

Thanksgiving in Ethiopia

What an awesome Thanksgiving.  There is one other American (Jess) here right now so we hosted Thanksgiving dinner for about 25 people.  Michelle (New Zealander) helped us even though this was also her first Thanksgiving.  We ordered chickens for the meal because you can't get turkey here.  I made sure to specify that I wanted dead chickens 'cause you just never know around here.  I don't usually eat turkey in the States for Thanksgiving but I wanted to get it here because it is so traditionally Thanksgiving but we made do with the chickens.  Also, ham is very expensive here so that is why we went with the chickens.

Cooking here is interesting to say the least.  You've got the altitude issues (I'm at about 6300ft here), the stove and oven are gas and it is extremely hot.  There is no such thing as simmer or warm on these dials.  Plus, it is difficult to find ingredients that you are used to cooking with.  All in all, I thought it was a great night.  We were worried that we wouldn't have enough food but we actually had leftovers.

We played a game where we drew names and we went around the room and said why we were thankful for that person.  My family had done this once in the past and I thought it was a great way to spend Thanksgiving.  It was so cool to hear some of the reasons why everyone was thankful for the others.  Mussie had to translate the whole evening so I am not sure that he really enjoyed his Thanksgiving but I am very grateful that he was willing to be our translator.  In the end we had US Citizens, New Zealanders, Ethiopians, and for a short while, a Canadian.

I spent most of the evening holding an impoverished newborn that now has a hope and a future because God used Blessing the Children to rescue her and her family.  Can't really get more thankful than that, can you?

Busy, busy. . .

Things sure have been busy lately.  Sorry for the delay in postings.  I am actually sick today (only a cold, nothing to worry about) so I am doing work from bed so I thought that I would update you on everything that has been going on.  The BCI directors came into town last week and it was busy, busy with meetings.  I wasn’t in the meetings and trainings but all the “big” people were so things that I wanted or needed to do got put on hold.

I mentioned in the previous blog that Michelle and I were starting a Bible study at one of the churches and that approximately 30 women showed up for the “welcome” meeting.  The first official Bible Study was held on Oct 25^th and it was amazing.  Approximately 25 women showed up to the study and we had an amazing time together and with the Lord.  Because all of the “big” people were in training all week, our usual translators were not available.  Mussie arranged for a man to come and translate for us.  So we get there and we are waiting.. . .

The Bible study was to start at 4:30 and by 4:45 there was still no translator.  Now, if I were back in the US I would have been totally panicked at this point, but this is Ethiopia and time is a fluid concept to most of the locals (not all, but most).  But by 5 I was starting to get nervous.  I texted Mussie to try to find out if he had heard from the translator (remember, Mussie was in this very important training so I shouldn’t have been texting him). While texting Mussie my phone ran out of money so I went to use Michelle’s and hers ran out of money also!  So I start walking around the church complex looking for our translator, whose name I didn’t even know!  I couldn’t find him but I found a man who spoke English fluently and I asked him if he would translate for us and he graciously agreed! 

Michelle and I have started a Bible study at another church as well and the welcome meeting for that one was on Oct 20^th.  Approximately 25 women showed up for this one and the first Bible study is this Thursday.  Please pray that we have a good turn-out and even though there is a language barrier, that we will be able to join together and learn more about our great God.

With the directors of BCI in town, I have been able to learn much more about this great organization.  Not only have I learned more about how they got started but I have learned a lot about where they want to go.  There has been a lot of vision planning happening and I am so excited about things that I have heard.  God is doing amazing things through BCI and I am sooooooo thrilled that He has chosen me to be a part of it!

One of the biggest happenings is that Dennis has returned to start Phase III of the school.  Dennis is from Michigan and he was been the builder for the school.  The school has come together in phases.  Phase I and Phase II happened at different times and both times, Dennis has come to Ethiopia for a month and has built the school.  Well, he is back and Phase III is happening!  Phase III allows BCI Academy to go up to grade 8 (currently it is grades 1-7).  It also includes a cafeteria, kitchen, and other rooms that will be used for training for adults. 

While there have been amazing things happening around here, there has also been heart-breaking things as well.  Almost every day I go on home visits with one or more of the social workers.  This gives me an opportunity to visit the homes of the program kids and to meet their families and/or guardians.  This also gives me an opportunity to see what kinds of needs are out there.  On Monday afternoon Betty (BCI social worker) took me and a couple from Canada to meet a family that attends her church but that is not in the BCI program. 

This home visit has been the absolute worst visit I have been on, including all of the home visits I did last year when I was here.  This home consisted of a 20 year old woman (Seble), her 4 year old son (Yabsira), and her mother.  Four years ago this young woman was gang raped by four men.  So, at the time this young girl was only 16 years old.  These men attacked her so badly that she is still in chronic pain from the injuries that she received.  I am not going to go into all of the details of what happened to her body, just know that it is horrific.  She is so messed up that she can barely stand or walk.  The only time that she leaves her house is to walk approximately 50ft to the closest church.  Her mother and son go to a different church, a church that this young woman wants to attend, but because of her physical limitations she is forced to attend the closest church she can get to. 

Basically, for the last four years this precious girl has been sitting on her bed watching the world go by through the window that is at the head of her bed.  As I mentioned earlier, she has a four year old son.  This little boy is the product of that brutal rape.  She loves her son very much.  I could see it in the way that her face lit up when he walked in the door and by how she kisses on him.  She is not only living with the physical trauma of what these men did to her but she is living with the pain of not being able to provide for her child. 

The couple from Canada that came with me on the home visit was torn up by this visit as much as I was.  The three of us were just sitting there, not believing what we were seeing or hearing.  Looking back on it now it seems weird that we weren’t crying but I realize now that we were too stunned and angry to cry.  I have cried over it since then, I actually am now as I type this, but at the time I was in complete disbelief. 

After leaving the home visit, the couple from Canada went to lunch and they decided that they would pay for this precious girl to have reconstructive surgery.  I am soooo elated at this news!  I love how God brings people from all the way across the world to change the world for one family.  This woman is not even affiliated with BCI but God is still using BCI to bless her. 

The next day, I went back to visit her and Sheila (Blessing the Children Canada Director) came so she could meet the family.  Betty told the young girl that her surgery is paid for and it was a precious moment.  I have noticed that the majority of Ethiopians are pretty reserved in their emotional reactions so there was no screams of elation or even tears of joy; but there was hope.  There was hope in her face; not just that she would no longer be in physical pain every day, but hope that she would be able to improve the life of her child. 

BCI would like to add the little boy to the program but we need to find sponsors for him.  Please pray that God brings along the perfect sponsors for this family-and let me know if you are that sponsor or if you want more information about how to sponsor a child. 

This is Seble.  This is how she watches the world.

This is Yabsira.

I miss everyone so much!  I think it is worse because I haven’t been able to communicate much because of technical difficulties.  Please know that I am trying to get everything up and running so I can Skype but things aren’t as easy to accomplish here!  J

Oh yeah, do you realize I have been here for a month already?!!