Openness

Rebecca with MK College guide
Henok and Solomon, my colleague

Rebecca writing this edition of the Ethiopia blog. I’ve been in Addis for almost three weeks and now I’m sitting in the departure lounge getting ready to head back to Tanzania for my final two months there. I’m grateful to Paul for insisting that I come and spend some time with the program here, solo, while he stayed back in Arusha with the kids. It’s been challenging for him to balance the heavy workload and the parenting. But meanwhile, I’ve had the chance to experience the rhythm of work and life here and to sense many possibilities for making this our home.

I arrived on a Sunday night and our wonderful General Services Officer Wondwesen picked me up from the airport and took me home. I was able to start the work week with the rest of my team Monday morning, getting accustomed to how we do things in the office here, with a tea break together, Monday staff meeting, time for office work, lunch prepared by our amazing cook Yeshi, and more hours at the desk. 

our shared desk in the office

In my first week, there were a few highlights, especially meeting the founder and director of one of our food security partners. I’m glad to know more about his original inspiration for starting Migbare Senay, and to understand how the organization has evolved beyond his original vision. A lot of the conversation needed to be conducted through translation, but there again my colleague and Program Manager Solomon was invaluable in being relational and curious on my behalf.

A lot of the work I needed to do on my stay here was in the financial realm since I will be overseeing financial reporting for our program. Our accountant and administrator Eyerusalem does all the real work, but I need to check it all and make sure it aligns with our budget. In addition, Ethiopia has very stringent requirements for documentation and compliance for NGOs. So, I needed to do a lot of composing official letters, stamping, copying, scanning, filing, etc.

Habesha food for staff lunch

Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic is amid another big surge in Addis, and while I was there, it was touching our team personally. One team member had just recovered, but the whole extended family then fell ill. Another team member lost an uncle who had been hospitalized. Everyone knew of church members or neighbors who had passed away in that week. People do appear to be taking precautions and wearing masks in public, but the virus still spreads. In addition, tensions are rising in many parts of the country ahead of the elections. Unfortunately, ethnicity is playing a role in sparking violence. Our housekeepers’ extended family had to flee their homes at one point last week, because armed militia of another ethnic group were coming through, killing people and burning houses. Many prayers are needed for the country to hold together through this election season and to not lose the ground they have gained as a nation, in terms of economic development and political standing on the continent.

Another major role I will take is overseeing our human resource processes. My initial task was to conduct annual performance appraisals with all the members of our program staff. I really enjoy having these times to meet one on one with colleagues and to learn more about their jobs and how they feel about their work. We managed to fit in all those meetings. Paul and I had our own performance appraisal with our bosses virtually, and I had to spend many hours in preparation, putting together my work plan for this new job. 

Welcome tea for Mesfin, with Wonde, Mesfin, 
Solomon, Yeshi and Yerusalem

In addition, over the past three days, I have been helping to orient our new Food Security Programs Manager. He started Monday and he will replace Sisay in working with our conservation agriculture partners. (Sisay is moving to another MCC program in Southern Africa.) We can immediately tell that Mesfin is a warm and experienced person, who will fit in very well with the team, along with having excellent practical experience with MCC partners under his belt. It has been stressful to deal with the transition of a key member of our team, just as we are starting our role. But we are grateful that we were able to recruit such an excellent candidate so quickly.

Donor meeting at the Hyatt

And speaking of Food Security, on my second day in the office, Sisay had helped to organize a high-level donor meeting at a downtown hotel. It was a good opportunity for me to go and meet other NGO leaders and support him. Our MCC partners have just finished a 5-year project funded by the Canadian government, teaching local communities about this kind of climate-smart agriculture that improves soil quality, rather than further depleting it. It was an incredible success, and along with the development work, research was done to document all these successes. The donor allocated funds to share these results as widely as possible, and thanks to strong advocacy by our partners, the Ministry of Agriculture has come on board to also adopt this method and spread it far and wide in Ethiopia. The main problem is that local partners need more donors to support them in scaling up this work. I found that most of the invited donors were not yet committed to supporting conservation agriculture though they were interested and asking lots of questions. Paul has been more focused on our CA work so far in the program, but thankfully I know enough about the work we’ve been supporting to speak up and encourage other donors to join us in this common effort. Getting to the meeting required me to take taxis, also a bit of an adventure, but my taxi driver back to the office also turned out to be a very engaging Amharic tutor.

One of my walking hills

Another aspect of my role will be to support our various young adult exchange candidates. We are hoping to send two or three young people to the US to serve for a year with the IVEP program. I took several hours each with two young women on my first week, helping them to fill out the very extensive application form for a US non-immigrant visa. A lot of online work is required these days for everyone, and these young women don’t have computers of their own. In addition, the form is not easy to understand and fill out correctly. So, along with that practical work, I was glad to have time to meet with each of these young people and get to know them before we send them off.

There was so much work to do that I found myself sitting at my desk most days until 5:30 pm. By 5:15 my newly adopted dogs started to get impatient, as if an alarm clock was going off in their heads. They would trot into the office and come nibble at my toes to get me to put away my computer. After sitting for so long, it felt very good to take time for a walk around my neighborhood. The streets are circuitous and a bit random, so I had some adventures, finding my way around new routes that would give me a good healthy walk for an hour or so. At almost 8000 ft, walking uphill definitely got my heart rate up! 

And then when I got home from walking, it was time to collect the day’s egg production. Sadly, the hens are not laying quite so many eggs these days: our suspicion is that they just don’t get as much variety to eat, since there aren’t so many humans living there, eating and creating vegetable peelings for extra chicken nutrition. I did enjoy taking the compost pot down to the hens: how often do you have the complete and full attention of 40 other living beings, tracking your every move? They couldn’t take their eyes off me until I tipped the pot over and let them go to town.

Chickens roosting in
the evening

And the dogs were always happy to keep me company in the evenings. Neither of them is big, and they really love to cuddle with humans on the couch. Bella is super cute but is a bit of a troublemaker, at just a year old. Once or twice, she stole food off the counter and broke a dish, and our housekeeper is not happy with her! We’ll need to lay down the law with her when we can catch her at her mischief. Friday, the older dog, has such a funny face. I always feel like I have somehow deeply wounded her and have broken her heart, with the way she looks at me, but that she is just going to patiently put up with my unjust treatment. Sigh.  I’m sure that’s not what’s going on inside her little head, but that’s what her expressions convey to me.

Friday gives me baleful looks

Yeshi cooks very good food for staff lunches, and there are always leftovers. So, I hardly had to cook a thing while I was there, and it was nice to heat something in the microwave and then watch an episode of the Crown (a show that interests no one else in my family). It was interesting to have so much quiet, alone time, with no need to care for anyone else’s needs. I have not had anything like this much extended introvert time for more than 18 years!

On my first weekend, I decided to get behind the wheel for the first time in Addis and drive to a nearby shopping mall. I wasn’t sleeping that well and it seemed a new pillow was in order, along with a few other groceries. And then I tried out the enormous 50m  pool located in the center of the mall. The changing rooms were deserted, thankfully – the riskiest part of taking a swim. There were a few kids playing around in the pool, so I had to stay alert to not crash into anyone, but it was very refreshing to enjoy a different kind of exercise, apart from the workout I was doing in my living room in the mornings before work. 

Matilda online, "We are revolting children"

Both Friday and Saturday evening, I got to watch a special show: the St. Constantine’s production of “Matilda.” David was in the cast as a doctor and a school kid, and they had been rehearsing the play since October. The actual production was postponed several times due to events in Tanzania, but finally they performed. I was sad to miss seeing it in person, but at least I could watch in on Zoom, right along with all of David’s grandparents (and a whole lot of other far-flung relatives of cast members). Unfortunately, the sound quality on Zoom was terrible, but we could still get a good sense of the energy and focus of the students, and especially the very clever and engaging dance numbers.

Sunday afternoon nap

There were many ways throughout my first week that I felt like God was lining up appointments for me to meet people at just the right times. Getting appointments with the IVEP candidates at the right times was one example. I’ve taken over the egg business from my predecessors, and that has put me in touch with a group of nearby missionaries who are very friendly and helpful. And that led me to a much-needed appointment with another missionary to get advice about visas for short-term volunteers. But the greatest gift came on Sunday. I decided to attend the church Paul had been scoping out (though there are other options)—it’s basically community-led and very open to participation, though it’s not a big community. I was really blessed to hear a great sermon from a Pentecostal Finnish guy who, it turns out, attended the same seminary in Canada that I did. The Anglican worship leader also encouraged us all to take a moment and to pray about why God had brought us there that morning and with whom he was calling us to have a conversation after the service. And so right after the service, I was greeting a man whom I know slightly through our work and he spontaneously invited me to join his family for lunch. I had been planning to go for a hike, but it felt like the prompting was to take up this invitation.

our gate in the evening

Sam and his wife Kathy were incredibly gracious hosts, together with their college-aged daughter. They had prepared a homemade Mediterranean feast, and also had invited an Egyptian-Canadian friend. I learned so much from sitting with all of them and hearing about the best places to hike, the best Italian restaurants in Addis, the political situation, Covid vaccine availability in Addis, etc. We also had many deeper, more philosophical things to talk about as a multi-culturally gathered group of Christians and it was a truly delightful afternoon for me. I also fit in an afternoon nap with the dogs that Sunday along with an extra-long walk around my neighborhood.

RPC office staff with Solomon & I on the right

Another work-related highlight was a field visit I took with Solomon and Wondwesen last week. We first stopped at the Addis Ababa head office of our partner “Remember the Poorest Community.” They are historically linked with the outreach ministry of one of the oldest Ethiopian Mennonite congregations. That previous generation really wanted to help children of very poor single mothers, and decided to open a preschool for orphans and vulnerable children. MCC has been a partner of that kindergarten for many years. In 2016, MCC started to support a nutrition program because teachers noted that children arrived to school hungry, with empty lunchboxes, unable to concentrate in class. The MCC school feeding program included balanced, nutritious, high-protein lunches and snacks five days a week. There was a marked improvement in children’s performance in school, attendance rates, and overall health. Kids who are well-nourished and attend three years of preschool school have a much better chance of succeeding – even excelling – when they enter free public primary school. Without that foundation, most of them fail in primary school and drop out, following in the footsteps of their impoverished parents.

Story-telling in the older preschool class

Sadly, that funding ended, and the program was cut, right when the COVID-19 pandemic started. At this point, MCC is only able to provide funding for tea and bread, 3 times a week. For some children, that small snack is the only reliable food they get because their family is so impoverished. Parents who were scraping by in the past through small businesses are finding it impossible to make ends meet in the time of COVID. The economic situation is extremely difficult for everyone currently.  The teaching staff are heartbroken to see their students sleepy and hungry, and they are using every possible means to try to make up the difference. They even committed to donating 3-5% of their very small salaries (they earn just $48 per month) to try to buy tea and bread for Tuesdays and Thursdays, but even that generosity does not meet the need for more than 2 more days a month. The staff of RPC made an earnest plea for MCC to find some way to help them restore part of the feeding program.

Younger preschool class "washing hands"

We went on to visit the school in Adama (Nazret), about an hour away. Two senior staff members introduced us to a few of the classrooms (we peered in through the open doors to reduce COVID exposure risk). The older children sang a few songs and recited things they had learned about body parts, letters, and other educational skills. One child entertained us with vigorous storytelling. Solomon tested the kids in fun, to see if they knew how to keep themselves safe from COVID. One four-year-old answered: “We wear our mask, we wash our hands, and  we eat our lunch!” Even young children had a very clear idea about sanitation, not touching their eyes or nose, and keeping their masks on (all the children seemed to have cloth masks to wear). We noted the energy and brightness that was evident among the students and the care of the teachers. The classrooms were all colorful and decorated with homemade posters – clearly a lot of effort has been made to develop an inviting and bright atmosphere in the school.

Principal Etgenet with the girls

Later we sat outside to talk with the school staff and a few parents. One parent, Mitiknesh Fekadu, spoke about how many of the children are street children, living in plastic houses. She asked why there is no feeding program. Her twin daughters performed at the top of their class this term.

Tilaya Hailemariam is a grandmother of twin boys. She is struggling to survive because the cost of living is so high, and with COVID, there is no opportunity for trade. Her daughter, the twins’ mother, is still around but has no work. Her two grandsons won 3^rd and 4^th place in class. Tigist is another committee member who raised the question of the school feeding. “It’s sad to see the kids have only bread – it isn’t enough.” Most of the children don’t have fathers but are raised by single mothers like herself. She struggles to even buy soap to wash her child’s clothing.

Twin boys with grandmother

The chair of the parents’ committee is an older man named Bahiru Jemal. He works closely in helping to choose beneficiaries for the school to make sure they choose kids whose parents could not afford to send their child to a private school. Only the poorest are enrolled, including many orphans who live with grandparents that really need help. The teachers are wonderful and it’s a model kindergarten, the best in Adama city, teaching kids to be creative and use local materials. Some parents send their kids long distances to come.

As a development worker, it is very convicting to hear these stories from community members. On the one hand, we recognize that these issues of poverty and hunger are not a problem with the school, but a structural problem in the community. The hunger needs to be dealt with on a broader level, because school feedings only treat the symptoms of the problem, are not sustainable, and don’t change the overall situation. Furthermore, education and school feeding are lower priorities for our organization right now, compared to bigger food security projects and interventions for displaced people. And yet, when one visits a school like this and hears the stories of how three years of a good preschool and good nutrition can make a difference in the life of individual kids who would have no chance otherwise – it’s hard to turn away and say no. This is one way to break the cycle of poverty for particular individuals. I was reminded of the story of a thousand stranded starfish. A man threw one back into the ocean. When asked, “Why bother?” he answered, “It made a difference to that one.” These are the very real dilemmas we are placed in when we work in contexts of poverty.

View from MK College in Debrezeit

In the afternoon, we visited the campus of the Meserete Kristos College, the institution where virtually all Mennonite pastors and leaders are trained. Our main purpose was to scout it out as a placement location for a potential short-term volunteer from the US. I was also very glad to meet the college president personally and to learn about their programs. It’s a very quiet, peaceful setting and the campus includes a working farm for income generation and feeding their students. I hope to be able to go back there for visits from time to time and stay in their guesthouse. There was the promise of some excellent birding…  

Entoto park view

On my second weekend in Addis, I took a longer drive to Entoto Park and spent most of the day walking from one end of the park to another, exploring and stretching my legs. Much of the time I was alone before I met up with another young couple out for a stroll or a family come to take photos and let their kids ride on the pedal carts. The eucalyptus forests are well preserved and thick, but it is not a natural forest, so not as much birdlife. Still, it was great to get out above the city and take a walk in a quieter environment. I walked more than 13 km up and down the hills in the park, with a cappuccino in there somewhere.

Apples forming on our trees

Early on in my solo visit, I had a chance to meet online with my spiritual director. We talked more about the passage I had been thinking about all during Lent from John 10: unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it cannot bear fruit; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. I heard this as an invitation to hold loosely both the things I love in this world and the things I fear – not to cling to that which I love, and not to flee from that which I fear. Jane encouraged me to think even more deeply about the experience of the grain of wheat. It was once part of a stalk of many grains, a community, growing together, stored together. Suddenly it finds itself all alone, in cold, dark, unfamiliar ground. And at that point, the seed has a choice: to remain hardened, closed, grieving, refusing the instinct of life… or to open itself to totally new possibilities, the feel of the living water inviting it to put down roots, the sense of the warmth of the sun, yet unseen, above it, calling for a shoot to come out. Being open to change and growth is hard; it requires one to be split open, left vulnerable. It can be tempting to stay closed, to cling to the old, as the only way to honor the very real grief that we feel when life throws us a curveball. And yet openness is the only choice that leads to abundant life. I do give thanks to the Spirit at work in me, helping me to set aside more of my unholy grumpiness, my fleshly desire to close in, and to be open to more of the possibilities going forward. It’s been a good three weeks to practice that openness and to feel the growth that comes as a result. 

Coffee blossoms in our yard