An MCC Team outing and many other reasons to be grateful

MCC Ethiopia team at the end of a day out

What a good two weeks! Isn’t it great when you can look back and consciously say that?

Last weekend, the wife of our colleague Mesfin safely (and rapidly!) gave birth to their third daughter. We were relieved and grateful to get that news. We don't take any birth for granted anymore. Glory to God.

new baby visit with Eyerus, Sol, me,
Yeshi and Mesfin

One of our colleagues had been away for an extended exchange visit with another MCC program. We had really missed him! He finally returned home last week and was in the office on Wednesday for our first team meeting together in person. Our cook made a special cake for teatime and delicious Ethiopian food to share at lunch. The only person missing was Mesfin, who was on paternity leave, of course.

After lunch, we decided we all needed to pay a social visit to Mesfin’s family to welcome the new baby. Social visits for big life events are extremely important in Ethiopian culture. We had already paid a visit to console Mesfin after he lost his stepdad in January. It was nice to go back on a joyous occasion and we already had a baby gift for them, all prepared. Mesfin lives just a 10-minute walk away, so it was easy to head over there on foot as a team. (Paul, sadly, had a work obligation he couldn't get out of and had to stay back, so I represented)

False banana snack: Mesfin, Wonde, Eyerus

Mesfin’s wife Salam was up and healthy. Though we had told them that we had just come from lunch, no need to prepare anything, well, that’s just not possible in Ethiopian culture! The family are from southern Ethiopia around Sodo, where food and other traditions are quite distinctive. Salam’s mother had just come from Sodo and treated us to a really tasty and unique snack: a sort of stiff porridge of red beans mixed with large granular pieces of false banana (I really cannot even begin to tell you what that really is, but it is some way that you take new banana shoots, grind them up, ferment the resulting flour, and then make a kind of heavy bread – I’m sure I’ve misunderstood something there, but that’s the idea). It was flavored with garlic, ginger, and chili and it was very good – you can see it in this photo. In fact, the only member of our team who had ever eaten anything similar was Wondwesen – he’s also a southerner, but from a different tribe. For Eyerus, Yeshi, Solomon, and I, this was the first time.

Sharing leaf coffee

Then Mesfin blew our socks off by serving a special kind of coffee, brewed from the leaves of coffee plants, not the beans. It is an elaborate mixture of these leaves, plus the herb “rue,” a little chili and salt – and probably other things that only a true chemist could discern. It was served without sugar and was very strong, bitter, and invigorating! Again, this was totally new for the four of us, but Wonde left begging Mesfin to tell him the next time he would be serving leaf coffee! Apparently, it’s the main way coffee is served in the south. All of this was a very wonderful insight into how multicultural Ethiopian society really is, with more than 70 different tribes and local languages. Injera and “wot” are the mainstream dishes, but each ethnic group continues to preserve a wide variety of different foods, drinks, and traditions.

On the work front, we got some great news this past week. Here’s some backstory: the Mennonite church supports a restorative justice project in the Amhara region, working in both prisons and the community. That area has a very high rate of violent incidents and murders, along with a strong culture of revenge killing – the family of a murder victim is honor-bound to seek the blood of a perpetrator’s family members. As you can imagine, this is devastating for both families following a murder. The ministry tries to help inmates come to a place where they can seek forgiveness of the victim’s family, and at the same time counsels the victim’s family towards forgiveness. Here are details of a reconciliation ceremony Paul attended last year.

Walking with the dogs

These communities (Debre Berhan and Mehal Meda) were occupied by the invading TPLF (Tigrayan) military forces last November, as they tried to march on the capital. Project participants experienced all kinds of violence and destruction, displacement, and loss of their livelihoods. The church plans to continue their peacebuilding work, but clearly, there were even more immediate needs for food, blankets, soap, and trauma healing (especially for women who were victims of gender-based violence). We received a draft proposal for the church development agency to provide this emergency relief, but by that time, the pot of money at HQ available for disasters had already been used up for the year. We would have to wait until April to release funds. We were very sad and disappointed. This was two weeks ago.

Suddenly on Tuesday night, we got the news that some new funds had been freed up. We all went to work quickly, ironing out questions in the proposal, getting feedback from HQ, and wrapping it all up in two days. That’s when the time difference from Winnipeg works in our favor! We worked hard on Wednesday, sent off the proposal in the evening as those folks were getting to work, and got our answers back in the middle of the night, giving us time to respond and send it back the next day. By Friday morning, we got a green light for the relief funds to be released as soon as possible. We are so grateful for the opportunity to help meet people’s urgent needs and grateful that somehow God provided the resources. In addition, we trust that as the Mennonite church provides for the practical needs of these community members in their times of trouble, they will be more open to the message of the gospel of peace.

At Gulele

We have several other emergency projects that are underway right now. If you have heard any news about Ethiopia in the past few months, probably the humanitarian disaster in the Tigray region is at the forefront. MCC supported one emergency food project for the Tigray region earlier in 2021 but then access was cut off to the region and we haven't been able to resume. The Western media has not done such a good job of documenting what happened between July and December when military forces of the TPLF invaded two other regions in Ethiopia (Afar and Amhara) in a bid to regain control of power and oust a popularly-elected Prime Minister by force. Most of those areas were liberated again in December by the Federal armed forces, but whole swaths of the country are devastated. At this point, probably 3 million people have been internally displaced by the conflict. Three MCC partners are providing emergency relief in the Amhara region (water sources for impromptu IDP camps, nutritional supplements for displaced infants and pregnant/lactating mothers, food and cash support for IDPs trying to find their way back home and rebuild their lives). More on that in a soon-to-come trip report from Paul. 

Another partner in Afar has provided emergency shelters to 630 households -- using the appropriate technology of supplying traditional palm mats. I'll be going to visit that project in two weeks, so I'll write more later. What's really horrible is that it seemed like there was finally a chance for a negotiated settlement, when the Tigrayan forces retreated back into their region in January. But in the past two weeks, they have launched fresh attacks into northern Afar, shelling civilians and a German mission hospital. Another 250,000 people were displaced in the past 10 days. There will be a need to provide traditional shelters to perhaps another 4000 people. We have been working with MCC Canada Communications intensively this month to share these needs with constituents, and we pray that we can speak up with integrity and faithfulness for people who are suffering greatly and have no interest in these kinds of political power plays.

Preparing staff gifts

Yesterday was a very special highlight for our team. There has been a tradition in this MCC program of hosting a special party for all the staff, their spouses, and their children right around Christmas time. But that was difficult this year. We did not return until after Ethiopian Christmas and we still had a key staff person away on a work exchange. We decided to schedule the gathering for right after his return.

It has taken a lot of planning and preparation to pull it all together since one of the traditions is a gift for each staff family member. Paul and I hunted around and found most of the gifts we needed in Tanzania and brought them back – especially some interesting things for each kid. (Thankfully, our predecessor Rose left us with a meticulous list of the names and birthdates of each child!) We still needed to purchase a few special staff recognition gifts locally. Our accountant Eyerus helped me find the nice leather shops in town, where we got a nice work bag for a 10-year gift and a leather jacket for a 15-year gift. It was absolutely no fun to drive down there! But at least I was not alone, and she helped me get better prices. It took Paul and me several hours on Friday to wrap and package all the gifts. We also had to prepare bags of water and snacks for each family, to make sure that kids didn’t get hungry or thirsty too fast.

two staff kids making friends

At 9 am on Saturday, families began arriving at our compound. It was so wonderful to finally meet some of these wives and children for the first time. A big coaster bus met us at our compound to transport most of us together – though there wasn’t quite enough room for 35 people (!), so several of us went in one of our office cars. We drove up to the outskirts of town to Entoto Natural Park, where our family has often enjoyed going. It was the first time for most of our staff to get up there – it’s free, but transport there isn’t easy. People were really impressed by the vision for the place and all the different facilities. The children really loved the playground, and a few tried out the climbing wall. The indoor trampoline park was the hit for almost all the kids though.

We all had lunch together at one of the restaurants near the children's play area, in a spacious outdoor area. We enjoyed taking photos of each family, we gave out the gifts, we had a special time for recognizing staff who have worked five years or more. 

I walked with Mesfin, Solomon and his daughter

People enjoyed cultural food alongside pizza. Kids started making friends with other kids they had never met before. Some folks went for a walk; others stayed with the kids jumping on the trampolines again. We all shared a very sweet time of enjoying each other’s company and relaxing together in a beautiful place.

Another answer to prayer: we have been able to join together with a few other families to form a family life group here. We had been trying to host a fellowship group through our church, but it was turning out to be a sort of drop-in group without much consistency. We decided to call a halt to that effort and try something else – looking for other families with a felt need for bible study and intentional fellowship. 

Strolling in the park

It happened quite serendipitously. We invited one of Oren’s classmates over one Sunday afternoon, together with his parents. As we adults talked, we found out that we had a mutual need to be part of such a group. We decided to just invite a few others in the area and start. We met last week for the first time, and it was really a nurturing and lovely time. Here’s an unusual point of connection: All three of us couples met our spouses when we were very young children and have parents who have been lifetime friends. We met again today at our house, and I am so thankful for these other people who are willing to come together and share so openly and vulnerably, though we are still just getting to know each other. All of us have leadership roles in life, and any one of us could host and lead a study; it will be very nice to be able to share that responsibility so that most times, the rest of us can just show up and enjoy.

Another highlight – it was Paul’s turn to preach at church today – for the first time in this congregation. It was a family communion service, so kids were in the sanctuary the whole time. Paul was very creative about helping the kids interact with the text from Isaiah 6, about God calling Isaiah. He directed them to simulate a 6-winged seraph, helped them imagine the train of God’s robe filling the temple, and best of all, invited one child to volunteer to have her lips touched with a lump of burning hot coal. The fireplace tongs held a brightly wrapped caramel, so no burning ensued, and other kids were becoming eager: “can I have a burning hot coal, too?”

The gospel text was a wonderful juxtaposition of Luke 5, in which Jesus calls Simon Peter. It’s interesting to realize that Simon already knew Jesus and had already seen the miraculous healing of his own mother-in-law. None of that made a very big impression, it seems. It wasn’t until his own boat was nearly swamped by a massive catch of fish that Simon realized he was in the presence of God. I guess sometimes we need a sign that really hits close to home. Simon reacted like Isaiah – “I am a sinful man! Get away from me!” And he probably was a rough character. But Jesus drew him in and gave him a new calling – those who are forgiven much, love much.

Other joys in the past weeks:

We had another nice time walking with the dogs at Gulele Botanical gardens last Saturday. As much as our kids complain, I think they have learned to accept that family walks are a good thing. Oren likes to discuss things while we walk, and David treats it like a scavenger hunt, looking for things in nature that will be interesting and impressive.

I led music last Sunday in church, together with Eyerus’ husband Moses (newly arrived from Zambia) and her cousin Melikte who lives next door to her. He taught me the Amharic version of one of my favorite songs – “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”  It was delightful to incorporate Amharic into a time of worship. It was also great to study the text in our language lessons and find out that we can now read almost all the fidels (characters) in that song.

Paul and I had a few hours to explore a new place two weeks ago, taking a swim in the thermally heated pool at the Hilton hotel – almost too hot actually! And signing up for him to be able to play golf at the British Embassy. It’s a nice place – a little too far away to be a regular thing, but now Paul is planning on getting his clubs delivered here by a visiting friend.

Hilton hot spring pool

We got new chicks last October. This past week, one of them has started laying. This was a very exciting development because we have had to greatly scale back our egg business recently. The remaining old hens are just too old and tired to produce much anymore.

I took the kids for another riding lesson. My horse was quite unpredictable, prone to canter a few paces and then walk again. Very challenging! Maybe next week a friend of David will be able to join in at the same time – that would be even more fun!

I guess it's been such a good week that I even forgot about the fact that we didn't have power for three days last week. It took a tremendous amount of effort from our staff to follow up and  get the technicians to replace the fuse for our row of houses down on the transformer. Meanwhile, it was still easier for us than for our neighbors. During the work day, we had to run the generator some times, so the fridge kept getting a boost of power, and we could charge up all our many back up power banks and headlamps to be ready for dark evenings.

Our dogs remain very cute and cuddly, and it seems like every day there is some new pose that is just too irresistible. 

And now for some bonus photos of our staff team and their families:

Guard Solomon, his wife and 3 of his 4 kids (the oldest is a Uni grad and was working)

General Services Officer Wondwesen, his wife, and 3 kids (baby Betsy stayed home)

Guard Tadewos, his wife, and 2 kids

Guard Muluneh and his wife. His son Bereket had Saturday school and couldn't come. Sad for Oren, since Barry is his good friend!

Programs Manager Solomon and his two daughters. His wife had an engagement at church.

Accountant Eyerus and her husband Moses

Housekeeper Yeshi and her son 

Food Security Programs Manager Mesfin and two daughters. His wife stayed back with their newborn

Guard Fikre's family -- he could not join, due to other work.