Paul and Rebecca Mosley in Ethiopia: Breaking the Cycle of Violence, a field visit with Area Directors

Inspector Belaynesh (center) with 4 inmates
Genzabet, Zinu, Meskerem and Netzanet

Since three weeks have passed since the last blog, let me get right into the highlight of these past two weeks: the visit of our Area Directors, Wawa and Kristen Chege. They are based in Nairobi, Kenya,
and supervise our program. We meet with them on Zoom monthly, but we were so glad that they could both finally come for an in-person visit to Ethiopia this month. Wawa had last visited in February 2021, the same week we were doing our Rep transition. Now we’ve been on the job more than a year and have a lot to reflect on with them. They have four kids under the age of 9, so they needed to be creative with their schedule, with Kristen coming first, Wawa coming for 3 days of overlap, and then staying on as Kristen returned home to be with her kids today.

Primary school for 400 in prison

The big event of the Kristen-only days was a field visit to a town about two hours north of Addis called Debre Berhan. Our partner, MKC Prison Ministry, works in that region (North Shewa) with an ambitious prison ministry project. We left town at dawn to get through city traffic early and arrived in time for breakfast in Debre Berhan, The prison ministry project staff met us there and led us to the prison facility for an overall briefing on the program. In fact, Prison ministry works in 50 out of 135 prisons in the country, providing spiritual care and holistic programs.

Asalefew Wolde, peacebuilding
coordinator

Every year, the entire church nationwide celebrates a “Prisoners remembrance day” and most of the program are funds are raised in that way. Church members also donate clothing, blankets and other needed items. Fifty-one people serve as full-time chaplains in various prisons, and in fact there is no other Christian denomination which dedicates staff to the care of inmates. Even Orthodox and Muslim clergy visit only occasionally for holidays. We learned that many young children end up in prison with their parents, if there is no extended family willing to take them in. The prison ministry builds Kindergartens for young children if needed or helps to pay for food and police escort for children that need to leave the prison each day to go to regular primary schools.

Chaplain Tigist, a graduate
from MK college

In the two prisons of the project area, MCC supports a restorative justice project. In North Shewa, the traditional Orthodox culture also supports a dark undercurrent of violence, in which murder is common and revenge killing is expected of a victim’s relatives. The MK Prison Ministry works both inside and outside the prisons to try to break this cycle of violence. Chaplains and prison officials look for inmates with a good record of showing a change of heart and good behavior, whose sentence has been reduced. Counselors work with these eligible inmates to help them come to a place of taking responsibility for their crimes and seeking reconciliation. Meanwhile, community leaders from these inmates’ villages are trained as mediators. A team of mediators meet with the family of the victim to see if they can also reach a place of seeking reparation and forgiveness. If an agreement can be reached, an elaborate reconciliation ceremony is held, observed by religious and government officials. See Paul’s blog from last year. The inmates’ sentence can then be reduced by another third. MK Prison ministry also supports vocational training for these inmates so that they have skills to make a living when they are released from prison.

Commander speaking in our briefing

The prison commander and a number of police staff serve alongside the MKC prison chaplains and in this case, they sat through the entire presentation and expressed great respect and appreciation for what the Prison ministry does. In fact, the commander accompanied us throughout the day as we toured the prison to witness the realities of life on the inside and the ways that MK Prison ministry provides extra supports for gaps in government funding.

We started by visiting the women’s section. Forty-one sentenced women live together there, sleeping in one big dorm room, along with about 10 women who are still waiting for a legal decision (who have a separate dorm room). Their yard was not big, but it was grassy in the center.

Commander Zewgel, Inspector Belaynesh
and Inmate Representative Meskerem

Some women were cooking injera, and others were spinning in the kitchen and meeting room. Some women were doing laundry, while others worked in a tiny hair salon, learning skills from an inmate professional. Nursing mothers had their own tiny room so that a restless baby would not wake everyone. We asked ourselves what kinds of crimes women would commit to end up in prison. We did meet one in prison for trafficking together with a brother-in-law. Others were there for murder and theft. One young teenager minded a tiny shop with soap and biscuits. We learned that she had gone to live with an uncle earlier in her life. When he impregnated her, he insisted that the child be killed when it was born. The 13-year-old was in prison for murdering the infant – we did not learn if the uncle was also held accountable.

It was not easy to hear these kinds of stories of suffering and sin. On the other hand, these women did have a small community together, in conditions that were better than in some free neighborhoods in Addis. The Police Inspector in charge, a woman named Belaynesh, seemed to deeply love and care for the women in her charge. She admitted freely that she is a beggar, begging all the time for better resources and facilities for the women inmates. She helps them with small loans and raw materials for handicrafts, so that they can keep earning a little pocket money while in prison, to pay their fines or buy necessities.

We went on to visit the men’s side of the prison, where 1700 men live together at any one time. It was a sprawling yard, with 42 dormitory rooms, each accommodating about 40 men. A full primary and secondary school had been built inside the prison, with over 400 adult learners trying to continue their education. Teachers are assigned by the government to teach these unusual students.

The prison even has an attractive library. Several big workshops accommodate vocational training in woodwork, metalwork, and tailoring. Inmates learn skills and build furniture or make clothing. They are allowed to keep a percentage of the proceeds of their products. The MK prison ministry had helped to supply a number of machines for this vocational training.

We continued our tour and learned more about certain practicalities. For example, how do you feed 1700 inmates 3 meals a day? We visited a large room where huge vats of injera dough were kept, with inmates carrying large buckets in a constant stream.

In another room, about twenty women were cooking injera on woodfired stoves (on days with electricity, they use electric griddles instead). In another room, we visited the industrial oven (donated by MK Prison Ministry) where cooks bake 1700 bread rolls for each days’ breakfast. The flour and teff are all ground in a mill on the prison grounds. Inmates haul the raw grain and mix teff with sorghum. The inmates also get meat every 15^th day, using goats fattened on the scraps of leftover injera.

Several things were quite striking on the men’s side. Men were just milling around, sitting, talking, playing games, drinking coffee, and engaging in handicrafts like weaving and basket-making. There were three visible chapels – Orthodox, Muslim and Protestant – and men could go freely into them. There was very little regulation of movement.

Door into women's section

We just walked right through a series of open gates to get into the inmates’ area. Prison police were in view, but none had weapons. In fact, the commander explained that the police felt much safer this way. No one could snatch a weapon and attempt to use it on an officer. Yes, there were police stationed in distant guard towers on the perimeter of the prison; they had weapons and would use them if anyone tried to escape. But the police mixing with the inmates seemed to have a very easy relationship with them.

This was like no prison I had ever imagined. I have visited a corrections facility in New York State, and it was nothing like this – there were at least three or four checkpoints. Everything was highly controlled, there were no easy social interactions, and the corrections officers held a highly antagonistic view towards both inmates and ministry visitors. Men’s bodies were cared for well enough, but they were isolated. In prisons in Burundi, inmates got virtually nothing to survive on. If an inmate did not have relatives to bring food, s/he would die of hunger. In this case, the Ethiopian prisons really do seem to be corrections facilities – places where people can experience a change of heart, rehabilitation, and find a new start in life. They are fed and cared for in an adequate way.

Selam Mengesha, Psychologist (right)

We even visited the office of the government-assigned psychologists. They have an open door to talk with inmates dealing with depression and anxiety. One counselor was a woman and we asked how she deals with being female in an all-male facility. She reported that she is highly respected by the inmates, but also well supported by her colleague, a police counselor. In addition, inmate peer co-counselors are trained by the Prison Ministry and bring troubled inmates to her for care; they work well together.

I was struck, over and over, how well these Protestant Prison chaplains work so well and with such a healthy partnership with Orthodox prison officials. We heard from the top that the prison ministry is changing the culture of the area. In the past, revenge was the key to honor. These Protestants were highly suspect and looked down on by the Orthodox. But now, they have really helped to foster a culture in which reconciliation is valued. But we still need help, said the Commander. We need more work in prevention. We need to change the mindsets of children and youth, so that they don’t grow up to commit murder when they become young adults.

Drama by peace club students

In response to this request, the Prison Ministry has also started efforts at prevention. They have helped to establish peace clubs in 4 schools and this new project will establish 6 more peace clubs. They are going to be producing and broadcasting peace messages on the local radio stations. They will convene small social gatherings – coffee ceremonies – in local communities, play the peace messages on tape recorders, and have discussions about non-violent response to conflict. We really hope that some of these new strategies have an impact on the community as a whole.

Family meeting about coming war in drama

We visited one school where a peace club has been working for several years. In fact, it is just getting back to running this year, after a 2-year hiatus because of the pandemic and the conflict. Unfortunately, the peace club is a new adaptation of an old structure, the “peace and security club.” School officials see their greatest problem being truancy. They have recruited the top 4 students in each class to help them with law enforcement and reporting students who “jump over the wall.” This was not what prison ministry had in mind… So, there will need to be some work to reshape the purpose of the peace clubs to focus more on learning about healthy ways to deal with conflict.

Inmate very proud of his tiny garden

We did meet about 20 student members. Some had written poems about the importance of peace. One small group of students performed a drama, in many ways working through the trauma of what they have lived through in these past 6 months. Back in October and November, the TPLF military started marching south on the main road that passes right through Debre Berhan towards Addis Ababa. Their forces got within 50 km of this town, wreaking destruction in all the towns they passed. These students had lived through about 2 months of fear, wondering if they might be killed or raped, robbed from or forced to flee with nothing. Their schools were closed. Their drama helped them deal with these experiences, but still the message was that it is better to go and fight those attacking, rather than sit and wait to be killed. It’s not the message we wanted to hear, but it is the reality that many young people are perceiving. They very much feel threatened by the instability in the country, the threat of ethnic conflict and they need help to figure out how to be a force for change in their country, rather than passive victims of violence, unemployment and despair.

Reconciled inmate, Kefalegn

We had a chance to talk with a few inmates personally on our visit. What was the experience like for them, living through the encroaching war last year? We knew that two of the project prisons had to be evacuated just ahead of the invading TPLF, and all those inmates were taken to Debre Berhan, so that the prison capacity had to be doubled for a few months. Men were even sleeping outside during those months. We thought it must have been a scary and difficult time for the inmates. But two of them said, “I’ll be honest with you… we were excited for the TPLF to come. Maybe we would finally be released!” One woman talked about packing her bags and paying off her debts to the prison inspector, so that she could be ready to run.

Desalegn, Asalefew, Kristen, Besufekad,
Wondewesen and Rebecca (Sol took photo)

On our second day of the visit, we were also joined with the President of the Meserete Kristos Church, and so it was very good to have time to process the strengths and challenges of the program. We also had a chance to hear more about what has been going on behind the scenes as Christian leaders are trying to cross over historical barriers in Ethiopia.

The end of our week with our Area Directors has been spent around the office, discussing our program, them having individual time with each staff member and doing a financial review. Kristen left this morning and Wawa will be here for another field visit with me next week to a watershed management project.

Middle school long jump (David on left)

And now I need to go back and cover a few other things that have been going on at home. The Bingham Field Day was a big event at school right after Orthodox Easter. It had been cancelled for the past two year with COVID, but this year they had revamped the event to take place over three days. It’s an inter-house track and field competition and everyone was required to participate in as many events as they could. The middle school day was Wednesday, and I was glad to be present to cheer on David. It was the first time I had really been on campus for an event and lots of other parents were present and happy to be together again after so many years. I met up with lots of other parents I have gotten to know at church, so it turned out to be a great social event for adults as well. A few restaurant-owning parents set up food stands to supply the crowd. The music was loud and cheerful and mostly from the 80s. David participated in a lot of running races, long jump and hurdles. Overall, it was a great day.

Andy, Oren and Ethan between events

I went back again on Friday to cheer for the high school kids, including Oren. Different parents were present on that day, so I had a chance to catch up with a different set of folks. Paul was not able to attend any of it until the very end of the day because of the NGO report and then visiting donors. I had tried to join the donors for lunch but transport turned out to be impossible that day because of a big Muslim iftar celebration downtown. So, I just decided to be content where I was and enjoy experiencing a little of my kids’ school life.

The next week, starting with Eid, our kids were off from school for their mid-term break. It also happened to be the week that colleagues from Canada were visiting and holding workshops to move forward on some big food security projects. On Monday, Paul, Mesfin and I went downtown early to join the meetings at a big hotel, leaving our teenage kids to fend for themselves. We passed lots of people going downtown as well to celebrate Eid at the stadium.

David (center) in hurdles

After several inter-religious conflicts in the past week, everyone was on high alert in Addis. I was planning to go back home at lunch time to be with the kids. But halfway through the morning we got news that there had been an incident downtown. Someone had accidently shot off tear gas, sparking a near riot. It seemed much safer to stay put at the meeting and return home when things calmed down. Thankfully we have neighbors who were ready to help our kids if needs be. It ended up being just a very small deal.

We had another public holiday on Thursday, and that seemed like an opportune time to revamp our guest container and get it ready for the visit of the Chege’s. It had become very cluttered with our suitcases and was not arranged in a very hospitable way. With the help of David and our guard Muluneh, we pulled all the junk and furniture out, cleaned everything and arranged stuff in a totally new way. It felt much more spacious and fresher afterwards.

Rearranging the guest container

Oren was not available to help with that project because he had started taking his AS exams that week. In fact, he had one exam a day for almost seven days running. In the Cambridge system, students go on study leave at the end of April and then take these exams between April and June. Each of Oren’s subjects has 2 – 3 different papers. He was studying hard on the days he was home, and then had to take taxis into school to take his exams. He even took the SATs for the first time at the beginning of May.

In between things on the holiday week, we hosted a get together for the church youth group. Mostly middle school kids came to our place and played cross net and board games here. A smaller group of older kids played a serious game of Catan.

Oren’s other big end of year project was an oral presentation of his synthesis paper. He had finished his 12-page paper last month – each 11^th grade student is required to write a paper that deals with a complex and interesting topic, integrating that research question with a Christian world view. In Oren’s case, he asked the question of whether a Christian could also be a communist. It was interesting to work with him as he studied the communist manifesto side by side with the Bible. There are similarities in some values and goals, but lots of differences as well. Oren did a great job of presenting his conclusions clearly in just five minutes, and then answer the questions of 3 judges.

Oren's synthesis presentation

On Mothers’ Day weekend, I spent Saturday morning preparing a sermon for the next day. So, it was not a restful Sunday morning with breakfast in bed. 😉 Nevertheless, there was a nap in the afternoon, before joining our small group for our weekly bible study meeting. We celebrated in the evening by going out to dinner at a nearby Korean restaurant: my choice! The kids were skeptical at first but have now become fully converted to the flavorful deliciousness of Korean food.

Another bright spot in the past weeks has been the discovery of Friendship park in the center of Addis. We met a visiting friend there for an afternoon before she started her work travel, and it was a great spot to walk around and help her recover from jet lag.

Becky Stutzman and Paul

The Prime Minister has really supported the development of well-planned green spaces throughout the city and this one is quite inexpensive, while showing off Addis at its best. We admired the fountains and flowers and views and water features as we walked and caught up. Today we went back with the kids and Wawa and discovered even more little corners to walk around and enjoy some fresh air. It’s good to keep finding out the little gems in this city where quality of life requires some effort to develop.

Bonus photos for this three-week period!