Jean Sack joining us for graduation
At the time of last writing, we had concluded all our
field visits with our Leadership Learning Tour. One big event remained: our day
of final debriefing at the MCC office compound on Thursday, June 1. But before
that, we welcomed another extra special visitor, my mom Jean Sack. Her main
mission was to help witness and celebrate Oren’s upcoming graduation. But we
thought it would be good if she arrived two days beforehand to start recovering
from jet lag. And so, she was also able to have a little time to meet our visiting
colleagues.
Yeshi, Muluneh and Wonde grilling sheep
Our MCC staff team were amazing on that day. Wonde had spearheaded
the idea of buying a sheep and enjoying fresh grilled mutton tibs. Our guard,
Gash Muluneh, took charge of preparing a charcoal fire for the grilling. Our
cook Yeshi invited a friend to help her with the kitchen work. In the end,
there was far too much work in the kitchen and our finance team Eyerusalem and
Hana also pitched in to create an incredible spread for this uniquely Ethiopian
barbecue. Along with the grilled meat, salad, kale and the enormous loaf of
traditional celebratory bread, Yeshi and Wonde had concocted an enormous bowl of
dulet.
I was skeptical because I knew what was in it. If you look it up online,
you will see this: “Dulet. For the uninitiated, this dish of mixed
meats might be more enjoyable if not translated and explained. It's made with minced tripe (an animal's
stomach lining), along with liver and lean lamb fried in butter, onions,
chilli, cardamom and pepper.” It was truly delicious!
Our Learning Tour Feast
While all this cooking was going on, Paul and I gave our
visitors the full tour of our MCC office compound, including all the new
project/partner photos Hana had mounted on our office walls. And then we sat
down with them for a last round of open questions. Later, our two Project
Managers joined us and were able to answer more questions about how things
really work with MCC and what our work here is like. We ended with a time of
prayer before starting in on the marvelous lunch. After lunch, our guests
shared lots of special gifts they had brought to share with the team, we had
some final photos and then brought them back to their hotel for the evening.
 |
| Learning Tour in our garden |
By Friday morning, the Congo part of the team had returned to Addis, and the full complement of the Leadership Learning Tour met together for half a day of final debriefing together. We joined them for just the first 30 minutes of the devotional and announcements and then hustled off. It was the last official day of school, and we wanted to take my mom to join us in attending the End of School Chapel. This was a new tradition for us – Covid protocol had prevented this event still last year. It ended up being quite a fun and meaningful time. Some of the senior class participated in leading the rest of the school and parents in a time of worship.
Ethan and Naty leading music
I found it quite moving to
reflect on how far we have come in two years and how faithful God has been. We
were very worried about Oren in the beginning, leaving a beloved school
community in Tanzania and moving under protest to a very difficult context.
Like all the seniors in his graduating class, Oren has faced serious
challenges, including COVID school closures (evacuation for us) and the evacuation
during the conflict in 2021. Evacuating, moving and then dislocating again have
been particular challenges to Oren. Somehow, he still graduated with good grades
in a rigorous course of study, and even better, he has made new friends along
the way.
Oren participating in the debrief
Oren has really grown in maturity and resilience through these
past years. I was particularly grateful that his early exam schedule allowed
him to join us for the whole learning tour this year. He had missed out on
really understanding our work since we kept him home and in school, rather than
dragging him around on field visits. But with the learning tour, he was able to
witness the work of our partners firsthand, in the company of other mature and
appreciative adults. He himself could pass as an adult in their company and he
carried himself well through our travels, visits, and debriefs. I think he
learned a lot from the observations of our visitors and was more open-minded
about what he was seeing because he wasn’t just along as the child of Rep
parents. I was grateful for the input into his life of the learning tour participants.
Anyway, it was great to reflect on all this growth and
answered prayer during that last day of school. We got to celebrate with some
wonderful students who won prizes for artistic flair, academics and athletics.
We prayed for a whole slew of teachers who will be leaving Ethiopia this year, sadly.
And we got to catch up briefly with quite a few parent friends who will be
leaving during the rainy season. 
Oren at lunch with his buddies
When chapel was over, Oren went off to go get lunch with his group of buddies. We celebrated with David by going to our new favorite pizza place, Food Boutique. Lo and behold, that’s where Oren ended up with his friends soon after. We had planned to meet up with the learning tour participants again after lunch for an optional outing to Friendship Park. Just as we were meeting up, we learned of some unrest in the city and called off their outing.
LLT celebratory cake from the hotel
I was disappointed to miss that final time to walk with these new friends
and have closure. On the other hand, it was also a relief to go home and collapse
in bed for a few hours. It had been an utterly draining two weeks. That
evening, we just enjoyed a low-key time at home with my mom.
Shenani and Oren entering
Saturday was Graduation Day! I made sure that we had
nothing else on the schedule. It was so good to have more sleep and then just
peacefully go through the day. I took my mom on a little walk around our neighborhood.
She noticed many details that have become commonplace for me. For example, the
line up of about 100 neighbors, filling jerry cans of water from a water truck,
because the city water had not flowed on our line that week. We had time for a
little rest before getting dressed up, picking up Oren’s friend John, and heading
downtown to the Hilton Hotel.
The graduates needed to arrive early, which was great because it gave David a chance to play a round of mini-golf with Paul before the official festivities started. David was not at all impressed to be at the graduation in a fancy hotel. But all the rest of us were happy to be there and see lots of friends looking smart. The school had set up individual little café tables for each graduation, showing off their senior photos, the flags representing their countries, and their senior journal in which to write encouraging words.
Oren Christopher & Rebecca
at his table
The graduation ceremony included a slide show of baby
pictures, several interesting speeches, and prayers from various fathers of
graduates, which were quite meaningful (not sure why no mothers were invited to
offer the prayers, but probably that was an oversight). There were a few funny
moments – a father-daughter / mother-son dance after dinner (like a wedding??) –
when I realized that we had never yet taught Oren how to do a simple box-step.
Oh well. I hope someone else teaches him at some point! Our parenting window is
just about closed.
We had a normal Sunday with my mom visiting, including
the children singing during the service. We enjoyed an informal and relaxed
time in our garden that afternoon, visiting with some of our bible study
friends, watching the kids play in our backyard – it was uncharacteristically
sunny for once!
 |
| 18 Graduates from Bingham |
Jacob and Muluneh
On Monday, we continued with several social hosting
opportunities. Jacob Yoder, the current Rep for MCC Congo was still in town. He
had grown up in Addis, in our house, and was reconnecting with old friends from
Bingham Academy. Our spontaneous lunch invitation worked out perfectly to have
a better time to visit and hear about his memories of Addis from back in the
day. He also served with MCC in Burundi and Rwanda, and we enjoyed hearing more
about those connections, along with the exciting parts of his work in DRC right
now. There was immediate work to do to wrap up the Learning Tour logistics, so being
in the office was still a bit necessary.
 |
| Mosleys and Myers |
I did take two days of comp time after that to show my mom around and enjoy a bit of active rest. On Tuesday, we picked up three of David’s friends and went to Entoto Park. It was lovely to get up above the city and get some fresh air. I joined the 4 middle school boys in tackling the ropes course there – something I had not yet done. It was quite fun, to be honest, and not too scary. The kids scampered across… “and there’s mom, struggling!” but hey, I got to the end of it. One of my favorite moments was working with one of David’s friends, Nathan, to sign all the waiver forms by writing our names in Amharic fidels. That was a test of nerves almost as great!
The kids then ran ahead to
have some time in the trampoline park while my mom and I took our time walking
back and admiring the lovely flowers. With all the rain we’ve had, the park is
looking incredibly lush and wonderful. We shared lunch together with plenty of
jokes and interesting conversations with the kids. By the time we got home,
everyone needed a nap!
Jean at Entoto Park
On Wednesday morning, we headed to Unity Park in the center of town, with a different group! This time, Oren was able to join us with his HS friends Barry and Christopher, and David had Nathan and Peter to hang out with. Paul stepped away from work to join in and so we had a jam-packed full car. It was our first time visiting this park surrounding the old imperial palace – the high entrance fee discouraged us previously. But it was honestly a very nicely landscaped park with lots to see and do.
Unity Park Contingent
The palace banquet hall
included several well-constructed exhibits about religion, legend and politics.
It was fascinating to learn more about the legend of the Queen of Sheba and its
impact on the national psyche of Ethiopia. (we then just heard the biblical
version this week in our Daily Audio Bible readings). As I read in one book, “All
people are special to God, but the Ethiopians more than most.” – and this
legend is the source of the feeling that the blessing of God (along with the
Ark of the Covenant) passed from Israel to Ethiopia when Solomon’s Ethiopian
son by the Queen of Sheba stole it. Below the banquet hall was a basement that
had served as a prison and torture area during the communist Derg regime. Some
disturbing facts about that difficult time in history were displayed down there
as well.
Oren and Barry in the rain at the zoo
The Zoo areas were especially nicely laid out. We spent a
long time admiring the meerkats, peafowl and lions. Sadly, it started raining
heavily, and Paul and I had to get everyone in the car in time to take an
online meeting. Otherwise, we probably could have stayed longer to enjoy
visiting all the regional pavilions and other parts of the park.
Thursday was a workday for us and a day of online library
training for Mom. She headed out with our taxi driver to share more resources
with the Institute of public health. Paul and I had a lot of catch-up work to
do. In the evening we decided to go out for dinner at the local Korean restaurant,
one of Oren’s favorite places. It’s always fun to order a selection of finger
foods and share it around.
Wonde and Jean in Debre Zeit
On Friday, Paul and Wonde went to the local land office
to work on some formalities about our property. Then Wonde took my mom off on a
field trip to the Mennonite Seminary to teach their librarian about digital
resources for theology. Oren headed out to enjoy celebrating the birthday of
one of his classmates. David and I stayed around to prepare for a huge Choir
potluck. First, we passed by the home of some foreigners who are leaving to see
if their electric piano would work for us. It looked great, for a very good
price (for Ethiopia) – and we ended up being able to take it back home with us
immediately. That was an incredible blessing because it meant we could have
actual accompaniment later in the evening.
Choir singing in our home with new piano!
David helped me with shopping and then even putting away
the groceries. We prepared a huge quantity of chicken for the grill and set up
the house to accommodate a crowd. It rained heavily in the early afternoon, but
then cleared up, thank God. We had almost 40 people at our place, with kids
playing cross net and Kubbs in the garden, teens sitting under the pavilion, younger
girls were gathered under our thatched rondaval, friends scattered on the balcony,
in the living room, and around our second table. It was such a wonderful
feeling to be able to open our home and offer hospitality to such a wonderful
group of friends. We needed to say farewell to the amazing singer, violinist and human being, Sophie, before she heads to Germany, so that was a great reason to gather. We had plenty of food and plenty of help cleaning up.
And the greatest blessing was the time of singing through some of our repertoire
at the end of the evening. With the new piano and all our happy voices, singing
just for fun and not for performance, our house felt anointed!
We had a reasonably quiet day on Saturday. One highlight
was meeting with a Music team to prepare worship music for Sunday. This time we
got together a big group with a lot of teens including David. I really wanted a
chance especially to make music with Shenani and Natalie once more– they will
be / may be ending their time in Ethiopia. My mom even joined us, together with
Eliora on guitar and Marc on Flute. Hana came in on Sunday morning. Music is
always such a good way to feel refreshed. We didn’t have much else going on
that day, except sharing some books with our neighbor Lia and having a nice
fire in the fireplace. 
Sunday's music team
Sunday worship was great – along with the gifts of music, we had time to say farewell to several folks who will be leaving our church. Oren was among them.
 |
| Redeemer Farewell Prayers |
Yet she was still such a
gracious host, making wonderful Tanzanian mishkaki kebabs on the grill, and her
house was able to accommodate all of us. It was great to be in her home and catch
up with her a bit, since her schedule hasn’t allowed her much time to join us
at church. We had a special time of sharing together, as a whole group and then
lots of individual conversations. Again, it was a blessing and I’m grateful. 
Redeemer Farewell potluck
And that was the end of my mom’s visit. We had just
enough time for her to head home, take a little rest and then finish packing.
And then Paul and David took her off to the airport. I stayed home to help Oren
get himself together for his senior trip to Zanzibar. Somehow, we managed to
find enough clean clothes for him to take after a week when our housekeeper
Yeshi had been out sorting out the legal details of getting possession of her
condominium.
And 6 am Monday morning, Oren left for the airport. Now we’ve entered a new week, a quieter house, and lots of final work tasks to finish before we go on home leave. I think there will be one final post before we get on the plane and head to Baltimore, next Thursday night.
Bonus photos of a very active two weeks!
Bella on the case 
David practicing on our new piano 
Our crew with lions 
Oren and Barry at the Camel House 
Jean enjoying Ambo 
Lunch with friends at Entoto 
The high ropes course .jpg)
Graduation party dance time 
Oren with silver academic honors cord 
Receiving the diploma from Kent 
Great is your faithfulness to me -- a good reminder
at the end of a challenging journey
Minigolf before graduation
 |
| The lush flowers in our yard this season |
 |
| Bingham cup winners |
 |
| End of year chapel and departing teachers |
 |
| MCCE team |
 |
| Hana, Eyerus, Barry adn Oren |
 |
| Yeshi serving coffee |
 |
| More ropes course |
 |
| choir friends in our home |
 |
| Oren in Zanzibar with his buddies |
 |
| David actually smiling at graduation Thanks Peter! |
 |
| Cooks on Saturday night |
 |
| Ready for the ropes course |
 |
| Learning Tour and team |
 |
| Church potluck |
 |
| Church potluck |
 |
| Senior class mural |
 |
| Choir friends on the balcony |
 |
| Oren and friends at the beach! |
No comments:
Post a Comment