Trips Before Homeleave: Zanzibar, Gambela, Kampala

Oren with his buddies in Zanzibar

June has been a super busy month, and it has not seemed to stop. I am actually sitting on a plane flying from Brussels to Washington DC, and feel this is the first moment I have had to write something down. Rebecca has taken responsibility for the last 2-3 blogs and will have a contribution here as well. Between social and work responsibilities as well as many 'end of year’ events, it seems we have been running at full throttle for the past 8 weeks. We are feeling some relief that we will begin some home leave to decompress a bit.

The last 2 weeks, even prior to this trip home have featured a number of work and pleasure trips that have sent at least 3 of us in entirely different directions. I will give some details about my trip and let Rebecca write about hers.

Zanzibar spice tour (Jambo, Jambo Bwana!)

Oren also traveled out of the country last week and went to Zanzibar for his senior class trip. (One of the few perks of going to an International School in Addis.) Although Zanzibar is in Tanzania, it is not difficult to get to from Addis since Ethiopian Airlines is the primary African carrier. Oren’s senior class, in collaboration with Bingham faculty, planned to do a final senior trip to Zanzibar to enjoy a week of activities on the beach. We were happy that a WhatsApp group was set up so parents could simultaneously enjoy some of the highlights.

Two years ago, when we arrived, we prayed that Oren would be able to enjoy his new school and make friends. In the past year, he has bonded with 4 other guys and they have really had a good time together, a serious answer to prayer. It really meant a lot for Oren to spend this last week with them before saying goodbye for good.

Senior class dinner

When he did return he gave us some details about what they did. Our family has been there at least 6 times, so the island was familiar, but we primarily snorkel when we go to the beaches there. Oren’s group snorkeled, but also did a beginning course in scuba-diving, rode on banana boats (pulled by a speedboat like a surfboard), and paraglided. They also spent time in historic Stonetown, got henna tattoos, and generally had an amazing time, by his account.

It was good to see Oren so excited on his return, and willing to share. Once he returned he had to turn to the task of final packing and saying goodbye to staff and friends as we departed about 5 days after his return. Since he is going on to college this fall, he will not be back until Christmas at the earliest.

While Oren was in Zanzibar, I also made a trip out of town. Not as far as Zanzibar, but to a town in Ethiopia next to the border of South Sudan. Gambella is about an hour and a half flight away from Addis, and I went there to monitor a large nutrition project we sponsor through our partner Action Against Hunger. This is actually a huge project of ours, as it involves sending 12 shipping containers per year of turkey meat in cans which are used to support nutrition programs in 2 refugee camps (Jewi and Nguenyyiel) for pregnant and lactating women and children under 2. Over 120,000 cans are distributed per year as part of the blanket food supplementation program for these refugees who are under 2 and at risk for severe or moderate malnutrition.

This is the first time I have even been to Gambella and as in the case of visiting new parts of Ethiopia, I am always amazed by just how big this country is and at the diversity of temperate zones and ethnicity one finds here.

Upon arriving in Gambella (after a delay caused by weather as we continue to be in the heavy rainy season) I noticed immediately that this was a very different climate than Addis, which tends to be cool and damp at this time. By contrast, Gambella has the warm humid feel of a tropical jungle and it is quite lush with trees. Malaria is definitely a risk here. The other more remarkable thing I noticed was the people. The Nuer and Achefer ethnic groups are the dominant inhabitants, and to not put too fine a point on it, they are by and large, very tall! I found that even the women and young girls seemed to tower over me. I could swear the average height of people here was 2 meters or more (6’6”).

I did some background reading about the history of the region and it is quite fascinating. Sadly, Gambella used to be a thriving trade town on the Baro River which ran from Ethiopia into South Sudan to Juba and even up to Khartoum in the past. Since the conflict in the Sudan dating back to at least 2014, this is no longer the case. The Baro River is nearly devoid of boats, no trade between the countries is happening currently, and Gambella has become primarily a refugee town and its economy are dominated by large Aid organizations and the UNHCR running about 8 camps for refugees who fled South Sudan during the war in the mid-2000s and have not returned since.

I was met by our partner Action Against Hunger and after checking into my hotel, went to their office and met the project staff. I was given a security briefing by the Project Manager. I was advised that because of tensions between the refugees and the local host community (who resent the services that they receive), there had been a number of violent incidents and all travel on roads to the camps was being done in convoy or with armed escorts. Because of this, I was advised that we would only visit one of the two camps we provide support to. This was not a huge problem for me since my time was limited and I was glad I would be able to visit one of the camps.

Before visiting the camp though, we stopped by the warehouse to see how our commodity was stored and tracked from arrival from the port in Djibouti, to distribution to individuals in the camp. It is an elaborate process that requires documentation at every phase, and they were able to show how they can have confidence that none of the food is diverted away from the intended recipients. I was quite impressed as this has been an issue for food received from USAID and WFP in the past 3-4 months.

health evaluations

After lunch, we took two vehicles to Jewi refugee camp where we were taken to one of the maternal and child nutrition centers. I appreciated how AAH had integrated so effectively our turkey meat into their nutrition program. I was able to see the intake process involving doing a BMI evaluation of children under 2, nutrition counseling with the mother followed by the distribution of food supplements from USAID and MCC. From there women had the option of going to an IYCF (infant and young child feeding) tent where they could receive additional support and counseling.

One thing I was not prepared for was the amount of permanent housing on the premises of the camp. I am used to seeing refugee camps with hundreds of white UNHCR tents set up as far as the eye can see. By contrast, at Jewi, almost all of the houses were adobe with tin roofs. When I interviewed several beneficiaries, I found that most had been there since 2014 and had no plans of returning to South Sudan.

I was grateful to interview 2 women who had children: One was named ‘Nawe Tonge’ with a 2yo boy named Bekan. She has 3 other children in her home as well as a sister with a child. She is a female head of household and had lived in the camp since 2015. I asked her about her experience of visits to the facility and trainings she had received. She reported that she did not usually stay for trainings. She also said there was some misconception and suspicion about the turkey meat, but they did eat it.

The second woman was ‘Najender Kwat’ with a 9-month-old boy named Manat. She had 4 other children at her home and was a female head of household and lived in the camp since 2015. She also reported having a positive experience in visiting the facility and reported that she really liked the turkey meat and wished they could receive more so they could feed everyone in the household.

She also said they had a need for other non-food items like soap.

After the interview, we left the camp and returned to the AAH office, and did a final debrief. I thanked them for the visit and the time they took to show me the work. I also appreciated seeing the complaints box at the office, although I did not ask specifically about complaints mechanisms at the distribution center. I will plan to review safeguarding procedures in a future visit.

The overall impression I had about the integration of canned meat from MCC into the BSFP was overwhelmingly positive. It is a good fit for the nutrition program they are running and may help cover some of the gap being left by the reduction in rations from UNHCR.

After the visit, I stayed the night in the 'Grand Resort' Hotel, which had the look of a hotel from a colonial era (although Ethiopia was never colonized), but did have a European influence, but was now quite decrepit. There was a 9pm curfew because of insecurity, but I was in my room well before then.

I had a return flight the next morning and was back in Addis by lunchtime, in time for a staff meeting on Thursday just a day before Rebecca’s departure to Uganda. Here is her account:

Marion and Rebecca

Saturday afternoon I headed off for the airport to make my way to Uganda. It had been four years since I was able to participate in the Great Lakes Initiative Leadership Institute in person. During the pandemic, we lost an entire year of meeting. In 2021 and 2022, GLI held an online institute. I was part of the Content and Design team both years, and so I had the opportunity to keep in touch with friends and leaders from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. But GLI stresses the importance of living out and embodying the practice of joining God is at work, reconciling all things – that culture suffers in a virtual format. And so it was such a delight and relief to finally be back in person in Uganda. I arrived a day early so that I could support the regional coordinator Marion in preparation for the content.

Sunday included a quiet morning. In fact, it seemed shockingly quiet on the grounds of the Catholic seminary where we meet at Ggaba. Kampala traffic is crazy and it’s a big polluted city, but within the cloistered area I was so grateful for some hours of peace. I joined a few of the Catholic staff for mass early in the morning and then strolled around, admiring the variety of birds, and enjoying the many fruit trees on the campus. 

Seminary farm, Lake Victoria in the background

The fields were full of maize, bananas, gooseberries and different varieties of eggplant. Some trees produced avocados bigger than my hand. I also took the opportunity to rest a bit – it has been hectic in our lives and I’ve felt the stress wearing me down lately.

In the afternoon, Marion and I met to plan for the opening gathering. Josephine from Rwanda found us along the way and we planned for music – Josephine Munyeli and I have facilitated worship together over many years. We even collaborated, 10 years ago, to write a hymn for the GLI that is still blessing people today. 

With Josephine

It’s encouraged similar gatherings of restless Christian leaders in East Asia and Latin America, with translations in Korean, Japanese and Spanish, and has found it’s way into the newer Mennonite hymnal. This year, I bowed out of leading worship so Josephine was joined by my former pastor, Acher Niyonizigiye, from Burundi. Still, I brought my guitar to support them and it was wonderful to make music together over three days.

MCC supported a group of 4 Ethiopians to attend the institute, but sadly their flight was delayed and delayed again and changed. They kept me up to date, but they weren’t able to make it for the opening worship time. I was sad, because they missed a lot of the key content about the framework of the Institute. 

The GLI was born out of the Lausanne movement with the conviction that salvation in Jesus Christ goes beyond saving souls. God sent his Son to reconcile all things to himself, and we the church are called to live out that reconciled reality here on earth. We are ambassadors of this new creation. Division and violence have no place in the Christian life and church. And yet, in the face of suffering and violence in our region, the voice of the church has been silent. How can we waken her voice?

Amos, Katho and Marion

The Institute week involves considering five key questions:

1.       Reconciliation towards what? New Creation

2.       What is going on? Lament

3.       What does hope look like? A day of pilgrimage

4.       What kind of leadership does reconciliation require?

5.       Why me? Why bother? Spirituality for the long-haul

On the spur of the moment, Marion asked if I would give a brief meditation to end the evening on Sunday. I had really appreciated the Sunday morning lectionary reading from Exodus 19, and so I shared on that. We have come through struggle and long wandering in the wilderness, but at the foot of the mountain, God reassures us that we are his treasured possession. He has equipped us to be a kingdom of priests – all of us, priests! And we are called to do that work of mediating God’s love to a broken world. I was able to share my humorous story of interacting with an Orthodox priest in a grocery store and letting him know that I am a priest too – as an encouragement to those who are perhaps reticent to accept that sense of calling.

Plenary session

For various reasons, this year, we started Day 1 of the Institute with Lament. We look around and have to ask ourselves, what is going on? We heard a biblical exposition from Dr. Katho B, an Old Testament scholar from DR Congo. In past years, I’ve really enjoyed taking his seminar on Jeremiah and the voice of the prophet. This year he spent a long time explaining to us the horror of what is going on in Eastern Congo. It’s been a holocaust. Over the past 27 years, 10 million people have been killed and 500,000 women have been raped in ongoing conflicts centered on Congo’s neighbors and other foreign actors using militia groups to extract minerals. It’s particularly difficult because many of these valuable minerals are essential to producing cell phones and green energy products. And yet Congolese are displaced, suffering and dying because of this greed. In so many ways it seems hopeless—the international community seems to have abandoned Congo and the church is silent.  Katho brought in a few lessons from his favorite prophet Jeremiah – that the church needs to challenge the official theologies and awaken the imagination to new ways of living together.

We also heard testimony from David, a South Sudanese man who lived and ministered in Khartoum for many years. He helped us understand something about the conflict that broke out there two months ago. But it doesn’t help us to understand the horror of what is happening now in Sudan. The airport is burned, hospitals are burned, homes have been bombed, food is scarce and people have no money to buy it. If someone is sick with malaria, there is nothing to do. Hospitals aren’t functioning, there are no doctors in them, there are no drugs. People just perish without care.

Women leaders from Ethiopian Mennonite church

 It was a heavy morning. We had some follow-up comment from a mental health expert sent by World Vision. Apparently, since COVID the level of stress has increased for almost everyone. In Africa that is particularly exacerbated by political instability, where a “democratic” election creates exactly the same level of stress and trauma in the population as a coup d’état. He urged us to be aware that even listening to all the difficult stories that morning could lead to secondary trauma. Lots of people were dealing with headaches, including myself, and he asserted that it could be a physiological reaction.

In the afternoon we attended various seminars. I started out intending to follow the seminar discussion of the ongoing development of a GLI curriculum that could be used in seminaries and bible colleges. But then one francophone participant required translation for his seminar, so I moved over to join him. I’m not the best French speaker these days, but I somehow managed to translate for the seminar on youth advocacy – how to activate young people so they will not be radicalized and manipulated.

For our evening worship, we went up into the Catholic chapel in the center of the seminary – however, we couldn’t figure out how to turn on the lights. And so we began our worship with simple candlelight, just a dozen of us, singing in the dark (of lament, of circumstances): Angalia, Baba! We your children are crying out to you, look down on us, Father! It was a moment of unplanned beauty that took my breath away.  We continued to sing in the dark in many languages, "God is so good." A lived-out metaphor. We were able to end the evening, praying in pairs for one another and for what is breaking our hearts.

Presentation on Ethiopian lament

On Day 2, we turned a corner and began to consider where we are heading. How do we interpret the present suffering in light of the end of the story. Dr. Edgardo Colon-Emeric had flown in from Duke Divinity School to be part of the Institute and to share that morning. He gave a very thorough and comprehensive theological vision for our calling as ambassadors of reconciliation. I was grateful for his gift of preaching, and for what he shared from the Latin American context.

The six Ethiopians present had expressed a desire to also tell people what is going on in Ethiopia. It seems that other neighbors in East Africa have no idea what Ethiopia is facing. All they know is that a peace treaty was signed with Tigrayan leaders; the fact that conflict continues was a surprise to many. I was very grateful that the two brothers were able to give some historical context to the tensions that afflict the country now. I have a new appreciation of the difficulty of the ministry of reconciliation in Ethiopia now. In the past, Christian unity was forcibly imposed by the Orthodox Amhara community. That makes it very difficult now to say to Christians of mixed backgrounds that we are one in Christ. We have a lot of work to do to acknowledge the multiple histories of Ethiopia. It’s a challenge to celebrate a myriad of cultures without allowing identity to be a divider. And sadly, many evangelicals in Ethiopia favor ethnolinguistic division and even support violent conflict. It was hard not to weep as Pastor Dereje talked about prophets, speaking in tongues, wearing military uniforms and giving messages from God supporting conflict.

Evening worship

In the evening, the 6 Ethiopians agreed to lead our closing worship. We had met earlier for a country group meeting. The two women participants came armed with coffee powder and had staked out a salon with a kettle and thermos for making real Ethiopian buna (coffee) -- it wouldn't be a meeting without it! We talked about how we can continue to support each other in peace-building work when we return home. And then we planned some songs for worship. I was especially grateful to find another young Ethiopian man who could play the guitar for the group. They chose songs that included texts in English and then even in Swahili. Pastor Dereje gave a very thoughtful reflection about Joseph and Jesus forgiving their dear ones who had betrayed them, as a model of reconciliation. And then we sang – first in Amharic only, then We are one in the Spirit, with increasing fervor, and then we joyfully danced to the song “There’s no one like Jesus / Hakuna Mungu” in Kiswahili and Amharic. It was a good way to relieve the tension of lament of the past two days and ground ourselves in the truth and goodness of God.

Breakfast at Suubi

Wednesday morning we went on pilgrimage. We rose before dawn and got on busses by 6 am to beat the Kampala traffic and visit a site on the southwest side of town. We wound our way in and around the hills skirting the city and finally climbed way up on top of a mountain. The grounds of Watoto Church Suubi are vast, with green lawns, interspersed with attractive block houses with arched corridors reminding me of a Catholic monastery. 

We enjoyed breakfast on the terrace as the sun rose higher over the forested area. Then we entered the worship space behind us to learn the story of this place and to reflect on hope. Suubi Village was established as part of the Watoto church, which has a mission to reach orphans and widows. They take street children, hopeless and abandoned kids, premature babies without mothers or families and other foundlings. They put them in homes with a mother – a widow or person without family, someone who needs to give and receive love – and they grow up in families of 8 kids. The whole compound includes 138 homes with 2217 children at present. Kids go to primary and secondary school, or else they enter vocational training if that’s their passion. 

Worship team

Their children’s worship team led us for morning praise, and those kids were pretty amazing in what they did. We toured the art studio, the catering training, the place for electricians and hairstylists to learn their trades. Then we went on to see the goat farm, which provides milk for the newborn babies at Baby Watoto home. Most of the 50-some babies at this center were born premature, but are well-cared-for. They will join homes and families when they are two years old, replacing some who have graduated from secondary school.

We capped off our pilgrimage at lunchtime. Divided in small groups, we were invited to share lunch in different homes. We visited Mama Julie’s family. Her older daughter Gloria had done a lot of the cooking, making really good matoka (smashed green bananas), ground nut gravy, chicken stew, spinach and chapatis. Gloria was initially raised as a premature baby and then taken to a family. 

Mama Julia's family hosting us for lunch

She would like to grow up to be a lawyer, and she did pretty well with understanding the group of francophones I had joined. She loves French! We learned about the other kids and what they enjoy—singing, dancing, football, cracking jokes. It was a very special time of communion, seeing how the potentially broken lives of these human beings were made whole as each was brought into the family.  These kids might have been abandoned, but in fact, they have hope and a future, if you read the story from the end.

And abruptly, before the debrief session started, I needed to cut my GLI week short, hop into a taxi, and head for the airport. I was very sad to miss the final days, to miss seeing a few GLI elders coming at the end of the week, not to have more time with the Ethiopia team. But I’m glad I could attend – I didn’t decided to journey there until May, when we rearranged our summer travel schedule.

Rebecca with Amos, an old friend from Burundi
Serving as a translator for GLI

But it was time to head back to Addis, have one overnight at home to finish work, pack and prepare for a new season of getting Oren through surgery and then on to his new season of life at College. 

 Paul again: We arrived safely in Baltimore and are able to post this. We are looking forward to a bit of downtime and will post occasionally during our homeleave.