Praise the Lord for the Improved Security Situation of Belo and Sasiga Projects

Praise the Lord that the situation in Belo and Sasiga projects of western Ethiopia is much more improving. Unexpected serious border conflict occurred on May 17, 2008 that resulted in displacement of communities living at the borders of both Benishangul Gumuz and Oromia Regional States of western Ethiopia. Due to security situation, our project staff members had safely evacuated from both project sites immediately upon the start of the conflict.

The consequence of the conflict is brutal where by 1,700 houses were burned from both Belo and Sasiga communities, over 2, 414 families or 16,000 people displaced, over 1,285 CDP families were affected, over one hundred people died, of which we proved 2 CDP children were died during the conflict and schools were affected which will make normal teaching process difficult by the end of September 2008 for the new academic year.

After monitoring the situation, our Sasiga side project staff has started operating since June 17, 2008. We have been closely following up the situation at Belo Jeganfoy and as security situation is improving, we decided to continue our operation at Belo in the week of July 7, 2008.

The most identified rehabilitation need include, farm implements, household utensils, clothing, health need (mosquito nets) and seats for schools.

Please continue praying for lasting peace and reconciliation between Gumuz and Oromo ethnic groups, wisdom for FH/Ethiopian staff to walk with churches, families and leaders for lasting transformation, forgiveness in the hearts of all who lost their children, parents, siblings or other relatives and are displaced from their homes and more resources to respond to the rehabilitation needs of the community.

Feye

Feye’s First Blog!!

Hello!

This is my first blog!

I am Feye Tolla, Child Development Program Manager (CDP). I am going to start reporting about FH/E CDP by a blog as Andy is leaving to work in Washington. I will continue updating the progress about our children ministry in Belo and Zeway areas of Ethiopia.

Blessings to you and yours,

Feye

Please Lord, send someone else

Moses said to the Lord, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it”. (See Exodus 3 and 4) I have looked at that verse and Chapters 3 and 4 a number of times the last couple of weeks. Moses felt inadequate and I must say, so do I. His task was a tad bit bigger than mine but I can sure relate to his feelings. “Lord, isn’t there someone else who can do the better job than me?”

Another set of verses I have been studying of late are: Isaiah 46:9-11.

Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.

These verses are so full of meaning. He knows the end and the beginning. Nothing can stop His purpose, not even my disobedience or lack of faith. He will bring His will about via a bird or a person from a distance land. ALL He plans will come to pass.

I have also been studying and contemplating Mark 11:22-24 quite a bit too: “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours”.

If you’ve read this far you might to wondering, “What’s up with this guy?” Well, my contract as Director of Food for the Hungry/Ethiopia is up in June.

Decision time.

The wonderful thing is that my boss in Kenya wants me to stay on Ethiopia but on top of that Food for the Hungry United States has asked me to join their team in Washington DC. So Donalda (my wife) and I are facing a big decision and I feel like Moses. I have not been happy with my leadership in Ethiopia of late and have felt overwhelmed with it all at times. The job in Washington would be quite different from my current job and again I feel like Moses, “O Lord, please send someone else”.

So, what’s my problem? I have an idea but I don’t really know.

One thing I know is that I married a woman named Donalda who should be called Ruth. This woman has gone with me from Haiti, through grad school in Virginia and Alabama, off to the “bush” in Ethiopia to teach at an isolated university, to Addis to work with FH, to Canada for six years and back to Ethiopia again. I have been truly blessed with this wonderful partner and two amazing children.

So after a long season of prayer and internal struggle, “Ruth” and I have decided to join the FH team in Washington. We have prayed for God’s guidance and believe (Mark 11) we have received it (“I believe Lord, help me in my unbelief”). As I look at all there is to do in Ethiopia and all the possibilities and the incomplete business I know that God will summon a bird of prey from the east or a man from a far-off land to fulfill His purpose in FH/Ethiopia. Don’t fret my dear friends about the CDP in Zeway or Belo Jegnufoy. ALL of God’s plan will come to pass, He will summon His man (or woman) to fulfill His purpose here, and even though that person says “Oh Lord, please send someone else to do it” they will obey and God will do great things.

In the end, “A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?” Proverbs 20:24.

Best to you and yours,

Andy

Kansas City Chiefs

So you thought this was a blog about Ethiopia? Fooled you.

The Kansas City Chiefs are from Heartland Community Church (see link to the left) near Kansas City, in Overland Park, KS. Quite a group. Feye Tolla, FH/Ethiopia’s CDP boss was able to visit them last month and came back amazed at their dedication to Ethiopia.

The Chiefs were here in the spring and left quite an impact. We look forward to seeing them again in March 2008. There will be a bunch coming, half going to Zeway and half going to Belo Jengunfoy, two very different places. I’m sure they will have a great time and Ethiopia will never be the same again.

So, here’s to the Chiefs,thank you for your support!
Happy Thanksgiving and watch a football game for me.

Andy

Many Partners

 

Long time no see. Sorry about that Chief. If you are reading this than I remembered my password to the blog site. Thanks to Dr. Jim Anderson for reminding me that this blog exists.

The news from Ethiopia is that we are still hard at it. The challenges are still big but the Lord is faithful. I just read this today……..”I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” ……..That just in from the King of Kings.

The work in Ethiopia is only possible because we have good partners. I want to dedicate this blog to some of those partners.

We are now quite blessed to have two dynamic leaders at our two projects Zeway and Belo, Dauit (David) at Belo Jengunfoy and Halkano at Zeway. It is great to have project managers with vision and the skills to lead toward the vision.

We just hosted a brave group from the US. Alan and Vicki Greene, the founders of the LifeLight Communications (see link on the left) in South Dakota, were here with 7 other team members. (Was Rocky Raccoon from South Dakota or North Dakota?) They visited both Zeway and Belo Jengunfoy in about 10 days covering about 1,700 kilometers on wonderfully maintained Ethiopian roads. They are the first vision team to visit Belo and were blessed to be used of God in both places. They looked kind of tired after getting back from western Ethiopia where Belo is located, but they were very happy to see what is happening and to help make things happen.

We are really happy to see the supplemental food going out to many of the children in our Orphan and Vulnerable Child program. The children get about 33 pounds of wheat, 3 pounds of peas/beans and some vegetable oil each month. This will be used by the guardian and the child and goes a long way to helping make ends meet. Once again our thanks to the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) (see link on the left) for making this happen. With their help we are now assisting approximately 3,000 children and their guardians, approximately 2,000 children are sponsored by individuals like yourself and CRWRC is taking on about 1,000 kids. Praise the Lord for His grace and mercy!

Because of CRWRC we are now working with children who have been orphaned in four locations. Zeway and three districts in northern Ethiopia called Simada, Lay Gayint and Tach Gayint. The town where we are working in Tach Gayint is called Arb Gebeya, which means “Friday Market”. For your information Arb Gebeya’s market day is on Saturday so don’t let the name confuse you if are ever in town.

Another recent visitor was my friend Marius. Marius is a body builder from South Africa who lives in Atlanta, Georgia and loves kids in Ethiopia (Dude, Marius don’t need no link!). This year was his third trip to Ethiopia. When Marius hits the ground he hits it running. His heart for the kids here is as big as his biceps and it is always a blessing to have him visit, just don’t get in the way!

So, God’s love for these kids is big and He has put together a wonderful group of people and organizations who are helping FH/Ethiopia minister to them.

Thanks to one and all.

Best to you and yours,

Andy

 

 

 

 

 

Tough Question

Well, it has been awhile since I got something new up on the blog.  It has been a tad busy around here to say the least.  I will not go into the gory details but I’m thankful that we have been able to get thorough some trying times, by God’s grace. 

Zeway

I went to Zeway a few weeks ago with a good friend who lives and works in Ethiopia.   We visited three homes, all of which have been hit hard by HIV/AIDs.   I’ve visited a number of homes around Ethiopia but it always amazes me how hard life can be. 

One of the visits was to a one room house with a dirt floor (not uncommon).  The mother has HIV and her husband is dead.  She is not health because the anti HIV drug is not yet available to her.  She will get the drug when her blood work indicates that her status has fallen below a certain level, a government policy to stretch limited supplies of the drug. 

She has two children, a boy and a girl.  The girl is about 10 years old and in the FH’s program, she is active and healthy.  Her brother is about 4 or so, and is sick quite often.  The unspoken assumption is that he has HIV.  He probably developed it during birth or through breast feeding.   It was a sad situation to say the least.  As we left the house my friend and Christian brother (a seasoned veteran of Ethiopia who has seen a lot) asked, “Where is the love of God?”   A tough question for sure. 

I asked him if his question was a rhetorical question or if he wanted an answer.  We talked and I concluded that we must be the love of God in this situation.  We must do something, what we do will not be perfect or complete but we must do something.  I’m not sure he was convinced; some questions can’t be adequately answered on this side of life. 

Belo 

The rains are falling in Belo and the rivers are rising.  That makes getting around the area tough, to say the least.  A couple of our staff visited there about two weeks ago to work with church leaders and to check on our agriculture program.  They had a good visit and plans are being set up for trainings after the rain season allows us to get back into the site.

While I was in Belo recently (see the previous blog) I met a woman named Defena.  She has 6 boys between the ages of 7 and 17.  Her husband died about 7 years ago so she is raising the boys alone, an amazing lady for sure.   She and her boys live in a tukul (a round, grass roofed home).  Five of her boys are in school (!!!) and I’m sure that number six will start soon. 

When we visited all six boys were around because it was not a school day.  One of her boys wants to be a teacher and one a doctor.  So we have a mother, who never set foot inside a school as a child, making sure that her kids go to school.  Our goal in Belo is to help make the burden of people like Defena a little easier.

We have made a video of the trip to Belo to introduce you to the program.  I hope it will be “on the shelves” in about 2 weeks.

Best to you and yours, Andy  

Visit with the Gumuz in Belo Jegunfoy

I got back from a trip to Belo Jegunfoy late yesterday afternoon.  The trip is getting a little easier because the road is improving in some places, but it is still a long trip.   Belo is in western Ethiopia toward the Sudan border.  We have a Child Development Program there and it is a fascinating and challenging place to work.  FH’s motto “we go the hard places” fits well in Belo.  

 It was a really good trip.  I met a number of families and had a good visit with the staff.The ethnic group we’re working with is the Gumuz.  They are a long neglected group.  The adult generation never had a chance to go to school but many of these adults are trying to send their kids to school.  That is the central focus of the Belo program. 

The Gumuz face a number of problems getting their kids in school and keeping them there.  First is the fact that the adult generation has never been to school so many of them don’t see the need for school.  If the family is progressive and is sending their kids to school other problems face them.  This is particularly true with girls.  The Gumuz girls traditionally marry young.  Some marry as young as 13 or 14.  This is the way it’s been done for generations.  So it’s a very difficult to keep girls in school.  It’s very common for boys and young girls to elope.  This is even expected.  So you can imagine keeping girls in school is not easy.

Food for the Hungry is working with both the students and the parents to try to develop a “culture of education”.  We’ve been working in the community for six or seven years and we’ve made some progress.  I was really blessed to see mothers, their daughters and even fathers committed to education for the daughters.  I was told by a couple mothers they wanted to see their daughters graduate, find a job and then get married. 

This is revolutionary. 

This is a huge step for these mothers because they never stepped inside of a school when they were children.  The job of a woman in the adult generation is to work in the fields, work in the home, and produce many children.  But many men and many women are seeing that this is not a good future for their daughters.  The daughters want to continue in school and become teachers or nurses or doctors.  It is great to see this change.  Not everyone has progressed this way but we are making progress.

I also got to talk to a community leader (Gelete) of the local church.  The Gumuz people were evangelized about 35 years ago.  Many of them are Christians but this leader told me that many are not following closely.  There’s a need to inspire the church to teach the adults and to develop a good Sunday school curriculum for the children.  This will be a major goal for us in the coming year.  The photo is of Gelete and his son who is holding the family gun which is used to keep the baboons out of the garden.  I told the boy and his father, the gun is bigger than the boy.The Gumuz people are traditionally hunters, they lived in the forests and only recently settled down to agriculture.  As a forester it hurts to see the deforestation taking place and it seems to be an unstoppable force.  As the community grows and as the population grows more forest is cleared and more farmland is produced.  But hunting still remains an important part of the Gumuz culture. 

The Gumuz people are really amazing and it is wonderful to be working with them.  There are many problems and many cultural issues to deal with but through the Child Development Program we and the Gumuz are making progress.

The photo at the top of this blog is the road into the Gumuz area here we are working.  I’ll tell you more about the trip next week. 

 

But for the Grace of God……

Here is the story of one of the people we are working with in Zeway.  It was written by our Zeway staff and Endale who is in the HIV/AIDS program.

Endale Mesele is a 30-year-old male who is currently living with HIV/AIDS. He is married and father of a 6-year-old male child. He used to work as a mason until about 3 years back when he found himself to be frequently in bed because of repeated illnesses. He repeatedly visited health institutions and spent a lot of money on medical fees.  He finally was forced to remain in bed without any treatment.  He is now given care by his wife who herself is HIV positive.                                                           

 He is in FH/E’s Zeway HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care and Support project.  When he joined Endale was bedridden due to lack of medical care and food.  He is chairperson of the association of People Living With HIV/AIDS in Zeway.  Endale says the following in his own words:

                                                                                                                         

“I am now saved; God has given me FHI to help me. I was in bed by the time I was informed about the program.  My dream was death and I didn’t have any future hope and plan for the rest of my life. I was encouraging my wife how to take care of our only son when I die.  The staffs and home based care providers regularly come to my home.  I some times think and ask my self why do they trouble them selves for dying person.       

                                                                                                                           

But today things are completely different. We started to live a new life to the extent our neighbors are surprised, because every thing is reversed.  I gradually started to walk out of bed.  We are also getting treatment on time.  We started Anti retro viral therapy.   

                                                                                                                          

We (me and my wife) were given money to start a small business by FHI and we are now able to support ourselves.  We are no more receiving monthly financial support from the project.  My house is full of furniture and other house hold utensils.  I am physically fit, emotionally and psychologically strong. I am counseling others to be tested for HIV and supporting those living with the virus because I remember those days when I was suffering from repeated illnesses, helpless  and all that expenses I spent prior to knowing my sero-status.  I have no worry about my medication and food. My stress has gone. 

                                                                                                                        

My only worry is about my child. I will die at any point of time in the future. My wife, his mother, will also die from this problem. In addition we don’t know his HIV status. This all things trouble me when they come to my mind.”  

Tough Choices

I recently was asked to join an online debate on “sweat shops” in third world countries, you know, people working in poor paying jobs in bad conditions for perhaps western companies. One person was stating that sweat shops were a good deal for the employees because the pay was good considering their limited options. Others stated that attitude was terrible and that these people were slaves of the west and the west’s need for cheap goods.

Here is my contribution to the debate. As a precursor, Food for the Hungry’s programs in Zeway and Belojegunfoy (have you added Belojegunfoy to your spell checker) hope to and are making high school graduation more likely.

*********************

The tough question for the person living in “the third world” (by the way, “third world” is not politically correct over here where I live, this part of the world is now being called the “developing world”) is how do I make it through this year, this month or this week? I recently talked to a farmer at a FH/E project site in northern Ethiopia who was doing OK crop wise this year. I asked him, “Do you want your children to stay on the farm?” His reply was, “No way, there is no future here”. Seeing his situation I believe he was absolutely correct.

So what are his children going to do? They will try to stay in school and get some education but that won’t be easy. The opportunity cost of going to school is too high for most of these rural kids to make it the whole way through high school. There is work to be done for the family and school costs a lot of money. If they are really “lucky” they will finish high school. A high school diploma, or better yet, to attend college may be the ticket out of the place with no future. So if you don’t get the ticket out what are you going to do – stay on the farm, which has no future or head to the risky city? Each person will make his or her own choice. If they choose the city they will be “lucky” to get a job at a factory with steady employment, low wages and perhaps harsh conditions. If they choose to stay on the farm they will suffer more of the same, low crop yields supporting more children. Tough choice.The transformation of a family from a rural farm family to an urban family will not be pretty. Imagine what the transformation of a society will look like.

My observation is that life does not always seem to be fair. Why was I born in the comfortable west and the farmer I talked to born in the “developing world”? The question can’t really be answered. Should I fell guilty that I was born into comfort? I don’t think so. Read Psalm 139 if you have any questions on that.

Remember the term used these days is “the developing world” not the “third world”. I’m not much for political correctness but the developing world is a much better term than the third world. Developing implies action and direction. Third world implies stagnation, passivity and a place to be pitied.

Developing individuals of poor families are trying to develop a better future and to make a better life for themselves. Multiple individual decisions are being made based on knowledge of the situation and hope for the future. The people making these decisions are intelligent and will use the limited opportunities life has afforded them.

What should I do as a westerner? That is another question with a difficult answer. (Not as difficult as the questions and decisions facing the 18 year-old living on a small unproductive farm in the developing world.) To avoid the question and not make an attempt to answer it is wrong. I can’t tell you what you should do about it (that is in Someone Else’s job description) but I do know that to whom much is given much is required.

Blessings to you and yours,
 Andy

Belojegunfoy – Beyond Zeway

 

If you are reading this blog there is a good chance you have been to Zeway or sponsor a child in Zeway.  That’s great!  What I want to do today is to introduce you to Beyond Zeway.  I called the website “Zeway and Beyond”.  As I said in my first post Ethiopia is a big place and Food for the Hungry is working in a number of locations around the country. 

So today let’s broaden the horizons a bit!  We’re going to look at a place called the Belojegunfoy District in the Benishangul/Gumuz Region is western Ethiopia and borders Sudan.  Yes, Belojegunfoy, say that fast three times in a row.  Belo (sounds like “to bellow”), Je (gee willikers Andy), Gun (too many of these things around the world), Foy (rhymes with boy).  Now enter that name into your spell checker. 

Food for the Hungry has been working in the Belojegunfoy District of the Benishangul/Gumuz Region since 2000.  We have a child sponsorship program in two locations and the main purpose of the program is to provide schooling for children in the area and build leaders for tomorrow.

You see (I assume you see if you are reading this ——- its late I need to go to bed) historically, this isolated area has neglected by the Ethiopian government.  Believe it or not, formal schooling did not start in this area started in 1993, a little more than 14 years ago.  Because formal schooling is very new to the area adults in general place a low value on the education of their children.  They never went to school, why should they send their children to school when they could be fetching water, watching animals or doing other farm activities?   

Very few Gumuz (the main ethnic group in Belojegunfoy) students have completed high school and it is even rarer to find a woman that has graduated from high school.  There are very few role models who have completed their education, therefore the vision of children to attend school and complete their education is very low.   We ask children to express their future dreams and generally they struggle because most don’t have a dream outside their limited horizon.     

Food for the Hungry’s goal for “Belo” (ok why didn’t he just call it that in the first place) is to develop a “culture of education” in the area, and this will require a great deal of time and work.  I figure we will need about 15 to 20 years to develop this culture of education.  It will be big investment but fortunately Food for the Hungry has been making positive inroads.   

One indicator that we are making good headway is the simple fact that sponsored children are 6 times more likely to stay in school than non-sponsored children.   Currently about 700 children are sponsored via FH/US.  It is our goal to get that to bewteen 1,500 to 2,000. 

I feel that there is great potential to make a positive impact in this area of Ethiopia through the development of an educated generation.   Through sponsorship children are encouraged to attend and stay in school.  The result will be the development of an educated generation and future leaders in the church, community and the government.  Belo is a challenging place to work, far from Addis with a tough, hot climate but it is great to see that child sponsorship is making a difference. 

Best to you and yours, 

Andy