Team Meeting

Tonight was our team debrief meeting. We all got together to share stories about our experiences in Ethiopia, talk about what worked most effectively and what did not, and encourage one another. We were also provided with traditional Ethiopian food for dinner prepared by a couple of ladies from Ethiopian Outreach Ministries here in York, PA.

It was very nice to be able to share experiences about the trip and about how we "re-joined society" after our return. It seems as though all of us had problems communicating with others what we saw and felt while we were there. I would definitely say that this experience was a "had to be there" thing... which why I encourage each and every person that I talk to about it to ask around with local churches and join a trip like this. It will change you in ways that you could not have imagined and make you a better person.

The entire team a couple of hours before we boarded our plane.

Of course, not everyone who is in the picture above was able to attend the meeting. It was only those of us from York, but the five team members from Romania and the team members from Ethiopia were missed. When people work together for a week who share broken hearts and a common passion for the people they are helping, it forms a bond that is like no other. Most of the members of the team were strangers before the trip and now they are the closest of friends. It really is incredible.

My prayer is that God continues to use us to bless the people of Ethiopia, and allows us all to return to Ethiopia next January. God willing, my wife and I will be there.

Buy coffee... Help Orphans

I just discovered this site that uses a unique approach to raising money for orphans. They sell free trade specialty coffees and the proceeds help care for orphans in Ethiopia and aid in funding for adoptive parents.

I encourage you to check out their website. If you do not like coffee or cannot afford to buy coffee at this time, please consider helping to spread the word on your facebook or twitter account.

Click here to view Just Love Coffee Roasters website.

A few more pictures...

A grain threshing operation outside of Sendafa, Ethiopia

I thought you all might enjoy a few more pictures of the countryside around Sendafa. This country is so incredibly beautiful!

A small family farm.

A back road between Sendafa and Addis Ababa.
This is the road they used before the Government built the highway.

Mother and daughter go to do the family wash at the river.

Headed to the market.

Also headed to the market. This is a common sight here.

The library in Sendafa. Check out the mountain rim in the distance.

New houses being constructed on the outskirts of town.

 

This is a view from atop the water tank we were working on.

Defeating a pandemic one child at a time

-TWO MILLION PEOPLE die each year from AIDS.

-TWO MILLION children under age 15 are HIV-positive.

-ONE THOUSAND children become infected each day.

-NINE OUT OF TEN children who are affected by AIDS live in Africa.

(statistics from UNICEF)

Compassion's AIDS Initiative provides the following:

1. Prevention
-health and prevention education
-mother-to-child transmission prevention
-initial testing

2. Treatment
-transportation to and from clinics
aniretroviral therapy (ART) and other medicinal support
-combating opportunistic infections and diseases (TB, malaria, etc.)
-nutritional supplements to aid treatment.

3. Rehabilitative care
-direct, ongoing health monitoring
-housing/shelter assistance
-income-generation assistance

Visit Comppasion's AIDS Inititive website here and help create hope one child at a time today.

Even $5 per month can make a difference. I support this cause and I challenge you to do the same.
God Bless,
-Micah

Guest Writer - Dan Butera

 Dan Butera is a man that I met during my trip to Ethiopia. He and his wife are the hands and feet of the Lord every day as they care for the people of Ethiopia, specifically the poor women who are forced to earn a living by selling their bodies. Dan impressed me with his obvious passion for Ethiopia right away. He had a wealth of knowledge about the culture and history of the land and yes, he speaks the language. Please read about his story below, as written by him.

I live in Ethiopia. And it isn't weird for me. Though I sometimes wonder if it should be. I grew up in York, Pennsylvania and never moved outside of Pennsylvania until I moved here. Growing up in York, I didn't have any Ethiopian friends and I knew very little about Ethiopia itself. It wasn't something that I really ever thought about until one semester in college when I became friends with another student who just happened to be an Ethiopian. All throughout that semester I thought about Ethiopia and by the end of the semester it was largely dominating my thoughts. It was that following summer that I took my first trip here. I came with Living Word Church in York to work on their village adopting project. Even before I took that trip, I somehow knew that I would someday live in Ethiopia. This was only confirmed to me by the pilot's announcement when we landed in Addis Ababa. He said "For those of you who have a connecting flight, we wish you a safe rest of your journey. And for those of you who are coming home, welcome home." He didn't say anything about those of us who were just there for a trip. This may be a small and trivial thing, but I really felt like I was coming home. I clearly remember stepping out of the airport and the rest of that week. I fell in love with Ethiopia. I had found my home. 

Through the years I continued to come back to Ethiopia. Planning longer and longer trips each time. My love for Ethiopia grew more and more each time. I also fell in love with a woman over here (which made it much easier to make the move!). I met Ruth on my third trip to Ethiopia and we developed our friendship through email and the few times when I would make a trip here. We were married on November 28th, 2009 and couldn't be happier about it. Ruth has been an amazing support to me as I have dealt with all the issues that come with moving to a new country.

I was eager to find some way to help the poor and destitute. Each trip that I took to Ethiopia I stayed with my friend Dr. Frew, who also works with Living Word on their project. He has also worked on another project for a number of years called Operation Love Never Fails (OLNF). Each time I came here I learned more and more about that project and also grew closer with Frew. The OLNF offers a helping hand to women looking to get out of prostitution. The main area where the work is done is one of the worst red light districts in Addis Ababa. The women here live in such dire straits that it is incomprehensible. The get paid an average of fifteen US cents for every customer that comes by, the maximum that they will get paid is about one US dollar (and that is only when a guy decides to spend the night). Many of them have children, who are exposed to their mothers' work as they grow up - in fact, the children will often sleep on the top bunk of the bed while their mother works on the lower bunk. To make it all worse, their landlords charge them extremely high rent. We have heard of some women having to pay as much as three US dollars per day. You can do the math and figure out how many guys they need to be with each day just to pay the rent, let alone buying food and paying bills. Needless to say, these women work twenty-four hours per day and rarely ever get a break.

I had, of course, heard so many stories throughout my life about people who live in poverty and all of the problems that come with that. But I never fully understood what that looked like until I saw this red light district. I could never have imagined that a place with this much despair existed. I knew that this was the project that I wanted to help out with, quite possibly the very reason that I came to Ethiopia in the first place. I started to talk to Frew and figure out how I could best help him and support him. I quickly realized that the immediate need was financial. It is quite difficult to do fund raising in Ethiopia, so I looked to other options (such as raising money in the US). I set up a non-profit organization in the US called Fields of Hope. The sole purpose of this organization is to raise money for the Operation Love Never Fails project. We are nearly two years into this combined effort and have already seen a number of exciting things happen. 

For example, a few months ago we registered around forty children for school. This involved buying them all the necessary school supplies, buying their uniforms and paying their tuition. The coolest thing is that all of these children's mothers were previously working as prostitutes and now have other jobs. Not only that, but these children now have an opportunity in life. Far too often in that red light district the daughters of the women will start to work as prostitutes themselves, sometimes as young as seven years old! It was so amazing to see these children, with big smiles on their faces, standing next to their moms, who had a sense of relief on their faces. The children were wearing their uniforms and were so excited about their new school supplies. That is a moment that I can never forget!

I would really like to see this project expand. Actually, Frew and I have often talked of how amazing it would be if we could one day help every woman in that red light district and then close the place down. Right now, because of financial constraints, we are mainly focusing on helping the women in smaller ways. These ways include finding them some small jobs, providing them micro-loans, getting their children in school and various other ways that we can currently support them. It is our dream, however, to be able to open a number of social businesses with the sole intent of providing these women with fair wages so that they can fully support themselves and their families. One idea is to open a coffee shop/bakery. In Ethiopia, coffee shops are very much a part of the culture and people may even go to coffee shops a few times each day. It would be a very profitable business, which would allow the women to receive very fair salaries. It would also help to boost the confidence of these women, as they would have a well paying job that isn't so destructive as what they did before.

One other thing that I always try to do when I talk to people about Ethiopia is to break the stereotype about this country. Before I came here, I didn't know what to expect. I knew little more about Ethiopia than the famines and poverty. What I have come to learn since moving here is that it is such an amazing country. The nature is vast and incredible. There is a ton of water, in fact a large part of the Nile Basin is in Ethiopia. There are waterfalls and lakes. There are mountains. There are cold areas and hot (in Addis, where I live, the year round temperatures range between 45-90 degrees). It is an amazingly beautiful country right with history. A place definitely worth visiting in your life!

If you are interested in reading more about what we do or to stay up to date with the work that we are doing, please check out our website www.FieldsofHope.net

Thank you for your time,

Dan Butera

Fields of Hope February Newsletter

 The newsletter below of from Dan Butera, who works in Ethiopia with Fields of Hope, an organization that helps prostitutes find new jobs and new lifestyles. It has been published here with Dan Butera's permission, and can be viewed in it's original form here.

I wish I could send some warmth along with this newsletter, I'm sure many of you could use some of the famous Ethiopian sun to warm your day. We're well into the dry season and the sun is starting to get pretty warm during the days, but still not above 85 or 90 degrees. The weather here is very comfortable year round, but in an odd way I actually miss the seasons in Pennsylvania. Though, I guess I should count my blessings to be able to sit here typing this newsletter in shorts and a t-shirt!


We were very happy to see some of our friends a few weeks ago. A team came here from Living Word Church in York, PA (and some from Bethany UMC in Red Lion, even a few people from Romania came along!) to work in a village called Sendafa. I knew a few of the people on the team already and the rest quickly became my friends. Ruth and I were even lucky enough to host two of our friends, Dawn and Rena, for an extra week. It was reat to be able to show them a bit of what it is like to live in Ethiopia. It's not without
frustrations, but it is a pretty great life anyway.

It has been very amazing recently to see the progress that is happening in the project. Many of the ladies that we have set up doing small jobs have really been working hard and have been quite successful. We even helped some of the women open bank accounts so that they can save money each month! There's is always a lot more work to be done, but it is so encouraging to see success stories.

No matter how many times I see the area where we work, it never stops breaking my heart. We just recently drove through some of that area during the day time and again at night. It is an area full of such desperate struggle – it is extremely difficult to comprehend. Seeing that area again really made it clear to me exactly why we are doing this work and just how important it is to help these women.

We are continually coming up with new ways to offer a helping hand to anyone looking to stop working as a prostitute. Our current focus is to set people up doing small jobs. Current examples of this would be giving some of the ladies a small amount of money to buy fruits and vegetables, they then sell these by the side of the road for a profit. They have been doing a good job at it and are on their way to being self sufficient. We are
also looking into options such as butter churning and soap making.

We are also going to continue the current ways that we support these ladies. For some of them, we give them basic supplies (wheat, cooking oil, soap, etc). For others, we pay for everything associated with sending their children to school. Sometimes it means just visiting them in their houses and listening to their stories. Other times it means providing them with medicine. In all cases, our main goal is to show them love, to let them know that people care about them and to give them a new chance in life.

Let me tell you about Haregewoign, one of the women who has been helped by our project. When we found her, she was working as a prostitute in one of the worst areas of the city. She would get paid around 15 US cents per customer that came through her door. Her chances of having HIV are very
high, though we are still waiting for the results to come back. She is a single mother to her seven year old son, Ermias. It is very difficult to raise a child in
those conditions, but she had no other choice. This story could very easily have an extremely sad ending, like so many other stories about ladies who are working as prostitutes in this area. Thankfully
this story does not. Operation Love Never Fails, which is a project of the local nonprofit that we are working with, started helping Haregewoign about a year and a half ago. The biggest thing that we have been able to do for her is to help her and ten other women start a small business, a small trash collecting service.

Since there are no big doortodoor trash collection companies here, most people hire someone to take the trash from their house to the larger central collection areas. So, we helped these ladies by buying them such things as uniforms, gloves, shovels and big wheelbarrows. With these things, they travel around on foot to each of the houses or businesses which have hired them.

Though these women have only been doing this for a year and a half, they are lready self sufficient and no longer require our support. It is such an amazing thing to see someone go from such a difficult like into such a fulfilling life. While she still doesn't have very much, she is completely free from such a despairing life. She is now able to support herself and her family without the need for any additional help. Whenever you see her she has the biggest smile on her face. You can see that she is relieved and proud that she is successful at her new job.

We have also helped her son, Ermias, to get into school. At the start of the school year we bought him his uniform and school supplies and
also paid his tuition. I remember meeting him the day we gave them his school supplies. He seemed so happy and very interested in his new backpack. His mom was also thrilled that day, had a huge smile on her face the whole time and came up to me with that big smile and said “thank you very much”.





To learn more about Fields of Hope or subscribe to the newsletter, please visit their website www.fieldsofhope.net 

The Children of Sendafa

 Another day in Nigeria the children beg for bread
The crops failed, the well ran dry
When they lost the watershed
A baby dies, its mother cries the children gather 'round

They're wondering what the day will bring
Will they be the next one found
Do you dare to look into their hollow eyes
In the crowded sheds the children lay their heads
To escape the Haitian heat

The hunger pains drive them to the street
Wondering if today they'll eat
Some found food in the refuse heap
Others find disease

Some find it harder just to live
When they can die with ease
Do you dare to look into their hollow eyes

The least of these is hungry
The least of these is sick
The least of these needs clothing
The least of these needs drink

The least of these knows sorrow
The least of these knows grief
The least of these suffers pain

Lyrics from "Hollow Eyes" by Petra - describing the life of children in third world countries and challenging us to do something about it.



Click here to hear the song on Youtube.

Meet Dr. Frew and the PAAV Team

Dr. Frew and his wife

I want to introduce you all to one of the sweetest men I have ever met. Dr. Frew (pronounced "Fray-ewe") is a native of Ethiopia. He is a general practice medical doctor. Living Word Community Church currently employs Dr. Frew as as the leader of our efforts in Sendafa, Ethiopia. (you can learn more about our Project Adopt a Village efforts by clicking here) Dr. Frew has a wife and two boys. The boys are named Israel and Nathaniel. Both are very bright, intelligent boys who are very well behaved and perfect gentlemen. Dr. Frew graduated from Gondar College of Medical Sciences located in Gondar, Ethiopia in 1990.

We refer to the people that work for Dr. Frew as the PAAV team. It stands for Project Adopt a Village, which is the program that got our church involved with Sendafa about five years ago. These staff members are truly wonderful, selfless people who are God's hands and feet every day as they show true grace to the people of our village.

Ageritu (left) with my wife Bianca

 Ageritu is a nurse that works directly with Dr. Frew when he is at the clinic. When she is not helping at the clinic, she is helping minister to the HIV patients in the village.

Eshete

Eshete is the accountant for the PAAV team and for Dr. Frew's prostitute ministry. He also manages the micro-economic loan ministry. He has been with the Doctor since the beginning of his ministry.

Shamilas (left) with Birhanu

 Birhanu supervises any of the construction that is financed by the PAAV team, such as church building and renovations/repairs, and the building of new market stalls to accommodate the micro-economic loan recipients.

Shamilas is a counselor at the clinic who helps recently diagnosed patients learn about their condition and how to change their eating habits and behavior, and tell them out how to take their medication, as well as side effects etc.

Sheweyaged

 Sheweyeged is one of the first woman to recieve antiretroviral drugs from our program. She now helps on the team with the people of Sendafa. She speaks very little English, but has a way of communicating with hugs and smiles. She is a sweet lady.
.

We were very privileged to get to know the PAAV team and their ministry. It was such a blessing to see the love and grace that they extended to their people. The are all very passionate about their work. We learned a lot from them during the week that we worked with them.

Compassion

Before our trip to Ethiopia, I had an entirely different definition of this word. Compassion. What is it? Let's start with Webster's definition: "sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it". Keep that definition in mind for later...

In America, we have so many programs, charities, and services that provide for our poor and suffering, that it is very difficult to find someone who does not truly have their basic needs taken care of. America's most poor often have more than some the majority of people in third world countries. So we have devoloped this attitude in our society that our poor do not really need our help. It is easy to dismiss them as we go through our day to day lives. Afterall, our government has what I refer to as "mandatory charity". You contribute to programs and services through your taxes whether you choose to or not.


Ethiopia has no such programs. Folks who lose their means of support who cannot beg, borrow, or steal, often waste away into nothing and die. Their hungry and homeless do not need signs to draw your sympathy. Most times it is pointless for them to beg anyway, because those their are providing for their families do not have any extra. Have you ever heard anyone say that they "are just surviving"? In Ethiopia, this could not be more true for most folks. They are not worried about being boring, how to entertain themselves, or how they are going to get their next thrill. They are just surviving.


What did Jesus have to say about the poor?

Mark 10:14b: "...Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God."


Jesus had a tender place in His heart for the poor and he an even more tender place for the children. Maybe this is why we are so drawn to the poor children with those large, innocent brown eyes.

 This man's image will be permanently etched into my mind. He met us three days in a row where we unloaded the vans each day and split up into teams. He kept asking us for money, hold a 50 cent piece in his bony outstretched hand. His feet were a horrible sight, mangled from walking through the rocks with no shoes. He was blind in one eye and looked as though he would crumble at any minute. 


We were not allowed to give out food or money, because would cause a mob scene that could injure us or the people. Any money or supplies to be distributed to the poor must be given to Dr. Frew and he distributes as he sees the needs arise. He knows who is the most needy.


On our last day in the village, we were passing out a case of cheese crackers amongst the team, because we were planning to have a late lunch. I saw this man standing in the middle of us, staring longingly at that case of crackers without saying a word. I was glad to see that the girl who was handing them out silently slipped him a pack and I was almost drawn to tears as he sat down immediately on the edge of the sidewalk and ate those crackers. I was heartbroken when I recalled an recent incident in Baltimore when I tried to give a bag of Fritos to man with a "will work for food" sign, and he rudely refused them.


Luke 4:18- "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised..."

My first day back to work, I had to go to Baltimore, and when I stopped at a traffic light downtown, a man approached me with a sign that said "homeless" and a large cup. I couldn't help but notice that his clothes were far nicer than the people of Sendafa that did have homes were wearing. As I pushed a dollar into his cup, I winced when I realized that the amount of money in that cup could feed an entire family in Ethiopia for a month. I was angry and confused... the though haunted me the rest of the day.

I have had to reanalyze my personal definition of compassion. While I feel brokenhearted for the people of Ethiopia, I cannot let this harden my heart against our own poor and hurting souls in America. Whether their signs advertising their status are legitimate or not, it only hurts me when I refuse to help. If it takes donating to ten posers to help that one person who legitimately needs help, I will be better for it, and God will judge those who take advantage of my generosity.


Any thoughts?

How can you help in Ethiopia?

Everyone that I know who has been to Ethiopia has left a large piece of their heart there and has a huge burden for the people. My hope is that you get a taste of that through reading this blog. There are many ways to help financially. Here are a few ways that you may consider:

Giving to Living Word's Project Adopt a Village Program by giving to our Missions budget. This is primarily for members and attendees of Living Word Community Church. You can get more information by visiting the church website here.

You can give to Fields of Hope. Fields of Hope is a ministry in the capital city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It is focused on rescuing woman from lives of prostitution. This is accomplished by providing them with vocational training, assistance in relocating outside of the red light district, and helping pay the tuition for their children to attend school, so that they do not have to resort back to that lifestyle. The program is run by Dr. Frew and his staff. Last year they rescued 25 woman from a life of prostitution and sent 40 children of former prostitutes to school. You can read more about Fields of Hope and how to donate here.

You can also help the children of Ethiopia by sponsoring a child through Compassion International. This program has been around for years. You can select a child from a list of impoverished countries that need help. You can even choose specific demographics such as a certain age child, or whether you would like a boy or girl. This is a long term commitment that you pay monthly. If you do not have the resources to sponsor a child, you can also donate a one-time gift through the web site, or donate a smaller amount each month that will go to help children all over the world that have AIDS. You can learn more about this program here.

I believe strongly in all three of these programs. My wife and I have given to all of them and plan to continue as God allows us to. I will post information on more worthy charities if I come across them. If you would like to suggest one to me, you let me know by commenting below this post.

God bless you and God Bless Ethiopia.

Now for some cool pictures...

View from 7th story of the Semien Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

A little artwork that I played with from the picture below. (also how I made the Blog title picture)

View of the Northern side of Sendafa from atop the water tank.

View of the South side of Sendafa from the lower water tank

Black and White of the North side

Day 6- Worship in Ethiopia

Two sisters wearing their Sunday best.

This morning we all loaded up into the vans and headed to Dr. Frew's church. It is located in Addis near his house. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was immediately blown away by the enthusiasm of these people for God. The worship music was not only fast-paced and passionate, but the people yelled and cheered and clapped like nothing else I've seen. Well, let me take that back, I've seen people that enthusiastic at a rock concert, but never at church.

The Preacher.

The Preacher was just as excited and animated about what he was preaching. Dr. Frew translated the highlights of the sermon by write them on notebook paper and passing them around. (If you are interested in seeing the notes, let me know and I will e-mail them to you.) It was very uplifting and encouraging to see someone so on fire for the Lord in another country, 7000 miles from home.

A lazy Sunday afternoon at Dan Butera's house.

After the service, we went to Dan Butera's house for homemade pizza and fellowship. Dan grew up at Living Word and after a few mission's trips to Ethiopia, met a school teacher named Ruth, and soon after moved to Ethiopia and married her. You can read more about his story and his work at his blog here. I enjoyed talking to Dan throughout this week. I learned a lot about the culture from him and enjoyed hearing about the events that led up to his decision to move to Ethiopia and become a full time missionary with very little financial support.