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.

Day 5- Completing Projects and Sharing a Bond

Ethiopian Praise

This morning Mike Parthree invited a group of young people from Ethiopian Outreach Ministries (EOM) to lead worship for us at our morning devotions. They sang two traditional Ethiopian praise songs, and then we all joined in on the last song in English. It was so powerful to be on the 7th floor of the hotel, viewing the entire city, and the sun came up, and praising God with these brothers and sisters from halfway around the world. I could almost imagine God looking down and smiling and nodding His head. (I bet He was tapping His foot too)

I felt privileged to work with these men.

Back in the village, we headed back to the water tank to wrap up the structure. The concrete was cured, and the mason had cemented in the main support poles for each corner. A few minutes after we arrived, the mason arrived with a crew of two men and a woman (the same woman who helped him with the cement a couple days ago)

No girlie-men here!

We got right to work putting up the rest of the frame and cutting everything to length. None of the workers spoke English, but it was fun communicating with them non-verbally. We all had a common purpose in mind, and by the time the project was complete, we had a sort of bond between us.

The completed structure atop the water tank.

We finished putting the last piece of steel up just after noon or so. It felt so good to have completed the project. Even though we would not be installing the actual chlorinating system on this trip, we were so much closer to accomplishing that goal than we were five days ago. As I looked around at the Ethiopian workers, I knew that they had the same sense of pride and accomplishment in a job well done as we did. I didn't need to speak their language to see that. We said our goodbyes to the construction crew after giving them all of the snacks and water that we had with us, and headed back to the Sendafa Hotel to meet the rest of the team for lunch.

Dr. Frew had left in his truck to bring out team leader to a meeting, so we walked back. It was about a half mile walk, and we really enjoyed it. Walking down a dusty road under the bright sun, sharing smiles and waves with kids as we pass by... there's nothing like it.

Dr. Frew Tangene and I

Later that night at dinner with Dr. Frew and his staff, I had to opportunity to learn a lot more about his program that ministers to prostitutes in the red light district of Addis Ababa. He helps them with vocational training so that they can get new jobs, and helps with tuition so that their children can get a good education and not have to resort back to that way of living. I will tell you more about the ministry in another blog. Dr. Frew is a good man, and I enjoyed getting to know him this week.

Day 4- Touched by God

Patients waiting to be seen at the Clinic

Since we had to allow the concrete at the water tank cure today, Kevin and I got to join the village teams for the first time. I was excited to be able to work with my wife. We started off the day by touring the clinic. We met some absolutely wonderful people there. We met the head nurse who was the nicest lady, and we met a patient counselor who had the heart-breaking task of telling patients that they tested positive for HIV and what their options were. The were 30 or 40 patients at the clinic today in various stages of being seen or cared for. Dr. Frew explained that many of them traveled for miles on foot to be seen at the clinic, and sometimes their health was so poor when they arrived that they would have to stay for a week. The Doctor to patient ratio in Ethiopia is one doctor to every 30,000 patients. (general practice Doctor, not specialist) The average life expectancy for a man is 52 years and 55 years for a woman. When we heard that, Bianca and I looked at each other and realized that both of our parents would be gone. Later that day I was haunted by those two numbers as I walked through the village and realized what I had missed earlier that week: there were no elderly people. Anywhere. The children have no grandparents.

My wife Bianca with the Head Nurse

As we toured the clinic, we greeted the patients with smiles, handshakes, and hugs. In Ethiopia, they treat AIDS as though it were leprosy. Since they do not know how it is contracted, you are often cut off from society if you have it. Of course we knew better, and it was nice to see the appreciation in their eyes for a human touch and a look of understanding. Up to this point, I had been pretty good about not openly crying in public, but when the head nurse approached a few of us as we were leaving, I almost lost it. She wanted to thank us for treating the patients with grace and respect and then she told us that a couple of the patients told us that when we touched them, they felt as if they were being touched by God. Wow. I thank God for using us in such a powerful way. I still tear up days later as I type this.

The Sendafa Library

From there we all drove a couple blocks over to the library. We were told that it is not the single largest collection of books in the entire Country, with the exception of the capital city. The coolest thing about that number is that Living Word Community Church donated almost every single one of those books! It was incredible to see them all. A few team members recognized their books and pulled them off the shelf to show us their names in the front. It was a blessing to see teenage kids in the library studying diligently. Although their were plenty of fictional entertainment-style books, every person that I saw was studying history or math. They were focused too. By now, we were used to our celebrity status in the village, but these kids were so intent on their studies, that they only glanced up occasionally.

Presenting wheat to an HIV-inflicted Mother

At this point we split up into our smaller teams. Our team was tasked with distributing wheat and oil to families on the anti-retroviral drug program that did not have enough to eat. We were not simply dropping off a bag and running though, each house we stopped at, we would sit down and talk to the ladies of the house and say a prayer with them after presenting them with wheat, oil, and toiletries. We visited six homes in all, and out of them, only one woman was still married. The other five did not have a husband, either because they were never married, or because it is common for the man to leave once the woman is infected with HIV.

An HIV-inflicted woman who is now a successful business owner

On the way home today, we stopped by a large compound on the outskirts of town. It belonged to the first woman to benefit from our micro-economic loan program. This woman was so successful by using our program, that not only did she pay back the money in record time, she now provides a comfortable living (by Ethiopian standards) for her immediate family and also provides for much of her extended family. Her main business is processing and selling eucalyptus poles and lumber. Her home was larger than most and she had a small 13 inch TV in one corner. (this was only the 2nd TV that I saw in the village) She and her family looked very healthy, and she was very excited to see us. She made sure to give each of us big hugs. It was very encouraging to hear her success story and her about how she encourages others to participate in the program.

Day 3- Encouragement

The completed block walls

Shortly after arriving in Sendafa this morning, Kevin Sterner and I headed over to the tank to check on the progress that the mason had made in getting the first rows of brink laid. He seemed to have everything that he needed, so I rode with Dr. Frew over to the clinic for the clorinator parts were stored for safekeeping. We loaded up all of the supplies that we needed to mock one up and brought everything back to the tank. We were getting back in the truck when a very sick woman approached us and Dr. Frew offered her a ride up to the main road. She was holding a new Bible in her hands, along with her medication that she had just received from the clinic. She spoke no English at all, but the Doctor explained to us as he showed her where he wanted her to begin reading, that she had just become a Believer last week. We smiled at her and gave her the “thumbs up” sign, and she grinned from ear to ear.

Kevin Sterner with the mock-up system

As we arrived back at the tank, the seventh and final row of brink was laid and the mason and his helper were doing the finish work by making sure the joints were properly filled. We worked with them to get a small platform for the system set and cemented in the center of the shelter. Then we were able to mock up the system to get measurements for the supply pipe and the exit pipe. After that was done, the mason explained that he would like the concrete to cure for two days before any more building was done.

We suddenly realized that it would put us on target to finish the structure on Saturday, which would be our last day in the village on this trip. We would not have time to get the chlorine water treatment system assembled and operating on this trip. After talking to Mike Johnson, our Team Leader, we were relieved to find out that it was a good thing that we were delayed. The system that we were planning on using was quite complex and not easy to maintain. It may have only run for a few weeks after we left before they were back to square one. Mike had been working with some contacts that he had and devised a plan to get a much more efficient system installed on the next trip. Not only would it be more efficient, but it would be very simplistic and easy to maintain. (Replacement parts can be very difficult to obtain in Ethiopia) So the bad news is that they chlorination system would not be complete until the next trip in late July. The good news is that the structure will be complete when they arrive, and all of the supplies will be on hand when they get here. They should have the new system up and running within a couple of days of their arrival.

The corrugated steel being delivered

While we were waiting for Dr. Frew to come back and pick us up, a few teenage boys came by to see what we were doing. They did not speak very much English, but as soon as I said the word “chlorine”, they got very excited and started yelling “Clean water?”, “For us?” and jumping up and down and smiling from ear to ear. It was very encouraging.

On the way back to meet with the other teams, we stopped by a store to purchase the corrugated steel and eucalyptus poles that we needed to complete the structure on Saturday. We also arranged to have it all delivered by mule cart.

The pottery shops

After another relatively late lunch, we headed back to town. We were halfway back when we saw a row of small shops that were selling homemade pottery. Dr. Frew stopped our little caravan and allowed us to make a few purchases. Bianca and I are now proud new owners of a traditional Ethiopian coffee pot and set of bowls. (the ones you use for sugar and cream, etc.) While we were waiting for the others to finish their purchases, we saw a seven year old boy approach from across the street. He had a stick in his hand. He was immediately seen by a man near the shops (we assumed was the Father) who grabbed the stick from him and began to beat him with it. We were horrified, but could do nothing. The boy was sent back in the direction he came from. As we watched he slowly walked away with his back hunched, we saw a small herd of cattle in the distance and realized that he was supposed to be watching them. I could only think of how we don’t even trust our kids to cross the street at that age, let alone supervise the family cattle.