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Yet More of Helen in Ethiopia 05/06
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MINISTRY RETREAT
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From 4-12 March all the leaders of the Anglican Church in Ethiopia came together for a ministry retreat. The majority of the retreat was led by friends of Andrew’s, Graham and Mary Witts who gave teaching on St. Mark’s gospel. Sessions were also led on planning for the future and where to take the church forward. Much of my role during the week was conducting interviews with the leaders to find out more about them and their churches to help us know how to help them and their churches more. The interviews were very interesting and it was fascinating to hear the testimonies of these men, many of whom I met in the western region, giving an insight into their lives and culture and hear about their vision for their churches. Below are a few of the answers that were given to questions I asked:
1. How did you become a Christian and when?
1. 1988. During that time in our area we escaped to Kenya or Ethiopia or Uganda. That time I was asleep with my father and mother. I am still young, 18/19. I want to become a Christian because my uncle is a pastor in town. I used to go to church to pray and to talk with people at church. After that I join choir in 1988 I know that God is miracle worker for all Christians, nothing is bigger than God.
2. When I was a boy my father is evangelist. When I was small I was taught and I believe.
3. My father was a witchcraft man, when he was a witchman he did many things concerning his magic and he had 4 wives. If someone needed something that man who my father did work for would bring a cow for sacrifice. The time that I became a Christian I was in a place called Duk in Sudan. At that time it was 1979 and I was a very small boy. When I joined church first I went to Sunday School. I started school in Dinka congregation from 1979-1980 and in 1981 went back to rural area where I was born. At that time my father was telling me if you are to be Christian and be baptised you will not be my son. At that time I kept silent. In 1985 my father died. At that time there was no person who could reach rural area where I was who knew about Christianity. In 1987 a pastor came there and I was baptised by this pastor. Within my family and all children of family I was the one who was baptised first. There was an older brother who was trying to get me to go back to witchcraft but I leave family and went to where uncle was. In 1989 staying with relative another brother came together and became Christian and was baptised. The one who remain in family was mother. My brother was ordained to become evangelist, my older brother, and I was made youth leader, therefore they stayed there and went back to family to preach word of God, bringing another stepbrother and children of brother to join church. At that time when civil war started it became very serious and we were separated from our mother and our mother became baptised in another place. In Ethiopia we heard of another wife of our father and her family who became a Christian therefore God doing work inside family. Only one stepbrother now and another wife of my father not Christian.
4. I have been a Christian all my life. When I was small I studied with my father and mother and all family teach me. My father was priest.
2. Why do you believe in God?
Compare grandparents and me, I observe that in tradition there are some gods people worship and these gods request wine, goods and cows from people. But I see that this is nonsense. Even if you kill a cow people die. To some people the magician would say kill me a cow and I will save you, but they don’t so it is nonsense. And when I read in Bible I see this is not right. I like to be Christian, because we don’t need to bring anything to God to see Him work in our lives.
3. What does being a Christian mean to you?
2. To be a Christian is very important because all believers are one family whether white, black, brown they love each other so I think Christianity is very important
3. Christianity something very important more important than everything on earth. In my life for example I get 600 birr a month. That 600 birr I pay my tithe and give I do a lot of things with that 600 birr, helping those who are poor. There are 2 widows I take care of. There are some people earn 1000/2000 in government offices and when you hear about them they are sad but in my home this 600 birr a lot of money we have joy and we live a very happy life and we always have enough. My wife never needs to ask me where I hide the money because we are Christian. When I get the money we decide how to give it . Also because I am a Christian there is something in my heart that takes away worry. When there is something very difficult in my mind when I go to church or pray at home I hear God speak and help me. Christianity is something very important, this is where we find joy in word of God. We can have a lot of money or a lot of wives, but we can never find joy. Christianity is the way to find joy. People who pray with me in church before they were drunks, they enjoy to play with girls but God changed them.
4. How have you seen God work in your life?
1. In my life God is my protector. Many times the way I have to go it is dangerous but I know God will save me.
2. Through the Holy Spirit and he has shown me many things through life. If I pray I see him work through prayer.
3. God changed my life. Before I didn’t have forgiveness, I didn’t forgive people or say sorry, was having bad ideas in my mind. The Holy Spirit direct me in what to do.
6. How do you see your role as a church leader?
1. I want to make people ready before they die. I want to see people in my ministry doing things that will be good. I want to see people get salvation. I want to see people confess before leaders and offer them salvation. I want to teach others to tell them how God is good and can work in their inner heart.
2. My job here as I observe it here I am organiser and help solve problems of my people and help them know God. If there is something hurting my people and can discuss it with them and bring it to church leader. If somebody with sickness in community I can visit him and if in need of help I can come and give report to leader who can help with problems in community.
10. What do you think are the strengths of your church?
What I see is good here in congregation if I see people walking way of God. Life that is good but when I see people bring things from outside and bringing them inside, which will split Nuer, Dinka, Maban, need to tell people this is not good. We are people of one church not tribes, all of one God.
11. What do you think are the weaknesses of your church?
1. We are lacking people who can share the duties with me so the fulfillment of other duties is not good.
2. What is wrong is tribalism. If people of God in unity is good to love one another as children of one God.
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MUM and DAD'S VISIT
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Mum and dad arrived on 18 March for a fortnights holiday in Ethiopia. We had a good time visiting places in Addis and travelling around the northern part of the country visiting historical sites. We travelled with a friend of mine and her parents and here are details of some of the places we visited to give you a taste of the rich history of Ethiopia which is unknown by many people. We had to travel to all of these places by air as it is the quickest way of getting around the mountainous terrain of the country where many roads are difficult to travel. Mum and dad have some photographs of these places and I will arrange to show my photographs when I come home.
GONDER
The first place we visited was the town of Gonder which has been called Africa’s Camelot as it was capital of Ethiopia for many years and has many old castles and churches. The Royal Enclosure is where the majority of old buildings are, including castles, palaces and various houses including a bathing house, banqueting hall and lion house (no lions here now but the last one only died in 1991) Many of the buildings are only a shadow of their former glory - one of them having been described as ‘more beautiful than Solomon’s house’ - but quite impressive nonetheless.
The Debre Berhan Selassie church is one of the most well known of Ethiopia’s historical buildings because it contains many paintings which often feature in books about the country - mainly the winged heads of 80 Ethiopian cherubs on the ceiling all of which are different to each other.
The final place we visited in Gonder was King Fasilda’s bath, a large rectangular sunken pool overlooked by a two storey tower. This is still used every year for the annual Timkat (Epiphany) ceremony.
From Gonder we also hired a car and travelled for one day into the Simien mountains where we were able to see amazing mountainous scenery and wildlife.
AXUM
Another former capital containing many ruined palaces, underground tombs, inscriptions and most well known for its stelae or monoliths used as tombstones/monuments for local rulers - one ‘stelae field’ alone containing over 120 monoliths. Later this month a stelae which was removed to Rome during the Italian occupation will be returned to Axum, everyone is excited about this.
Axum is known throughout Ethiopia as the home of the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10). Legend has it that when the Queen of Sheba visited King Solomon they conceived a child together and that child later became the ancestor of the Emperors of Ethiopia. In Axum the ruins of the Queen of Sheba’s Palace and the Queen of Shebas bath (where locals still collect water) are found.
The other thing Axum is famous for is for allegedly containing the original Ark of the Covenant. No-one is allowed to see the Ark - there are many tales of horrible deaths experienced by any who have tried. It is kept in the grounds of St. Mary of Zion Church in a building of its own guarded by a priest of the Orthodox church who once appointed to the job will spend the rest of his life in the building guarding the Ark. We were told that the present guard is 65 years old and has been in the building for the last 35 years (!!).
LALIBELA
Lalibela is a centre of pilgrimage for members of the Orthodox church and one of Ethiopia’s top attractions, ranking among the greatest historical sites in the Christian world. Lalibela was capital of Ethiopia in the 12th century and contains 11 churches hewn completely out of the rock surrounding them - a job which took 24 years and 64,000 people to complete as trenches were cut down the walls outside of the churches and they were then chiselled out from inside as the king of the capital (King Lalibela) tried to create a ‘new Jerusalem on African soil’. A truly amazing site.
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EASTER
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Easter here was celebrated with services throughout Holy Week. However the Orthodox church don’t celebrate Easter until 2 May so things seemed relatively normal outside - no public holidays and very few Easter eggs. The Orthodox church members fast throughout Lent, which means they eat no meat or dairy products but so they are not too deprived there is a whole range of ‘fasting’ products available on the shelves of the supermarkets - fasting biscuits, fasting cakes even fasting ice cream (!).
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PRAYING FOR LEADERS OF THE WESTERN REGION
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We are starting a scheme at the church where people can ‘adopt’ a western region leader and their church and they will be given photographs and information about that leader so they can pray for them. If anyone of you or your churches would like to join this scheme please let me know and I will let you have information.
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PLEASE PRAY FOR:
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1. The Local Assembly of the church in Ethiopia which takes place from 18-22 April and to which all the leaders of the churches will again come to Addis. Please pray for safe travelling for those coming and good meetings, fellowship and discussion.
2. Other EEPS who are preparing to go home this month - Ben and Nicola in Ghana, Rosemary in Peru and Pete and Sue in Swaziland.
3. Fundraising - a number of applications for fundraising for the various projects the church is involved in have now been sent out. Please pray that some of these will be fruitful and we will receive money to enable us to continue and expand our work here.
4. Friends of mine Gary and Jill Campbell. Can’t really go into details about this but they are facing a difficult time at the moment. Please pray that they will know peace of mind and see God working through this time.
5. The Sudanese programme at St. Matthews. We are thinking about what to do about the Sudanese Wednesday morning programme here now that it is quite likely that many of the people who attend will be looking to return to Sudan following the signing of the peace treaty for Southern Sudan. Please pray for wisdom and guidance for us and members of the Sudanese community here at this time.
PRAYER UPDATES.
Gen now has a residence visa and work permit.
Colin and Hazel Maunsell mentioned in my last letter are still in London where Colin is continuing treatment for his cancer.
Thank you for your prayers for these and other past requests.
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COMING HOME
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I have now fixed my return date and (barring any unforeseen circumstances) will be flying back to England on Wednesday 21 September - arriving back in Todmorden on 22 September.
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LOCAL ASSEMBLY 2005
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On 18 April over 100 people from the Western Region arrived in Addis for the annual Local Assembly of the Anglican Church in Ethiopia. This was the leader of each church plus one lay man and one Mother’s Union member for each parish and also one representative from about a dozen new parishes which are waiting to be recognised. Some of those who attended had problems reaching Addis. One group were delayed because the government kept commandeering all buses from their area. We were concerned about another group who were late arriving because they have to walk for 3 days from their home near the border with Sudan through difficult and dangerous territory to get a bus in Gambella town. A group from 3 churches in one of the refugee camps were not able to attend at all because they could not get permission to leave the camp.
There were members of mainly Nuer and Dinka tribes but also several smaller tribes so most meetings had to be translated into 3 languages. Teaching and discussions were led throughout the week by members of St. Matthews and also 3 guests from Egypt.
Morning Bible studies each day were on the theme of ‘A change of heart’ looking at Biblical characters whose lives were changed by meeting Jesus. The Local Assembly was a chance to meet and worship together and also discuss problems and report on the activities of each church.
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GIVING
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Earlier this year we received a letter from the Bishop asking whether churches in the diocese would consider contributing financially to the diocese - at present nothing is paid to the diocese, they get their income from other sources. Andrew decided to ask the Western region people about this at the local assembly as well as the Church Council here at St. Matthews, but was unsure what reaction he would get as many of these people have practically nothing - Sunday collections in many churches consisting only of grain because people have no money.
However when asked the people said ‘of course we should give’, they were to discuss it with their Church Councils but most agreed that 10% of their church allowance was a good amount to give and didn’t think there would be a problem. During the meeting one woman then stood up and said that she would like to give 5 birr now out of her per dium for the week, as a good will offering. Others followed suit, offering 5 birr, 10 birr, 20 birr each and by the end of the week 585 birr 25 cents had been given, which the 2 Western region leaders who were going to Synod in Cairo this week were going to take to give to the Bishop personally.
It is so humbling and moving when we hear stories like this. Andrew said he was nearly in tears during the meeting. So often we who have so much complain about the little we do give and think things like ‘well I can’t possibly give any more because I must buy that new CD’ or something similar - and I include myself in that ‘we’. These people have nothing compared to what most of us have, yet they gave freely, willingly and joyfully. It challenged me and I hope it challenges you. Maybe the world would be a better place if we were all prepared to do likewise.
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WHAT HAPPENS IN THE WESTERN REGION?
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So what does go on in a Western region parish? Many churches told us they were involved in home visits, Bible study, preaching, praying, Sunday school, youth, peace and reconciliation training, H.I.V./A.I.D.S. awareness, hospital/prison visiting, teaching songs (some churches in more than one language) and choir. Some have prayer and Bible study every day. Others have adult and children education programmes going on through the church. Many of the churches have good relationships with other denominations in their areas - regularly meeting together and having joint worship at Christmas and Easter. One church which is near a road has taken the initiative to start to provide food and shelter for those passing by. Almost all of the churches are growing - one has gone from 42-147 in the last 18 months and another from 50-200 in the last year. There are about 20 new churches wanting to be recognised. How does this growth happen - well in the words of one of the leaders ‘We went out and preached to other people so we have more churches now’. Others say ‘Our work is to go to other people and pray with them because the Bible says when you love another person you show God’s love’ and ‘Many people are fascinated by our work and want to come and join us’.
Many of the churches in the Western region have problems with access to water - some women have to walk 3 hours each way to get to the river every day. However we heard during the week that the local government is in the process of digging wells near many of the small towns in the region. They have started at one and plan to move on to others when that one has been finished. However we also heard during the assembly that the government is trying to move people in the area back to places in Ethiopia or Sudan where they originally came from - even though for many it is over a decade since they moved and they are now settled where they are. Many people don’t want to move as some of the areas they are being told to go back to are still having problems and can be dangerous to live in.
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A QUESTION OF POLYGAMY
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One unusual problem which was raised was a question of polygamy. One leader had been accused by members of his congregation of having 4 wives. In our culture the solution to this seems pretty black and white, but there are cultural considerations which made things a little more grey. We discovered that in Nuer tribal culture polygamy is acceptable and that if a man’s father or brother dies, that man is expected to take care of their wife/wives - often done by marrying them. Anglican church policy is that if someone has more than one wife before they become a Christian then they are allowed to keep the, but they must not take more wives after they become Christians. After discussion we were told that the situation was that this leader’s father had died leaving 3 wives and he had taken them into his house to care for them - but he said he had not married them. Further investigations are to be made but he has agreed to build a separate tukal for his father’s wives to live in so that people can’t make wrong conclusions. I just thought his was an interesting example of cross-cultural experience and dealing with what happens when people come to Christianity from different tribal backgrounds.
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MOTHERS UNION
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One of the most important groups in all the Western region parishes is the Mother’s Union. There are many mothers in the churches who work to help each other in church and raise income through collecting firewood or doing craftwork - beads - gourds - embroidery (There are some pictures of this work in Tod. see Irene Greenman or M.U. groups in Tod. - I also hope to bring some of their work back with me to sell in September). We had a meeting with just the M.U. members during the assembly and they told us about the things they do and these are some of the things they said:
‘we visit people who are sick, ill or in hospital and try to collect money so we can help if people need to go to hospital’; ‘if a woman gives birth we go to help and if we have money take something’; ‘we try to set a good example for the younger women’; ‘If a young woman is to be a bride we go and try to explain how to look after her home’; ‘we try to learn Bible so we can teach our families’; ‘meet and pray and study the Bible together and teach songs to each other’; ‘if someone is absent from church we go to see if there is a problem or a difficulty and try to help’; ‘our husbands don’t have anything, our children are young and we have no time to go and get firewood to sell in the market. Everything is hard for us’; ‘work to make peace between the men who have been fighting’; ‘collect grain from women and store it to help each other - even though it is little we are happy because it is our own’; ‘it is good to meet together and share our problems and help each other’.
Of all the meetings during this week, this was the one which challenged me the most. In meeting these women I almost instantly felt superior to them because I wasn’t confined to just being a housewife and mother (not that there’s anything wrong with that - I know it’s a full time and very worthy job) but because I have other opportunities and have had access to a good education and have been brought up to believe being female is not a disadvantage, I caught myself feeling things that I felt uncomfortable feeling and wondering things like; Do I have a right to feel superior? Of course not - many of these women do far better jobs in much harsher circumstances that I have ever have to face and probably never will. Am I better than them because of the way I’ve been brought up and the advantages I’ve had? Materially obviously yes, but in some other respects probably no. During my training to come here we were challenged about how our culture had influenced us and almost certainly I think this is an instance where my feelings came as a result of my cultural upbringing - but does that make them right? I don’t know. I find it both challenging and confusing thinking about such things and don’t particularly know where I’m going with my thoughts - one of the many ways God is working in me during this ‘experience’
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AT ST MATTHEW'S
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At St. Matthew’s we have just started housegroups which meet every week in 3 places across the city. These are following on from Lent groups which met during the run up to western Easter. A good number of people are attending regularly and it looks as though they will be a success.
At long last it looks as though we may be getting organised with a youth group on Sunday mornings. We hope to meet with the youth for the first time on Sunday 22 May and see where things go from there. There are about 4 people other than me willing to help with this.
The Wednesday morning Sudanese programme has been scaled down as on Saturday 23 April a bus left Addis taking many members of the Sudanese congregation here to the Ethiopian border with Sudan, where they would cross and go back to try and make a new life in Sudan. About 70 people left and although there were a few problems setting off, the journey went well and we have heard this weekend that they arrived safely in Khartoum (capital of Sudan).
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THE FUTURE
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At the end of the week church areas were asked to come up with Action Plans - choosing 3 points which they were committed to working on during the coming year. Some of these included setting up an adult education centre in one of the camps, setting up church gardens or farms to provide for members of the congregation, going out and sharing faith with other people nearby (something the church in the western region seem to do a very good job of already) and developing prison ministry in one of the towns.
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ANDREW'S NEW NAME
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During the course of the week Andrew was informed he had been given a Nuer name. The Nuer are called after their bulls, whose names describe their colour. After we had visited the western region in December one happy parishioner brought a bull to one of the churches and it was named for Andrew. His Nuer name is Nyal Dieng which means ‘white, with a patch of red’ and is a great honour.
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EASTER- AGAIN!
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29 April - 1 June was Orthodox Easter weekend. 24 April was Palm Sunday - known locally as ‘Hosanna’ Sunday. All over Addis people were wearing palm crosses - strips of palm leaves made into hats with an intricate small cross in the centre of the forehead. 29 April was Good Friday and a public holiday. I went to a local cinema to see The Passion of the Christ (a bargain at 5 birr (about 30p) as opposed to ₤5 at home). On Easter Sunday obviously the churches were very busy - but so was the sheep and goat market near my house, as people finished their 56 day fast from meat and dairy products. Throughout the day there were piles of what a friend of mine calls ‘empty sheep’ (I’m sure you get the picture) building up at the end of streets near me. I even saw a sheep’s head (no body) - nice!!! and this Saturday (a week later) saw a cow’s head all by itself by the side of one of the main roads in Addis (even nicer!!!)
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THE ADDIS ABABA FISTULA HOSPITAL
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Many women in rural areas of Ethiopia have problems in childbirth, mainly because their bodies aren’t developed properly because of their age or malnutrition. This means that when they go into labour the baby can’t get out and whereas in the western world such problems can be dealt with quickly by caesarean section or a forceps delivery, there is no chance of that happening in a rural area where there is no medical assistance nearby. This means that after many days in labour the baby dies and the mother is often left with horrific internal injuries leaving her incontinent. Many are usually abandoned by their husbands and sometimes their families too because they smell and are an embarrassment. In many cases the injuries (fistula) can be dealt with in a simple operation and there is one hospital in Addis which has been dealing solely with these kind of injuries for over 3 decades. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital was started by 2 Australian doctors - Reg and Catherine Hamlin (Catherine still lives in Addis, attends St. Matthews and still operates at the Fistula Hospital despite being in her 80s. She sees it as a miracle that her hands are still steady enough to operate at her age). Another doctor who works at the hospital also attends St. Matthews. Many women come to the hospital every year to be operated on and are so happy when they hear they can be healed after experiencing years of suffering. There are now outposts of the hospital in several towns around Ethiopia and specialist fistula hospitals are opening in other African countries - one opened recently in Sierra Leone.
If you would like to read more about the Fistula Hospital - and learn a bit more about the history of Ethiopia - Catherine has written a very good book entitled ‘The Hospital by the River’. There are 1-2 copies available in Todmorden (see my mum or Fiona) or it is available in Amazon.
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Yet More of Helen in Ethiopia 05/06