the end? [and pics]

find the one who doesn't have a passport...

Easter

“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have giving you living water…Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them, will never thirst.  Indeed whoever drinks the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” - Jesus

Because we don’t live here, we will leave feeling Ethiopia is an enchanting place (which it is was to us), and that the people seemed somewhat more beautiful and more loving than the likes of us, and that life here was somehow more “real,” if only because it was so different and jarring and it woke us up.  We are sad to go, but also, longing for home.

As it is known we are leaving, the requests are now flooding in – for eyeglasses, for medicines, for everything that is missing in their lives. 

“Please I am poor, I have nothing, please give me some money.”

“Please give me your shoes.”

Please, may I have your cell phone?”

“May I have your clothes?”

“Give me your laptop.”

“My wife has died, and I have four young children, can you pay for their education?”

“My business failed, I am a night guard here.  I get paid 600 Birr a month ($36) – I do not have enough to send money back home to feed my children.  Will you give me money?”

Many bring small gifts (costly to them) perhaps with the hope it will anchor their requests in our hearts.  We’ve received baskets, small toys, leather crafts, bouquets of plaster flowers, paintings, beaded jewelry, wood carvings, coffee, tea, bread, and long hand written letters proclaiming friendship, fidelity and great personal needs.  You can’t help but admire their courage in overcoming their pride to put their hand out; you can tell it pains them as much as it would you. 

Yesterday was Good Friday, the city streets were flooded with sheep coming in from the country side for the religious feasts marking Easter and the end of the Lenten fast. We have seen so many chickens slaughtered on the sidewalks that it doesn’t get our attention any more.  Good Friday - the day marking the final price of our pride, self centeredness and relentless drive for self determination.   Everyone is reflecting on this story about the best man who ever lived - the sweetest, kindest man who could restore the soul, unfurl twisted limbs, and wake the dead – this man walked willingly into our hornets’ nest of greed, jealously, hatred and ambition, kicked it and then lost his life.  To those who witnessed it, it was the most senseless and tragic event they had ever seen.  What possibly could be the point?   

In a few days we will throw our remaining belongings into our remaining bags and head to the airport for our journey home.  Those of you who are older know this feeling well - when you are packing up after a family vacation at the beach or in the mountains – checking around for the odd sock, personal item, puzzle piece, charger, book; walking through the hallways and rooms of what seems just a few short moments ago were all part of an unfamiliar and strange place.  Now it is a place of memories.  You have to gut and clean what has become a home – a sanctioned place where you were together as a family - playing games, getting sun burns, having meals together, crying, laughing -  all without the usual crush of life’s responsibilities.  Being here was not exactly a vacation, but it was a reprieve from our “normal” life and we got to hold everything and everyone a little bit differently, and a little closer.

It is sad, but you busy yourself with travel preparations and try to keep at bay that dull ache of loss – another great time over, another season passed, another teaspoon of sand through the hour glass.  You push away the notion that someday, you will really be gone; someone will be traipsing through what was your home; disassembling it for what is worth taking somewhere else. 

While you are walking back and forth collecting and packing, the children also busy themselves – not with anything helpful, mind you, but they also distract themselves from the “elephant in the room.”  Maybe they have displaced this blueness with the excitement of seeing their friends again and being home with their more familiar and loved things.  Maybe they are scheming how they will position this trip in the minds of their friends for some social lift, or maybe they are beginning to wonder what they will do with their own lives.  Certainly, Lily and Sophie are excited for college – but even without that big milestone, the minds of the young are lighter; it’s easier for them to displace current sorrow with some future hope.  They haven’t yet learned the tide always goes out; no matter where you sit you can’t always keep the sea comfortably between your toes.  Lily and Sophie don’t have that much mileage to look back on; Benjamin and Eliza even less so.  Wasn’t it just a few weeks (years?) ago they were toddlers? Where does the time go?

Try as you might to stem the sense of loss – buying souvenirs, making plans to cross paths with those you have met, and insisting that coming home for Thanksgiving and Christmas is mandatory – it means nothing to the mortal facing the abysmal maw of eternity.  You are an appetite and a thirst that won’t end until you do.  You cannot pass any place more than once, and that everything truly dear, even profoundly meaningful, slips away.  You’d think God would at least let you preserve something like “gratitude,” but even that will get whittled away when we return – even if we stayed here longer, our expectations would be reset and we would become unsatisfied.  We are constantly separated from the things we love; constantly exiled; constantly reminded we are “passing;” hopefully, just passing through.

Every bit of this entry was already addressed by Jesus – how well he knows us - how well he loves us - how well his teachings guide us.  It is uncanny, really – he knew all about this.  With matters of the human heart, this century is no different than any other.  We are pilgrims with no lasting stake anywhere to quench us.   Sure, it is tempting to trust Jesus’ soulful resonance, but the man was so outlandish sometimes, even otherlandish.  There are any number of reasons to reject his authority, but mostly it comes down to preserving personal sovereignty. Though we know, despite our favorite pretenses and distractions, we are not sovereign in any substitutive matter.  So we ponder his other claims and guard our hearts.  Did he really die and come back?  Or this bit about restoring things and bringing back these good lives lost the one lie he told?

Will things really be resurrected? A new heaven? A new Earth? Will all the sad things here become untrue?  Will Girma meet his mother?  Will all these broken, torn and wounded bodies be healed?  Will Sesai see again? Will Tefari’s torture have a redemptive meaning? Will dry bones find new flesh? Will the orphans get back what was taken?  Will we see each other again?  And if we do, will we finally do no harm; will we finally rest; will we at last be  beautiful?  These are out deepest hopes and God’s greatest promises.

***

Special thanks to our Olivet family and friends who held us together in prayer and sent us letters and goodies. Also thanks to Kemp Hill who encouraged us to “blog,” and to our pastor, Albert Connette, who led us here.

getting ready to slaughter a cow for Ester celbration at school - cant see this being done at MLS

misc - pics

Olivet Presbyterian Church and East Gambella Bethel Synod Projects

I am happy, amazed and thankful to report that Olivet has successfully initiated three income generating projects with the East Gambella Bethel Synod (EGBS) that have reasonably good chances of being sustainable for the Anuak in the years to come.  This entry will be about those projects and the thought and people behind them. Just check out the pictures if you don’t feel like reading about them; they tell their own story.

Each of these projects can be considered “pilot” i.e. a small start to test capability/capacity and to learn about how to proceed with other projects. Funding has been provided by Olivet (Presbyterian Church USA), EGBS and some very generous individuals.  Of course there is ambition for much more, but we'll first see how these projects fare.

Solar Projects

Gambella definitely has a powerful sun!  John Koontz and Dan Chayes have hitched two different solar arrays to it to power a solar pump (tests indicated 5+ gallons per minute!) to water an organic garden (bananas, papaya, mango, potatoes, peppers, okra, tomatoes, beans, watermelon, pumpkin etc). This garden is a precursor to a larger farming project in the future.  Understanding what sells and for how much is the first step, and this irrigation system gives this community the ability to cultivate up to 8 acres of crops.  Without the water they would be dependent on the yearly rains and that means only doing one growing season; and that would be only corn.  It would also mean having to sell the corn when everyone else is: when the prices are the lowest.

 They system they installed included a state of the art controller to manage the trade offs between the pump’s power consumption, the solar array’s powered production, and the volume of the 3000 litter cistern (also installed).  Let’s just say McGuiver never faced the challenges that these two men did – with limited tools and supplies they did it!  In 4 and one half days they put in more than 50 hours of non-stop work and hustle (105 degrees too). Even more amazing was the salvaging of 5 panels (circa 1992) from a store room and turning them into an additional solar system to power the EGBS office and the several million cell phones that instantly appear whenever someone sees a power strip with a light on.

With all his spare time, John scooted up to Pokewo to install some high intensity lights in the examination room, pharmacy and the delivery room in a remote clinic.  Now the babies have a safely lit place to arrive and be cared for.  Something I did not anticipate was how many people came out to watch John and Dan work.  If you saw John and Dan working you saw at least a half dozen men crouched near them to understand/learn about solar. With every step or decision they made they explained what they were doing and way and it was translated for the audience.  Two men, Okello and Obong, were trained for in “Solar for Africa” 101 and provided with the proper tools to maintain the system. 

Thanks and gratitude are in order for the partners at HelioSage for lending us John and CnH Construction for sparing Dan for the work.  The opportunity cost for such competence, ingenuity, and capability must be large.

 Block Making Machine

You might have seen earlier that Olivet bought a block machine for EGBS but there is more to it than that.  The machine itself was built in Addis Ababa by Selam Village, a vocational school run by orphans for orphans.  They provided the training on how to use the machine then we shipped it to Gambella.  On a good day it can make 200 block which can be sold for 2-3000 Ethiopian Birr, after you deduct the cost of the sand, cement, labor and the maintenance fund, you clear about 15% or 500 Birr or approximately $30.  Meaningful money here.

Walk Behind Tractor

Food Security is a big issue here and the land farmed by Anuak is done with a cow and a sharpened wooden pole.  This limits how much land can be cultivated before the rains come.  EGBS will first cultivate the garden previously mentioned, and then rent the tractor to farmers in their presbyteries.  The rental income will cover the costs of fuel and maintenance.  Further Farmers will commit to sharing some of the proceeds of the excess capacity when the harvest comes (this still needs to be negotiated).  If EGBS is successful in generating income with the tractor and improving the food security for its people, we will try to raise more money for another tractor.  There are 66,000 Anuak in the area all doing subsistence farming!

the first two graduates of Solar for Africa 101

When there is no hammer or electrical tape...

John the Baptist

cell phones will now be charged by the sun.

Block machine pics:

Tractor ceremony

Accounting for Your Self on Palm Sunday (and pics)

Four Gringos at the tractor ceremony

We were thankful for Kevin O’Shea and Chris Grover’s visit; though, we thought it brazenly immodest that in their short time here they learned more Amharic, Annua (k), and Swahili than any of us.  They are unpleasant in this way.

When you see something beautiful, you want to share it, and they were just the folks to appreciate it.  Even the not so beautiful things are more enjoyable (endurable) experienced together.  That is the way God made us – we were made for friendship and fellowship – how often we forget this.  The friendships here in Gambella are as robust and full as George Baily's and not limited to the confines of any one home.  You haven’t heard people laugh until you pack yourself and 11 other (unwashed and un-deoderized) people into a 7 passenger jeep on a 105 degree day and go barreling down a dirt road and see the Anuak laugh as Chris Grover tries to speak Chinese.

The heat about killed us in Gambella.  It cooled to 95 degrees at 3 in the morning.  Until the rains come, there will not be much hydro power in Ethiopia and Gambella is at the front of the line when it comes to load shedding.  Benjamin completely ruled out the possibility of telekinesis – no boy has stared harder and longer at fan blades willing them to turn.  Without power, the bottled water easily gets to match the ambient temperature (over 100) – so for those of you back there, next time you are really thirsty, go try a glass of it.  We found a hotel with a generator; their water was about 80 degrees – enough for a brain freeze.

The Anuak worship service was inspiring if not engulfing.  So many people living hard lives to their fullest - bringing earnest praise and joy to their worship.  There wasn't a lot of cash collected at the offering, but someone did leave 30 kilos of corn meal from their farm.  Of all the things I have seen here, I bet I remember that the longest.  We left at the 3 hour mark to catch our flight and see if we could find some more water.  We all agreed it would be cool if we too brought referee whistles to blow hard on during the “songs of praise” portion of Olivet’s service – that is exactly what they do here and it has quite an effect when done at the right moments and just behind your head.  The singing, the drumming, the melodious cadence of their language – all a glory to God – we floated to the rafters with them in Spirit - and cried for no reason other than the beauty of it.

We had some strange moments out in the bush villages passing out clothing, shoes (donated by the Ragged Mountain Running Store - God bless the Lorenzonis!), soccer balls, medicine and other items that had been in our hall closet too long.

Today is Palm Sunday and it is instructive to contrast our entry into these villages will Jesus's Triumphal Entry.  While there was some enthusiasm when we rolled in with our Land Cruiser full of us and stuff, we had nothing to offer that could really help these people in any meaningful, sustainable way.  In fact, it was we who were on the hunt for meaning and salvation, and like them, we are also waiting for our Savior to return and make things right once and for all.  In the meantime, not all of the disparity in the world's wealth distribution can be neatly blamed on the geo-political factors that you as an individual can not reasonably be held accountable for.

As soon as you see the people approaching, you realize your miscalculation – 33 pairs of shoes for 300 feet sort of thing - so you turn to the elder and say,

“Can you distribute these after we leave?  We don’t want to be the “great white hope idiots” or anything…”

He says, “No way.  They will become angry with me.  You can leave here. I cannot.  You decide who gets them.”

He has a point, but the indignity of it is nauseating – lacking the  wit or wisdom to figure out who gets what, you speed up and then the hands start grabbing and you feel responsible for triggering their descent into the shoving and grabbing – because, frankly, you are responsible for it. Piñatas for kids are one thing, but seeing grandmothers yank shoes from the hands of children not their own is another.  Would it have been better to not have brought anything?  “Yes,” if it is about your own sense of decorum, “no,” if you ask the person who got the shoes.

At the last village visited, Kevin literally gave the shirt off his back – the rest of us did not, we are not in as good a shape, spiritually or physically.  But that is what these moments call for – I do remember wishing I could tear a hole in space and bring through it all the contents of my garage, closets, drawers and the thousands of items barely enjoyed or appreciated stuck lifeless in my embarrassingly materially abundant life.

What then?  In the midst of (truly) embarrassing riches – when it is finally “out” about how much you have, what do you say?  What would you say?  What would you say if all your belongings - the entire contents of your home were dumped in the corn field by one of these little grass huts?  I picture myself standing there in front of these people, with my pile of stuff behind me...

“Er, I don’t know exactly how the world got to be like this, but I want to apologize for the pieces of it I think I probably screwed up.  I guess I have a bit of a problem with, ah, consuming too much.  As you can see, I had an unusual fear of running out of dress shirts and ties.  What? No, I don't have to wear them to work - they are just a good thing to have."

"Nope, no one in my family actually skate boards, they are just also good to have around in case of an emergency.  And, those tape measures, well they are tough to find when you need them, so I guess I just bought one whenever I needed one - believe it or not it's easier to drive to a store than to remember one is in the kitchen drawer - crazy I know."

"T-shirts?  We actually rarely wear those, we use them merely as gifts when they have something funny or special written on them, but also to commemorate certain days – you know, like signs or something."

"The running shoes? No, we also have cars, but, well, you see, we all eat too much and have to run a lot.  So they are always around.  These other shoes we actually use, not all the time of course but most of them get worn I think…well at least half of them, maybe at least once a year, I am almost certain about that. - but feel free to take all of this stuff - I can replace what I need to - just forgive me for taking so much more than my fair share of things on this little planet of ours - I truly don't know what came over me.” 

Jesus come back soon and sort this out, please. 

passing out some clothes

Eliza spotted someone her size

when you have to walk every where, you really appreicate shoes

Sophie passing out shoes

Kids reflecting on the Baro River

boy and his toy car

Chris did not have a licence to practice veterinary medicine

Government official honoring the receipt of the tractor