What we are doing

People have been asking what our job is like and what we are doing. I know that moving to Ethiopia sounds exotic and exciting, and it often is. But much of the work is administrative and relational. It is interesting but going to the office (which is the building next door in this same compound) is often just like going to the office in my previous work. But there are differences so here is a synopsis so far:

Personnel – That would be us, the Amstutz 5, and Tamara Hayes. That’s it (for the moment anyways). MCC Ethiopia is mostly projects and programs, very few North American MCC people on the ground. But we are hoping that will change. Tamara is teaching next door at the local school. She was a SALT’er last year and has extended to become an MCC worker.

We do have an MCC Ethiopian staff which do a great job for MCC. There is Yeshiareg (or “Yeshi”) who is our bookkeeper/secretary. She is currently in the U.S. for a family wedding and will be back in mid-December. We miss her, not only for her expertise but her quiet, solid presence. She knows people in the neighborhood, our programs and who needs what. The office phone has been mostly quiet since she left. Once people knew she wasn’t here, they stopped calling (which is good because we can’t converse in Amharic so all we can say is yellechim, she isn’t here).

Mekonnen is our long time Program Manager who is something of a ‘renaissance man’. You need some basic wiring or plumbing done? Mekonnen will do it. What about talking with top leadership with our partner, Meserete Kristos Church? They all know Mekonnen and he knows the church politics. Do you need a bunny cage built? Mekonnen knows a carpenter who can do it. Who do we call on when we need background on programs we are running or the history of some partners? That would be Mekonnen. Vehicles are breaking down, Mekonnen will get them repaired. I need a work permit, Mekonnen will deal with government officials. The list goes on and on . . .

Then there is our friend Assefa. Assefa has been the MCC go-fer for about 5 years. He retired from his profession (foreman in construction) and wanted something to do and MCC hired him for twice a week (Tues. & Thurs.) to get the mail, go to the bank, and run various and sundry errands. He also helps with tasks around the compound. He is currently helping us get new screens for our windows. We also have the 5 guards who watch our compound day and night. By day there is one guard and by night we have two guards. The guards have their own schedule and Abebe is the senior guard who does the scheduling. Communication is pretty basic since we don’t speak Amharic and they don’t speak English (mostly greetings).

Yeshi the housekeeper works from 8-4, five days a week. She does all our cleaning; floors, dishes, laundry, rooms. She also makes lunch and supper when we have recipes and ideas for her. All those untidy beds are tidied up by mid-morning, the bathrooms and kitchen are all cleaned up by mid-day as well. A helper, Alem, comes 2x a week to help clean our offices and help Yeshi with the ‘big clean’ on Thursday of our house (beating the big rugs, vacuuming and dusting, and cleaning the bathrooms). And there you have our personnel.

Programs/Projects – “What kind of work does MCC do?” is the oft asked question.

We work with food security, HIV/AIDS, Education, Community Development, Women and Peace issues. We are a mostly a funding agency at this moment. That is, we work with partners who are in the field doing the work and we provide funds for their programs. We have over 20 different programs and partners we work with so allow me to offer a couple of examples of what we are doing.

Food security – We partner with Meserete Kristos Church in a number of programs. MKC is our ‘sister’ church to the Mennonite Church. We are working on big project in a southern province called South Nationalities & Nations Peoples (SNNP). Western Ethiopia is home to mountainous regions many of which are, sadly, denuded of all trees. At one time the mountains were forested but as the population grew and the poor people needed the wood to live, the trees were cut down. During the rainy season (June through September) the good soil is washed away as there is nothing to hold it in place. Soil erosion makes for some sad looking brown hills with washed out gullies everywhere. So MCC, with MKC’s Relief and Development Agency (RDA) instituted a Cash-for-Work project which helped the locals make money and do good to the environment. The local community built holding ponds and rock walls to prevent water from rushing down the mountainsides.

In just 3 years the hillsides are now covered with grassland and small trees, thus preventing the soil from washing away. The cash helped them invest in their own “mutual funds” which they call “Equbs”. This traditional savings plan has 6-8 households pooling a ‘tithing’ of their resources which is then given to one household at a time. This allows that household to buy an animal, like a cow, sheep, goat or chickens which is then raised as livestock. The equity is in livestock. So herds have grown in households in Boricha in just 3 years. It has been a success even recognized by the Ethiopian government. In August RDA was awarded the “green award” for the Boricha project over 200 other NGO’s in the region. MCC also partnered with Canadian Food Grains Bank (CFGB) on this project and it was they who provided the funding of over $600,000. We are seeing the fruits of all who labored long and hard on this project.

HIV/AIDS – We also work with MKC with their AIDS Prevention Office (APO) which works with their churches all around the country. A couple of months ago Wanda and I attended a day gathering of churches who have HIV/AIDS orphan clubs. Ten MKC churches each chose a dozen orphan kids (that is, a child who has lost a mother, father or both to the disease, not that they have the disease) to attend this all day affair of fun and fellowship. The kids played games, listened attentively to sketches of Bible stories, were prayed over, enjoyed a full meal of injera and wat (the national dish of Ethiopia), and played sports. Churches go into the communities with volunteers looking for kids who are on the street or without a home and reach out to these orphans by bringing them to church. The kids are surrounded with love and taught the love of God. The volunteers minister to their physical needs and try to find a foster home for them as well. What a privilege it was for Wanda and I to observe the work these volunteers are doing and it is all being funded through the MCC Generations At Risk (GAR) Program that specializes in helping those with HIV/AIDS around the world.

Peace – This is an exciting new ‘pushing out the margins’ of MCC’s borders. MCC has been developing peacebuilding throughout Africa in this century and there are 2 regional peace workers on the ground right now; Carl Stauffer for Southern Africa and Gopar Tapkida for Western Africa. Here in Eastern Africa we await an appointment of a peace worker with eager anticipation. Nevertheless peace work is happening here. MCC has a special Peace fund that gives money for projects around the world. Here in Ethiopia we have already tapped this fund to deal with situations like the one in Jimma, a city to the south west of Addis. Tension between religious communities, particularly Christian and Muslim, exploded in violence with fighting between factions. People were killed, property was destroyed. MCC was invited in by invitation of MKC, which had some churches that were on the receiving end of some of the violence, to do conflict and reconciliation work. Mekonnen was joined by Gopar Tapkida and did workshops and seminars for the leaders and the community. The amazing thing was that for the first time the different faith communities starting talking to each other instead of past each other. There was genuine reconciliation, what a great use of the MCC Peace Fund!

Education – We fund a few education programs but we also do some staffing. MCC helps fund Carl & Vera Hansen in their positions at the MKC Bible College. We also have Tamara placed at the local elementary school as an English teacher. A SALT’er has been placed there for 4 years now (Tamara is in her second year there, now as an MCC service worker) and the school has gone from being on the brink of closing to being awarded top prize for student testing within our sub-city area—about 30 schools! The turn around began at the same time we placed a SALT’er there. There is some prestige in having a “Ferenji” (white foreigner) teaching in a school so what once was an ignored school has become a magnet for students. We also have provided small scholarships to students our local community which gives them a chance to go to the school (a 75 Birr scholarship, about $8, allows a child to buy needed school supplies and a required uniform). We share a common wall with the school grounds so we can hear the bells ring and the students at play throughout the day. It feels good to know that MCC has made a difference in the life of the students and the school.

Community Development – We partner to do several of these programs as well but one that is near and dear to our heart is an MCC Global Family Project program. Our friends, Ghash Alemu (“Honorable” Alemu) and Ato (Mr.) Sammy lead the Remember the Poorest Community (RPC, look it up on the MCC website) which is helping a very poor section of Nazret (a town about 90 minutes SE of Addis). The unemployment rate is high, the poverty rate is high, school attendance is low and with inflation outpacing wages the squeeze on all families is quite hard. This program provides special schooling for street children. They take on 100 children a year with a chance to turn their lives around. They are given all the basic necessities of life; food, clothing and most importantly job training. This is their chance to get out of the street life. The results have been encouraging. The local community has embraced them and trust RPC to do the right thing. Unfortunately, this year another major donor suddenly cut off funding without warning and they are suddenly struggling to pay their bills. The reason has to do with some shenanigans by a former middleman who has absconded with NGO funding and accused them of corruption. Their books are in order, independent reviews have shown. But right now they are hurting financially. If you are looking for a good cause to help for Christmas, RPC is a good cause.

Relationships – MCC is a partner to many NGO’s, we don’t actually do the work, we partner with folks who do. It reminds me of the old BASF commercial which said, we don’t make the stuff you use but our technology makes the stuff you use better. The middleman who makes good things better. So the NGO’s (mostly Ethiopian) bring us proposals and we offer the expertise of MCC and the funding to the partners. One of our most important relationships is with Meserete Kristos Church. They have a variety of programs (a few stated earlier) and we see our partnership with them as unique and special. They are the sister church to the Mennonite Church in North America and we find a kinship in working with them. It is a proud fact that they are independent and able to stand on their own in financing their own internal church programs but we are happy to assist with programs where we share a common goal, such as the issues stated above; food security, HIV/AIDS, peace, women empowerment, education, etc.

So there is an overview and that is just a glimpse of the programs we work with! I hope that in the future I can focus on specific projects from time to time to give you a taste of the good work that is being done. Rest assured, I can see in my mind thousands of folks who donate time and money to work on MCC Relief Sales, the Canning Project, Material Goods as well as those who make the crafts and quilts for the Relief Sales, every time we hand out funds to orphans, poor school children, farmers in poverty in the southern hills of Boricha. For me the connection makes a complete circle of MCC, a beautiful circle. May the circle remain unbroken . . .