Peace on Earth

It is a cold and starry night, perhaps the same kind of night that the shepherds camped out under on the night of Jesus’ birth. I have been in Mehal Meda, a town about 290 kms/ 175 miles northeast of Addis Ababa, but a world away from the city. It is a town up in the Amhara highlands, I’m guessing about 3000/3500 meters or higher (just under 10,000 feet). The high today was perhaps 15°C/ 60°F but if you stand in the shade it is cooler than that. If you stand in the wind, well, it’s much cooler. And now, in the early evening, it is certainly in the 40’s and sure to hover just above freezing overnight.

MCC has a project here, in conjunction with our partner Meserete Kristos Church Relief and Development Agency (MKC-RDA). It is a peace project (appropriate time of year, being Advent). In an area with a history of revenge killings MKC came with a peace pamphlet and peace trainings into the community. People were suspicious and skeptical at first, after all MKC is an evangelical church and this is an Orthodox region. Any evangelism is unwelcome here. But the MKC workers gained their trust through a series of meetings with the police, the Orthodox leadership and final the people in the community. The peace pamphlet is neutrally Biblically based, which gained a seal of approval from the local priests. The peace trainings were clearly about how to deal with offenders and victims, an approach desperately needed here.

Mehal Meda may mean ‘center field’ but it is off the beaten track. One has to drive about 3-4 hours off the main road from Addis to Dessie in order to get to it. The road is not paved. But that’s not the worst of it. Driving out to the 2 kebeles, or districts, takes you 25 kms into the country where there is no road to speak of. This is off-roading in the purest sense of the word. It is in these places that an SUV is necessary. We made it through open pastures, down into rugged stony creeks, up the sides of rock formations while narrowly avoiding eroded land pits and scenic gorges. There were many times I drove on nothing more than a footpath. But we made it. As we pulled into windswept villages, people would emerge from all around us to gaze in wonder at our silver Toyota Land Cruiser.

Peace committee members and community leaders awaited us in Kebeles 13 and 14 to tell stories of the success of the Peace Committee. What inspiring stories they were. Men talked about how the peace committees act as intermediaries, going between families to prevent further violence and to try to reconcile the families back to each other. Women talked about how, since the arrival of the peace committees in the past 2 ½ years, violence against women has gone down. Wives are beaten less, young girls aren’t forced into early marriages like before. Families of young girls are also persuaded to let their daughters continue in school.

The police had nothing but good to say about the Peace Committees in their kebeles. One police officer said that his kebele was one of the most crime-ridden in the whole woreda (region) and they had two police checkpoints in and out of the area. There was constant fighting and theft. Since the Peace Committee crime has dropped so significantly (he said ‘100%’) that the police no longer man the checkpoints, they aren’t needed anymore. In the other kebele the police officer said that he had learned a great deal about community policing. When he arrived 3 years ago he tried the ‘top down’ method of policing; enforcement and punitive measures. It was what he had been taught and all he knew.

But with the arrival of the Peace Committee and the trainings they gave he began to work with Peace Committee members and the community. He went out and talked to people and people began to respond. Up until then people in the community knew the presence of the police meant only two things; that someone would be beaten up or that they would be hauled away to prison.

Now they see the police as ones they can trust to report crimes and misdemeanors and this police officer was grateful for that. Story after story was told which clearly indicated that our partner MKC RDA was successful. It felt like the Spirit of the Lord was moving in this project.

21 January 2009 Post Script: This blog entry has waited patiently for me to get my act together and post it. My memories of Mehal Meda are these:

Travel – The drive to Mehal Meda was long and hard, mostly washboard dirt roads where I drove between 40-80 kph max. The drive from MM town to the districts was like nothing I have ever done before. I was so grateful for a 4 wheel drive SUV. Most of the time there was no road, just a hint of a footpath perhaps. Talk about rugged terrain! Imagine driving out in western Montana with absolutely no roads. You look ahead on the horizon and simply drive cross country through grassy prairie or across shallow streams. At least once the Ethiopians in our vehicle told me the stream or land was impassable, we should get out and walk. I just said, hang on, put it into 4WD and we made it through. Wow! In these areas I could manage a speed of 10 kph max. It was that rugged. Just like in those SUV ads in North America that suggest cross country freedom to drive anywhere, except that 95% of SUV owners don’t need an SUV for their driving needs. But I did.

MM Peace Program – I consider myself fortunate to have seen a program that has made such a radical difference in the life of the communities there. A profound change has occurred and it is because we funded a program that was desperately wanted and needed by the villagers in these windswept remote central highlands of Ethiopia. Everyone was so grateful; the villagers, the police, priests, the local leadership, the regional authorities. All expressed a strong desire to see the programs continue and to introduce it into neighboring districts. Local farmers walk around with the small MCC/ MKC peace and reconciliation booklet in their hands, using it as a daily resource.

The landscape – It was truly spectacular in its barrenness. If you have visited or seen photos of the Scottish highlands then you will have a good idea what the Mehal Meda region looks like. The grassy meadows were interspersed with rocky paths, huge boulders jutting up in places and thin streams to ford. The growing season is short and restricts the crop varieties. The air was thin and cold but the sun warmed us up during the day. At night the cold settled in and in unheated rooms it chilled one to the bone. But the clear night sky! The stars were brilliant in this unlit part of the world. And then there were the people. Those who inhabit this distant corner of the world are weather worn and tough but they welcomed us with open arms. Children of the villages seemed amazed at our presence. Vehicles are rarely seen in the highlands. As I drove children appeared out of nowhere it seemed and followed us for up to a kilometer sometimes. Modern conveniences of Addis are far removed from the daily lives of the people. Of course the housing is much cruder and government services non-existent. But these highland villagers are fiercely independent and suspicious of any government control. They are willing to live hard lives for freedom from outside influence.

Funding – As I write this MCC is struggling with a serious financial crunch. Our budgets will be slashed across the board. At the same time the Ethiopian government has passed a law that is aimed at cutting the heart out of NGOs (non-government organizations, like MCC) and CSO’s (civil-society organizations), both international and national. The law is said to prevent all peace and reconciliation work in country. The project in Mehal Meda seems threatened on all fronts. But it is our hope that this program will continue.