Travelogue: Day 11, Bahir Dar to Addis Ababa

The plan was to get up early, 5:15 a.m., and be out the door before 6 a.m. To my family’s credit it happened for the second time on the trip. Both times we got up early, dressed and packed and travelled for a while before eating breakfast. Logically, it seems to me, that shouldn’t be as efficient as having cereal on the table and people catching a bit to eat before we go and then not having to stop. But it doesn’t work that way. Breakfast causes delays on the front end. But for girls like Abby, we had bananas ready so that the morning would start with something in the tummy.

We said good-bye to the Ivys and picked Mekonnen up at his hotel and were on our way. Another advantage of an early start is that there are fewer people and animals on the street as well as traffic. So we were in Debre Markos by 9:30 a.m. making good time. This day was to be one of the longer days, kilometer-wise. But that was mitigated by some of the best roads in Ethiopia; two-lane paved asphalt roads almost all the way to Addis (a few short exceptions). I drove 2/3 of the way and Mekonnen drove the final 1/3 into Addis. I was happy to let him. I always become tired in the early afternoon. We arrived in our compound safe and sound around 3:30 p.m. After over 2,500 kms (and spending about $1, 500) we had returned without a major incident or accident to report. No flat tires. No going over a cliff’s edge. No stolen wallets, purses or other valuables. No one hurt or sick. Thanks be to God!

So what did we learn from this long trip?

Travel – that our girls can make such a trip and we can all survive it! Amani, Abby and Sophia did quite well in spite of the long travel days. That doesn’t mean that there wasn’t any complaining or whining over the length of the drives or the meals or the lodgings (frankly, Wanda and I had much of the same complaints but weren’t quite as vocal or ‘in-your-face’) but they managed to make it around the entire northern circuit without any huge melt downs. For that we can be grateful. And yet, we shall heed Abby’s words made near the end of our travels, “Next time, don’t take me on a long trip like this again. Airplanes are ok, but not cars.” We understand . . .

Ethiopia – is magnificent in natural beauty. Of course there is the obvious poverty and underdevelopment wherever one goes in the country but Ethiopia is surely one of the few African countries that can boast a variety of landscapes rivaling the North American context; mountains and highlands that rival the alpine or appalachian scenery in Europe or eastern U.S., dry arid country that looks very much like the American desert southwest. Waterfalls and rivers. Mountains and plains and lowlands below sea level, lower than any place else on earth (the Danikil Depression; we didn’t go there).

Roads – two words; rough and scary. But the good news is that asphalt paved roads are being constructed all over Ethiopia by the Chinese. Just about everywhere we travelled we saw sections of roads be constructed. And in most hotels we were in the other guests were Chinese. If those roads are finished in a year’s time we can try traveling some stretches again and enjoy our traveling much more.

Money – the good news is that the U.S. dollar goes pretty far in Ethiopia. The bad news is that in every tourist place there are two prices; an ‘Habesha’ price (very low or free) and a ‘Ferenji’ price (very high and sometimes in U.S. dollars instead of Birr). Now I don’t mind paying a little more than the nationals, after all we can acknowledge that most westerners can afford to pay more. But there is a fine line between a fair price scale and gouging. In some places it felt like gouging.

I finally said no in Axum at the church where supposedly the Israelite Ark of the Covenant is held. Obviously we weren’t going to see it (no one can), and we weren’t allowed inside without paying 60 Birr each (what would we see for that anyhow?). So I decided to just take a photo from a distance of about 50 yards away, not a close shot but it would do. But no, I was told, you must pay 30 Birr to take the photo. What? Forget it. I didn’t need the photo that badly. Needless to say I was thoroughly disgusted.

Those are a few thoughts. Others may come in future blogs. But for now, it is finished . . .

The Gathering Grain Storm

It began to happen last Fall; prices of grain beginning to rise. First it was teff; a small grain related to millet and the staff of life for Ethiopians. Then it was their beloved berbere spice. One cannot properly eat injera (bread) and wat (stew) without them. But something was happening to make these two ingredients so expensive that even the middle class was beginning to feel the squeeze.

Both berbere and teff are bought in large amounts, enough to last from ½ a year to a full year. Berbere had been 600 Birr/ 17 kg. (that was about $55 for about 37 lbs., families usually buy in bulk, in part to save money and in part because they use it so often) about 6-9 months ago. Then it spiked to over 1,300 Birr for a short time sending the nation in shock. Rumor had it that the reddish-brown spice was being sold to the Chinese to make color for paint! But the price settled back to the current price of 800 Birr/ 17 kg. (about $76 at the current price and exchange rate of 9.5 Birr/ 1 USD).

At the same time teff was selling at 550 Birr/ 1 quintal (about $51/ 220 lbs) but over the past 6 months the price has risen to the current 800 Birr, an almost 70% increase. Wheat has gone from 400 to 650 and corn from 270 to 450. The price of meat has also increased. A full grown sheep has gone from 800 to 1200, cows from 4000 to 6000, all increases in the 60% range.



Ethiopian food, injera is the large ‘pancake’ and the rolled up pieces of bread. The rest of the food is collared greens, meats, spices.

When the average person makes anywhere from 10-80 Birr per day (and many are unemployed) any increase in food prices suddenly means that families have to do without. Perhaps without shelter (one sees a lot of homelessness here in Addis), perhaps without food. We have heard stories from several schools in Addis where the children are coming to school without any meals at home. So at lunch instead of going out to play, they put their heads on their desks and sleep. This is so they can conserve energy. Obviously kids that don’t eat also don’t perform well in the classroom. So schools are scrambling solutions. A couple of schools that we know have found donors who provide either money to purchase food or the food itself and feed a basic lunch to the students. MCC has been helping out our school next door with assistance, but the need is widespread.

Ethiopians are under pressure. It is hard to believe that a country with so much potential continues to struggle. This land just above the equator (same latitude as Costa Rica) has such a beautiful climate, even the rainy season has its own beauty. The mountainous central part of Ethiopia catches the rain as it comes out of the west and feeds the multitude of streams and rivers that eventually make their way to the Blue Nile tributary basin. There would be enough water if it were conserved. The soil would sufficiently grow crops if it were utilized properly. There would be no erosion if trees were harvested properly and soil was nurtured. And this could be a real tourist attraction if the social and political conditions were right. A lot of ‘ifs’, true. Ethiopia has a long way to go.

So the next time you recite the Lord’s Prayer, when you come to the part, “Give us this day our daily bread”, remember the children of Ethiopia and pray that they may receive more than one meal a day . . .

The Long Easter Weekend

For western Christians this was just another weekend. But for those of us who are living in Eastern Orthodox countries, this was the long Easter weekend. Offices closed on Thursday and won’t be opened up until Tuesday morning. When we celebrated Easter a month ago most Ethiopians were oblivious to the quiet celebrations of the western Christians among them. But the signs of Eastern Christians preparing to celebrate were quite obvious here. An influx of sheep, goats and cattle into the city of Addis meant that there was to be slaughter and much eating of fresh meat on the holiday. Last night as we went to bed with our bedroom window open, we could hear the chanting of the priests at the nearby Ethiopian Orthodox church. I fell asleep and woke up sometime around midnight to hear the chanting becoming more intense. Fortunately I drifted back to sleep until morning. But Wanda said she couldn’t go back to sleep and she guessed that the chanting went on until 4 a.m.

For us, the long weekend was not a getaway weekend. Many foreigners do take off and head out of the city to tourist destinations in Ethiopia. But we have been privileged to host Joyce Burkholder, a Ten Thousand Villages (TTV) buyer who has been here all week. TTV has wanted to buy in Ethiopia for some time but many factors have prevented them from doing so up until now; export duties, shipping costs, lack of artisan capacity and infrastructure have all been a hindrance. But this past week provided a glimmer of hope. As Wanda and Joyce visited various businesses some possibilities have emerged. It’s too early to say whether anything will come of the contacts this week, but Joyce has said the odds are better now than ever before.

So Wanda and Joyce spent Good Friday with a potential entrepreneur/ artisan community. Yesterday morning the same, and in the afternoon 4 women gathered to string beans together. Would a coffee bean necklace sell in TTV? Can something be attractive to the NA market and cost effective (given the fact that TTV has to mark up items 5 ½ times in order to stay in business)? So Wanda, Joyce, Tamara (our MCC Service worker who is currently volunteering with the one project we are looking at partnering with), and Naomi (a young woman who is here with her parents from the U.S.) were soaking beans and trying to string various bean combinations together to see what would look good. I ended up making a pizza for all those who were hungry. The twins had been at a birthday party at the Sheraton Hotel all afternoon and had eaten so much that they weren’t hungry for my pizza!

So today we are planning to go to church, but our western church service will be rather quiet compared to the Easter celebrations we’ve heard. Wanda isn’t feeling well at the moment, meaning we’ll do the minimum activity, whatever she can do. We’ll probably eat out like we do most every Sunday after church. Then we’ll come back to our house in the afternoon. Thanks to all the generous birthday gifts from family and friends, there are a lot of DVD’s we can watch.

Tomorrow, Easter Monday, the girls go back to school but the MCC offices will be closed. A free day! But I will be preparing to teach a class on Tuesday at Meserete Kristos College in Debre Zeit (about 19th century Christianity) and speak at the chapel as well. This coming week will be another busy one . . . and another short week as well. Ethiopia recognizes May 1 as a national holiday and the following Monday, May 5, is another national holiday. Another long weekend for the girls from school. Again, many folks will be retreating to various resorts but, alas, we didn’t get our reservations in on time and won’t be going to places we targeted to retreat to. Which means we’ll likely be around for another long weekend. Which means, I’ll probably be able to blog some more . . .

Travelogue: Sudan (MCC EARM meetings)

29 March 9 a.m. Uganda time
I am starting this email above the clouds in an Eagle Air twin prop 18 seater. We took off in cloudy, rainy weather this morning on our flight to Yei (pronounced “Yay”), southern Sudan (for those of you who are scrambling to look up Yei on the map, find Juba and then look south and west. It’s close to the Congo and Ugandan borders). This is where the MCC EARM (East Africa Regional Meeting) is happening. So in this 18 seater are Doug & Deanna Hiebert and their two little girls (from near St. Catharines, mind you!), who are Great Lakes Country Reps (that would be the African Great Lakes; the countries of Burundi, Rwanda, East Congo). Also Mike and Maguay Soloman and their two boys, Country Reps for Tanzania and Dale and Gann Herman, Country Reps for Uganda. And of course yours truly, Amani sitting by herself in a single front seat on the left, Sophia and I in the last two seats on the right (next to luggage and cargo) and Wanda and Abby just in front of us. So far the lush green scenery below has been wonderful, such a contrast to the dry and dusty brown of Ethiopian right now.

We started yesterday in Addis. We left the house at 8:30 a.m. and made it to Bole Int’l airport by 9:00, in time to begin check in. We were supposed to leave at 11 a.m. and arrive at 1:30 p.m. in Entebbe, Uganda, but we didn’t leave until noon. That’s the way it is here. However, amazingly, we landed at 1:30 p.m.! Go figure . . . We were picked up by the Central Inn shuttle and taken to where we would stay overnight. We looked forward to meeting the Hieberts and Solomans there but to everyone’s surprise and consternation, when they arrived the Central Inn said that it was full, sorry. They offered to take them to another hotel. They wouldn’t work with them to accommodate them any further. It was slightly awkward for us because the Hieberts and Solomans had been in conversation with CI for a month and we just booked the other week and they got bumped. We arrived first and our rooms were ready. Another TIA (“This Is Africa”) moment. So they went to the other hotel but came back and we all ate supper together. The children played, the women talked and Mike, Doug and I played Scrabble.

I’m looking out my window and continue to see nothing but beautiful landscape. It’s the rainy season here and so everything is very green. Unfortunately none of that rain has made it over the mountains into Ethiopia.

We made it through the night at CI but I must admit I didn’t sleep well. In part because there were voices outside our rooms, in part because Wanda and I were in one room and the girls in the other (if we had a ‘do over’ we would split up ourselves and the girls) and also because of the room doors. On the outside was a huge bolt to lock the door from the outside! It made me paranoid over night, I kept imagining someone locking us and the girls in our rooms and we couldn’t get out. There are iron bars on the windows so it’s not like we could break a window and get out. So I prayed for safety and that nothing would happen, but I still slept very light. Early morning a thunderstorm came through the area. The thunder and lightning and the pouring rain actually relaxed me, first thunderstorm since last summer and it was nice. We were up early (5 a.m.) to dress, pack, eat a light breakfast and head out to the airport for 6 a.m. And here we are up in the clouds!

Lots of things are happening in Ethiopia right now. We are in the midst of a drought, no rain in Feb and March. Now the people we have been helping with our partners (MKC RDA and CFGB) are starting to feel the pressure. No rain, no water and people are now walking up to a full day to fill their jerry cans with water. No rain, no crops. No crops, no income and no food. It seems we may be on the verge of a crisis in southern Ethiopia. This is all new to Wanda and myself so we are working with partners and MCC folks in Akron and Winnipeg to try and respond. But the government needs to declare an emergency or otherwise we won’t be able to operate freely (sorta works like when the President declares a place a ‘disaster area’ then FEMA can go in and give emergency help, bringing in supplies, offering low costs loans for rebuilding, helping the state and local gov’ts with money, that they can’t otherwise).

We have enjoyed hosting people in the past week. We had 4 people from Toronto for supper one night, two of them attend Toronto United Mennonite Church. That was fun. They are all psychiatrists and are here on a government exchange program. They were delightful in their questions and conversation. Diverse too; ethnic Russian Mennonite, Chinese Canadian, Jewish Canadian, Japanese Canadian. We had homemade pizza, salad and chocolate chip cookies and tea for dessert. This coming month we’ll be hosting 2 10,000 Villages VIP’s from Akron and in May we’ll host more MCC persons coming for a variety of reasons. We enjoy hosting and it’s been so interesting to hear people’s stories coming through on why they are here and to answer questions about what we see and do.

I’m looking out below and seeing a long snaking river with ‘lakes’ within the river basin, sorta like the North and South Platte river basin in Nebraska. This is the White Nile river basin. I think we’re in southern Sudan now. For those of you who think of Sudan as desert the answer is yes and no. From the capital city of Khartoum to the north it is mostly arid and brown desert and inhabited mostly by Muslim Arabs. South towards Malakal and Juba it is green and lush and inhabited mostly by Christian or animist black Africans. The tall Dinkas come to mind. The 50+ year war/skirmishes have a lot to do with riches, both agricultural and mineral. The north tries to impose control and siphon off wealth for the north and the south resists. Of course the tensions are more than economic but that is foundational.

So we are flying into southern Sudan which is not run by the gov’t in Khartoum these days but by GOSS (Government of Southern Sudan). So our visas have to be gotten from GOSS. Fortunately our MCC CR in Sudan, Rob Haarsager, got all our visas and will be waiting at the airport in Yei for us when we arrive, to hand us the visas. We had enough trouble getting the Ugandan visas. They wanted to see our GOSS visas or else they wouldn’t let us in Uganda. So eventually they allowed me to write a letter, as the NGO head in Addis, requesting that the Amstutz family be granted a visa on the basis that we were only in transit through Uganda. They allowed me to endorse myself and our family and so we are winging our way to Yei.

We landed in the forenoon on a long dusty runway under the hot African sun. The long runway in the middle of an empty plain led to a small house which the GOSS customs officers were sitting in, waiting for everyone to deplane. Two groups were waiting for the passengers, MCC and a group called the Harvesters (I don't know anything about them except that they are working at orphanages in Sudan). We waited to fill out forms and to register and then we through our luggage on the back of a Toyota pickup and a dozen of us squeezed into a Toyota Land Cruiser to take the bumpy ride on dirt roads through Yei to the RECONCILE compound.

Yei is a hub of economic activity, being at the crossroads of trade from Uganda, Congo the Central African Republic and Sudan. We saw a fleet of motorcycles in the downtown commons area up for sale. But everything is dirt, no grass on the commons. But the surrounding area is all green; trees, bushes, wild grasses. It is the rainy season.

Evening falls.

We are in Yei, Sudan and have an exceptional wireless internet connection! So I’m going to send this off right now. Amazing, can’t find something like this in Addis but out here in the middle of nowhere (check your map) we have a great signal!

March 30
That was fun. Talking to Grandma & Grandpa Amstutz on Skype computer-computer and talking to Aunt Debbie on Skype computer-phone. And who was that answering the phone at the Kindlers? Someone named Aaron but with a voice an octave lower! I was sure that I had the wrong number when we rang and this unknown voice answered. Someone is growing (Deb said he is now 5'7")!

So tomorrow night we'll try calling more relatives before we go back to Addis. Grandma & Grandpa Roth, Amstutz' in Kidron and hey, maybe a shout out to Anita and Kenneth in ABQ (are you off tomorrow?). The connection is not always clear, sometimes choppy and sometimes the connection is dropped. But we learned something; those of you who have Skype can do what I did; give myself $10 credit on the Skype account (put it on my Mastercard). So you call from computer to land line . . . for 2 cents a minute! Yep, you read that right, beats any plan anyone has come up with yet! So if you can figure it out you can call us for great rate!

So now it's evening and we've had a good day. The adults sat in meetings most of the day and talked about MCC business and life. The kids were entertained by young ladies from Uganda and Sudan. They played games and watched a Scooby Doo video we brought and played on our computer (this thing is versatile!). Later in the afternoon Wanda pointed out our three girls playing in the water and mud. Yes, they were getting muddy but upon closer inspection they were creating a mud dam to hold the water from draining away (the water came from an outdoor spigot where people were washing hands). One our friends pointed out that they were being good MCC'ers. Sure enough, they were making 'water catchments', ponds that are built to catch the water so communities can access water. They had been with us when we were in southern Ethiopia and had seen some of the water catchments there (which are quite dry now).

Now it is evening and the distant flashes of lightning fill the sky. The sky reminds me of a Gulf Coast Florida sky, high cumulus clouds by day, threat of rain from the afternoon on. The warm humidity of the air and the flora and fauna also are similar to Florida as well. It is almost time for all the lights to go out. The generator runs until 10 p.m. then is shut off. All the lights go out and we're left in the darkness of Yei. But the starry, starry night is bright with the millions of stars above us.

March 31

Another hot, humid day in Yei. We sit around wooden tables in plastic lawn chairs all day long and slowly get warmer. In the morning it is quite pleasant, even cool. But by evening I am dripping and ready for a shower.

After long sessions yesterday the EARM meetings came to a close. We were all relieved that all the business had been attended to and tired from sitting. It has become customary when there is a break folks open up their computers and begin checking email, news, sports, etc. The biggest interest over this weekend was the election in Zimbabwe. Whenever computers were opened the question was; what is the latest from Zimbabwe? The outcome remains in limbo but there are signs that Robert Mugabe's reign is coming to an end and that would spell hope for the lives of the masses of poor and those who fell from middle class to poor class during his oppressive regime. We also kept track of the NCAA tourney and of course email.

But the biggest blessing was the ability to use Skype. We called Grandma Roth and heard her voice loud and clear. But, sadly, she said she couldn't hear us. So our phone time was cut short. We then tried calling Aunt Anita & Uncle Kenneth but they were not available so we left messages ('calling from Yei!'), marvelling at the miracle of communication over such a great distance in extremely remote locations (after all, we are literally in the middle of grass huts and no electricity. When the generator goes off at night, it becomes quite dark with the stars and moon as the only lights). But the connection hit a sweet spot when we finally called Kidron; we reached Grandma & Grandpa as well as Uncle Lon, Aunt Heidi and Jakob, Katie and Greta. We heard them clearly, they heard us clearly and we spoke with joy and amazement for 50 minutes! What a blessing! And all for free, it's hard to believe. So when we finally hung up everyone was happy to hear familiar voices.

April 1

So now it is time to go. EARM was good to us. The girls enjoyed the large compound, playing with each other, the other children, the water and mud, goats, chickens, and exploring. The first round of passengers loaded in the Land Cruiser and headed to the landing strip (I would fain call it an airport) and our turn is next in about an hour. We'll spend 5 hours at the Entebbe airport waiting for our Ethiopian Airlines flight to Addis, arriving tonight at 8:30 p.m. The girls should be in safely in their own beds by 10 p.m., Lord willing.

A special thank you to all of you who have waited patiently for almost 2 months to see a new blog. I apologize for not writing but I hope to write, even short entries in the future on a weekly basis. Call it a renewed new year's resolution. I wish to thank my brother Lon for gently prodding me, in the best possible way, last night while we were talking. Of course friends and family are waiting to hear from us. So we shall try again at regular missives . . .

Is it February Already?

I can’t quite believe we are moving to the middle of February. Has it already been a month since I last entered a blog? January is a month when we need to put the finishing touches on the MCC Ethiopia budget and send it to Akron. Consequently we try to connect with our partners, old and new, to get a sense of what amount we need for each program. December-January was also a time when we applied for ‘dedicated funds’ for various programs we have. That is, funds available from Akron from specific accounts for specific purposes. For example, there is a ‘peace fund’ and any programs we have that fit the criteria for peace building/ making we apply for. This way the money comes from that fund and not our core budget. There is a “Generations At Risk” (GAR) fund for programs dealing with HIV/ AIDS, a Peace Fund and a few others. So we spent time lining things up. There was, in addition, plenty of other ‘distractions’ along the way. All this is to say, sorry, haven’t kept in touch with all of you who have been clicking on our blogspot and waiting in vain for some news. So I’ll send a few off this week in a bid to play catch up.

Field Day at Bingham Academy

Does it seem real to have a ‘field day’ for students in January? Usually January means a ‘snow day’ instead, no school. But January is one of the warmer months in Ethiopia. Even with extremely low humidity and temperatures in the high 70’s (20’s C) it was pleasant in the shade. But those out in the sun over time had to guard against dehydration, it is so easy to forget to drink liquids when the climate is so agreeable (but dry).

Abigail at the beginning of the race, on the far right.

Amani, Abby and Sophia all participated in the two days. Races of running, obstacle courses, hurdles, track and field events (Sophia was in the softball throw). The girls all brought home ribbons for their participation (mostly red and yellow, but a couple of blue ribbons as well). Parents were encouraged to participate as well. I was a judge for the races, Wanda volunteered for snack and drink duty (lucky her, they had more than enough volunteers for that so she mostly just watched).

The 2 field days were Friday and Saturday with Monday off school. I don’t know why Saturday was needed (why not just have field days on Thursday and Friday?) but it was a required day. Wanda and I had work to do but still were curious about the whole thing and so we volunteered and ‘spectated’. The students are divided up into 3 ‘houses’; Taylor, Carey, and Scott (just like in the popular Harry Potter series). Our girls are all in Taylor (go red!).

A broader look at the Bingham Field Day.

In the end, after all the K-12 children had finished their events they had a couple of races for the teachers and adults. All in fun of course but it was fun to see the adults out on the track in the long events. The youngest ones were the leaders and victors of course, some who are able to run daily were quite far ahead of the pack. Our girls, now that they know what Bingham Field Days are all about, will enter even more events next year.

Beza Lewatatoch

MCC and Beza partners from left: Wanda, Getacheow, Engoch, Tadesse, Mekonnen (MCC Program Manager), Doug.

One of our newer partners is also one of our neighbors. We all live in the Kolfe Keranyo Kebele (sub-city or suburb). We live near the top of one hill and they live over on a hill on the other side of the Ring Road. We have a dedicated peace fund and GAR fund with Beza. The area is desperately poor and all the problems that are typical of such an area are rampant and chronic. The community is located next to the city landfill and many of the families "garbage pickers". Some have made this a family livelihood for a second generation now. Children are not attending school. Prostitution is common, so is HIV/ AIDS. Young men are in groups like gangs. This is the very definition of a "rough neighborhood". And in the midst of this is a small NGO that was started to bring some hope to the community. No other NGO’s are working here, just Beza and MCC. So we visited our partners, Getacheow and Tadesse to see their work. What follows is Wanda’s account of our visit:

Our eyes needed to adjust from the bright Addis sun to the bark of the mud and straw room with no windows. As my eyes slowly started to focus I could make out the bench I was being welcomed to sit on. As my surroundings became ever more clear I could make out the woman in the bed who I was sitting beside. I could make out the edges of the mud room, the few cooking utensils, pictures of the Mother Mary from an old calendar hanging on the wall, the other small bad opposite me. We all squeezed into the room and Mekonnen (MCC program manager) said, “So, do you have any questions?”

We were visiting the home of an HIV positive person who is being helped by one of our partners Beza Lewatatoch. They have been working with HIV positive people over the past year with a grant from MCC. They will continue over the next three years adding a peace component to their program as well. On this day we were visiting a couple of the beneficiaries and learning more about the programs they run and envision for the future. We were joined by AMBS professors Ted and Gayle Gerber Koontz who are visiting Ethiopia as part of their sabbatical.

Yes, we had questions, but I still struggle with what to ask so as to be respectful of someone’s privacy and at the same time understand their plight and to share a bit of their life. To “walk in their shoes” so to speak, even if just for a few minutes. This woman, we found out, is suffering from leprosy as well as AIDS. Her medication is free from the government but she has nothing to buy food with and so often has to take all this medication on an empty stomach. The anti-viral drugs for AIDs are much more effective if they are taken with a proper diet. She is not strong enough to work, has only one grown son who suffers from mental illness, and therefore can only rely on the goodness of her neighbours who offer her some food. The volunteer from Beza comes regularly to do a coffee ceremony with this woman. The coffee ceremony is at the heart of Ethiopian hospitality. The volunteer comes, roasts and grinds the coffee and welcomes neighbours to come and have coffee in the woman’s home. This benefits the woman in a number of ways. First of all, the volunteer comes with coffee, soap, sugar and some kind of refreshment that is left with the beneficiary. Secondly, asking people into the woman’s home helps decrease the stigma that many suffering from HIV/AIDS face daily. During the hour or two it takes to do the ceremony, education can be given to the neighbours about the disease. Their neighbor is better accepted into the community and she lives a life that is much less isolated than it could be.

Wanda and Engoch with 3 generation of women beneficiaries.

An hour later we all squeeze into a second mud room of another beneficiary. As my eyes adjust this time I see a bundle on the bed. “Is that a baby?” I ask and quickly go over to take a look. This baby turns out to be the granddaughter of the woman being supported. We learn a bit of her story. Her husband left her when they discovered her status. She moved from the country into Addis. She managed to find this 2 by 6 meter room. She then invited her daughter and granddaughter to come and live with her. Her daughter’s husband had left them when the baby was a couple of months old. So, the three generations share this room. The woman tells us proudly that her daughter and granddaughter are free from the disease. Under the Beza program this woman is given about 50 Birr (about $5) a month to help with expenses. When we ask her how she will survive on what she has she answers “God will provide.” Through MCC funding, our partner is helping God to provide.