A Reason to Celebrate

Six years ago, Lifewater International and our Ethiopian partner, DASSC (the Development and Social Services Commission of the Mekane Yesus Church) initiated a pilot project that was the first of its kind in the country because of its comprehensive approach to all areas of WASH - water, sanitation and hygiene .  It had a particularly strong emphasis on sanitation, including latrine design and construction, and it also stressed the promotion of changes in sanitation behavior.  I was part of the first Lifewater team, and we trained the participants in Transformational Community Development and WASH Promotion.  The initial target of the project was two kebeles (villages) in the Lemu woreda (district).  Due in large part to the great efforts of the DASSC and government community health workers, one of the kebeles was able to declare itself "open defecation free" (ODF) about a year later.  This meant that, not only was there now a latrine for every household, but all of the community was trained in how and why to use it, and agreed to hold each other accountable for the sake of the health of the entire community.  Nearly all of the latrines were built by the community members themselves.  The success in the first kebele inspired the other, and soon the others in the surrounding area.  Kebeles raced for the distinction of becoming ODF.

On June 28, 2013 a celebration ceremony was held in the Lemu woreda in which the entire district was declared ODF!  This means that 130,000 people now have access to and motivation to use latrines.  Is this really such a big deal to inspire such a celebration?  Before the project began, the rate of acute diarrheal diseases in children under age 5 was 45 percent.  Today it is 2 percent - a reduction of over 95 percent! These diseases were the number two killer of children in this age group, higher than AIDS or malaria.  Today they are not even in the top ten!  In other words, literally thousands of children's lives have been saved!

The success of this project is spreading even further.  In the West Arsi zone, one of the areas targeted in the Lifewater/DASSC project for which I made several trips over the past 3 years, our former participants are taking up the challenge.  This effort is spearheaded by two leaders - Teshale, a Christian project leader for DASSC and Shunta, a Muslim government district education officer.  These two men who had so little in common 3 years ago were brought together by that project and now share a common vision and the tools to bring it to life.

But the greatest result of these projects can't be found in statistics.  Instead, it's found in conversations with people in the communities.  That result is hope.  Hope for the survival of their young children.  Hope that their daughters will continue to pursue their education instead of dropping out because of water-hauling duties and lack of sanitation at the schools.  Hope for women to be empowered to have a say in issues related to the health of their families.  And above all, hope in a God that loves them and has answered their prayers for help, that has sent people from another continent to love them and serve them as ambassadors of Jesus Christ.  That is truly something worth celebrating!

Teacher's Pet Teacher

You're not supposed to do it, of course, but you can't help it - it's human nature.  We all have "favorites".  When you train 19 participants, it's inevitable that you have stronger personal feelings for one or two of them than for most of the others.  Sometimes it's the ones who speak the best English (a bias that I work hard to overcome).  Sometimes it's the outgoing, funny ones.  But sometimes it is someone in whom everyone - participants and trainers alike - see something special.

Twins separated at birth?

Meet Teshale, one of our primary school teachers.  From the start, I had a strong affection for this man (and not just because we're built exactly the same!)    He's a soft-spoken, deeply spiritual man, but he was also a very active participant in all of our lessons.  He has a warm smile and a quick wit.  When he answered a question or led a devotion, everyone hung on every word.  He was clearly recognized as a leader by all of the participants.

But I've known many Ethiopian men and women who exhibit these qualities.  What makes Teshale unique became apparent when his group did a "teach back" of one of the lessons to the other participants who played the role of primary school students.  As soon as Teshale began to address the class, the whole room lit up.  His eyes, his smile, his body language, his voice - every part of him was reaching out to these "children", encouraging and exhorting them.  Even these "teachers as children" couldn't help themselves, and all were raising their hands, wanting to be chosen.  And every one that was chosen was made to feel special by the smile and praise they received as a reward for their answer.  I was absolutely overwhelmed.

Teshale busts a move in the "latrine dance"

After that class, I approached Teshale and put my hand on his shoulder.  I told him that his students in his school were blessed to have him as a teacher, and that I wish that  I had had a teacher like him when I was in primary school.  Tears welled up in his eyes and he hugged me and whispered, "Thank you, Jim, I love you so much", and he kissed me on the neck.  From that point on, we had a bond that will never be broken.

I tell this story in order to remind you - and myself - that the people that we train on these trips are gifted professionals with passion and joy for their work.  They don't need to be "trained" so much as they need a few new ideas and some encouragement in their very difficult jobs.  They share their experiences and encourage each other as well. And I am blessed by learning much more than I teach from these wonderful teachers.  I'll be a far better Lifewater trainer because I had the opportunity to spend two weeks with Teshale and his classmates.

A Birthday to Remember

Imagine that you're attending a mandatory training class for your job, and you happen to hear that one of the trainers is having a birthday on one of the class days.  Would you care?  Would you maybe chip in a buck if someone else took the initiative to pass the hat for a dozen bagels?

Happy Birthday, "Sinde"!

When Bob emailed me a few weeks before the trip to ask whether it was appropriate to celebrate Cindy's (his wife, not mine!) birthday during the training, I literally laughed out loud, remembering how our training class had celebrated Cindy's (my wife, not his!) birthday in 2010 - and she wasn't even there!  I promised Bob that it was indeed appropriate, and that we'd be able to do something special as a surprise.  Little did I know how big that "something" would become!

What's a party without coffee?

The first step was to enlist Getu and Mesfin as co-conspirators, and they took it from there.  Getu found a local bakery who agreed to make an American-style birthday cake, complete with icing reading "Happy Birthday Cindy".  Mesfin met with all of our participants, who then planned a traditional coffee ceremony and rehearsed the "Happy Birthday" song.  By the time the big day rolled around, it was hilarious how many whispers and knowing grins were being exchanged.  Thankfully, Cindy was blissfully unaware of all of this.  When time came for break that morning, she couldn't understand why it was being moved to the cafe across the compound.  Even when we walked her over there and through the circle of

Fito and Mesfin

participants to the coffee ceremony in the center, she hadn't caught on - until she saw the sign!  From then on, it was a joyous celebration, including the participants giving her two gifts - a beautiful scarf of the local Hadiya design, and even more special, a new Ethiopian name - Fito, meaning "flower" in Hadiya.  Four days later the group gave Bob a new name at the certificate ceremony - Eromo, meaning "good man".  A well-deserved name for a husband who started this whole ball rolling weeks before the event.

Why do our participants sacrifice their time and money to celebrate birthdays for people they hardly know, when birthdays are not typically celebrated very much in Ethiopia, especially for adults?  Why do they honor us by giving us names in their native languages, when names have almost sacred significance there?  There are no simple answers to those questions, but God does something mysterious and wonderful when he brings together the ferenji and the Habesha.  He creates a new community, united in His love and His will.
And that is truly worth celebrating.  Pass the cake, please!

Home Away from Home

One of the unique aspects of this trip was our accommodations.  Typically, we stay in hotels.  We retreat to our rooms at the end of the day, gather again for debrief and dinner, and then retreat once again until morning.  This time, we shared a guest house on the Synod compound with Mesfin.  This provided us with new challenges and blessings.

This house was originally the home of Finnish Lutheran missionaries.  It has 5 bedrooms, two baths, a small kitchen and living/dining area.  I stayed here 5 years ago and found it to be "rustically charming", and, if anything, it has become even a bit more rustic with a few significant plumbing and electrical issues, and no functional cooking equipment except for a hot plate.  At the same time, living together was a wonderful way to build team unity, and made our schedule much easier without needing to schedule meetings times and find Getu to drive us all over town.

Here's a "typical" day.  I'm up at about 5, and go outside to turn on the water pump (not a bad job unless it's pouring rain and you're still in your pj's.)  Then I'd run to the shower on the "ladies" side of the house (the other was not really functional) because all of the plumbing would start leaking because of the high pressure of the pump.  After a quick - and hot - shower, I'd run back out and turn off the pump, and turn on the hot plate to boil water for the morning (a long process at 7,500 ft elevation).  After dressing, I'd settle down for a long quiet time with a cup of (instant) coffee - I had to wait until morning break to get real, wonderful Ethiopian coffee.  Oh, the sacrifice... By 615 or so Judy would stick her head out and ask me to do the pump routine, and I'd have tea ready for her when she was done.  More water on to boil.  Soon everyone would emerge and we would make our breakfast.  We loved shopping for groceries, and you never knew what you might or might not find.  We had the BEST fresh eggs with bright golden yolks, fresh avocados, tomatoes, and the ubiquitous bananas.  The biggest treat was that young boys would bring us a fresh liter of milk every evening - still warm from the cow!  The best milk I've ever tasted!  Even the Middle Eastern twist on Corn Pops tasted good with it.  Judy fixed oatmeal many mornings, and I tried my hand at the eggs a few times.  Ever try to make eggs-to-order without a spatula?  After breakfast we'd have a devotion time around the table, then head off for training around 8.  The housekeeper would clean up after us after we left (we tipped her well, and left her a lot of food as well).

We usually went out to dinner at a local hotel in the evenings (how many times CAN you eat "pepper steak" in 10 days?), but cooked dinner a couple of times as well.  We had our meetings and prepared our materials in our living area, and Mesfin could translate materials as we went, which was a great time saver.

Another advantage of the house was that we became part of the compound community.  Several families live in the former missionary homes, and there were often children outside playing who would call out and run to the road to greet us when we walked by.  These three spoke to us every day.  Here they're dressed up for the seminary graduation which was held during our stay.  Graduates asked us to pose with them either because they thought we were important or, more likely, they knew they'd get a laugh later when they looked at the pictures!

Overall, the blessings far outnumbered any inconveniences.  This team had a wonderful spirit of unity and friendship.  We truly became family during this trip, and I miss them all already!

A Joyful Whirlwind

Every trip has its own unique character.  The Lifewater teams and the training subjects and participants are different, of course.  But there are subjective and spiritual nuances as well.  On this trip, I had a sense of joy and peace from the very start. And, with the exception of a few minor stressful moments, that sense never really left.

What a great looking team!  (Well, mostly!)

Our team arrived in stages in Addis from me early on Thursday morning (June 13) to Christine late Friday evening.  The first hiccup was that our departure to Hosanna was delayed 24 hours when one of our team members immediately fell victim to local food or drink.  She recovered strongly, however, and we hit the road Sunday morning with Getu, our usual driver, and Mesfin, our extraordinary translator.  These two men are my dearest brothers in Ethiopia, and simply reuniting with them filled us all with excitement and confidence for the time to come.

Training in Paradise

Our training began Monday morning on the compound of the South Central Synod of the Mekane Yesus Church.  Our guest house was in the same compound (more on that in a later post).  Our participants included 18 teachers from primary schools in two nearby woredas (districts).  Although our start was delayed by torrential early morning rains that hampered their transportation, we never felt stressed about the schedule. Well, maybe a little.  But our participants were great from the start, thoroughly embracing our participatory training approach and their role-playing as primary school students as we modeled the curriculum.  We were back on schedule by the end of the first day!

"Clean Hands, Clean Heart"

The training was intense, with full days of lessons through Friday and a half day on Saturday.  During the week, all of the participants got the opportunity to do "teachbacks" in which they facilitated one of the lessons as teams.  While we were rotating our five facilitators, the participants never got a true break, and Mesfin in particular was working hard the entire week.

Getu Guchale, Driver and Spiritual Advisor

After a fun special event on Saturday (more on that later), everyone had a welcome 1.5 day break.  We capped ours with a trip to the beautiful Ajora Falls.

Tarekegn teaches the tippy-tap

On Monday we all traveled to the Shurma Dacho school where our participants split into four groups to teach two lessons each to a total of 130 fourth graders.  It was a fabulous, joyful experience, after which we were more confident than ever that this curriculum was in the hands of extremely capable and enthusiastic teachers.  We were so humbled by their gifts as they interacted with the children.

Did someone say, "Breakfast"?

One more day of training on Tuesday, then a celebratory half-day on Wednesday capped by the rousing certificate ceremony and much emotional sharing by the participants, our partners, and our team.  Then off for a one night R&R at the beautiful Negash Lodge, where we were entertained at breakfast on Thursday by hundreds of Colobus and vervet monkeys.  A short drive to Addis, dinner with Getu's wonderful family, and we all began our homeward journeys on Friday.

Beza and Samy, my niece and nephew

The time really flew on this trip, not just because we were busy, but because we were always "in the moment", being aware of what God was doing in our midst.  A joyful whirlwind, indeed!  More to come soon.