"Old Hat"? Never!

Hat in Mint, a Still Life

On Thursday, October 15 I will fly to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to begin my tenth trip as a Lifewater Water Corps volunteer trainer. The "old hat" in the photo stills fits this old head well, as it has on all of those trips. I'm sure that some of you that read that will respond with a rousing yawn, that "Jim is off on another Africa trip, like all of the others". Of course, it is easy to say but hard to explain that every trip is different. This one, however, is unique in a couple of particular ways.

First, this training is part of the very first "Lifewater University". Our East Africa Director, Zerihun, has hired 8 outstanding community development workers as Lifewater field staff. This is the first time Lifewater has employed in-country workers rather than training staff of other organizations or government employees.  This approach has several potential advantages. It will allow for more intensive training with much better follow-up and accountability, and will also increase the probability that the people that we train will continue to work in the project communities for the long term, rather than being lured to other jobs.

This guy will be there!

The curriculum will be an update of the mWASH program that we used in Malawi last year with
great success. We've also added a 2-day "crash course" in sanitation and construction of simple pit latrines. Six of the participants will be new to us, but two will be good friends from previous projects, including Teshale in the photo. And, I just learned today that our translator will be my dear friend and brother in Christ, Mesfin Abebe!

There is an even more unique and exciting aspect to this trip - Cindy will join me after the training to meet some of my closest friends in Ethiopia (or anywhere else, for that matter!), to travel to some of my favorite spots, and to explore some new ones together! We have prayed for this opportunity for a long, long time. This means so much to us, for her to finally share some of the people, places and experiences that I've been telling her about for 7 years. She has been so incredibly supportive in every way of my work with Lifewater, and has spent many weeks alone here in the States during my adventures. She has earned this!

I do not expect to have much internet access during this trip, and so will probably not be posting anything until our return on November 9. In the meantime, I and the rest of our team (Julie, Christy, and Karen) would very much appreciate your prayers. Thank you in advance for your love and support!

Jim/Tesfalem