Big Ears

In Yirgalem, Ethiopia in 2010, our team was conducting the first training in what would become a

Janet - my mentor, big sis, and fellow ice cream junkie!

long and extremely successful project. Our participants were community development workers, educators, and health professionals from both our partner organization and the Ethiopian government. If you want to know more about how life-changing this training was for all of us, read my very first post in this blog series. One day, Janet was facilitating a lesson on the attitudes of a successful community worker. To illustrate, she drew a simple cartoon face with huge ears and a tiny mouth. The point was that they should spend much more time listening to the people in the communities than talking to (or worse, at) them. Through the resulting laughter, the truth of this message resonated with all. One wonderful young woman burst into tears after confessing that she had admonished people for not responding to the lectures she had given them on visit after visit. She had come to realize that the fault was not with them, but with her. That illustration has served us well in several countries with different languages and cultures. And the message is still true.

Why do I bring up this old story now before I leave on my trip? Because God has been working on my heart in a number of ways to remind me that the message applies to me, too. In my enthusiasm on these trips, I have an unfortunate tendency to talk too much and listen too little (my humble apologies to all my previous team members!), and I'm getting the message that I need to be very intentional about changing this pattern. In my last post, I described my role this time as an "observer". Now I know I should include "listener" in my job description as well.

Another way to describe this is humility. It's terribly easy to fall into a pattern of believing that we come with all of the expertise and experience and simply download all of this into people's mental hard drives. What arrogance! And while I have never consciously thought of myself as superior to any of the people I've met, I know I've been guilty nonetheless. So here's another role - "learner". I know well from experience what amazing stories the community members and the development workers have to share. This time, I want to be intentional about learning and recording those stories.

While my intentions are good, I know how hard it will be to be consistent in this behavior when I'm excited, exhausted, or exasperated. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would fill me with the character of Jesus each day, and that all that I meet would feel honored and respected - and listened to. And I promise to share some of those stories when I return!

Jim/Whit/Tesfalem

A New Perspective

It's hard to believe that it's been almost two years since my last post - and since my last trip with Lifewater. It's been a very eventful interlude, but I've still felt that something was missing from my life. Well, not for long! I leave next week on a new adventure with a new perspective. All of my previous trips have been as a field trainer, equipping community development workers to be more effective in implementing WASH programs in rural villages. I've been a seed planter, with a focus on the future, and I've only had second-hand reports and occasional glimpses in person of the fruit that grew from those seeds. And indeed, with God's great blessings, the harvest has been rich! On this trip, my roles will be different, as I have a wonderful opportunity to witness current and past project activities in two countries. In all, I expect to visit about 30 remote rural villages!

Part of our amazing 2015 training group

My trip begins on Wednesday, July 5 with a flight to Chicago. There I'll take an Emirates flight to Addis Ababa (with an overnight stay in Abu Dhabi), arriving on Friday afternoon. I'll have two days to visit dear friends and "family", whom I've written much about previously. I'll then join up with a Lifewater Vision Trip team led by Christine, who I've worked with on two previous trips in Ethiopia. Also on the team will be my buddy Karen, with whom I've shared many adventures. We will travel south on Monday July 10 to the Sidamo region which has been my second home for the past 10 years. We'll travel out into the countryside to visit two Lifewater project areas that have implemented the Vision of a Healthy Village program with local Lifewater staff. You may recall that I helped to train one of those teams on my last trip in 2015. We'll get to see the staff at work in these villages, and the tremendous progress that has been made with their hard work and God's grace and provision. It will be such a joy to see my friends in the field and to celebrate with them! I also hope to see a village that Cindy and I have sponsored that has replaced its dirty water hole with a new capped spring. We'll return to Addis on Friday July 14.

The intrepid Karen and her tippy-taps

The next day, Karen and I will fly to Entebbe, Uganda - a new country for me! I've longed to visit for over 40 years, as my brother served in the Peace Corps there after college. We'll spend one day relaxing on the shore of Lake Victoria and preparing for the long days of work ahead. On Monday July 17 we'll fly in a tiny Mission Aviation Fellowship plane to Lira in the northern part of the country. For about 5 days, we'll join with staff of Lifewater's partner, Divine Waters Uganda, to drive and walk to villages which were part of past projects. Our task will be to observe the conditions of the wells that were installed as part of those projects, and to interview (through interpreters, of course!) people in each community. All of this information will be recorded on an app on Karen's tablet, and we'll upload the data each night for staff in California to review. The goal is to learn what has worked well and what could've gone better (all Lifewater trainers will recognize those phrases), and to assess how sustainable the improvements brought through the projects have been. This information will be valuable to both Lifewater and Divine Waters in helpings these communities and to plan future projects.

 

We'll return to Entebbe on Monday July 24, and I'll reverse the travel itinerary on Tuesday and Wednesday, returning to Cindy and Pippin on Wednesday July 26 - almost exactly 3 weeks after I departed.

I will post again shortly before I leave. In the meantime, please pray for all of us involved in these trips, and especially for those in the communities - that we would bring them respect, encouragement and the love of Christ.

Jim/Whit/Tesfalem