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My Trip to Ethiopia, as a Missionary, Teacher and Sponsor

     The next several pages feature highlights of a trip I and 10 other Chicago-area educators spent as missionaries in Ethiopia. For one week we conducted a teacher training workshop on child-centered learning for 150 Ethiopians. The following page overviews the highly successful workshop,which took place at a small school in Awassa, in the south of Ethiopia.

     Following my comrades' departure after the workshop, I stayed on and toured the country for an additional week. Included in my travels was the historic tour/triangle of Lalibela; Axum, known as the resting place of the arc of the covenant; and Gondar, pictured below (and detailed on subsequent pages). 

     Lastly, I was privileged to be able to actually pay a one-on-one visit to the 10-year-old child I sponsor through World Vision. The World Vision people, headed up by supervisor Gemta Birhanu, arranged for me to be driven -at their expense- from Addis Abbaba, the capital, to their compound in Dessie, approximately six hours north.

     I stayed at the World Vision compound for three days, during which they took the best care of me imaginable. One field supervisor, Tedele (whom I affectionately termed "my mother,") made it his life's work to be sure that I ate no fewer than two portions of every meal, was personally woken up for prayer, and had a comfy bed (HIS, because he moved out!)

     Visiting my child Abdella in the northern highlands was the most precious part of my entire trip. (Pictured at the top of the page.) To forage to his house, we had to walk 1/2 hour up-mountain from where trucks would any longer go. For three days I did not see another White person, and one woman actually ran away from me because she had never seen anything so ghastly (or should I say ghostly) before!

     To this day I keep in touch with Gemta and Tedele, whom I came to love as family, although I only knew them for hours....This is the story of my trip to Ethiopia.


Rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia 

Recognized as the resting place of the Arc of the Covenant, Aksum/Axum, Ethiopia is pictured above.


The city of Gondar, Ethiopia, dated to the 17th century AD, was part of the Abyssian empire.


Here are some websites on the three historic sites pictured above.    

http://www.smcfethiopia.org/ethiopia/

http://sacredsites.com/africa/ethiopia/sacred_sites_ethiopia.html

http://www.pbs.org/wonders/Episodes/Epi4/4_retel1.htm

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/ethiopia-facts/

 

This is a little introduction to Ethiopia for kids:

 

From St. Matthew's Children's Fund in Ethiopia:

Kids in Ethiopia

Kids in Ethiopia are the same as you and your mates but they are much poorer. Most kids if they live in the country live in small houses made of dried mud or if they live in a city or town made from wood or corrugated iron.

Most kids don’t have their own bedroom and sleep in the same room as the rest of their family. Most children don’t have a t.v. or a mobile phone, many children’s families don’t even have a toilet in their house. Yes – they really are that poor.

A lot of kids in Ethiopia go to school but only for half of the day. Most classes in Ethiopia have up to 100 children in them. Can you imagine that?! What do you think it would be like being in a class with 99 other kids?

Many kids don’t go to school at all. Their families are so poor the children are sent to work so that they can help provide food for the family. Lots of kids sell things on the street - some sell paper hankies, some sell sweets and some sell lottery tickets - they will sell anything to get some money for their family to buy some food with.

Some kids parents have died through illness and have to either live on the streets or live with aunties or uncles or even with their grandparents.

It is very tough being a kid in Ethiopia but they still manage to have fun and play like you and your friends.

Keep coming back to have a look at this page and you’ll find out a lot more about kids in Ethiopia.

Do you have any questions you would like to ask kids in Ethiopia? Send them to us info@smcfethiopia.org and keep an eye out on the Fun Stuff pages.