Ethiopian Adventures

Back at Yinaynesh’s house

Yinaynesh

This year I would like to try to give you a brief introduction to some of the girls in our program so that you can have a better understanding of their lives and who they are. This month we will begin with Yinaynesh…
Yinaynesh currently lives with her mother and two brothers just a few minutes walk from our school. Her brothers are 16 and 13 and all three teenagers are currently in school. Yinaynesh used to live with her grandmother down country and only started school last year. She is in the first grade and cannot yet read or write. Yinaynesh’s mother is unemployed but she tries to provide income for the family through making lentils which she sells in the neighborhood. Yinaynesh’s father died when she was 6.
This month we have been particularly involved with Yinaynesh’s family which is why she gets to be our first featured girl! Yinaynesh recently asked us for help with the roof on her house in response to an offer we made to the girls last May. Yinaynesh did not have a real roof on her house so the family had been using a type of woven plastic as ceiling material. They had some wood beams across the walls to provide structure but this has not been able to keep the rain from leaking into the room that the family uses as their home. This month we bought new metal sheeting and posts so that the family can have a real roof to keep the family dry. Also, her two brothers were sleeping in layers of clothing because the family could not afford blankets to keep them warm. We bought the boys new blankets.
In addition, we have hired one of our Ethiopian assistants to tutor Yinaynesh three afternoons a week so that she can make more progress in her studies. Her mother has asked us for employment which we cannot provide but we do want to help her to begin to earn sustainable income for her family. When I met with her mother this week, she identified that she wanted to buy clothing to resell in the market for a small profit. To help her see if this would be effective and profitable we have set up that this week as Yinaynesh attends her tutoring classes, she will be “earning” one article of clothing for each of the three days that she comes in. We have a collection of donated clothing so Yinaynesh will pick out something new each day to take to her mother to try to sell. We will meet with Yinaynesh’s mother again in two weeks to review how successful the initial run was. If this does turn out to be something that is profitable, then Yinaynesh will be “working” towards assistance in purchasing a percentage of a bundle of clothing. Our hope is to then help her mother reinvest some of the proceeds so that she can eventually have a sustainable business.

Some specific prayer requests for Yinaynesh….
*That she would see God’s love for her personally. Her family is Orthodox so she has an understanding of Christian fundamentals, but my prayer for her is that she would come to a real relationship with Jesus.
*That her family would be financially stable
*That God would protect and care for Yinaynesh holistically. As a team we have some fears that Yinaynesh may have been or is currently experiencing some abuse. There is very little protection for her if someone is harming her and she is very vulnerable to being exploited. Let’s stand up for her in prayer!

I can’t get video’s to load on here right now but if you check on my facebook page, there are a few….I will keep working on it in the meantime!!!

Hey Folks!

I just wanted to give everyone a “heads up” that I am back on the blogging train! I know I fell a little short this year-sorry folks! This week I was brainstorming with a friend about how to keep in touch better and we came up with an idea…video blogging! So, I am going to try to post 1-2 minute mini-video’s to show you little bits about the life and times in Addis. I hope that it works out…as I post, feel free to respond with your questions, thoughts or comments so I know what you might be interested in seeing next! I hope that you all enjoy!

Blessings and love,

Cary

Oh, for the words to describe Timket weekend in Addis… This is the time when all of the beauty of Ethiopian women, the reverence of Orthodox worship, and the kindness of African strangers whirls into one rushing wave of spirit that catches you up in laughter and wonder. I became friends with a high priest, wondered through the streets surrounded by dark faces which showed immediate acceptance, and was carried along in crowds of thousands, all pressed literally back to back without being the slightest bit afraid of harm. One of the many things that I have come to love about Ethiopia is the gentle safety of the people as a whole. Crime is staggeringly scarce and the depth of community entrenched into the psyche echo’s the depth of the “me first” mentality found in the streets of the States. What a beautiful country this is.

st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) }
<!– /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:”"; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-fareast-font-family:”Times New Roman”;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} –>

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:”";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-ansi-language:#0400;
mso-fareast-language:#0400;
mso-bidi-language:#0400;}
Greetings dear friends! I know that it has been a while since I have added anything but, hopefully things will be back on schedule now! So a quick catch up on life out here..

My student teacher arrived and has settled in really well. We have several new students in our class this semester so she is going to have a good experience of what it is like to establish behavior management in First Grade. This year we have students from Finland, Australia, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Korea, Ethiopia, America, Ireland, Island, and the UK. It keeps me on my toes!

Our girls groups continues to go smoothly and I can really see God’s hand in the development of the program this year. We are going to start an open tutoring time for the older girls (they have books in English so hopefully we can help them a little!) and we are using  a storytelling method to walk them through the Bible a little each time we meet. Every time I watch them read scripture for themselves I just feel so blessed to be a part of what God is doing. This week was the first meeting since our Christmas break and all of the girls had collected their money and gotten popcorn and bread to bring to us for a Christmas gift. It was so special!

So I have officially decided to stay on next year although probably in a slightly different capacity. I will be in a new (not fully determined yet) role so that I can do some part time language learning as well. It took me a long time to really decide what I was going to do and what the L** was leading me towards but this seems to be the right path for now.  To celebrate my decision and to more fully settle into my life in Ethiopia, I got a kitten! She is delightful and has been really great company for me.

So that is it! Short and sweet, but I promise I will write more in the future. In the meantime, I hope that you enjoyed the photos!