A Taste of Life in Soddo

-Kristi Burns

Friends,

Staying with the Bowers is very eye-opening.  Life in Ethiopia is filled with challenge.  There is still no rain and water supplies are drying up everywhere.  We finally have water coming into the orphanage again by donkey.  Thank you Lord!  Last night I worshiped at the Bower’s home with the missionaries working at Soddo Christian Hospital.  They sing praise songs and then have been following the sermons of David Platt who wrote the book Radical.  He has been preaching on Galations.  Last night was on chapter 5 and 6 and very good.  Life here is hard. The Bowers also have a friend, who is a surgeon.  He and another surgeon took out a four foot stick that was lodged in a 7 year old boy’s leg last night.  He will be okay but it was a gruesome surgery. 

The big crisis right now is the orphanage.  Last night eight of the older children who we believed were ready for court dates and adoption, were sent back to Soddo because certain paperwork could not be provided that the international courts now require.  They will probably be here for 2 months.  Since they departed from Soddo to Addis the orphanage has filled up with more babies and toddlers so it is at capacity and now…..8 more children.  We don’t have even mattresses for them to sleep on.  Today, Stephne will hold a staff meeting.  She tries very hard to have the Ethiopians who are employed at the orphanage serve as the problem solvers….but it is hard, very hard.  The Ethiopian culture is not geared toward problem solving.  So pray for mattresses.  Please pray for paperwork necessary to get the children back to Addis to come together and overall pray for the crisis in Ethiopian adoptions right now.  The head of Christian World Adoption is trying to work with the state department who will in turn work with the Ethiopian government.  Thousands of children and their future parents are currently in limbo until the Ethiopian Federal government completes a country wide inspection of all orphanages….and that is just one of the problems.  The orphanage in Soddo under CCC is a model orphanage but they still have to go through inspection.

On another note, life here is hard.  You can feel the heaviness of spiritual warfare.  Sidney Launder is getting over malaria (she and her husband Mark are the people overseeing the building project for Wolaitta Village) and two days ago, Sidney scalded her foot.  They are having huge water problems at their house and need a well that will likely cost $35,000 because they are on a hill.  I have been helping them think through their fundraising needs.  I’ve also been able to help the Bowers sort through who will assist them in raising the needed support for the Wolaitta Village Managers home and for the completion of the entire Wolaitta Village project. 

I took a tuk-tuk (like a taxi) by myself from the Bowers to the Launders two days ago and walked up a huge hill to their home for a visit and dinner and then I took the tuk-tuk home again in the dark back to the Soddo Christian Hospital grounds.  You simply have to trust God for all things here.  The driver was a Christian who spoke some English.  So please keep praying.  I am not joining the rest of the group at Sabana Lodge.  I will be returning to Addis on Wednesday.  We fly home on Thursday.  Pray for wisdom.  I am helping with daily life; homeschooling for Carmen Bower; fundraising for multiple families and projects; spiritual encouragement and help at the orphanage…….there is simply so much to do.

KB

February Team Trip Update

- Kristi Burns

We had a flawless trip to Addis Ababa.  We arrived at our hotel at around 11:30 PM and were in bed by midnight.  Sunday we worshiped at the International Evangelical church where the November team worshiped.  It was wonderful and we met a young couple originally from Montana, Shawn and Becky Cox and their two daughters. Shawn teaches at a private school in Addis and Becky, who is a community health nurse works with the leper colony in Addis, the second largest in the world and she does HIV education.  She is currently working on getting government approval to start an HIV/AIDS Hospice program.  Here small children are caring for their dying parents.  We had lunch at a nice place and then rested before having a CHE presentation (Community Health Evangelism) presented by our Ethiopian friends Sharon, Adame and Melaku.  The group enjoyed it.

We were also introduced to a couple who have been working in Ethiopia on and off with CHE since the early 1970’s.  Bob and Michael Anne Haakenson have known Sharon, who oversees the Women’s Health division of Ethiopia CHE, since she was a child.  We had a nice dinner after the presentation.  On Monday we headed to Soddo stopping for machiatos at the Rediet Hotel (where the November team members might remember spending many hours that included a rubber chicken dinner!).  As we approached Soddo, Harry Bowers, who serves at Soddo Christian Hospital called to tell us that our hotel had no water.  He hurried to book rooms for us at a hotel with water. What a blessing! The weather is very hot here and many of the water sources have dried up.  

We had a nice dinner at the home of Harry and Stephne Bowers.  Stephne is the director of the Christian World Adoption (CWA) Orphanage in Soddo.

Today, Courtney Stokes the physical therapist from Life Center was able to make rounds with the orthopedic surgeons because orthopedic therapy is her area.

Then the team toured the CWA orphanage that has relocated into a much smaller facility with no running water.  New Covenant Foundation is going to fund digging a well.  The Nannies are doing a good job of keeping the children clean and, indeed, the place was very clean even though the children do not have much space to play in.  We are all praying for rain and a well soon.

We learned about a sustainable project that Stephne Bower is now overseeing which enables very poor widows to raise chickens.  

We also learned about the changes in adoption laws in Ethiopia that now require a death certificate and picture of the deceased parent before an adoption can become final. This has slowed the process down considerably and CWA has 64 children at another facility (called Acacia Center) waiting to be adopted out.  The court has told Stephne without the proof of death of the parent and a picture that these children will be sent back to Soddo.  Stephne has pleaded with the judge who as she described it merely shrugged his shoulders. Pray for a miracle because there are currently more children at the orphanage in Soddo and the other two outside of Soddo than they can handle.  

Yesterday and this morning I helped care for one of the babies Stephne had at her house, a little boy who at two months old weighs only 6 pounds.  He was doing so well today that he was able to go back to the orphanage to be cared for by the nannies. 

I have reviewed the plans for the Wolaitta Village (the permanent new facility for the children) with key people and we have begun to talk about fundraising needs.  Please keep that in your prayers.  Also, since the move to this temporary facility the MITTEN has to be dried right outside Stephne’s home.  

Tomorrow the team will experience the El Shaddai feeding program.  Thanks for praying for rain, a permanent well and a miracle for the 64 babies and children whose adoptions are delayed because of red tape.


Outside the Gate

“This January, I had another opportunity to invest your donations into wheat for the traditional Christmas Bread in Wolaitta!

I arrived at the church compound where about 280 people were already waiting for their portion of wheat - they were called in by their pastors who carefully selected the few from their congregations who were in the most need.  

Outside the gate, I came upon a beautiful old man whom I have been watching now for the past few months, since I see him from time to time. He has a terrible gaping wound on his right leg that just does not seem to heal.  His eyes were filled with tears as he took hold of my hands and kept on kissing them. Through the tears, I only understand the ‘thank you’ in his fragile voice while my heart aches - an ache that rips my insides apart - I can hardly stand his joy and appreciation.  I yearned for the wisdom of Jesus as I paged through the fleeting files of scripture in my mind. Then it came:  ”Just bless him with MY love” - so, I did.  

An overwhelming awareness of gratitude and a newfound understanding of humility before the Father, is the only way to survive these moments!  To watch thankful tears wash shiny streaks on dusty cheeks as women, weakened by disease and poor nutrition, help each other load the 10kg of wheat on to their backs for the three-hour walk to their homes. They are carrying home hope in the form of sacks of wheat for that luxury bread that they would otherwise only yearn for during Christmas!   

You who have given to this ministry have been a part of this 2010 Christmas. Though you’ve packed up your Christmas decorations, here in Ethiopia we linger in the season for full two weeks into January. We marvel at we Ethiopians preparation - not much shiny stuff or much stuff at all, for that matter- only the power of the simplicity in this very important event!”

Outside the gate stood the man with the wounds that would not heal. Recall, if you will another wounded and suffering outside the gate:

And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. (Hebrews 13:12-13)

In ancient times, and in present-day Ethiopia, gates represent protection, provision, belonging and inclusion (or exclusion). In Bible accounts where Jesus and the disciples encountered the sick and the poor, they were often “at the gate” begging, hoping, needing. This is where Jesus found them. When they were healed, they could venture inside the gate returning to society and safety. Yet when he was crucified, Jesus was not sacrificed in the Temple, for the saints, or even in the city, but outside the gate. This was a striking specimen of his humiliation, as if he had not been fit either for sacred or civil society! And this shows how sin, which was the meritorious cause of the sufferings of Christ [Matthew Henry Commentary] marked him for such punishment.

We may not have gates, but we have the limits and provisions that gates provide. What is your gate and who is standing beyond its locks, waiting for God’s love? We can venture outside the gate to bless another with the love of God the Father in the name of Jesus. We can offer hope in the sharing of both Christmas Bread and the Bread of Life. We can share in the disgrace Christ bore by sharing in the ministry of his love and grace.

** Harry and Stephne Bowers, along with their children, live and work in Soddo, Ethiopia where Harry has set up an eye clinic and training center and Stephne works with Cross Cultural Connection Ethiopia (CCCE), managing orphanages in the Soddo region and is a playing a vital role in the Wolaitta Village project. 

11-10-10

-Jerry Pederson

God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.   -Max Lucado

What truly fitting words as we witnessed a group of obedient and humble servants bring about the start of the vision God placed in Stephne and Harry Bowers hearts.

After breakfast our day began at the Bowers Home on the Soddo Christian Hospital compound.  Harry and Stephne presented the preliminary site plans prepared by the Arizona State University Masters graduate students.  Even though this project is a Christian undertaking, there were graduate students lining up to take part and committing to see it to its completion.

After the presentation, group worship and prayer, we re-boarded the bus and headed out to the Wolaitta Village site.  When we arrived, we were greeted by the other dignitaries and dozens of children.  The children, greeting us as we stepped off the bus, set the atmosphere for all God is doing in and through Wolaitta Village.  As we walked down the dirt road, holding children’s’ hands, we were led to a side trail and through the bushes where it opened onto a clearing with magnificent views overlooking the city of Soddo below.

Stephne Bowers welcomed everyone and proceeded to tell the story of the vision God had laid on her heart for the children of the Wolaitta region, the poorest of all Ethiopia.

Stephne told us that in the beginning steps, she asked her husband, Harry, “How is it possible God can use us?”  At this statement and seeing all that they have done, up to this point, the Holy Spirit flooded my eyes with tears.  I can only hope one day God will impart to me such genuine love and humility to him and his created.

Dr. Kelemu spoke next and compared the Wolaitta Village project to Moses and God’s calling him to build the Temple.  Dr. Kelemu said when God gives a completed vision, he has alreaded put in place all the people, talent, and resources needed as if it was already finished.

Mike Stemm, New Covenant Foundation, then spoke to us and gave God the praise for what is happening with the Wolaitta Village project.  In the beginning of New Covenant’s involvement, Mike said Craig Meredith and he were so overwhelmed and they felt so unqualified for what God was calling them to do.  Mike’s words drew me back to my reading an devotions this morning and what I read that Max Lucado had written.

Others spoke and we all concluded with prayer.

I am humbled tonight for being a witness to God’s intricately woven tapestry of what is becoming Wolaitta Village.  I wonder why I have been called to Ethiopia at this point in my walk with Jesus.  After I got past the shock of being here, I too felt so unqualified!  Maybe thats the beginning point of genuine humility.

Quick Update

Here’s the deal. We have been way too busy to update you, so this will be brief. But I will commit to getting you more news very soon.

First, the suitcase has been redeemed! Brad is very excited to change his shirt. We have quite the stories to tell about the bus breakdown and changing our travel time from 5 hours to 15. We also have much to tell about orphanages and mitten.

But for now you can be praying for the dedication of the Wolaitta Village tomorrow. We are expecting 15 local government officials for the dedication. In the afternoon we will participate with the local churches in distributing food to the poor. 15 zonal officials are coming to witness this. 15 pastors have chosen 300 poor to receive the food. This includes Evangelicals, Catholics, Muslims and Orthodox. So it will be a busy day.

I’m collecting stories tomorrow morning and will start giving them to you shortly.

Egzebere emesagen (may God be praised)!

Craig