The next morning we flew to Gondar and met Werku, who is heading up all of our projects in Ethiopia. I was excited to meet him because our church, Chase Oaks Church, in Plano has been working with Werku for over 2 years. Werku is a native Ethiopian who lives in New Zealand. He is a single man with a huge passion for his people. Werku is living in a hotel in Gondar while he waits for the apartment building to be built where he has bought an apartment. He will stay in Ethiopia from time to time, and then go back to New Zealand. He has been here for months working on getting land for a new campus for Chase Oaks Academy.
Chase Oaks Academy has a two-fold purpose. It gives many vulnerable children a good education, a good meal, a loving environment, and Christian teaching everyday. Secondly, most of the children that enroll in COA are paying students, which makes this an income-generation project. The proceeds from the tuition go toward several projects: feeding widows, an njeera project, and support for ministers who are trained and sent to different areas to start churches. The njeera project is one where mothers of Compassion International children have been given equipment which allows them to make an income, selling a staple food called njeera (like a huge pancake).
Ethiopia is very different from the other 2 African countries to which I've been. It seems more Middle-Eastern than the others. Ethiopia was never a British colony like Zambia & Kenya. It has an African flavor, but also a lot of Egyptian influence. The writing is Hebrew/Arabic in nature. Islam and Coptic Orthodox are the two prevalent religions here. The Coptic religion was derived from Catholicism, but mixed with Egyptian beliefs. This country also used to be communist. The government is very corrupt and things are really screwed up here. Werku has a hard time getting anything done with the government because he won't give them bribe money like everyone else.
Begging is extremely prevalent in Ethiopia as well. Every time we exit a Minibus or Bajaj (tuk-tuk), we are surrounded by small children and the elderly or handicapped begging us for money. It is so sad. You can't really give them anything or you will be swarmed.
We visited the old school campus, the new school campus, the widows being fed, and two recipients of micro-loans. One of the micro-loans was used for two orphan sisters (age 18 & 20) to begin a small store out of the front of their home. They live in a small shack of a house made out of cow manure and wood. Another loan was used for 3 Christian men to start a cell phone shop. They sell "top-ups" which are cards with a code you put in your cell phone to get more minutes. They also sell accessories like cases, batteries, cords, etc. Their shop is an 8 x 8 shack on the side of the road... but then, that is how most shops look around here. It is cool to see micro-finance at work in the third world. All of these projects were funded by our church. The goal is to get all of these things self-sustaining, so money from the West is no longer needed.
This is the first country where we have stayed in a hotel and eaten at restaurants. Three of us stay in a two bedroom, two bath suite for $45 a night. Lane is staying down the road for $8 per night! We drink coffee (little macchiatos) several times a day, which is by far the best coffee I've had on the trip. They also have awesome mango drinks here... we have at least two a day! The food is not so great, though, so I eat bread as much as possible. I've been very fortunate to not get sick on this trip... and I did eat local food quite a bit.
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