So here's what I'm ACTUALLY doing in Ethiopia

I finally have an idea of what I’m going to be doing this summer and what organization I’m working with (kind of)! So sorry if this sounds super informational, but it might be helpful because I no longer have to answer “I don’t really know” when people ask me what I’m doing in Ethiopia.

On Monday we met with the SVO Ethiopian staff.  SVO = “Stand for the Vulnerable Organization”.  SVO was a non-profit that was started by Ethiopians and had been running for about a year when the SVO leader (Misganaw) met the Gleason’s.  From what I’ve heard, the Gleason’s had been looking around for a ministry, and when they met with Misganaw and shared their vision of what they wanted to accomplish, it was almost exactly what the SVO staff had also envisioned.  Pretty cool.  And that was the start of Because of Kennedy (BOK) – that’s the US organization that I’m working for this summer.  It’s cool to see how much of a team effort it is and that it’s not just Americans coming in and imposing what we think should be done.  The Family Sponsorship Program that BOK created is run through SVO (they’re the ones who pick the families to be sponsored, do the guardian training (except when Katie is here), conduct social work visits, distribute donations, etc.).  BOK staff (essentially, Katie and Rudy) give a lot of input and really push the program to grow, but it’s cool to see how essential BOTH sides are.  Katie and Rudy went through their general presentation for Britt and I on Tuesday morning, and it was awesome to see the transparency of BOK.  They are SO focused on centering EVERYTHING around their 4 pillars (I can’t tell you how many times we took tough decisions back to the pillars in our Monday meeting)  and strive to be extremely transparent with their sponsors regarding EXACTLY where the $$ is going.  I’m really glad I’m getting to see this side of it, because I have a really hard time donating my $$, especially to international organizations, because I never know exactly how it’s being used/if it’s actually going to the people I want it to go to.  So it’s been nice seeing how determined Katie and Rudy are to keep their finances transparent.   It’s also nice to be in a place where I believe in the organization I’m working for.  Before I came, it’s not like I DIDN’T trust BOK, but I was kind of afraid I was going to get here and figure out that I didn’t like how the organization was run/felt like it was just America imposition, and that’s exactly the opposite of what I feel now. 

ANYWHO. I loved meeting with the Ethiopian staff and hearing their hearts for the ministry, and I LOVED getting a to-do list and laying out a schedule for the rest of the summer (it’s moments like these where I realize I belong at Georgia Tech).  Here’s what’s up:

-          College Ministry – we’re going to try to get plugged into some college ministries in both Burayu and Ambo (our 2 locations for the summer).  I would LOVE to get to know some college students and hear what college life is like/what it looks like to be a Christian college student in Ethiopia/make some friends my own age. 

-          Guardian Empowerment – as part of the Family Sponsorship Program, the guardians are required to attend weekly “empowerment” training.  They are split into groups of 20 and given training on life skills (finances, housekeeping, etc.), family life, and spiritual stuff. The goal of the program is for each guardian to “graduate” the 5 year program involved in some kind of start-up business (it’s Year 3 and 3 of the 10 groups in Burayu have already started businesses!.  Only Year 1 in Ambo though, so they’re just now getting started).  We’ll be running the training sessions this summer, doing social work visits (aka visiting homes), and getting to know the guardians and the challenges they face.

-          Saturday School – The Gleason’s call it Sunday school, but it’s on Saturday so I refuse to conform.  It’s essentially Sunday school for the 100 kids in the Family Sponsorship Program, plus all the Compassion kids, plus a lot of the kids in the community (so about 500 kids).  We’ll teach a message once a month and just get to hang out for the other weeks.

-          Youth Program – and by “Youth”, I mean people ages 13-25.  I thought I had reached the “young adult” stage, but apparently not in Ethiopia.  I’m PUMPED about this, because I’m gonna get to make friends, lead some lessons, hopefully get in a weekly bible study with some of the Youth Leaders, and help the leaders figure out how to get involved in church/BOK program leadership.

-          Teaching English – every Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday after guardian training, we get to teach English in the Burayu classrooms (hopefully we’ll get to do the same in Ambo too).  There are about 450 kids in the school, 100 of who (whom?) are in the Family Sponsorship Program.  That’s another thing that’s cool about the program – even though only 100 kids are sponsored, the community is also impacted by the benefits. 

-          Vacation Bible School – We’ll teach English until July 5^th when school lets out, and then the next week (the 8^th) we’ll host a Vacation Bible School for all of the students in Burayu.  Hopefully by that time we’ll have established a solid relationship with the “youth” and get a lot of them to jump in as leaders.  If there’s 1 thing I want to do this summer it’s to make sure that when we leave, things don’t fall apart.  That’s one thing I LOVE about the people I’m with – everyone wants sustainability.  We know that we can’t be here forever, so we want to make sure that in everything we do, the Ethiopians are involved and are completely on board.  That way when we leave, we know that things will be carried on.

Part of me feels like we’re trying to conquer the world in a summer, but if I didn’t feel overwhelmed then something would be wrong.

Things I’m learning:

-          - How to be an expert mosquito swatter (but really.  I think my reflexes have increased 3-fold)

-        -   On a similar note, how to quickly identify “punch buggies”

-         -  Ethiopian cockroaches are way less scary than the flying ones in the Bahamas (Katie, none of them have attacked me yet)

-        - Killing bugs isn’t that scary (Emily Nicholos… if only I’d have known that last summer)

-         - Compassion and World Vision are real programs and do real things and affect real people – some of the kids I’ll be teaching this summer will be in school and wearing required uniforms and showing up to feeding programs on Saturday SOLELY because they are being sponsored through Compassion.  Sometimes I think that gigantic organizations are just a bunch of hooha, but it’s not. 

-        -  BOK isn’t just another Compassion or World Vision.  They saw a need that wasn’t being met (holistic family investment) and are striving to meet that need.  At first I was like “why not just partner with one of the child sponsorship programs that already exists?” but I’m learning that it’s a lot different.

o   On that note, I’m learning how to be “competitive organizations” without being destructively competitive.  BOK recognizes that Compassion and World Vision and other aid organizations do some really good thing (as a matter of fact, most of the BOK Ethiopian staff used to work for Compassion), so they try to use some things from these organizations as models, while they modify/add other things in order to better suit the need BOK was created for.

-        -   I don’t know how to write concise blog posts.

It’s been a solid, restful couple of days, and I’ve really been enjoying hanging out with the family and getting to know them better.  I’m so thankful that I have Brittany here – we’ve been getting to know each other on a deeper level and it ROCKS. I think we’re gonna learn a ton from each other this summer. 

Welcome to Ambo Baptist Church

“The danger with us is that we want to water down the things that Jesus says and make them mean something in accordance with common sense; if it were only common sense, it was not worthwhile for Him to say it” – Oswald Chambers

LOTS of emotions this morning at our first Ethiopian church service.  It was humbling, frustrating, inspiring, and really fun all at the same time.  I don’t really know where to start other than what I wrote when I got into the service, so here are some quotes (in “chronological” order)…

“I JUST WANT TO SPEAK SPANISH” (but really.  It took up a lot of room on my paper)

-“All the kids just came up to the front of the room and were prayed over by the entire congregation.  COOL.”

“For all I know, these people could be speaking in tongues.  All I could do was smile and clap during worship… I felt like a TOTAL ditz”

I feel like I constantly compare Ethiopia to the trip we took to Costa Rica in high school.  Half of me still expects to see Sofia (one of the girls I got pretty close to) running up to give me a hug at the end of the church service.  It’s weird.  The church was kind of what I expected, just bigger.  It was overcrowded and had no air conditioning, cheap decorations, bright colors, and a crappy speaker system, but they had a keyboard! It’s cool – they’re in the process of expanding their building to a place that will hold 2,000 people: it’s like an Ethiopian mega church! 

“I wanted so badly to walk into worship and be overwhelmed by seeing Ethiopians worshiping the same God that we worship in Georgia, but I’m really struggling to see that this is true.  I see people worshiping here, and my first thought is ‘I don’t know what these people are saying, singing, or talking about.  For all I know, they could be worshiping Satan and I’m ‘Amen’ing because I want to fit in’. And I hate these thoughts and I know they aren’t true, but I can’t help but think ‘If I could understand these people, I would believe that God transcends cultures’.  It’s the whole ‘I have to prove that this is true before I can accept it as true’ mindset”

“I HATE STANDING OUT.  Like… I hate it.  I hate being walked to the front of the church and I hate driving through streets where everyone around us is walking because all I can think is “Here come the self-righteous Americans who think they’re better than everyone and expect special treatment and can’t conform to the ways of Africa so they bring their ways here”.  And I know this isn’t true but I can’t help but think that’s what the people around me are thinking… But people here are SO excited to have us.  They keep telling us what a blessing it is to have us and I’m just like ‘WHY?’  But then I think about how amazing it is to have foreigners come and how much I love learning from them and I think… maybe that’s how it is with me.  Maybe I’m the one with a skewed perspective on America.  Maybe people aren’t actually thinking these things and maybe they are actually telling the truth when they say what a blessing it is to have us here.  Maybe we are all worshiping the same God and we’re here seeing the unity that is found in Christ.  Maybe we can teach these people and learn from them at the same time”.

“God, you are AMAZING.  We just prayed through Psalm 51 (EXACTLY like when Grace, Emily and I did last summer).  We are crying out to you in unison because YOU are the God of the nations.  I looked outside while we were praying and there were people sitting outside with their bibles open praying with us.  They were listening to the sermon outside of the church walls, not coming to church because it’s the thing to do on Sunday’s, but because they are desperate for you and to learn about you.  And this isn’t something that’s limited in Africa, it’s just way more evident because YOU are all they have and the only thing that they can rest their hope in.  It’s refreshing to see.”

Like I said… it was an up and down kind of day.  We got back to Ambo and went to dinner with the family, and it was actually a FUN dinner.  I’m still kind of anxious because I feel like we’re constantly preparing for something (preparing the house, preparing for the team to come in a week, etc.) and I’m having a hard time being present and realizing that I AM IN AFRICA and EVERYTHING that I am experiencing counts. So… I guess that’s my prayer.  That I would be present and take advantage of every opportunity that I have, even when it’s way different than I pictured (not that I had much of a picture, but still).  We’re meeting with the SVO staff to lay out a schedule for this week/PREPARE for the rest of the summer (ironic?) but I’m actually really excited because we’re gonna make to-do lists and action items and that’s my JAM.

Happy Birthday to .... "you"?

Tough weekend.  It’s cool because I can have awesome experiences but still be reflecting on the day and be like “this is hard”.  We went to an NGO bazar in the morning – it’s a place where all the non-profits from around the area sell things they’ve been making.  There were a lot of scarves, but other than that most of the stuff varied from beads to pictures to rugs to outside lawn chairs.  The Ethiopian government makes it really hard for foreigners to live here/work here: in order to get a work visa, you have to have permission from a company/non-profit saying that they need you to work, and that you’re doing something that an Ethiopian can’t do.  You can’t even own a house unless you were born in Ethiopia.  So even though some of the non-profits are run by Americans (i.e. Because of Kennedy), the locals are the ones who are working it.  Kind of cool.

 

Bounce houses in Ethiopia... legit.

IT HAILED.  and it's 60 degrees. Weather is weird.

This is actually what I'm doing in Ethiopia all summer...

I like tuttles.

ICECREAM. I think these scoops are baby scoops. No wonder non-Americans are so skinny.

After the bazar we went to my first ever International Birthday Party! It was for one of the families from the International School – the father works for the UN and they’ve been in Ethiopia for almost 2 years.  The family was from Lithuania and a lady from Australia stopped by for a bit – even with all the International representation, I still felt like I was at an upper class white people birthday party. Except there were healthier snacks, the cupcakes were smaller, and they gave tablespoons of ice cream in the cones instead of ½ cup scoops. I definitely didn’t feel like I was in Africa – they had rented a bounce house and had a trampoline and a playground in the backyard – the only thing that was noticeably different was that the view from the wrap around porch looked into a concrete wall lined with barbed wire.  I’m kind of frustrated with myself because I TOTALLY missed an opportunity to learn about other cultures.  Instead I let myself be frustrated that I felt like I was wasting my time, when I wasn’t taking advantage of getting to see a completely different side of Africa that no one ever talks about.  It’s the side where different cultures exist and people actually live lives kind of similar to mine, just in Ethiopia, and they’re from Lithuania instead of Roswell, GA.  That’s cool.

Marnie and Brittany take on Addis Ababa

Friday was a solid day – lots of ups and downs emotionally.  B and I ended up babysitting the kids in the morning while Dr. Rudy and Katie went to sign the lease on the new house.  It was fun because it’s the first chance we’ve really had to play with the kids, but I’ve also been getting kind of anxious about not taking advantage of Ethiopia while I’m here, so it’s been getting harder to stay patient.  One thing that I really appreciated about today was getting to see styles of parenting that I really respect.  Jessica pointed out that she’d been really stressed lately and she said her kids had been noticing, so she declared it a “Friday Fun Day”, where the kids could stay in their pajamas all day and just relax.  She said every Friday night was “Family Fun Night”, where the whole family stays in, makes dinner, and then either watches a movie or plays a game.  The Gleason’s do something similar where they have family sleepovers Friday and Saturday nights – Katie said all the kids bring pillows and blankets, they get as much junk food as they can, and they all just pile into the parent’s bed and watch a movie.  I was amazed at the dedication both of these parents had to their kids.  They make it a point to show their kids how much of a priority they are no matter WHAT the circumstances are – I value that a lot, and it made me realize how blessed I’ve been by my family life.  So mom and dad… family sleepover when I get home? :]

I was kind of worn out after spending all morning with the kids, so after lunch B and I went exploring.  My FAVORITE thing to do when I get to a new city is explore, so it was AMAZING going back into my “comfort zone” of what to do while traveling. Both of us are pretty directionally challenged, so we would take a maximum of 3 turns before we headed back to “home base” (our house) and chose a different path.

  

Our "home base".  See the window on the 2nd floor on the right? That's the bathroom that I locked myself in today. So I was very thankful that B was sitting right outside to let me out.  Those things stank.

Some other houses we saw: (See Dad, I told you it was a normal city) 

We walked to a street market where we saw a woman making scarves.  A lot of the women wear head scarves, some for religious purposes and some just because.  Anywho, in my quest to become an Ethiopian, it’s been my goal to get one.  I looked at a couple hanging up, and then pointed to the one on the woman’s head.  She reached under the pile and pulled out one that looked exactly like she was wearing.  After multiple hand gestures, I got her to show me how to put it on.  When it was my turn, I put it on, the lady next to her adjusted it a little, and I stepped back.  A bunch of Ethiopians around us in the market started clapping – it was hilarious.  Remember that thing I said about hating to stick out?  Thanks to some solid advice, I’m trying to embrace it, which was REALLY fun today.  

Marnie becomes an Ethiopian… step 1.

   TRENDY TOURIST PICTURES!! B is a lot better at it than I am…(Emily, Kadie, and Kayla… the barn one is for you.  Emily Nicholos… the blue gate reminded me of Charleston! ).  

 

Highlights:

1.       Finding all the good things Ethiopia has to offer:

Example A: 

Example B:

2-     IT RAINED!!! During our walk, which was great.  As B pointed out, the rain is probably cleaner than the water we’ve been showering with.

3- Getting to Facetime with MEEMAW!  It was unexpected. And getting to talk to my parents, Katie, and Carey for a bit.  Sometimes I’m really thankful for technology.

Biggest thing I learned:

Just as Christinaity isn’t limited to church on Sundays, ministry in Africa isn’t just limited to my time spent working with Because of Kennedy.  God is sanctifying me through my interactions with Brittany, my patience is being tested by hanging out with 4 kids all the time, I’m learning the meaning of unconditional love by being on a team of people who are different than me, and I’m discovering what it means to walk with God throughout the day.  I’m frustrated because I can’t speak this language (like, even WRITING it has different characters), but I’m having an AMAZING time figuring out how to communicate and connect in different ways.  God isn’t just ministering to me when I am intentionally (sorry Carey… I couldn’t think of a different word) serving him, just as I am ministering people outside of our specific “ministry sites”.  Africa isn’t just a country with starving children and people with piercings through their faces (sorry Megna), it has COOL architecture and beautiful terrain and a relaxed kind of lifestyle that we can learn a lot from.  

Post number three

I'm starting off really strong with creative blog post titles...

Day 2 and 3 consisted of a LOT of driving around in the big grey van (Eventually I'm gonna name it) and trying to find a house to live in.  It was cool getting to see the city (I'm pretty sure we covered all of it), but 8 people in a van all day gets a little exhausting.  Addis Ababa is more developed than I expected, but it's also a lot more run-down (I know that sounds kind of contradictory, but it makes sense).  We've gotten to see a lot of Ethiopian houses the past couple days (like, nicer houses.  Not the ones made out of tin scraps... I think that will come later in the summer).  It's crazy - Dure (one of the Ethiopians we're working with) just calls up some of his friends, and we drive somewhere in the city, pick one of his friends (I hope) up off the side of the street, and then go see a house.  If we don't like it/it's way out of our price range, he calls someone else.  I guess people just know who's moving out for the summer/who's selling houses?  All I know is that eventually, the system worked.  I still can't decide how it makes me feel about America.  We walk into these "upscale" Ethiopian houses - if they were in America, all we would see were houses that were in the middle of being furnished with thrift shop furniture.  It's easy to jump to criticizing the American lifestyle and talk about how wasteful we are with buying expensive decorations, furniture that matches a specific color pattern, and having a full bed/bath for every family member.  At the same time, it's just another culture difference.  Brittany asked me the other day if I thought America "blinded us from the reality of society", but I don't really think it has.  Things are just different and standards of living are different and there's no such thing as a "reality of society", just different cultures.  I definitely think traveling somewhere else makes you more appreciative of what you have and in America we take a LOT  of things for granted (TOILET PAPER), but I think we spend so much time bashing the American culture without accepting that standards of living are just different.  I think I'm gonna learn a lot about this this summer, but we're so quick to jump to pitying the people on the streets or making lists in our head of what the people on the streets need, when we really just need to recognize that there are VERY different ways to live in this world.  I'm not saying it's okay that people are starving, but we need to recognize that our over-the-top form of living isn't the only way that people can live happily.
Okay sorry, that was enough thinking for the day.
DEAR BRANDIE, if you're reading this, I'm really thankful for that time you told me to take advantage of rest.  Before I came, I was really anxious about having down time.  I was afraid it was just going to make me feel like I was wasting my summer and I was just gonna sit around wishing I was home.  But I think this summer is going to have a lot of "down-time", and I LOVE that.  It's been so cool having some time to read and think and pray and journal - things that I love doing but don't make enough time for at home.  It's been amazing not having my computer or my phone to jump on as the first thing I do when I get a free moment.  I think once we get into the swing of things we're going to spend the mornings - mid-afternoons "on-site" (I'll explain more of what that means when I actually know what it means), and the evenings back in our house, so hopefully I'll spend a lot of time reflecting/learning, and I think that's where I'm gonna benefit a lot this summer.

More stuff I've learned: 
1. I'm not ready to be a mom (not that I was thinking about it, but still).
2. Taking my frustrations to God is way more fruitful and beneficial than venting to other people.

Random things: 
- We've been staying with these missionaries from Atlanta who moved here permanently 2 weeks ago - they've been INCREDIBLY gracious to open up their home to us and let us stay with them while we looked for a house - their blog is thekotrlafamily.blogspot.com if you want to check it out (I haven't gotten the chance to yet).
- Our team is coming together well: we had our first "reflection" time with The Gleason's, Brittany, and I last night - it was nice seeing people's emotions/frustrations come out and talk about what we were learning: it made me feel like we were actually a team, and I really liked that.
- THEY HAVE PEANUT BUTTER HERE.  PRAISE JESUS. literally. This might be the greatest thing that's ever happened to Ethiopia, besides when communism went bye bye.

Prayer Requests:
- Godly patience and love.  I got a taste of it today - it will DEFINITELY be necessary every day.
- Praise for finding a house and getting the essentials taken care of so we can start working!!