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.