Ethiopian Humor or Wit

Monday, Sept.15,2014

I happened to find a book called,"The Chains of Heaven" ( an Ethiopian Romance) by Philip Marsden on one of Michael's bookshelves. ( We are staying at Michael's house--it's his home when he is here and is used as a CH Guest house too). It is a travel narrative of a young British man who explores northern Ethiopia by walking. Many interesting proverbs are scattered throughout the book. One proverb stated" Step by step the egg starts walking"--meaning that one should persist through very frustrating times and eventually one will get there! When the author told his Ethiopian friend that he wanted to walk from Addis to Aksum, the response was," Farenji ( foreigners) don't walk--only Ethiopians can walk"!

There are some buses here for public transport and they have numbers from 1-10. One of our Ch support staff asked me if I knew what the Ethiopian's favourite bus number was. I didn't know. The answer-- no. 11 of course--it is the "bus" of our two legs:)! It is so true-- most Ethiopians walk everywhere since often it is their only option!

Playing the Superspeed 1000!

We did some heavy duty work in class on Christian perspective and curriculum planning. To provide some "fun" literacy work as a diversion from the "intellectual material", I introduced a game called Superspeed 1000-- a list of 1000 basic sight words in English. It is played with a partner and each one reads as many words as you can for one minute. You try to beat your record each time-- the class loved it!!! It is so good for their own growth in their second language-- English.

Power outages are very frequent here. Our teachers had no lights from 6pm till 7am- on Sunday --- total darkness-- due to a massive blow-out at the CH guest house kitchen. A generator was brought in till the problem was fixed, but the generator only ran for a few hours. When they arrived in class this morning they announced-- sorry no homework done--no lights:)

A Worship Service and a Hike

Sunday, Sept.14, 2014

Rose-- wearing her traditional Ugandan dress-- so lovely!!

Lots of spirited singing!

We had a wonderful time of worship with our teachers at our training centre. The teachers were in charge of the liturgy and we had some awesome singing, prayers, and scripture readings. Ike brought a video of a sermon by Andy Stanley called, "Not in Vain" and the teachers understood his main points really well ( in spite of the fact that Andy spoke very rapidly:). We were so happy that the power stayed on till after he was finished.

Jake met 9 of the teachers at 2 pm for a hike to see the Rift Valley. Everyone agreed that it was so beautiful and our SS participants were amazed at the lush green vegetation, the rocky terrain, the river and its falls, and all the farming they were able to see along the way. They came home with muddy shoes but felt a renewed sense of the majesty of Creation and the Creator.

One of the beautiful falls seen on the hike.

The hikers with a few tag-a-longs from the village:)

Curriculum and Challenges

Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014

We hope to focus more on SS curriculum this session so Jake started the day with a discussion on what is curriculum, who should write it, how should it be put into units etc. Ike concentrated on looking at the SS syllabus with the teachers to see how the Christian worldview could be integrated into all the subject areas and not just in the CRE ( Christian Religious Education) section of the curriculum. Good discussions followed and lots of interesting questions were raised by the class.

Wani did our devotions today and we were so inspired!

 I was able to incorporate several literacy mini-lessons during our day, and helped to assign a visual aid project called The Big Story ( the Creation, the Fall,  Redemption started,  Redemption finished, and  Restoration or Renewal) using coloured papers, markers etc. We stressed using as many creative ideas as possible so we're looking forward to see their finished results next Friday.

One of our drivers who begged us to take his picture:)

Two new guests arrived at the CH guesthouse from Chicago, Illinois. We had a great time over dinner  finding out about their work in Ethiopia training Sunday School teachers. It is wonderful to know that there are so many people and organizations who are willing to come and help their brothers and sisters around the world.

Jake had a ride home in this cart-- said it was so much fun!

Friday,Sept.12,2014

We started our first day of the NTT training with an inspiring devotional by Ike on "hope" based on Isaiah 11. The teachers could really relate- their hopes for South Sudan as a peaceful and "prosperous to be" nation had been severely limited by the war in their country. The death of one our teachers also represented a big loss-- he was becoming a promising educational leader in SS schools and now they need to replace him. We spent several minutes talking and remembering this teacher and the class put together a lovely card of memories and collected funds from all of us to give to his children.

The teachers love all the handouts and materials!

We are so blessed to use this wonderful teaching facility again.

An evaluation of last year's training was discussed as well as the challenges our teachers face in implementing their training in their classrooms. Because of the war, the educational system has had very little money for new teachers let alone materials etc. Class sizes are even bigger than before due to the high influx of displaced and refugee people. Many classes have 100-160 students! It defies comprehension to be able to try to teach that many pupils ( as they call the students) let alone get to know their names!
We left for "home" with a feeling of hope despite the hardships and difficulties that our SS teachers face daily. They are so convinced that they are building for the future of their country through education. They want to do their job in the best way that they can with a Christian worldview and the best teaching practices.

Ethiopian New Year

Thursday, Sept.11


We were unable to start our classes on Thursday because it was a national holiday in Ethiopia. We celebrated the Ethiopian New Year with our teachers by having a lovely lunch at the CH guest house where all of our teachers are staying. The menu included Ethiopian dishes like Doro Wat, another spicy stew, injera, goat, lamb, rice, and a salad of tomatoes, oranges, and lettuce and of course lots of soda ( Coke, Sprite, etc)

Sisay and Mulu-- our cook and housekeeper-- preparing the traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony

After lunch we were treated to a "concert" of young Ethiopian dancers dressed in traditional costume. Eight girls and eight boys wowed us with their movements, rhythm and passion. We also lit a huge fire in the courtyard--everyone dances and sings around the fire and then they go to various people to ask for blessings or money. Traditionally the fire is lit on New Year's Eve but we were so tired that CH decided to do the fire on the next day. Our South Sudanese teachers loved the festivities. Their Ethiopian hosts are treating them like royalty:)

The dancers were so awesome-- the boys even did some Michael Jackson "moves"-- didn't know that one could move so many body parts at once:)

Over half of the dancers live at CH Global in their orphanage.

The traditional New Year's fire--accompanied by lots of singing and dancing afterwards with requests for money and good wishes for the New Year.

Excited to start our course tomorrow at 8:45 sharp!

Joyous Reunion

We arrived in Addis after a long but good flight. We met many interesting fellow travellers  on board and were surprised at how many people were flying to Africa on all sorts of aid and development work. Thankfully the Ebola virus hasn't stopped everyone from coming here.

In Addis at last!

Wednesday, Sept.10


We immediately met our teachers at the CH Global Guest House. They were waiting for us to arrive and what a joyous reunion we had! Lots of African hugs ( 3 times each person:) and greetings. We wondered how they would look after all the war and hardship in South Sudan, but each and everyone was healthy and well-- thank God! Of course the stories of the war that followed were very sad especially for the people in the parts of the country that suffered the most fighting.

A TV crew from the Gideon organization interviewed and filmed the teachers about the war, and the tremendous need for Bibles in SS. The Gideons plan to bring 100,000 Bibles to the Sudanese people. Our teachers were so happy to hear that news.

Our teachers being interviewed-- they took it so seriously!

The TV crew and the Gideon's representative doing the interview.

Went to bed very very early :) to try to catch up on our lost night of sleep.

Ready to Go!

The suitcases are almost packed and have been weighed and re- weighed to make sure we're not over our baggage limit. We're so excited to see everyone again and start our course work with our teachers.
We had so much fun yesterday purchasing beautiful laminated world maps and reading glasses for our teachers thanks to a generous donation from my dental hygienist and hairdresser who wanted to help out our project. We were so thankful for the gift!

Hope the colours suit!:)

Lord willing, our next post will be from Asella!