Our new normal

As the dogs bark outside late this first Saturday night in Ethiopia, I must say they do not phase me at all.  The kids are fast asleep (other than Jamal who’s reminding me of childhood stories), the husband soundly snoring and the mosquitos are busy at work, trying to get a kiwi feed.  We are going to sleep contented at the fact that today was a good day.  We prayed last night from Dubai that this morning’s transition into Ethiopia would go smoothly.  We had trouble getting on the plane in Malaysia with all our luggage and just getting on by the skin of our teeth.  At each stop on our trip the check in people seemed to be getting meaner.  Surely this last leg of our trip was going to be the worst as the plane was smaller and both Asaua and I had trouble in getting through immigration in Ethiopia on previous trips.  So we prayed.

We woke up to a cooler than the previous 42 degrees day in Dubai and packed our bags for our 6:30am check in.  The airport is huge in Dubai but the good thing is that with Emirates you have more options for check in counters.  Once we had discovered that we could check in at any Economy class desk, we proceeded to one where we were waved over by a young Caucasian man.  Turns out this young man likes rugby.  He immediately wanted to chat to Asaua, was impressed that we were REAL Kiwis and he turned a blind eye to the extra 6kgs of check in luggage and 2 extra carry on bags.  Even on the flight, everyone was so nice.  Jamal got the extra croissant that he requested, the girls got extra attention and the kids got their movies and music.  The flight was also an hour shorter than it was scheduled on our itinerary. 

We arrived in Ethiopia to a beautiful 16degrees Celsius.  It is rainy season in Ethiopia and as for this part of the country, the rain has clearly been falling.  All we see is green through the windows of our plane seats.  It feels like home.  We disembark for our final time a bit anxious about whether or not all our luggage will leave the airport with us.  But sure enough, as we go downstairs to immigration, fill out our forms and make our way to the counter behind a group from another African country, we are let through immigration very easily-even without the address of where we were staying (which I had thrown out somewhere on the journey).  Asaua was able to collect our luggage – ALL 13 check in bags and ALL of them went through the scanner with NO hassles at all. 

We were greeted with a white girl holding a sign reading “BLESSING THE CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL’.  Past her, we were reunited with our old friend Samson who I had met on my first trip to Ethiopia and who had guided Asaua on his trip by himself.  Our reunion was cut short with Samson and then Tadios (another former translator and friend) as it looked like rain might fall on our luggage that was stacked upon the BCI academy bus.  So we drove out into the abyss that is Ethiopia.  Streets full of diesel excreting trucks, footpaths pathed with mud and people walking EVERYWHERE.  It all seemed familiar now, not as it had been two years ago.  It all seemed okay to the kids too.  They didn’t seemed to shocked by it and quietly watched out their windows and soon fell asleep.

We arrived at our destination to a house that was unlike the guest house I had seen in the pictures.  The BCI management team had been working hard and had found us a house of their own as they wanted us to have our own privacy.  They had furnished the house with new lounge furniture, dining table and fridge as well as bunk beds for the younger kids, a double bed for ourselves and a single bed for Jamal.  Everyone seemed to be happy with our new home.  Yes OUR new HOME!! 

We went out for lunch at the local restaurant and then headed back home before we joined Mulgeta (the Principal of BCI and one of our close neighbours) and his family for their daily Coffee ceremony.  The coffee ceremony is a traditional Ethiopian ritual that helps to welcome and bring together people over freshly roasted coffee beans, popcorn and usually some bread.  For the first time, the children drank coffee.  They loved it.  It was topped with heated milk fresh from the cow.  We sat and talked about Mulugeta’s recent trip to Canada and the culture shock he experienced. 

Mulugeta is the Principal of BCI Academy.  He is very kind and friendly being very attentive to the children’s names and needs.  He also has twins only one month older than ours.  He said to me that “life is a classroom” assuring me that although it may seem to be sacrificing good education for my children, that this experience in itself was going to educate them like no classroom setting could. 

He spoke of Canada and his surprise at how old people would be detached from their family and put in a “Care Centre” when they can no longer look after themselves.  He compared that experience to Ethiopia here the children would take in their parents when they are old and feed and look after them till they die.  He also spoke of a man who he met that was in his early 60’s and had all this medicine that he was taking in front of him.  He asked the man why does he need all those medicines? He said to him “don’t you know that Jesus can heal you?” but he didn’t get a very good response. as the man was a French speaking Canadian doctor. I was reminded of the recent health gathering we had at church where the CEO of World Vision came and said that EVERY NZer over the age of 60 has at least one medication that they take daily- more often than not, more.  I told him of this and also of our high incidence of Cancer. Here, he said, the only person he knows who had cancer was one lady who had breast cancer.  She had a dream that her cancer was done and declared that to her doctor at her next check up.  When they went to find her cancerous tumour, it was gone. 

Mulugeta helped our son Wesley home by carrying him on his back and I carried Matthias on my back.  He told me of an Ethiopian saying that says  “a horn is not too heavy for a cow to carry.”  This is why you see so many mothers and children carrying around younger children.  It is not too heavy to carry when they are a part of you.

Day 5  

Today we were invited to attend a church service at Zion Church.  Our family couldn’t all go as the only available transport was a bajuj so Jamal, Kiara, Wesley and I all squeezed in the back and turned up to the service 2 hours late for what was meant to be a 4 hour service.  We were happily sitting outside in the back when we were called in to the very front of a very packed “house.”  By house I mean this picture below, FULL of people inside and out.  They have a church of 800 but fill it three times a day.  Rows of six people on each bench.

The choir sang songs of redemption and praise as it was the last service of this year and it was all about giving God thanks for things that He had done this year.  People were then invited up to give testimonies of what God had done in their lives.  Amazing testimonies of women who were trying to have babies but were diagnosed with tumours in their wombs.  One woman told God that if He would heal her then she would do something great for the House of God.  She was completely healed and was now pregnant with her second child.  Another woman was a muslim and stood up to testify her brother who was against Christianity when she became a Christian.  He ended up in a bad way and left school, started smoking drugs and ended up going “crazy”.  He ended up moving in with her and he ended up confessing that Jesus Christ was the One True God.  We heard testimony after testimony about how people were healed of their former lives in Witchcraft, Demonic possession, sickness, barrenness and this last one I am about to share just took the cup.

This one lady stood up who was so excited.  They were all just emphatic about how GREAT God is! Screams of Hallelujah, Tears of Joy.  She spoke about how she was raised believing in Witchcraft.  She was brought out of witchcraft at Zion Church and witnessed the power of healing. 
After she had her first son, he got very sick when he was 1 years old.  He went to the Hospital in Addis and ended up getting so sick that he died.  She took her son back to Debre Zeit and brought him to church, the whole way crying out to Jesus to help her.  She took him into church and felt heat and steam coming from his body.  All of a sudden, he was brought back to life!  He is now 6 years old.  She has two younger sons now and talked about how she prayed to God to help give her food. She knew God could perform miracles but her cupboards were empty and her children were asking for food.  Because of her children, she says, she now has food.  Nigest, the Social Worker and Pastors wife that was translating all of this for me, explained that this ladies children were part of BCI. 

What an amazing impact Blessing the children are having on the lives of people in Ethiopia.  They are able to help many families like this lady but there is so much more room for more.  Many people in Debre Zeit are asking God to supply for their families and God is wanting to use people like you.  Today I saw the potential in Zion Church and in Debre Zeit.  There are amazing things are happening here.  We know about so many other churches and organizations out there doing great things for God, but there are so many, like Zion Church in Debre Zeit who go unseen.  Today they meet in a building that is falling apart.  They have sticks to hold up aluminium roof slates.  They are praying and believing for a bigger building and a more stable one.  What an opportunity to do something awesome in the lives of people.  People are being set free here every week.  Do you want to be a part of it?