This Side of Africa

On my return to Ethiopia and my workplace, sitting around staff devotions with our five staff that were present, I relayed some of the stories of my time in Uganda and Kenya and there they echoed a sigh of relief.  I realized then that I was representing my team as well as the people of Ethiopia as we visited some amazing projects in Nairobi, Kenya and in Jinja, Uganda.

One of the things I had not expected in visiting the projects in our neighbouring countries was hearing stories being conveyed that resonated with issues and situations we had been facing in our little town of Debre Zeit. There are some similarities in the work we do. Both projects had been set up with the EWAR project model first being investigated here in Ethiopia.  So here were two thriving ministries a few years down the line based on that model in a context of their own.  We are all different bodies doing the same work in different countries yet the blood that runs through the veins of our project is the same type.

Cherry, I and some of the Kenyan staff

In terms of the women we work with, I could see these three commonalities:

Poverty:

One of the systemic contributing factors to the women in East Africa entering into a life of prostitution is poverty.  It wouldn’t be right to say that ALL women enter into prostitution because of poverty but for those who do, I would even go into saying that it’s extreme poverty as poverty is such a loosely sung lyric these days. The women here are in SUCH a state of poverty that working other jobs or selling things on the side of the road, don’t earn them enough to make a living. We’re talking about those less than $2 a day jobs that qualify them for the “extreme poverty” category. They don’t have education and they don’t have the business know how to get their income up to a standard that provides their own needs, let alone the needs of their family- children, parents, brothers or sisters. Their families extend wide.

The kind of poverty our African women face causes fear and anxiety and once a remedy is given for it-even if it is based on a “hand up” and not a “hand out”, makes them susceptible to dependence.

So in Ethiopia we give allowances for the women while they are in our program, a component of our program that was adopted in Kenya and Uganda. However, the Kenya project has changed their strategy because of the dependency that has been created in the past. Now they offer small business opportunities for the women so that they can help themselves and save up for bigger micro enterprise projects. This has meant however, less time in the program and more time out making money by other means than their former life. There is this struggle we face and something we do have to adapt to make it work for the best outcome for the ladies. In Kenya this seems to be working well.

Witchcraft/Idol or Demon Worship:        

Working in Debre Zeit means that we are at the cold face of witch craft and Idol Worship. Unfortunately it is something that our city is well known for in local circles. It’s partly animistic practices that exist around the lakes here but it’s also something that is attached to Orthodox beliefs throughout the country. Even though people class themselves as “religious” and say they worship “Egzabiher” (God) they are often caught up in some kind of Idolatry practices that invite spirits of darkness to take up residence in their customs, their traditions and in their lives.

In Uganda I heard stories of the women who they are connecting with on the streets. Many of these women are using drugs in their smoking pipes to put their clients under a spell so as to take their money away from them while they are zoned out and in their presence. They won’t inhale the drug but rather puff it out into the faces of their clients once they have them to themselves.

Even as we left Uganda we were warned on the bus not to smile or talk to the men at the border who could potentially have drugs hidden under their tongue they could breathe into our mouths to put us under a spell. We have had some stories like this reported to us in Ethiopia as well.

When working in societies with such prolific darkness manifesting itself in so many different ways, it adds another dimension to the holistic services we need to offer. It takes time and it takes discernment to understand what is of the women’s own backgrounds and what spiritual forces that are underlying their behaviour.  There was another NGO working with women in prostitution in our city and eventually they gave up after a cycle of non-successes. As I met with the director he said to me that “this work is spiritual warfare, and we don’t have time for spiritual warfare.” This is a large NGO who work with tens of thousands of children and their families. His advice to me was to pray.

Abandonment issues:

As the HIV rates drop in Africa, the ages of the orphaned children go higher. Women we work with are often orphaned, abandoned, given away or trafficked in a domestic setting. Along with these oh too common terms, there are difficult issues to go through. Issues that stem from the abandonment, the lack of parental bonding at critical developmental stages, the fear of rejection and the lack of healthy relationships never being modeled in their lives.

Recently we had four women join our program from Addis. The main reason they needed to come into the Hope House was because they wanted to leave the street but two of them were orphaned and had no family to turn to whatsoever. Women who were not so long ago orphaned girls who never got the chance to find another family, who maybe ended up raising their own family and ended up on the street to feed their family- these are the women who are spread across the streets of East Africa.  

Women who’s stories would make your heart bleed and yet who’s hearts themselves have hardened so that they can survive. These are the women we see.

From the inside looking out, we see also commonalities in terms of the programs we run. As I stated earlier, both the program in Nairobi and the program in Uganda came to Ethiopia many years ago to see how Ellilta Women at Risk was being run and they contextualized that model into their own settings. The program in Uganda even adopted the name Women at Risk and is still running true to the model, yet in a residential setting a lot like ours. There are some things they do differently. Many years later some things have worked and some have been adjusted yet some things have remained the same.

In terms of the projects we run:

The spiritual component.

Our sister project in Nairobi is unashamedly Christian- being run by the Mamlaka Hill Chapel Church in the city, this church desired to reach out to their community and in response to the needs they found in a close radius, Full Circle was born. Their amazing team is made up of staff and volunteers who have come out of their church and who are skilled and qualified for their roles. In Uganda too they are trying to work with pastors and are staffed according to Christian values and beliefs. Something that’s so important in combatting the darkness-bringing in the One who IS light to dispel that darkness.

But YOU are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, God’s special possession, that YOU may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His Wonderful Light! 1 Peter 2:9

Last year we came together at the ICAP (International Christian Alliance on Prostitution) Conference and we worshiped in a style that can only be African. One that was full of life and singing and beat and dancing. We worshiped in the African way- the way we worship in the settings of our own places where this is the norm and where it brings freedom. Freedom from the bondage that would keep our women silent against their struggles.    

Some of the beaded products the ladies in Uganda have made

Lack of market and job opportunities:   

Once the women have graduated from our programs, often we have given them tools and taught them handcraft skills that can help them to produce marketable products. But the market and the employment opportunities are hard to find. Not just for them but even for the educated, the graduated and the ones with great ideas. Unemployment rates are high and in comparison to the western world- a whole lot higher.

And then there’s the added complications and extra preparation that goes into transitioning women whose lifestyles and mentalities have lacked dignity and discipline for so long into a productive life. This is our struggle as we tailor our programs for them and desire only the best for these women who often find it hard to decipher what is best for themselves.

What I saw in Uganda was an array of finely handcrafted beads that were turned into necklaces and earrings, purses and bracelets. They had carry baskets the ladies had all lined up by their beds they are making in their spare time as well as table baskets that would sell for a good price in the western market. Yet here they are in the middle of Africa lacking the market and the marketers to be able to get the ladies some money for their hard work.

The challenge of funding.

While funds are obviously coming in to keep our projects running, there are definitely areas that could be strengthened with the help of additional funding. But like many NGOs who are running on a vision and passion to reach the unreached, the work gets done without time taken out to source additional funding to help improve services.  And then while funding is available out there by major organizations, it doesn’t get down to grass roots programs like ours who work on a small scale. We heard the same stories in these two countries of needs going unmet because of lack of funding. 

At the same time, each of our projects have a side IGA or income generating activity to provide sustainable income for the projects. But sustainable income that will bring in enough money to run a project seems unrealistic when all is taken into account. Overheads, staff needed to be hired to oversee the business, the payment of wages for the ladies we desire to hire to make the products…it all adds up. It’s like asking a successful business man to put all of his profit into funding an NGO. Not ever likely to happen unless there is another stream of income coming in somewhere else. For an NGO, that’s grants and funds.

Heri Nuts from the Full Circle Project

My friends Mary and Eunice in their newly established hair salon in Uganda

My heart was overwhelmed during our little excursion to Kenya and Uganda. I was as happy to encourage as I was to be encouraged and there was definitely more of the latter. I have sisters who have become closer and I hope that this work we do will collide more often as we look to the future. There are projects out there longing to join our fellowship, I know. There are women out there looking to join the projects. I know this too. And as our family grows bigger, pray that our battles will be won, our needs will be met and our markets will broaden.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work 2 Cor 9:8

Daniel and his diet. My fasting experience

D

Yesterday I was sitting in a crowded minibus next to my seventeen year old son on our way back from a hot day of adventuring around the capital. It's the second to last day of a twenty one day fast our church in NZ were participating in corporately and I had been doing here. My personal fifth time starting the year off like this after reading the Jentzen Franklin book Believe That You Can in 2010. I read this book with my husband after we missed out on a mission trip we were meant to take to Ethiopia on boxing day 2009 and retreated with this book a friend had given to us to encourage us.  And it did. It showed us that there was a process to God given dreams and that FASTING may be an essential part of the process that we may have been missing out on. God had better plans then the ones these we had come to regret.

It's fasting season here in Ethiopia as it heads into Fasika- the Orthodox Easter which this year will be celebrated a week after our Easter. Fasting food is easy to find therefore yet the Daniel Fast requires us to not only to abstain from meat and dairy but also from yeast, sugar, stimulative beverages and anything that is processed. IE. No coffee OR chocolate!

After eating my falafel wrap for lunch with its dressings that I knew I shouldn't have consumed (but was believing for God's grace to cover), my stomach starts to make funny noises as the sun and dust fill the van. My son is quietly listening to his music and I tune in to the radio discussion that is going on in Amharic. It's filling the van and drawing my attention to it as it speaks of one of my favourite subjects- FOOD!

This particular radio discussion was being facilitated between the DJ and a guest chef. He was sharing a recipe then went on to talk about the fasting that most of the country are doing right now. Its the fasting that closes down all the butchers in our town for 54 days. Here it requires abstinence from meat (red and white) and dairy. He was discussing the benefits of a vegetarian diet. He mentioned that Thomas Edison and Bill Gates were and are vegetarians. We all know how amazing these two men are. Their imaginations and abilities to invent actual world changing apparatus' are evidences that something in their way of life MUST have been right. Then my mind switches to Daniel.

Here was a man who was living in a time where Jews were being persecuted and their way of life was being put to the test. At one particular time they were being forced into submitting to the Kings way of living even though it flew in the face of the morals that they held. Instead of succumbing to their ways immediately, Daniel courageously offered an ultimatum to the governing officials and sought to prove that his God's ways would not only be beneficial for him but potentially for all if they would only SEE what results would transpire. He made a predetermined decision not to forgo the ways of HIS King. The story is found in Daniel chapter 1.

8 But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.  9 Now God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs.  10 And the chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and drink. For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king.”

11 So Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,  12 “Please test your servants for ten days, and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink.  13 Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the king’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.”  14 So he consented with them in this matter, and tested them ten days.

15 And at the end of ten days their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king’s delicacies.  16 Thus the steward took away their portion of delicacies and the wine that they were to drink, and gave them vegetables.

17 As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

A few years ago I went to hear a man called Don Tolman speak after seeing him on the Good Morning Show. I was captivated by what he had to say in a short amount of time.  This man had ONLY ONCE IN HIS LIFE attended church; a Sunday School class when he was 8 years old and he had heard this story. He had heard it in the King James Version and instead of saying "vegetables", it said "pulse". The curiosity of this young boy as to what "pulse" was never left him as he saw it as THE thing that led Daniel to being the most wise and knowledgeable and being able to interpret dreams and visions. So he went on a seventeen year journey that took him to 33 countries to discover what exactly Daniels diet consisted of. What this man discovered was mind blowing. He was speaking on the harbour of Auckland city at an exclusive event and his topic was whole foods. 

In his journey of discovery he had found out that the ancient Egyptians recognized that our bodies were made up of three parts. (In more than one way were we created in the image of the Creator-3 in 1) Our head, our body and our legs. They recognized that EVERY fruit, vegetable, seed and grain was CREATED to match certain parts of our body. Not just in their appearance but in the cells they consisted of. That every thing that grew in trees was good for our head, that foods that grew on the ground were good for our body and inner organs and that food grown under ground was good for our legs and feet and their functions. 

The whole talk was jaw dropping as I realized the awesomeness of a God who doesn't do things halfheartedly. He talked about how our bodies were created with the ability to heal themselves. He had testimonials of people he had applied what he had learnt who had been healed of cancer. His theories about why cancer is so rampant now make more sense than I can describe in this blog. 

BUT the thing that astonished me about this man, was that even though he referred to the "Judeo Christian literature", he had never come to believe in the God of Daniel. His interest was only in what he ate.

Daniel only ate what he ate, however. because he had an intimate relationship with a loving God who wanted the best for him and showed him that what he CONSUMED was important in him achieving that best. This was not a 21 or even a 10 day stint on Daniels behalf. This was a lifestyle. It was something he had "purposed in his heart" to keep his body from being defiled which would result in his mind, soul and spirit being in tune with God and with others so that he could deliver on the promises God had given HIM to deliver.

Oh, how we defile our bodies. 

Oh, how we miss out on the so much more just in the way we EAT. 

My own personal struggle and journey with food meant that when FASTING first came on my radar as a Christian, I trembled with fear at the thought of not having to eat at all or even to not eat my favorite things! Honestly, in that first year that I felt God was calling me to fast I was having anxiety attacks and FEASTED on all the things I was afraid of missing out on the night before I went into the fast. And that year I decided to go into a FULL fast for the first three days then continue the Daniel Fast for the remaining eighteen.

BAD.

BAD.

IDEA.

I lay flat on my back for three days. Talk about detoxifying your body with a sledge hammer. This is what it felt like. But after learning about all the toxins in our body and their potential affects on your system, I knew this was a good thing and I pressed on. It was a struggle though. The whole 21 days. But through that time I got clarity and vision and God showed me what He wanted me to do with this whole Ethiopia and Asaua situation. He wanted me to LET Asaua GO by himself so that I would LET go of trying to force this THING to happen. It worked.

My sister had also decided to join me in the fast that year as we were doing Bible College together. She was particularly praying that our oldest sister would get pregnant after many years of infertility. She had received what is called a "word of knowledge" from God and He had even told her to tell our sister that within a year, she would be pregnant. 

#scary

I felt her fear as she asked me my opinion. But she got her confirmation and she courageously stepped out in faith and shared this message to our sister. That year passed and again the next year we did the Daniel fast for 21 days. This time our church was corporately fasting too so we were surrounded by support to do this thing.

 SO Much Easier.

Two days before our 21 days (and the year that was prophesied) was up, we get a text message from our sister saying...wait for it...

"I'm pregnant!"

Sweet Jesus. He reigns Faithful and True. I'm in the laundry doing my washing and I lock the door and bow down and worship the One who does this which commands us this response.. 

He makes the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD. Psalms 113:9

Many times since then I have done this fast. I wish it was a lifestyle for me but it is honestly too hard. Even though I FEEL the results, both physically and spiritually. And when I am desperate for something and want to go deeper in God, I sacrifice the things I love FOR the One I love. And that sacrifice never goes unrewarded.

Last night after a long day in Addis and a power cut that went on for hours, we went out for dinner at a local restaurant. I am eating injera (which some might classify as having yeast although its not really yeast) and shiro (which is powdered chick peas cooked with spices.) My son is questioning me about what you can eat and what you can't and the reasons behind it. My response to him is...

It's not about the "can"s and "cant's" of what you eat, it's about your heart and its about the results. 

The proof is in the fruit.

(Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. John 15:4)

I reminded him of two years ago when I did the Daniel Fast here after my foot was broken and on the last day of my fast. my still broken bone that had been taken out of its cast prematurely had miraculously healed. To the point where I walked to my breakfast table limping and walked away jumping up and down.

I reminded him that normally God comes through on the last day.

We went home, straight to bed as the lights were out and we were all tired.  I listen to a message by Bill Johnson about tithing and God's desire to bless us in the spiritual when  we obey Him in the physical.  

And I wake up at 2:30am to an email on my phone. 

Here I am praying and believing for big things this year! Most of what I am believing for COSTS money- including the running of our ministry in Debre Zeit which had been burdening me for a while. This is my responsibility to raise funds for our project!

I open my email in case its our friend who sits on the board of Redeeming Love World Missions, (our partnering charity in the States) who was on her way to Chicago to fly to Ethiopia today. Instead I find out its her counterpart letting us know that she had received a donation from a church her husband had overseen a couple of years ago for four months. She was asking if we had any needs we could put this money towards. Though she did not see our needs, God saw that we were needy. We were in need of His provision for this great work He has invited us to participate in. And since it is His work, He has the responsibility of resourcing it. Not just with the people but with the financial provision that keeps giving us the ability to move forward.  

So He does. Not just as a result of my fasting and praying but as a result of His Heart of Love to give HIM Glory that reminds us that HE is True and Faithful. That He is the Source and that we are just the channels. That He holds in deep regard those who are crying out for rescue. That's my God.

The things we have learnt to live without...

For the last three years we have learnt to live WITHOUT..

Without guarantee of water or power when we wake up in the morning or go to bed at night - knowing we have food in the fridge that is likely to go off and dust laden children and clothes that need a wash.

Without privacy or space at home or on the road as people manned our gates, cleaned our house, came to visit.

Without our favourite foods and convenient supermarkets in which to purchase them on a frequent basis. We learnt to do with substitutes.

We have learnt to live without family get togethers and seeing babies born.

Without sending invitation texts to sisters and brothers for our next Child's birthday party.

Without earned income and payslips following suit

Without eftpos payments at any store

Without our own personal car to drive around in

Without the convenience of being able to speak English at important times of communication

Without a consistent education level for our kids

For periods of time we have lived even without our eldest child and less importantly without hot water in the house, furniture, water coming through our taps, access to calls overseas, internet access for days on end...

Yet we have also learned to live without other things too...

We have lived without mortgage payments and overdue rates letters

Without petrol expenses and the knowledge of how much it costs

Without a boss who keeps our hours and keeps us from our kids

We have lived without the question of "what if I die and I never lived out my dream?"

We lived without the fear of being held accountable for not doing what we have always known we should do

We lived without questioning if God could use us in Ethiopia

We lived without a boring day.

We lived without doubt that God would provide our every need

And without limiting what He is able to do

We learnt to live without an excuse for not doing anything, not helping anyone, not making our life count.

We lived without the materialistic lifestyle that used to keep us bound.

We lived without attachment to the things of this world that didn't really matter

We learned most of all what we could not live without...

We cannot live without the Love of God.

AND His Love poured out into us and overflowing into others. Now THAT we can not live without.

All the other things we can live without. All the other things have taught us a valuable lesson
That a life lived in His love is a life that demands sacrifice but that sacrifice does not go unseen

What are you learning to live without?
"If I speak in the tongues of men and angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Cor 13:1-3

The Scarlet Thread...

"Behold, when we come into the land, you shalt bind this line of scarlet thread in the window which you let us down by: and you shalt bring your father, and your mother, and your  brethren, and all your father's household home to you."  Joshua  2:18 

The scarlet thread was to be a sign for the rescue of Rahab and her family in the days that would bring destruction to her city.  She, by faith, had hidden these spies in her house so that they could spy out the land for Joshua and their people.  It was the beginning of the overtake of Jericho by the people to which God had promised the land.  Yet the method they used  to enter the city was to go into the house of a harlot.  A prostituted woman.  A prostituted woman who lived in a brothel on the wall of Jericho.

SHE "straddled the fence"- literally.  The Bible said she had her brothel on the top of the walls of Jericho.  She saw the desert and the Jordan River and she saw the land of Jericho that in her heart, she knew was one day going to belong to the people who worshiped this One True God.  The God of Israel. 

This week we learnt about the different stages of women in prostitution breaking away from their lifestyle.  There are four stages and they are really not representative of their physical stand point- whether or not they had left the street, but where they were psychologically with the whole situation.  One of them was the "turning point" stage.  Rahab, was literally straddling the fence of this stage and the previous stage.  She had seen the advantages to starting a new life yet was still tied to the lifestyle she currently owned.

Yet this “prostitute” had heard of this great God and the things He had done for His people.  This is the reason for her co-operation with these men.  She vowed not to tell of their visit or spread a word about their business.  She was fully willing to risk her life for the life of these men because she knew what they knew.  

Joshua 2:10-11  "For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt… And as soon as we had heard these things, our HEARTS DID MELT, neither did there remain any more courage in any man, because of you: for the LORD your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth beneath."

I love this story for a few reasons.  It shows us the tenacity of these men to go into a brothel.  Not something many men of God would do or even women for that fact.  It may bring the “appearance of evil” and therefore many stay away.  BUT GOD used this medium for the rescue not only of this woman but for His people from the desert. 

It also shows the bravery and intelligence of Rahab.  She didn’t fear upon the arrival of these two men and she knew how to make the best of the given situation.  She knew how to navigate her way around their hearts.  She also wasn't afraid to open a window to her heart.

She believed without fear.  She heard and then, she believed.  And then she acted on that belief.  

She went to the 'turning point' stage.  She was thrown a lifeline in return for her bravery and faith.  The lifeline was her rescue not only from the destruction her city was about to face but it was from the lifestyle she had led up to that point.  

Rahab went on to live with the Israelites, the book of Joshua tells us.  But other parts of the Bible (such as Matthew 1) tell us that she went on to marry.  She married a man called Salmon and they raised a beautiful baby boy who ended up becoming a kinsmen redeemer over some land.  One day Rahab's son (otherwise known as Boaz) met a young lady gathering the leftovers in his field.  He had heard good things about this lady and showed her favor.  This young lady was widowed and away from her homeland so her mother in law suggested she go and seek a relationship with this kind gentleman.  They ended up marrying and having a son called Obed.  He also married and had a son named Jesse.  Jesse went on and had eight sons- one whom he called David.  David grew to become King and so the story goes on.  

God totally changed the destiny of this woman.  She sits in the lineage of not only the King of Israel but the King of the Jews.  The Son of David.  The Great Messiah, who by His blood would rescue souls.  By His Scarlet thread that ran from His Veins to rescue us from our destruction.

We are rescued to be rescuers.  

This Scarlet thread is being thrown out today for some ladies who find themselves in brothels with the view of what God is able to do with their lives.  They are straddling the fence but they are willing to risk their lives for the life of others- often times their own children.  But they need a way out.

I think of the ladies I met in Nazaret in 2009 and how they offered rescue to me.  On hearing their stories and hearing how God had rescued them, my life was rescued.  In restoration phase myself, I found myself repenting of my selfishness and pride that had built up over years of self-righteousness.  They rescued me from myself.  From my own self destruction so how else could I repay them but to provide their rescue in return.

So a couple of weeks we had a staff retreat out in Koka to evaluate and plan for the upcoming ladies who will enter our house.  We talked about Night Visits and the team decided our goal was to let every prostituted woman in Debre Zeit know that there is hope for her through our program.  The idea was raised to order some plastic wrist bands that displayed the words that hold our vision : Renewing Hope.  But written in Amharic so that every woman would remember that there is hope for her.  Especially when she feels hopeless.  This is her scarlet thread. 

It's not scarlet but it's orange which is the Ellilta Women at Risk logo color.   This is a draft of what we want to produce!  

You too have an opportunity to throw out a scarlet thread today.  Help support the distribution of some of these wristbands for us.  We not only want to order some for Debre Zeit but for every city our organization exists in- including for now Addis Ababa and Nazaret.  For every one we sell for $2, we can give away 11 to women who need to know there is rescue for them.  If we have 80 orders, we can distribute 1000.  

If you would like to buy one, contact us by email and we will send one out to you.  Postage and packaging not included.  

Contact michelle.tiatia@gmail.com

Be blessed!

Transformation

From the rural villages of the vast expanse of land that is Ethiopia, girls travel for miles, for days, from family and familiar to the door steps of urban settings to find work and a better life.

They are often forced into this situation due to poverty, large families and lack of educational opportunities. 

They are desperate. 

They are destitute. 

They are deceived.

Deceived into thinking that this life will be better than the life they lived before.

Often they find work as child slaves, forced into domestic services without pay, forced out of education with time spent on preparing food, looking after children and keeping house while their "employers" work.  Often times it's their own families who send them away to help with the work of another family living in the rural setting.  

As these young girls grow, they try to find work. No longer able to sustain a living in the home and often ousted because they are too demanding on the household income.

So they go out onto the street looking for jobs. Work for an uneducated, inexperienced GIRL is not easy to find. She can get manual labour but even then she may be rejected.

One of our girls was. "You're too young" she was told. Maybe by international child labour laws, to work for a internationally seen institution, she was too young. "Go look for work in a bar" this young, naive teenage girl was advised.

Huh. You are too young to chip at cobblestones but you are not too young to work at a bar.

In this particular case, a case not too uncommon, the girl was raped. Introduced to drinking and sex by a "friend" who she had found on the street. This preceded her finding work in a bar where selling alcohol earned far less than selling her body. 

This is actually the typical case study - one that was portrayed last year at one of the Addis Ababa sites of EWAR.  One drama that was giggled at by women who knew the story, oh, too. well.

It was a story of a girl who came from the rural village to find work, discovered she was incompetent at city life then was befriended by someone who took pity on her. She was raped, she was deceived and she went on to find hope at EWAR. It was a story of survival.

When survival outweighs knowledge, one has to succumb to survival.

Though they know better. Though they are worth more, if hope is lost, survival strategies take first priority.

I remember attending my first training with Ellilta Women at Risk. Unbeknownst to me, it was an ICAP Africa training and it was based around trauma. There were some amazing speakers there from the Seattle School and they were preparing the participants on how to deal with trauma in their ministries. I heard stories that would make most horror films I had seen, sound lame.

But they were TRUE stories! How could such evil exist? I thought. And my question was answered over the couple of days I was there.

Evil was sent to destroy what Good had intended for all. It came to destroy beauty. It came to destroy sexual pleasure that displays the glory of the One who created it to be enjoyed.

But I had never anticipated that I would engage with such stories. That the women who stood outside the houses that lined the streets of Zion Church would be carriers and victims of such gross evil. In my total naivety, I never would have imagined that such horrific events would have led such innocent girls down the path of sexual commercialization. Not JUST the selling of their bodies, but the giving away of their souls. For free. At a price that they themselves have paid. Some for years and some since they were just babies.

So, in His intricate design, this Bringer of Hope, placed together the right people and the right community to rescue these girls from their despair.

In Debre Zeit, it happened like this. That this broken mother of five from New Zealand would be flying across the Indian Ocean to join a team she had met thru a post on Facebook, to join an entourage of ten from America to be introduced to an organization called Ellilta Women at Risk. Two years later her and her family were planted in a city where a church who was desperately trying to reach out to the women working in their location were needing some extra support. As she had been introduced to EWAR, she then in turn introduced them. So an alliance was formed against the enemy and the battle begun in Debre Zeit.

The model was applied into the context of this community where women enter into their brothels with nothing and they leave with nothing. So a 24/7 rehabilitation centre was planned and eventually implemented. The team comprised of workers from Addis Ababa EWAR and staff from Zion Church (aka Tsion Mekane Yesus Church).

The "team" also expanded across the globe as people gave to support the cause. Ladies took up responsibility for their Ethiopian sisters and set up fundraising campaigns, from head shaving ideals, to yard sales, formal galas and glass blown necklaces with the word "HOPE" stamped on the front. Their community of support multiplied.

One of our first drop ins with the ladies who are now graduating from our house

On the ground, the EWAR leadership assigned Abrehet (who was originally a part of the staff in Nazaret who I had met in 2009) to oversea our site. She put together plans and proposals and instigated our licence application (and saw it thru up until our latest report.)

We had counselors with years of experience come on a weekly basis to have one on one time in trauma counselling sessions. Other staff came to deliver the 12 step rehabilitation program, health, skills and work training components as well as parenting and basic maths skills.

From the get go we pushed relationship and showed a love that demanded nothing in return. Nigist (Pastors wife from Zion Church and social worker in our Hope House) not only executed this policy but also taught our illiterate girls how to read and write in a short amount of time.

We also added a fitness component at the girls request. My darling husband would leave home at six in the morning to reach the house by 7am to train the girls in resistance exercises and boxing. They. Loved. It.

We ate together, laughed together, cried together and examined ourselves TOGETHER. We were vulnerable together.

If there's one thing I love about what Cherry (aka Serawit Friedmeyer) has taught me and that we have tried to implement in our work, its that we are all equal. We serve each other equally. We admonish each other equally. There is no one who is above anyone in our project site.

 If God has created us all equal, then surely we should act like it.

Here is a clip of the work we have seen Him do over the last seven months. Thank you to all those who have contributed so far! God is so good!

Home is where the HEART is..

I remember the first time I got sick here…

I mean, REALLY head-down-the-toilet-for-two-hours kind of sick.  I was in Nazaret and had just finished my first reunion with the staff there at Women at Risk- a site I had visited two years prior to our return as a family.  I was with Nigist who is now on our staff and who had carried a vision to work with the women on the street of Zion church since her and her husband had planted the church right there smack BANG in the middle of the red light district ten years earlier.

The sickness came on just as we were getting onto the bus in Nazaret for the 45km ride back to Debre Zeit.  It was as if the enemy of the vision was saying…”Let the games begin!”  The enemy of our souls and the souls of the women who were about to be rescued out of HIS clutches put his fists up as if to pick a fight. 

Here the war intensified as we started to make progress towards the vision we both carried.

Just this past week, we met with another NGO who had been given funding to reach the street children and prostituted women of Debre Zeit.  He said to us that what they were asked to do, they couldn’t.  He said “THIS ministry is a CALLING  and it is serious spiritual warfare that takes time to battle.  We don’t have time or resources for that” the director of this mission based NGO concluded.  I couldn’t agree more.  From the GET GO, there has been a war raging that continually we have to guard against and then when we don’t, we have to recover from.  Better be on the “guarding against” side then on the “recovering from” side of the battle- even if it IS “easier to ask for forgiveness then to ask for permission.”

So we are sitting on the bus, buzzing about the meeting we had just had and something in my body told me that it wanted to come out.  We disembark and I find the closest toilet which was in the public bus station and it made it’s presence known by the horrific stench that caused whatever was wanting to come out of my body, to retreat back in.  It held through the next toilet which again begged for a clean and I wasn’t about to clean it.  We have been in the country less than two months and the cultural differences are still being adjusted to.  Clean toilets are still my pet peeve. 

We find a hotel across the road, I’m still holding it in yet the time where this is possible, is running OUT.  So I find a toilet that’s able to capture my stomach’s contents a few times over.  I’m getting put off Mirinda orange with every hurl.  I think about the woman of God who awaits me in the waiting room of the hotel and how great her faith is for healing.  I ask her to pray.  I think about my children and husband at home who await my return and it suddenly dawns on me where HOME is. 

Throughout life, never does “HOME” beckon more than when I am sick or tired.  The call of my pillow and my bed is never LOUDER than when my body calls for it to rest, to recuperate, to heal. 

So here I am, sicker than ever in this new land we have moved to and all the questions of where home is fade away.  Home was calling me and it was calling from Debre Zeit- not Auckland or New Zealand but it called within the confines of Ethiopia. 

This was home.  Home was where my heart was and where my family and I had settled.  This had become our new default when we opened up our search engine and typed in “Home”.  The default was Ethiopia.  Yet our old one still existed in our “History” folder.  Auckland, New Zealand.  This is our other home- the one that holds our heritage, our family- the one that calls when we are sick of our new Home and the things here that frustrate and stir. 

I tell my kids “the bible says not to murmur or complain” this week and they pull me up on my own breaking of this value.  I do it.  These days, far too often.  I repent and move on trying not to do it again.

But on days where we feel ripped off, begged off one too many times, and the electricity doesn’t work for five days, your other home calls all THE MORE LOUDER.  Especially when your eldest son plays his first big rugby game in a huge stadium and his team wins the championship...

And your older sister has just had twin babies and is sending you pics all the time and you realize that this time will pass and they will grow without you’re presence and not only them but the four cousins that have come into the world previously without being introduced to my children over the last three years...it can't pretend that that is easy.

Dallin and Pierce, cousin five and six who have been born while their cousins have been away in Ethiopia!

Sometimes there are days where pain and joy mix as sweetly as peanut butter and jam.  Because the battle here is being won.

In the lives of the women who we work with, battles are being won and the clutch of the enemy is being loosed  Yet on the other hand, the realities of living life as a foreigner in a third world country still exist.  And we asked for this life- I hear the little voice say- and we knew what we were getting ourselves in for…BUT as much as we know the call and obeyed the call, a break from it all and a return to the home that holds our history, continues to INCREASE its volume. 

The battle is being won on the home front too.  This week, we had a cool family time in the midst of the power strike and I tell my kids how when I met their father we were going on a camp and I was “helping” my Aunty and Uncle put together the lists of the teams who would be at the camp.  I sneakily put the new boy’s name (ie Asaua) on the same list as mine.  We end up having to do an item together as a team and we sing this song- a song that at the time of telling the story, totally eluded me- but it’s a song that rings in my heart today. 

The thing is, No matter where home is, if your heart is with Jesus, He is everywhere and we just need to find HIM in the struggle and the pain.  For where He is, there you can be and if you find Him, you find peace and comfort for your soul… And that’s what keeps me going

Here are the words to the song -

I am weak but Thou art strong

Jesus keep me from all wrong

I’ll be satisfied as long

As I walk, let me walk close to Thee

Just a closer walk with Thee

Jesus grant my humble plea

Daily draw me close to Thee

Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

10 things I had never done before we came to Ethiopia

Tomorrow it is the third anniversary of our departure from New Zealand which means that in thirteen days, we will celebrate our third anniversary of being here.  Boy how time has flown and so much has changed, including dynamics within our family…In our relationships, in our daily lives and in our habits.

There are some things I never thought I would find myself doing until I came here.  Things I had spent so much time instilling into my children have soon gone out the window- like “don’t eat with your hands”- total waste of time.  So I thought I would make a list- not just of things that I have found myself doing, but also the members of my family.  The list could have gone a lot longer but we have limited it to these ten.

1.  Ate a green orange.  So we came here from the land of fresh fruit and vegetables, complaining about the lack thereof in our new found home.  One of the disappointing things for us was the fact that we couldn’t find any orange oranges.  They were all green- as if they had been picked prematurely and that was okay.  While for the first year or so, this bothered us to the point where we would totally abstain, now, we get excited if we find out that these green oranges are cheap and we can buy a few kilos.  Sour and pip infested, we can consume a kilo in a split second.

2.  Picked my nose in public.  Dust and dry environments call for dried up mucus casing your nose.  It’s a known fact and can cause even black dry snots to form in your nose, disallowing you to breathe.  So the fact is, when you gotta pick, you gotta pick!  Not only is this habit culturally acceptable it is quite common and very contagious.  Like a yawn.  You see someone else do it, and your body naturally responds by wanting to do the same thing.  Asaua has even discovered that by picking his nose in public, that he in fact gets less attention by onlookers than he would if he did otherwise.  It’s always good to know what will make one fit in more.

3.  Drove a bajaj.  Actually, we had never ridden in a bajaj until we came to Ethiopia.  It’s now one of our four methods of transportation- other than the horse and cart, the minibus taxi or catching a ride with our friends.  So we have a trusted bajaj driver who has become a family friend, who we can send to get our kids, pick up some materials for our house, get visitors to their desired destinations and teach us how to drive.  On one clear road where most bajaj drivers learn to drive, I have also done the same- this is what I do when I need to get my driving fix. 

4.  Held hands with someone of the same sex for an extended amount of time.  This one’s from Asaua.  It’s true though that most of us have found ourselves been caught in the clutch of someone else’s hand for a longer length of time than we are comfortable with- to the point where we are walking down the road holding that person’s hand in brotherly affection.  What can start off as a shaking of hands can soon become a holding of hands.  And we’ve come to accept it’s perfectly fine for us (as long as the feeling of affection is mutual) but can still initiate a chuckle when we see it with other people.   Yet at the same time it can also create a sigh of relief as we see our brother’s and sister’s here defy consciousness to be so closely reunited with a love one that they have to physically be in close proximity to them. 

5.  Cooked by fire.   Now I’m not talking about Barbecues or gas stoves.  I’m talking about a small metal fire cooker that we originally bought so we could freshly roast some coffee beans on it and look professional while doing it.  Never did we think that we would need to use this many times over for cooking our meals when power would cease to supply.  Personally I have only done this once or twice.  Asaua and the kids have done it more frequently as they have greater patience for it and see it as a novelty.  But what I have also learnt here is that what is a novelty to one person can be a nuisance to another.  And also what is at one time a novelty to one person, can soon also become a nuisance to that very same person.  Bring in no.6.

6.  Rode in a taxi with 23 people.  This is my personal record and I was excited to get a record when a friend of mine told me her record of 21 people.  This is in a 12 seater van where four people fit on two seats, two people sit on the tire hub and maybe a couple of kids are squeezed onto their parents laps.  Of course it’s not only the kids who are on people’s laps- everyone is basically on everyone else’s laps.  My funniest moment in this situation was when we had jumped in a van coming from a distant suburb and more and more people had been added to the van.  A visiting friend of ours was squashed in the back and yelled out to me in the front- “BY THE WAY, DID I MENTION I DON’T LIKE PEOPLE TOUCHING ME?!”  No one in the van other than us could understand what she was saying. It was hilarious.

7.  Ate raw meat.  It’s a delicacy here and originates in a specific region of Ethiopia called the Gurage region.  It is often mixed with butter and beriberi but it basically looks like the packaged minced beef you would buy from the supermarket.  I found out about this delicacy from the ladies at Women at Risk in Nazaret back in 2009 when we went around and asked them what their favourite food was.  This was top of the list.  Eww! Was my first response.  But after you live here for so long and see other people eat it and have it offered to you, it becomes tempting.  So on a couple of occasions now, I have eaten it.  One of those occasions was the girls’ 13^th birthday, after which I was sick for a few days.  At least we can say we tried it!

8.  Preached through a translator.  Actually I hadn’t preached at all in a church setting before we came to Ethiopia I don’t recall.   I had taught in Sunday School or in Youth Group, had shared my testimony in church but had never actually PREACHED to the Sunday morning service.  Funny thing is though, I had always wanted to.  Not to be on stage or to get recognition, but because I felt called to, gifted to and inspired to.  Here we often get invitations to speak (not just Asaua, but ME too!) as having missionary status means we are here to bring the gospel, so it is what we are expected to do.  Doing it through a translator though, adds another dimension.  It calls for trust (because you don’t know if they will actually relay what you’ve said) and patience (because there is a massive delay on both parts as each part is shared.)  We have had many translators here and appreciate each and every one of them for their patience in trying to understand our accents and often random terminologies!

9.    Checked eggs and milk before we used it.  We have made many purchases of milk (which we have to buy in a 500ml non-transparent plastic bag) where the contents have sat in unpowered refrigerators for a day or more and have often ended up on our breakfast cereal.  The same with eggs which have sometimes turned out black or rotten when we have thrown it into our already half prepared cake or omelette mix.  Maybe we should have thought about this earlier but the solutions to such things that we normally take for granted, like fresh milk and eggs, don’t automatically come to mind.  So we have learnt to pour the milk or crack the egg into a separate bowl BEFORE throwing in with some other food.  We hate to waste food here.

10.  Been into a brothel.  While brothel conjures up a different image in different countries, here (in Debre Zeit) it is nothing flash or secretive.  It’s an open room with a bar at the front and a bed either at the front or in the back room.  It’s a place you can freely go into at any given time of the day.  While I never thought this is where we would be, we have found ourselves in a brothel.  The reason being is that our church neighbours a whole bunch of brothels.  They are not just work places for prostituted women but they are also the homes of them and their gorgeous children.  It's not beyond God to go into brothels.  In fact, we can often find Him there- waiting for His children to come and rescue His beloved. 

So we have changed in so many ways.  Living overseas does that to you.  So let us know what you think?!