Roggie Report

Roggie Report

After meeting the Johnson-Hammack team (another MPPC-based teaching team) we boarded our tour bus for the five hour drive to Roggie. We mixed and mingled with the other team (16 of them) and it was interesting to hear their stories and their excitement about their trip. They had just arrived in Addis the night before from the US so we did feel a bit like “locals” as we described our past month’s adventures to them.
The view out the window quickly changed as the kilometers went by. From the crowded, noisy streets of Addis to the more wide open agricultural areas on our way south. I’ve previously described this view as more like a National Geographic picture of Africa – round huts clustered in compounds, thorny wooden enclosures for animals, and small cooking fires being tended by women and children.
We left the paved road and made the last 5 km journey on a rutted dirt path passable only because it was not currently raining. The leftover “puddles” made the trip a bit like a cross between Great America’s Log Ride and Disneyland’s Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride but we made it safely across.

The road represents the journey that many of the school children take each day and it was dotted with clusters of huts and grazing animals of all kinds. As our bus passed, the sight and sound brought dozens of running children to the bus windows, waving and cheering our arrival.

As we rounded the last turn we could see in the distance the school buildings on the hillside. This was especially exciting for me since on my last visit to Roggie in January 2005 there was only a single church building on the site.
We were met by what appeared to be the entire Roggie community but before we could enjoy the welcoming ceremony they had planned for us we couldn’t help poking our heads into the classrooms where the KG1, KG2 and Grade 1 students were sitting quietly at their desks. Who knows how long they had been waiting for us but they greeted us enthusiastically (WELCOME!!!) and eagerly presented all of us with pictures they had drawn thanking their MPPC sponsors. Another personal highlight was meeting Meskerem Terefe, a KG1 student who I am sponsoring. What a blessing to meet her in person, see her smile and hold her hand.

Our team spent some time doing a few songs and some crafts (Todd’s team worked on a photo project for MPPC) before breaking out the jump ropes and playing with the children. Before leaving Roggie for the day, we visited one of the school children’s houses and delivered gifts that had been sent by MPPC families to their kids in Roggie.

Our overnight stay was at a lodge on the shores of Lake Langano.
This was our visit to mosquito country and the large and numerous ones were waiting to greet us when we arrived. The grounds were beautiful and we enjoyed a dinner together before heading to bed. Yeah, about that…..this was the first time for all of us (except Stephen) that we spent the night under mosquito nets. Katie and Victoria had the added adventure of sharing a twin bed under a mosquito net. The 90+ degree temperature inside and our inabililty to open any windows (“Will we have a goat in here?, because that’s my only concern” V.G.) made for an interesting night’s “sleep”.

In the morning we returned to Roggie. We stopped at the site of the well, another MPPC project which is completely changing the way these villagers will spend their days. The construction of the pumping stations and generator will begin this next week so future visits will show even more progress. Zenebe had asked the kids to come to school this day bringing with them their goats. Last summer’s MPPC children’s offering had been designated to purchase goats for each of the children of the school. What an amazing sight to see all of them and their goats gathered together on the school grounds. Many of the goats had offspring during the year so I think the kids outnumbered the kids.

We spent some time again with the children in their classrooms teaching some simple songs and a few English lessons. By mid-day it was time to leave.
I know as I approach the end of my month’s stay in Ethiopia I am facing several difficult goodbyes but hugging Meskerem goodbye was especially tough for me. As with all of the many lives we’ve touched and been touched by, we count it a blessing to have been here even briefly and we trust God with the continued care of His people.

More poetry

Here are a couple of poems that I (Susan) wrote inspired by our time at the Feeding Center. Thank you for your continued prayers for the 660+ men, women and children who are served each day by this ministry of hot food.

Sofia

7 months ago.
Sofia discovered that a new beginning was growing within her. Excitement and joy competed with the sorrow that life with her ill husband imposed.

6 months ago. Sofia’s stomach churned in the early morning. A reminder that soon there would be yet another mouth to feed.

5 months ago. Her husband’s ever-worsening symptoms coincide with her ever-expanding belly and she waits.

4 months ago. The difficulties increase as her fears about the future deepen. There is no work. There is no food. There is no hope.

3 months ago. The worst happens. A visit from death and the family that should be growing larger loses its Father.

2 months ago. Her pleas for hospitality go unanswered. An unmerciful landlord forces her eviction into the cold, dark streets of Addis.

1 month ago. Her toddler son asks the questions for which she has no answers. When is Daddy coming back? What is there to eat today? Why?

Today. Sofia slowly travels the cement walkway that leads to lunch. Exchanging her ticket for a bowl of injera and wat. All that she’ll receive today to share with her wiggly 3 year old and her unborn child.

Now it’s my turn for questions that go unanswered.
Where will she go to deliver this new baby? What will happen to them? Why?


The Feeding Center

Group after group they come
Women and their children
The sick, the poor, the lame
Blind, orphaned and alone
Wearing their entire wardrobe at once
The sum of their possessions in the bottom of a twisted plastic bag.

First order, and then chaos
Now noise, and then quiet as food placed in front of them makes its way into their empty places.

All the same, and yet all different.
A bit of onion broken apart, some pepper seeds or pieces of garlic waiting at the bottom of a blue plastic bowl. Story after story of heartache, hurt and suffering among the young and the old alike.

Injera.
Torn, folded or rolled above or below the steaming wat.
The only meal they’ll see today or the only meal they’ll see this week.

Up from the cold cement benches
Bowls empty
Up the ramp and out
Or maybe first what passes for a bath at the cold-water spigot
Making their way back to the street and to the world that looks at them every day without seeing them.

Not a chance for me to turn around or to turn away and then it comes again.
Another wave of people. More stories, more suffereing, more need.
The scene repeats itself.
4 times each day
6 days each week
660 x 6 x 52 = 205, 920
No, that’ can’t be right.
Is it over yet?
The last arrive.
No more injera.
Just a piece of bread and a platter of leftover scraps on the ground like a dish of food I might set out for my dogs.
Gathered around it are the squatting men, 10, 20, 30 of them.
Dipping.
Dipping their bread together as they share this communal meal.
It is almost too much… this relentless suffering.
Look!, There’s Jesus

Matthew 25:40 “For whenever you did this for the least of these, you did it for me.”

Summary thoughts from week before Roggie

Welcome Blog Readers,

It is a pleasure to write this blog update about this last week as Karen and I prepare to leave tomorrow (Saturday). We just arrived back in Addis from being in Roggie Thursday and Friday. Susan will be giving more detail on that; I will recap Monday through Wednesday and some parting thoughts.

This week felt as if we finally established a routine. On Monday Karen and I went to the RSCP feeding center while the rest of the group was teaching at Hope School. It was a heartbreaking last time at RSCP for Karen and me. That morning was very cold and rainy and most of those boys have hardly any clothing; the little clothing they have was soaked. You just wanted to wrap them all up in your jacket. We sang some songs and then re-enacted the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The boys enjoyed having one of their friends be the Dad as I played the part of the lost son. Karen beautifully narrated and then concluded with prayer. This lasted about 30 minutes and then it was time to feed them. The woman in charge then informed us that the bread had not yet arrived. It didn’t arrive for another 15 minutes, which isn’t long but it was painful to watch as these boys were trying to sit quietly, but they were wiggling in hunger and shivering in cold. It was quite the reminder that for some of them this little meal of bread, bananas, and warm milk is their only meal until the next morning.

After the feeding center we met up with the rest of the team at the school. From there we went to the feeding center for the adults, continuing to build relationships with the people there and making a few smile when we used the little Amharic we know. After the feeding center the girls returned to the girls home for another rewarding time spent with these young women who have had little positive interaction such as this. I know the women on our team have truly cherished the few times they have been able to spend with the girls. Erstwhile, the boys went back to the word working shop to continue our building adventures. The highlight was being able to completely finish some of the school chairs that we had started the first day we came. We put the finishing touches on by putting on the seats and backs of the chairs. I believe that it was the first time for any of us to put rivets in with a hand-powered machine instead of an electric tool. At least the drill for the holes was electrical. For us boys it was an “awesome rah-rah manly” feeling to look at these chairs and know that we went from bending pieces of metal to now having them complete.

Tuesday was Amharic lessons again in the morning. From there we rushed back to the feeding center to serve lunch (one last time for Karen and me). This part of our ministry has been a completely unexpected heart rending experience for us. It has really challenged Karen and me to pursue this type of service back in the United States. Following this we went back to the Sisters of Charity Orphanage and taught English.

Wednesday’s recap will be short for your sake and mine. Karen and I spent the morning one last time at the feeing center with the children while the others were teaching. We caught up with the team at Hope School, enjoyed the rare and beautiful sunshine by playing outside, and then headed out to the orphanage. It turned out to be a gorgeous day in Addis, one of the few full days of sunshine we have had. But, this was also followed by the hardest rainfall we have had. That night as we were playing cards, the power went out. We finished our game in candlelight around nine and decided it was a good time to go to bed because we were getting up at five for our trip to Roggie. The rain awakened most of the team around midnight. It sounded like the rain was going to collapse the roof of the house. The rain continued to come down this hard for another 3-4 hours – it was phenomenal, the sheer power of the rain. Yet, now that I hear the rain I think of what Susan shared early on in the trip how there are so many in this city who don’t have a home. Now when I hear the rain I thank God for the replenishing of the soil and pray for those without homes.

It is time to say good-bye – to the blog, blog readers, and Ethiopia. It has been an amazing time here, made possible by our team and Hope Enterprises. God moves in amazing ways: bringing this team together, Hope Projects, the Hope staff, etc. The love of Christ is alive and well here in Addis – all you have to do is see Pastor Matheos face light up every time he sees someone – and his joy is typical of the many wonderful Ethiopians serving the Lord here.

God Bless,

Stephen and the Team