Journey 4 Hope

Did any of you read Jo's blog that I linked to last time. She's a great story teller. Me, well I thought I was half decent until I read Jo's stuff. I guess I tend to be more factual with specific details instead of making it a story. I thought about doing the story thing for this post but honestly I don't have the time or energy to be that creative. While I type this, I really, really should be working on a resume and application that needs to be done before my travel buddies arrive on Saturday.





One of the things I love and appreciate about Ethiopia is the culture. I've found similar cultures before. Commonly called warm climate culture, they valued relationships over their task list. I love it and I find it annoying. Tonight while washing the dishes I was thinking about this. And I think their culture might be a little more biblically based. Do you know the story in the bible of Mary and Martha at Jesus' feet? It's a story I've struggled with as long as I've known it. Found in Mark chapter 10, the take home message of this story, in my opinion, is that relationships (especially with Christ) are more important than the task list. That's hard for a person like me to swallow. After all, I have a task list in my journal of all the things I hoped to accomplish. But in this Ethiopian culture, they are choosing relationships over the task list.





So, we had lots of ceremonies. Lots of officials who came to thanks us for coming. Lots of precious moments where the children entertained us with skits and songs. Lots of coffee served. Lots of traditional dancing and singing. And even lots of waiting for those things to happen. But you know what else occurred in that time? Lots of relationship building. And it was beautiful. Building relationships is important no matter what culture you're in.








As somewhat of an outsider to FOVC, it was great to see how the Ethiopian government was so supportive of the work FOVC is doing. That was certainly evident by the many officials who came to thank us. Who, in a poor part of the country, brought books for the private school who educates the orphans but also some children from the community.

If I remember right, they were math books and hygeine books. I might be wrong on that detail but none the less, the support was obvious. And it wasn't just the government officials. The local priest met us our first night for supper and then joined us Sunday after his mass was finished and spent the day with us.

Of course, all these ceremonies take time. The children did so well patiently waiting for all the big people type of business. When it came time for them to get involved, they did that too. Below are some of the older children dancing for us. Some are in uniforms while others are in a traditional shirt. Their dancing was amazing. Some of us willingly danced with them while others were drug out in the middle to shake their thang!

And when it came time for more formal gift giving, the children took part. The teachers have amazing control of the students. They have been taught well. The children thanked each person for coming and presented us with a traditional scarf. The two little girls who gave us scarves were adorable.

Though my task list didn't get done and though I didn't think we needed all those official thank you's, I did love that time. It was wonderful for them to be thankful and share their gratitude but really, I'm so thankful that I got to play a part in the team. I got to see God working through FOVC. I was blessed by my new friendships - both the Ethiopians and the ferenge. As you can see below, the pictures tell a story, but the videos give such a bigger glimpse. The one below is of the kids singing "bah, bah black sheep" even though they're not proficient english speakers. Thanks kids. You are so sweet!