Bugs, Floods, and 5 Birr Poops

A short story. Ethiopia is a developing nation. Not perfect. Not western. Beautiful. It's the not western part that sometimes surprises us. We stayed at a hotel in Soddo. While thankful for flushable toilets and clean towels (even if they were only hand towels) and the many other amenities that most Ethiopians have never seen, it wasn't the Hilton. Before I share the story, I want you to know that I'm not putting down Ethiopia or Soddo or the hotel. Not one bit. Just wanting to share a story of how you know you're in a developing nation.

While at the hotel, we had many funny and not so funny moments. It mostly was related to the water issue. It started with a leaky toilet in our hotel room and a few other similar situations. It may have been cold but at least we had water. It may have leaked but at least the toilet flushed. Until one day. A leaky pipe on Sunday was being fixed. When it was time to go home, they left the water off, packed up, and went home. After holding "it" all day, one team member rushed into the hotel, dropped her bag and ran upstairs. Upon flushing, she found that the stink didn't go down. The front desk was called for help. She, embarrassed, left the hotel room. Her amazing roommate paid the guy 5 birr for plunging the toilet. After that, it was referred to as a 5 birr poop. Maybe you had to be there to find it as funny as I do.


The rest of that story played out the next morning. When us Americans complained about the water (she wasn't the only one with a 5BP waiting), the staff had the water turned back on. Apparently they should have communicated that the water needed to be left off until the pipe. But it wasn't. The water was turned back on for us. By the next morning the 4th floor was flooded. Maybe the 3rd floor too. I don't remember how many floors were flooded because we were soon distracted with the water fall coming down the marble staircase. We couldn't believe it. Then again, we didn't know anything about the pipe problem from the day before. People lifted up their bags onto their beds, wrung their clothes out and headed to Shanto.


The next day, more and more people were complaining about their mosquito bites. One look from the amazingly talented vet and it was determined that they were flea bites, not mosquito bites. Flea bites? Seriously? It was Ryan's guess that somehow the flooded floors caused the fleas to come out of their hiding places and onto the beds of several of our team. Yuck. It makes my sin crawl thinking about it. Who knows where they actually came from.


Needless to say, the pool air mattress I'd taken stayed on my bed but could have been used for rafting. Shoot, it may have even protected me from the fleas. Am I complaining? No. Even with those little issues, we were still living it up compared to many people in Southern Ethiopia. I am so, so thankful for the many ways we were spoiled on that trip.


So, that's the short story of bugs, floods and 5 birr poops.

Widows

denise, a sweet friend (and team-mate) of mine from my recent trip to Ethiopia has a sweet blog post up about the widows. As a widow herself, she has a sweet perspective. And I noticed in her pictures that we have matching ones: someone caught her crying/emotional too. Check out Denise's blog: http://familylivingston.blogspot.com/

I've been asked questions by several people recently about FOVC. I figure if some people are asking, there might be others who are curious that haven't asked. So, I thought I'd post the answers I recently gave to a friend... and maybe tweaked them a bit to generalize them. This is not FOVC's opinion/response, this is my opinion on these issues:

1. It's a matter of perspective. FOVC isn't a 40-year old established org. The good of that is that its easy to jump in and assist because everything's new. The bad thing is that there are bumps in the road as they continue to move forward in several ways. One example was communication from a team leadership perspective. If they'd been leading trips for 10 years, I'm guessing they'd have it down pat. This is the 3rd or 4th trip so they're still figuring things out.


2. Do you need special skills? You think that "just" being a mom wouldn't be helpful? Don't sell yourself short about your normal mom-ish abilities. A couple of things come to mind: I'm guessing you can organize and manage kids well. Plus you can love on kids who need loved. Plus you're familiar with orphan issues. Plus you care. Plus you have a big heart. And I hardly even know you so I'm sure there's a lot more to add to that. One of the big things I think we could have used this last trip is someone to organize the kids while the teachers were being trained and some were in the medical room and some were doing an art project. It was exhausting to have unorganized play the whole time, especially for those who wouldn't say no to the kids very often.


3. Mission trip is taken to a whole different level. I don't know exactly where you are in your personal walk. Or what your understanding/experience is with missions. But, until 2009 when I did some mission training, I had a very limited view of missions. I learned that there's many types of mission trips (preaching the gospel, encouraging the believers, establishing relationships, etc). But the difference with FOVC is that it's not a specific church mission trip. And I guess what I mean by that is that not everyone is a bible-believing Christian. In fact, FOVC is officially not a "christian" org. You don't have to be a Christian to serve on their humanitarian projects.


4. What FOVC is doing. Currently their main work is in Shanto. The last however many trips were to Shanto. They recently moved into two other communities. We visited both of those locations. But I heard Lory say that she didn't expect we'd ever go to their towns like we do Shanto. So, that's what I know about location. Shanto it is. Currently.


5. Was it good? Yes. Was it easy? No. Have you spent much time in developing nations? They're similar in that their culture doesn't function on a to-do list like ours. If you want to know more about that, read "Foreign to Familiar". It's a short, easy, read. So, where I was supposed to do one thing, that didn't at all happen. Some might call that a total loss. Like I just spent how much $ and 2 weeks of vacation to not even meet the widows. I believe that God is in control and I'm going to leave that in His control but that means that I have to let "my" plans go and let God do, or not do, what He wants. That could easily be a cop-out but I'm believing in God's timing. I also believe that on this trip, FOVC had too much on their plate. And then they lost a translator which put us in more of a pinch. And it could easily add to crazy frustration.


6. Was it safe? There's always risk. Right before we left, I got really anxious about being gone from my kids. What if I died serving there and then my kids no longer had a momma. Maybe it was Satan putting doubt in my head (he likes to do that you know). But part of it was real anxiety that I was taking a risk that it wouldn't be safe there. So, was it safe. Mostly. Is there risk? Absolutely. Is it safe to go to downtown Chicago? There's risk there too. The difference is that when you take a risk in our country, you kinda know and maybe understand the legal system. After all, you are an American. When something goes down in another country, you play by their rules.


7. Would I recommend someone else? I don't know anyone else that's doing cool things like this. I've ran into others like missionaries at the Christian Hospital in Soddo, the veterinary missionary in Addis, etc. But I love the small scale, roll your sleeves up and get it done atmosphere. I love that Desalegn is just an average guy with a bigger than average heart. I love that they're seeking to exist in biblical context even though they don't have a Christian label. So, in light of that, would I recommend someone else? No. I'm excited to serve with FOVC. That's not to say that there's not issues. And it goes back to being a new org. They're still establishing themselves, getting things figured out. And with that comes with growing pains. But, so does parenting. So does my marriage, ya know.


8. Team Members. I think I said before, I love them. I didn't know anyone. I hardly knew Lory. But I became FB friends with a few of them and connected with them. Because most people didn't know each other, they sent out bios which helped placed names with faces. But, we all came together really well in Ethiopia. Of the 13 people on their team, there was only two that I felt like I didn't get to know very well. One was an introvert and the other was quiet.


9. Serving without your spouse. I've gone on trips without Ryan. It was tough to come home all fired up and him be ready to hand of the kids and get a break. So, I was pretty adamant about him going along. He used ALL of his vacation time and wasn't very excited about it. But that "along for the ride" attitude quickly changed. Our first day in Ethiopia, he was asking me if we could sponsor one of the orphans. And by the second day, my very manly husband was letting the kids hug on him. So, my point is that if you go without your spouse, I think it's good to have a plan of some sort for communicating your experience with him. I know people who journal and then let their spouse read their journal when they get home. Anyway, something to think about.
   

I think getting involved with orphans in Ethiopia is an excellent idea. Because I, right now, believe strongly in family preservation and getting those women out of desperate situations to where they can thrive. Judah's cute and all but he still has a birthmom and 2 bio brothers who live very, very meagerly. And not US standards of meager either. And she's just one of many women who could use a little help and encouragement. I'm all about doing that.

And that's it for now. Lory and others, please feel free to chime in in the comments. If anyone has specific questions, please let me know.

supportive of FOVC,
Tamara B

FOVC: Teacher Training

Our team had lots of things to get done on this trip. Part of that was the teacher training for the FOVC school. Check out Denise's post to read more specifics and see pics of the teacher training: http://familylivingston.blogspot.com/

FOVC: Crops

I say it every time, but I find it hard to blog about this trip. It might be that I'm so busy. It might also be that there was just so much that we experienced and learned. It's hard to put all of that plus a few of the 5,000 pictures into a few posts. Alas, right now it's quiet. And while I have some cleaning to do after our company left, and though I really want to go out for a jog, I've agreed to give my body and rest and veg on the couch. Makes for a great few minutes to share about the crops program with FOVC.

Where do I begin? Sandwich the good with the difficult? Just tell you how great it was? Give way too many details?

With a new program in a fairly new organization, you know there will be struggles, right? Right. So, I went to Ethiopia with a plan to train the chosen women widows on crops. Though I was conisdered the expert, I felt inadequate to do the training and kept begging God for knowledge of what and how to share. I had also spent a lot of time learning about the culture and climate of Southern Ethiopia.

As I type, I keep deleting and trying again. Seriously, I can't even begin to put my thoughts together in a readable manner. So, here it is - no editing, no making it all looking wonderful. Just my straight up experience.

Went knowing I was to train 8 or so women. About an hour each day I would be able to spend with them with a translator. Supposed to meet the Ag minister and visit some model farms. Gos some helpful information from My friends Marco and Jennine who have a non-prof called Food 4 the Future. We get to Shanto and it didn't go down like that. There's a handful of reasons why I'm sure. But the long and short of it, is that it didn't happen as planned. Below is a picture of the men I met. And worked with.

For several hours on one day of the trip. That's it. To say I was frustrated is an understatement. To never even meet the women widows angered me a bit. But, like my husband says, it's not all about me. Below is a picture taken of me talking to the men about soil fertility and showing them a basic soil test kit.

These men were the ag specialist for their area (think Extension agronomy) and the model farmers. So on the day that the widows came, they sat and waited while we did the cultural ceremony thing. A lack of communication occurred and when the ladies had waited several hours, they left to get home to take care of their families. The men remained. So, I spent some time in an office talking with my "specialist" guys about all kinds of crops stuff in their area. They confirmed what I already knew and then taught me a bunch more. When that was done we went to a model farmers home where we looked at his crops. I was quite impressed with the degree in which he was thinking outside the box. He had a water catchment basin, a corn crib type of thing, one for potatoes too and several other things. He was applying some manure and thinking about composting. I also saw several small plots where he had broadcasted seed rather than planting it. But, it was good to see. Unfortunatley that was the only farm we visited and I would have liked to see more.

So, it didn't go like I planned. I was frustrated but understanding of their culture but there's a really important lesson in all of it. I could have brought my American attitude in and made a big deal about not meeting the widows. I could have requested that they be brought back the next day to do some training. I could have thrown a fit because after all, I spent a lot of money and all my vacation to do this. But I didn't. And I'm thanking God for giving me some maturity in that arena. What happened instead was that I spent a lot more time with the specialists. And in that time, I was able to begin relationships with them. And since Ethiopia prides itself on relationships, this was a great thing. In that time, I learned that Shanto has a farmer training center. So, while I went in without a lot of knowledge and my help would have truly been limited this first trip, I met some very helpful/valuable people. These specialists who know way more than I do. This training center that trains farmers. How cool is that!?!?!?

So, now I have a new idea of maybe how things can go. I know they can still change. But I'm hoping to partner with these specialists and this training center to get my widows trained. And as they continue to see me invest in the community, they'll continue to trust me and what I have to say. And maybe then, some of the model farmers will be willing to try a few new things. ANd once they try, then their neighbors will too. I look forward to the progress that we can make in the next few months and then to see what we can make happen (with help, of course) when I go back (tentatively) over Thanksgiving.

The model farmers wearing the John Deere hats that my friends Lyn/Joel and Julie/Bob donated for the guys. They loved their new hats so much they didn't want to take the tags off.

Ethiopia Gathering Overview

We prepared a lot of food.

(Ethiopian food for this meal)

Did lots of dishes.

(whether the adults knew it or not in this pic)

Got into a little mischief.



Had lots of fun with our friends.



As did the dogs (mine + the neighbors)




And in general, had a good time.



Only a handful of things, I mean families, were missing. Maybe next time.

Welcome

9 adults + 11 kids = a whole lot of fun... and business.  Glad to have my house full of friends.