Blogs from Addis Ababa Region, Ethiopia, Africa - page 20

(Ruta writing) One of these amazing charities that is benefitting from some of the gifts and donations that you have asked us to forward is called Organization Against Gender Based Violence (a.k.a. Tsotawi Tikat Tekelakay Mahiber/TTTM). This organization supports mainly women and children who are victims of abuse. TTTM operates one of the only “safe houses” in Addis Ababa for the women who truly have no other options of where to go. Sadly, the women who come to TTTM have suffered beatings, abduction, sexual abuse, human trafficking to the Middle East, domestic violence etc. TTTM offers them food, shelter, arranges for counseling, medical care, legal assistance, etc. To better prepare the women for the future, the organization also may help teach women new skills (such as cooking), life skills (such as self confidence, assertiveness, and physical ... read more

Sara, as I mentioned earlier, is the sister of Misrak, our church secretary and her mother also attends our church at home. Sara spent seven years in the US and when her visa ran out she was forcibly repatriated to Kenya. Sara and Mickey, her 28-year old nephew, who is a pastor, picked us up from the hotel in his car about 11:00 and they took us to the Rodeo restaurant for a nice lunch (no injera). By about noon, Michael left to pick up his 3 ½ year old daughter, Caris (which means, “grace” in Greek} from her pre-school nearby and brought her back to the restaurant. She had a marvelous time playing in the restaurant gardens, on the stuffed horse, in the fountain and all around. After lunch, they took us to Mickey’s home ... read more

Since 2001 we (mostly Cheryl) have sponsored Emebet Tsegaye a young girl in Ethiopia through Compassion International, a Christian organization headquartered in Colorado Springs, CO, USA. They have corresponded every two to four months with the letters translated and forwarded each way by the Compassion staff. When we first started getting serious about this trip, part of the timing was nudged by the fact that Compassion is holding a 10-day Ethiopia tour that actually started today. That coupled with our summer church’s tour of the Holy Land starting in late Feb (more on that later when we get there) we said “This Is The Year To Do This”. When we contacted Compassion about the tour, we found that it would involve a lot of traveling around the country and visit various project. We “might” be able ... read more

We left home on Friday 6 Feb, complete with our luggage for our two and a half month trip to thirteen countries. After one plane change and another intermediate stop for an hour and a half in Khartoum, where we couldn’t get off the plane, we finally made it to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During our four-hour layover in Amsterdam we called our friend, Sara, in Addis. We tried to use our new Skype capabilities to call her cell phone and got completely gerschplatzled (don’t you just love it when I talk technical?) so we had to resort to our AT&T cell phone. We were hoping to connect with her for church tomorrow (it’s now Saturday) but found that she is at the end of her three-day mourning period for the death of her uncle. She said ... read more

(Ruta writing) Driving outside of Addis Ababa, we save seen some beautiful, old trees that could relate fascinating history if they could talk. It makes one wonder how completely amazing this African continent must have looked before people took over more and more of the land. Unfortunately, through the course of history and development Ethiopia, like many other countries on this continent and others, has deforested most of its land. It’s stated that only 3% of its original forest remains. On the bright side, there have been significant recent efforts to replant trees. The Entoto region just outside of Addis has dense greenery due to replanted juniper trees. Nevertheless, whether in North America, Europe, or Africa, old, gnarled, massive trees are truly one of nature’s wonders. Here are some pictures of trees that we've admired and ... read more