Dick Moeller’s Reflections - Ethiopia Trip, October 2010

We’ve been back from our trip to Ethiopia for four days…the jet lag has just about worn off, but the memories will last a lifetime.  It was a joy having Rennie, Ed and Jim as traveling companions on this trip.  Each brought their unique perspective on Ethiopia, with Jim having been a medical missionary in Ethiopia 50 years ago and Ed and Rennie visiting the country for the first time.  During our two weeks we shared emotions that covered the spectrum…from the highs of celebrating first-time, clean water with communities…to the lows of helplessness as community members fetch filthy water for their families because it is all they have…to the spiritually uplifting morning devotion and worship high on a rock formation at the Gheralta Lodge.  We came back with literally thousands of pictures, but they can never capture the feelings and emotions we experienced together that are stored in our heart. 

The people we serve in rural Ethiopia have to take the center of my reflections.  No doubt, they live a difficult life, filled with walking long distances, hard, back-breaking work and the burden of feeding their families.  But I am always struck by how spiritually strong they are and by how thankful they are.  They are incredibly grateful for the blessing of clean water, but are quick to remember their brothers and sisters in neighboring communities that lack it.  They are quick to share whatever they have to express their gratitude, even if it is only a beautiful smile or an ear of corn from their field.  Some of my favorite moments on the trip came when I could share greetings and blessings with the local communities from literally thousands of sponsors and donors who make our life-saving well projects possible.  It is an honor of the highest order.

Moments to remember…

• The entire Water To Thrive Board of Directors being together on our first day in the field as we visited the Gedamba deep borehole project, which is now completed. This is our most ambitious project in which we have participated.  11 water distribution points, a 100,000 liter reservoir, 700 feet deep well with generator and pump with over 6 miles of distribution pipeline.  It serves 3 communities of  approximately 7,500.
•  Celebrating the Inauguration of their hand dug well site with the community at Awi Sewhi (Tigray) and as we are walking away from the project, seeing a 6-7 year old boy kneel beside a stagnant, nasty pond of water to take a drink.
• Listening to the community members at W2T projects Mai Shana I & II describe the positive changes in their community after having clean water for 2 ½ years.
• Being greeted by 600+ clapping and singing students at Genti School, where a W2T project will bring clean water to their school for the first time.
• Visiting with a farmer in the countryside who had taken out a micro-finance loan to buy an irrigation pump for his land.  His crop yield had improved so much that he is now leasing land from other farmers in the area to irrigate a larger area.  Entrepreneurism is alive in Ethiopia!
• Seeing God’s magnificent handiwork in the Simien Mountain National Park and walking quietly among the gelada baboons in the park.
• Visiting the Selekleka Clinic with Jim, who had treated patients there almost 50 years ago.  Marveling at the commitment of Jim and Carolyn, his wife, who worked in Ethiopia for 4 years starting at the age of 23!
• …and the list could go on and on!

And finally, we could not carry out our mission without great partners who execute our projects with integrity, professionalism and high quality.  Most importantly, they put serving the needs of the people in rural Ethiopia ahead of everything else. 

• Glimmer of Hope (managing partner in Ethiopia)
• Oromia Self Help Organization (project implementation)
• Organization for the Rehabilitation and Development of Amhara (project implementation)
• Relief Society of Tigray (project implementation)
• Development and Social Services Commission of Mekane Yesus (project implementation)

I know we all came back with a great sense of purpose and commitment to the mission of Water to Thrive.  We pray for the opportunity and the words to be effective advocates for the people of rural Ethiopia who struggle everyday for a clean drink of water.  If you are moved to help, do not hesitate to contact Becky Turner, W2T Program Director (Becky@WaterToThrive.org) or myself (Dick@WaterToThrive.org).

Dick Moeller, Founder

Water to Thrive

Rennie Scharlau’s Reflections on our trip

Our mission to inspect completed wells and to visit proposed well projects turned into an awesome confrontation with God’s creation and man’s living within it.  Primitively.

Counterpoints:

• Mountains tall, jagged, squeezed, as if marching to a summit meeting --- mountains eroded, as if  relaxing at the end of the day.
• Clear, bright, brisk sunny mornings --- dusty, stale, smoke-filled, cool evenings.
• Happy, playful children, willing to learn, willing to interact, willing to make contact --- despite a language barrier.
• Children wearing uniforms going to school --- children sharing family duties.
• Caring women, concerned for their children’s health and future, wanting fairness for access to water.
• Pole and straw, dung-covered round huts or pole, dung-covered, corrugated tin roof huts in the villages --- modern Italianate homes and 2-4 story apartment buildings popping up in the city.
• One lane roads made of jagged rocks, boulders and stone; rutted dirt lanes bringing villages closer --- massive modern road project bringing towns closer together.
• Beautiful, lush crops waiting to be harvested by hand --- dry fields filled with rocks softball and basketball sizes waiting to be moved by hand.
• Candles or just fire  for lighting in the remote villages --- power line towers being installed miles and miles away; no grid; unscheduled, rationed power in Addis Ababa; proposed wind turbines for remote area without a reliable road to take them there.
• Gratefulness for the clean water at the wells that have been built --- desperate pleas to be next for clean, reliable water wells.

            All the reasons for the water well projects came together for me at one site.  As we were approaching a lush looking stream, I saw a young boy swimming casually in the quick flowing water.  A moment later a young man appeared up stream and began washing his clothes on the rocks.  Then a young girl claimed a spot between the two and started filling her jerry can with water for drinking.  Now while commiserating why these activities weren’t better placed in the stream, a loud bellowing occurred and dozens of cows, goats, sheep came thundering down the hill into the river above all the people! 

            In anticipation of this trip I was prepared to cope with a third world life style and “put up” with it; however, that did not matter.  I found delight in the welcoming children and the warm and hospitable people, as well as an appreciation for the simple life despite its being extraordinarily difficult.    

Rennie Scharlau

Ed Scharlau's -- Reflections on Rural Ethiopia

Adjusting to being in Ethiopia was swift and sudden. With a snap of my fingers things that seem important in my life became quite unimportant:

            - the political season of America did not matter

            - Business news and the things of Wall Street disappeared

            - as a matter of fact money took on a whole different consideration.

What mattered was, fresh water when abject poverty was in my face.  And when I considered water and money, I know that if either is stagnant it is toxic and of no use -- it must flow for good things to happen.

What mattered was the fact that my neighbors who do not have fresh water are in survival mode.  In rural Ethiopia, for the wells and spring protection systems funded through Water to Thrive (W2T), we have reduced walk time for fresh water by one half.  We are making a difference with the elimination of water borne diseases, children are going to school, home industries are starting and we have very grateful friends.  These rural Ethiopians daily thank God and those who provided funds.  Consistently those who now have access to clean fresh water asked our consideration for their neighbors a village or two away.  These rural Ethiopia family farmers are hard working, friendly and so very happy to see us whether we visited a completed water point or a site under consideration for funding.  Children would run just to wave at us as we traveled in our four wheel drive vehicle and while walking they would join our walk and at every glance -- a big smile.  Their heartfelt smiles of appreciation affected me greatly and the message was clear.   And you know this senior citizen who grew up on a farm and spent a 35 year career in business recalled many things of my past.  Water --  is oh so very precious.  It sustains all of life. 

Adjusting to my return to American was welcoming but harder (filled with how can more be done?)  and quick reflections are:

            - spread the word at every opportunity (mission strategy)

            - do not be bashful in encouraging generosity of  blessings (tactic)

Our consistent commitment to all is to promise you transparency, integrity and accountability for our projects.  As an aside, our W2T board of directors were all in Ethiopia at the same time.  That was special too.  We have an awesome God.  The evidence was clear in this life saving and changing work. 

Sometimes I'd like to ask God
why he allows poverty, famine and
injustice in the world
when he could do something about it.....
But, I'm afraid God might ask me
the same question.
Anonymous

Life is not measured in the number of breaths you take,

it is measured in the number of times your breath has been taken away. 

Ed Scharlau

We are happy to report everyone is home safe and sound.  Thank you for your prayers and support during our trip.  Over the next several days, we thought we would each provide our reflections on the trip. 

Jim Sorensen’s Reflections

        The first thing that comes to mind when I contemplate these two weeks, is the dedication and leadership of Dick Moeller. Dick sees the big picture of the real needs of Ethiopian people, and has the ability to remember each well site, and the communities supported by those wells. He holds fast to the mission of W2T, without being distracted by the obvious and glaring needs there. When we hold fast to providing safe, clean water for populations, we can trust that they will be able to address all needs with healthy minds and bodies.

        The A Glimmer of Hope (AGOH) personnel are compassionate, diligent workers, who show their caring every minute of their lives. These staff persons live the mission of AGOH, in their attitudes and attention to details regarding assisting Ethiopians to develop and grow. The drivers had the same sense of the mission as the leaders there, and I felt safe and secure in their autos. The other W2T Partners in the various regions demonstrated their caring and hard work as they took us to the places where water has made a difference, and to places still needing wells.

I believe the Holy Spirit is intertwining among all who are connected to this Water Ministry—binding us in ways we don’t always notice; and “disturbing” the hearts of others who, as yet, don’t even know they will become a part. I know the Holy Spirit was there, when after about three days in the field, we were driving over a rough, rocky path, (near the Degola Chinchya Kebele office)and I spotted some farmers threshing. 

They were driving their oxen around and around upon the straw and grain being harvested, to separate the grain. I’d told Ed and Rennie about this sort of event and had the driver stop, so I could show the others in the second car what was going on. Ed said something like “We don’t need to stop; we can see from here.” Dick suggested we might drive on. I was feeling too like maybe this was not related to what we were about, when suddenly, we were all out of the cars, walking to the threshing scene! And, the attitude had changed to something more positive. We had not said anything more to each other, but later all agreed that something had driven us to go forward. As we neared the threshing scene, we noticed that just over the hill was a water gathering place where we saw about 30 women and girls. We had not been able to see this from the path we’d been on. The water was really nasty, and these mothers and sisters were squatting there, their toes in the mud and dung, filling water jugs to take home for drinking! 

It turned out that this will be one of the sites we are taking on in 2011! That was just one of the “moments” where I felt closest to God. I prayed that others might answer the call of that same Holy Spirit we witnessed that day, and help us to provide some good water at that spot.

        All in all, I believe the W2T board of directors on this trip have “brothered-up”, and have been strengthened to do more for those who need clean, safe water. And, we have made new friends who will remain faithful to the same cause. The trip was well worthwhile, and I am pleased that I was a part of it. 

Today is an easy going day for the group.  We head back to Addis Ababa from Ambo to have several meetings at the Hilton in the afternoon.  So this will be a short report today as we prepare for our trip home.

One of our meetings today was with the staff of a group that W2T has interacted with in Addis over the last several years called REAL Africa.  Their mission focuses on assisting disadvantaged young girls grades 7 thru 12.  They organize the girls into clusters of 15 girls, all located in the same community, but not necessarily at the same school.  The girls often are living with relatives with no immediate support.  Each cluster has a mentor that works with the girls, especially tutoring.  The object is to keep the girls in school so that they graduate from high school and attend college.  REAL currently has 9 clusters active in different areas in Ethiopia.  More than 170 girls have been served by the program and several have already entered college.  We meet with their staff to get an update on their progress, as well as present them with the second batch of dresses and shorts that have been prepared by Faith Lutheran Church in Austin, TX.  REAL will work with each of the mentors to identify families that can best use the dresses.  They were excited to be able to share these gifts with the girls and their families.

This evening the W2T team treated the Addis staff to a thank you dinner at the Top View restaurant.  Each and every one of the Glimmer staff members has contributed to the support of W2T projects in Ethiopia in some major way. Their caring attitudes make our trips to Ethiopia very special and insure we get the chance to connect directly to the communities we are serving. Their professional and competent management of our projects insure that our donor resources are used wisely and efficiently.  We could not ask for a better, more responsive partner and for that we are very grateful.

We head for Texas tomorrow, so it will be a couple of days until we have another post.  Over the coming week or so, the W2T team will share some of our personal reflections on what the trip has meant for each of us.

Dick Moeller

Today we leave the hotel about 7:45 a.m., headed for a full day of visiting project sites in the Central Gibe Synod.  After driving for about one hour and forty five minutes, we arrive in the community of Ejaji, where the synod offices are located.  As we pull into the synod compound, it is clear that it is a beehive of activity this Saturday morning.  In one part, a group of volunteers are working to replace the roof on one of the buildings and in another part, a group of about of about 20 farmers are gathered to be trained on the making of “Hans” carts.  

So named after a missionary from Finland who, in the early ‘90s, introduced these carts in the area for the first time.  They are a simple cart with two car wheels/tires attached and pulled by a single horse or donkey.  They usually have a place for 4-6 people to sit as well as place in the back to carry whatever it is that the farmer needs to carry at the moment.  These carts were in widespread use where ever we went in the area.

After a quick cup of coffee we set off to visit 4 completed projects and one prospective site for next year. Two of the completed sites, Gida Abu Sardo and Dire Areyu, were completed this summer, so we did not visit them in June, and two other sites, Dire Hujuba – 1 and Kara Garjeda were visited in June.  As we made our way to the first site at Gida Abu Sardo, we had a pleasant surprise.  As we passed the community’s Mekane Yesus church, a youth choir (teenagers) had just finished practicing for tomorrow’s service.  They came out to check out the 4 strangers making their way past the church.  After a bit of coaxing, we were treated to a very upbeat hymn they had been practicing.  We were all clapping along with the choir and we very much enjoyed their hymn of praise.

We made our way another 500 yards or so through the corn fields to arrive at the Gida Abu Sardo water project.  There we exchanged greetings with the community and they shared their thankfulness and gratitude for the blessing of clean water for the community. They shared that previously the spring had been very contaminated and they were sharing the water source with the animals and livestock in the area.  The head of the water committee also shared that the stomach sickness among the children had decreased dramatically since they had started using the clean water.  

This theme of thankfulness and gratitude was consistently repeated by the community members at all three of the other sites as well.  And each community realizes how blessed they are to have the clean water, and they hope and pray that other communities surrounding them that do not have clean water, will get it soon.  As always, the opportunity to share these moments with the communities are the highlight of the trip.

The two sites that we had visited in June, Dire Hujuba – 1 and Kara Garjeda, have been significantly improved by the community.  When we saw the site at Dire Hujuba, the site was experiencing a significant drainage issue as excess water was not flowing away from the water collection point. With the help of DASSC/CGS, the community has installed a drain line that is about 36 meters long that now directs the excess water away from the collection point and into a local river, making the site much cleaner and safer.  At Kara Garjeda, the community has significantly expanded the fencing to enclose the wash basin and the newly added livestock watering trough.  A pipeline has been installed between the reservoir and the trough to allow the farmers to fill it directly from the reservoir.  It was great to see the community engaged in improving the sites to make them better for everyone in the community.

After the visits to the completed projects we made our way to one of the proposed sites for a new project in 2011, Dire Hujuba -2.  After experiencing the highs of sharing the blessing of clean water with the communities in the morning, this site brings us crashing back to the reality that most people in rural Ethiopia do without clean safe water every day.  

This community water spot is shared with animals and even though it is spring feed, it is highly contaminated.  The water is a greenish gray color and covered with a layer of slime and moss.  And with the trails that led to the spot, it was clear that it was in regular use by the community.  Moments like this make us better advocates for the people we serve in Ethiopia and Sierra Leone.

We head back to the CGS office to share lunch with the staff.   They had prepared a special lunch of Doro Wat (chicken cooked in a spicy beriberi sauce), ingera, beets and greens.  And a special treat….fresh homemade potato chips!  It tasted great and we were all hungry from all the morning exercise, so it really hit the spot!

As we were winding up our time with the staff, we were able to present the 50 dresses (hand made by the ladies of Faith Lutheran in Austin,TX)  to Emana Jetto, CGS DASSC Director and Mekonnen Mosissa, CGS Executive Secretary. They will give them to the Social Committee of the synod, who will work with local congregations to insure the clothes go to those in most need.  They promised we would get some pictures to share with the ladies at Faith Lutheran when they are distributed.

We said our goodbyes to the staff of CGS/DASSC and expressed our gratitude for the past two days.  As we drove back to Ambo, the group reflected on the fact that today was our last day in the field for this trip.  Tomorrow we will be making our way back to Addis for some meetings and preparing to head home on Monday.  We shared some of the emotions we have felt over the past two weeks…..joy, thankfulness, awe, helplessness, resolve, gratitude, and many more.  The days have been packed with experiences that will take some time to sort out, but we all know that our lives have been blessed by the people of Ethiopia.  As we arrive back at the Ambo Hotel, the Spirit provides just the right ending to the day with a beautiful, warm amber sunset settling over the western area we had just left.  

Fittingly, over dinner, our group expressed our thankfulness for our time together  by sharing another one of Pastor Lynnae’s devotions.

More tomorrow……

Dick Moeller

Ugh….the alarm went off really early this morning……we had a 8:15 departure from Mekele to Addis Ababa.  Even for domestic flights, one should be at the airport 2 hours ahead in Ethiopia.  Ethiopian airports can be a mob scene. Fortunately, everything proceeded just fine, giving us enough time for coffee and an egg sandwich. Plus,  we arrived in Addis just about on time.

In the waiting area for our flight, we met a French businessman traveling on our same flight.  He is the Chief Logistics Officer for a large wind turbine farm being built north of Mekele.  He indicated that this is the largest contract ever won by a French company in Ethiopia, approximately $350 million.  It will consist of 120 wind turbine generators, each generating 3 megawatts of power.  The project has just started and will last another 2 ½ years.  When asked about his biggest logistics challenge, without hesitation, he answered “transporting each turbine blade by land from the port of Djibouti to Mekele”.  Each turbine blade (like a propeller) is about one hundred feet long (think 10 story building) and is built in one piece.  There are two blades per turbine. There is only one route that is straight enough for the long bed trucks to transport the blades, and it recently had a bridge failure along the way.    Our lesson…..it doesn’t matter if doing a small hang dug well for a community of 500 or if you are doing a mega-green energy project for the whole country, without good roads, it just makes life a little more challenging for everyone!

Our flight arrived just about on time and we were met by our hosts for the next two days, staff members of the Development and Social Services Commission (DASSC) of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus.  That’s a mouthful, so we will be using shorthand of DASSC and MY in our notes.  A bit of explanation……MY is the Lutheran Church in Ethiopia.  With 5.3 million Lutherans in Ethiopia, it is the second largest national Lutheran church body in the world (third is Tanzania!).  It has 22 synods operating throughout the country and runs several Ethiopian seminaries to educate congregational leaders and pastors.  Think of DASSC as an independent (separate governing board) non-profit that is affiliated with the church.  It is licensed by the government to do community development projects just the same way our previous implementing partners of OSHO (Oromia Self-Help Organization), ORDA (Organization for the Rehabilitation and Development of Amhara) and REST (Relief Society of Tigray).  Each synod has a local DASSC staff implementing projects for their local synod.  W2T entered into a development relationship with MY DASSC in 2009 for the implementation of 12 water projects through the local DASSC staff in the Central Gibe Synod.

After leaving the airport, the local staff took us by the national MY/DASSC office for a tour.  After meeting some of the other staff on hand, we visited the Amist Kilo MY Church, which is located on an adjacent property.  

This church was the first MY congregation to be established in Addis Ababa.  Depending on the Sunday, they worship 600-1,000 members.  We toured the grounds where the church now also operates a primary school K-3.  We had a chance to visit with one of the pastors and we were invited in to see the sanctuary.  

The women of the church were doing a major cleaning in preparation for Sunday’s communion service.  This church has a special significance for Jim and his family, as his daughter Lynnae was baptized in this sanctuary by Rev. Loren Bliese, who still lives in Ethiopia working for the Bible Society, translating the Bible into local dialects for Ethiopia. While walking around the church compound, we met Waizeyeet Urgae Gamba Ega, who has been a member of this church since she was 8 years old.  She is presently 64 years old.  She is also a member of the Bible Society and had attended a meeting just this week and saw Rev. Bliese there.  Waizeyeet shared some interesting history of the MY church with us.

After completing our visit to the church, we headed west out of Addis on a major road to Ambo.  After a two hour drive, we arrived at Ambo, which is about ½ between Addis and the Central Gibe Synod(CGS) offices.  We will spend the next two nights at the Ambo Hotel.  The CGS DASSC staff met us at the hotel for a meeting to discuss the impact of last year’s projects and a current proposal for 11 new projects that W2T is considering for 2010-2011 implementation.  

CGS is one of the fastest growing synods in the country and is unique in that it is completely self-sustaining for it operations budget of the synod.  We also discussed our plans for tomorrow, when we will be visiting 3-4 of the recently completed projects as well as some prospective communities for the 2011 projects.

After dinner, our final task of the day was a pleasant one…..preparing about 50 dresses and 25 pair of shorts that will be presented tomorrow to the Social Committee of CGS for distribution among the children in need in the synod. 

An equal number of dresses and shorts will be presented to the representatives of REAL Africa on Sunday, but more about that in a later blog.  These dresses/shorts were handmade by a group of women at Faith Lutheran Church in Austin TX.  We look forward to tomorrow, as we get to visit with communities experiencing the blessing of fresh, clean water! 

Dick Moeller