Returning RN worker bee. Serving in the clinic and hospital as needed.

Reflections

Reflections


We are back. The two weeks seemed to fly! Our team now will make the readjustment to home over the next days to weeks. There will be time to reflect on God's work and purpose.


Proverbs 19:21 says: "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails"
We made our plans for 6 months, but God had something else in mind. We were blessed in many ways. We were able to meet some wonderful brothers and sisters and witness their dedication to the people they serve in Addis Ababa through AIDs Care and Treatment. We were able to combine with a great team from Boston and work together seeing many patients in need. Along the way, God granted us reassurances that we were in the right place and glimpses of His divine purpose.


On the last day, we were able to see some of our beloved friends from Yetebon.
Dr Fekadu was able to make it to Addis safely and was able to bring Sister Meseret, her niece Honey, Zondra, and Kinsey. This was after he was unable to come earlier due to the unavailability of gasoline due to the unrest and road closures the week before. It was wonderful to spend time with them and talk about coming back next year!


We are grateful to all who have supported us with prayer.
Please continue pray for Project Mercy and ACT Ethiopia.
Please pray for the political situation in Ethiopia. There are some deeply rooted issues that need to be resolved for there to be sustainable peace.


Bill

We are home!

We arrived home safely this afternoon at SF airport!  Thank you for your support and prayers! Stay tuned for the final blog!

Arrived in Dubai!

We are safely in Dubai after our flight from Ethiopia, our last days were quite hectic and we arrived late and have an early morning flight. Everyone is well!  We will see you soon!

Some of the members had thoughts and quotes to share as we depart. . .

"In a place of so much poverty and despair I witnessed so much hope, positivity and genuine kindness. My team here and all the Ethiopian people I met taught me about faith and integrity. There were so many amzing stories of perseverance and strength that were shared.  All of them have given me the inspiration to go back home and do my best to live my life in service to God." -Janine

"The sounds of children growing up in poverty and yet worshipping joyfully in song may be what heaven is like." -Anna

Stay tuned for more posts and quotes as people come home and process our remarkable journey. . .

Day 10

                      Group photo outside the church/clinic in Lebu (where ACT housing complex is)

                   

                      Our daily group photo. Gizaw is pictured in the far left. (The Boston Team is                                                                                really into "selfies")

                                                           Another daily group photo

Sunday Worship about to start at Suki, the service was filled with children under 10 years

Today will be a short entry with various photos from the past few days.  We had a productive but long day at clinic, seeing patients at Gizaw Melese's church. Gizaw works with ACT as the Referral Coordinator and has been our "main man" here, coordinating and accompanying us with all our travels back and forth to the different clinic sites we have been to. He is a joyful man.

To introduce the Boston team that we have worked alongside for the past 11 days, there is Daniel, the Boston group leader who has an M Div and is pursuing ordination, Julia a Physical Therapist whom we have run ragged with all the musculoskeletal problems we have seen here, Rashaad, a graduate student in Counseling and Theology at Gordon Conwell, Decca, a nurse practitioner from Alabama whose specialty is HIV medicine, Tom an RN from Boston who works in the VA and Sun, a post-baccalaureate pre-medical student at Harvard.

Our teams have bonded through the fun and games of "Scattergories" in the evenings after a long day, and through the camaraderie that comes from working alongside each other as a team. We have come to rely on each other to adapt to unpredictable and stressful circumstances, in order to achieve our common mission, which is to serve the many people that come to the clinics with significant medical, spiritual and social needs.

Returning "Home"

                        The elegant and lively (!) Workayehu at Yod Abyssinia Restaurant

                                                            We all had a great time

                                           Various Ethiopian Stews on Injera--Delicious!

                                       The fabulous and energetic dancers at Yod Abyssinia

This evening we had the opportunity to enjoy Ethiopian food, music and dance as a team and with our new brothers and sisters on the Boston team, at the Yod Abyssinia Restaurant in Addis.  We had great fun enjoying the company, food and ambiance, and many of our team members were fine dancers and joined in the traditional Ethiopian dancing throughout the evening!

But what would it be like to return to Ethiopia on a medical missionary trip as a nurse,  to one of the poorest communities in Addis Ababa, when you have been raised there?  Workayehu one of our team, immigrated to the US when she was 31 but grew up in Addis in a middle income household where her father was an LVN. Her mother and 1 sister still live here in Addis.

This is what she shared:

What was it like to return to Ethiopia?  She had been wanting to go on a mission trip for years as she had felt led to serve God, but for various reasons, it hadn't been possible. When this trip came up, Bill Zuber invited her to come--they had met when Workayehu had assisted with an Ethiopian child who came to this country for surgery a few years ago. With a new job and other things "falling into place" the dream became a reality and she knew this was her answer to prayer.

Were there any surprises? Since it had been 2 years since she had visited, there weren't too many surprises regarding the various challenges facing the people of Ethiopia. While it was an adjustment to have our plans changed from Yetebon to Addis, she has been touched and impressed by the work being done by ACT and wishes to continue to support their work.

What has been the favorite part of the trip so far? Being part of a team that wants to serve God has been a wonderful thing, as she has felt part of a group of people who have a common goal.

What do you want non-Ethiopians to know? There are many challenges for the people of Ethiopia, aside from the basic needs for food, water, shelter and dignity that all humans share. Much prayer and support are needed on an ongoing basis, but there is also hope, hope that comes from organizations like ACT who are in Ethiopia and dedicated to the mission of serving "the least of these." (Matthew 25: 31-46)

A Day in the Life in Suki

Today was our day for home visits in the Suki Project.  We began our morning with a lovely worship time with the combined staff of ACT , the Boston Team and Menlo Church. We split up into teams of 3 with a translator and started off to visit beneficiaries in the community .  We traversed rocky , uneven and narrow roadways over small rivulets of unknown substances to finally arrive at our destination. 

At first I thought the rocky roads were a hindrance but then I remembered that during the rainy season the mud flows easily down the streets and the elevated rocks will make walking dryer. We entered through a corrugated metal fence with a gate into a small compound with two or three households sharing the property.  It was wash day so a woman was busy scrubbing her clothes in a large basin and hanging them on the line to dry.  Across from her was a drying mat where sheets of Eucalyptus bark was drying in the sun for the evening dinner fire.  The sun was shining and it was peaceful and quiet .

We continued on our way to our second stop past a field where young men were playing soccer and on to our destination.   Genet welcomed us into her home where her 14 year old son was playing quietly by the front door.  The room was dark and musty but had some pieces of old furniture and a bed.  In corner was  a traditional Ethiopian coffee pot.  I've said that even if people don't have food to eat they have their buna, which is coffee in Amharic!  We asked Genet how she came to participate in the ACT program and she told us of how she saw how the ACT children were being treated while working at a Health Center.  She has been participating for a year and is already an "expert patient", which is a type of mentor and counselor to the new patients.  She has a difficult family situation since her oldest son has a seizure disorder, and is still having seizures, and her husband is hostile to her new-found faith and community.  She told us she receives financial, social, medical and emotional support from the ACT community and it has become her "Life".  We had a sweet time of conversation through our interpreter and prayed with her before leaving.  We are so grateful to be partnering with a ministry that touches the lives of so many in this community.

Sally Marsh