Tippy Tap!

Fina and I at the Tippy Tap! check out www.tippytap.org

A month or so ago, I was trying to think of ways to help teach hygiene to the Jaja women and stumbled upon the idea of putting a "Tippy Tap" in the village. Essentially, it's a hand-washing device used in places where access to soap and water is limited. Last week, we successfully put in Tippy Tap number one (hoorah, hoorah!).

We've been focusing a lot on emphasizing the importance of hand washing with soap (something so simple, yet so effective in preventing disease.. check out www.tippytap.org). The kids now wash their hands before the feeding every day and also can use soap and water in the village.

Come Alive

"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

-Howard Thurman 

Women at Risk

At Women at Risk

Tears ran down Nalashet's face as she explained how Woman At Risk has changed her life. She used to live night after night in prostitution... until she came to Women At Risk. Now, she's out of prostitution, and she explained, her relationship with G-d is everything to her. 

It was our last day volunteering at Women at Risk and it was also the women's last day in the first part of the program. After three months of morning devotionals, introductions to a variety of skills and crafts, discussion, counseling, and classes, they will now move into focusing either cooking or weaving. 

That last day was the most profound of all for me- the women debriefed about the last few months and said how Women at Risk has changed their lives. "Before," one woman explained, "I worked all night and slept all day. I didn't know anyone. Now I know G-d." It was then, after a month of spending time with these women, that I deeply considered where they've come from and how profound of an impact Women at Risk has had on them. The whole program is incredible. It gives women a chance to leave prostitution, gain education and skill training, and receive job offerings at the end of six months. It's shown me what it looks like to effectively "help people to help themselves."

More importantly, though, I loved simply getting to invest time in the women- painting nails, making necklaces, singing, talking with them about G-d... Some are nearly the same age as me and they come from such difficult backgrounds... still, they have such joy. They have this joy that is so simple- it's a joy that's been fought for. They are quick to laugh, quick to smile, and it isn't taken for granted. It reminds me of the stanza in Oriah Mountaindreamer's line in the poem, "The Invitation," that says this:

I want to know

if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you 

to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us

to be careful

to be realistic

to remember the limitations

of being human.

Photos!

At women at Risk

Taking portraits in the Jaja

With Loubaba

Injira making!

Picking up garbage with the kids in the Jaja village

Egzabier Mesken

Egzabier mesken!! That's "Praise G-d," a common greeting in Amharic. I'm still working at Women at Risk and spending lots of time in the village. (most of the photos: by Raquel Sandoval)

View of Addis Ababa

Kids at the daily injira feeding!

At the wedding (see last post)

Wedding again!

More wedding photos

At Meetu's house

Becoming Ethiopian! Learning how to do the coffee ceremony

Small Things with Great Love

"We can do no great things; only small things with great love."

St. Therese of Lisieux

The bride looked elegant in her white gown and pink decorations colored the walls. Around me people swayed and danced to the blaring music. In some ways, the ceremony itself was not so different from weddings back in the states- vows, kind words about the couple, songs.. but what struck me was the focus. 75% of the service was praying and worshiping. The focus was not really on the couple, but on G-d. And worship in Ethiopia is not just singing, but dancing and shouting and really finding joy in standing in G-d's presence. It was the ceremony and the party all in one. So I danced, sang, prayed, laughed... in awe of finding myself at an Ethiopian wedding.

The bride was a staff member at Women at Risk, the organization I've been working with the past few weeks. Simply the fact that I was at the wedding shows just how welcoming and generous the community there is. And truly, being here in Ethiopia has been about getting to know people and investing in community.

Aside from working at Women At Risk, I've been spending time in a local village where a lot of the women are single moms affected by HIV. They have barely enough food and almost no money, and yet I've found myself in many of their one room homes partaking in coffee ceremonies. They have almost nothing, but what they have, they are quick to give. Thus, the past couple weeks have been filled with drinking coffee and hearing stories. Though so many of the stories are heartbreaking. Through tears, they've talked about living on the streets, prostitution, constant hunger... And again, I find myself asking, what can I personally do? Long term, I'm not sure. But right now, I will continue to spend time with them and show them love in whatever small ways I can- drinking coffee with the women, picking up garbage with them in the village, playing soccer with the kids... doing "small things with great love."

Last week, Kate gave a talk on our identity in G-d. She said that in the Genesis story, after Adam and Eve eat the fruit and find themselves naked, G-d asks Adam, "Who told you that you were naked?" (Because it wasn't G-d.) G-d has given them all they need and a perfect home, but suddenly they find themselves hiding. Kate shared this with some of the women in the village. These women are powerful, they are beautiful, and they were made in the image of G-d. But there is such desperation that it's hard to see any of that. The world has made them believe that they are hopeless. But where does the loss of hope begin? Who says that someone is unworthy or worthless? Kate asked, "Who told you that you were naked?" 

Hope

Spending time with Meetu

How do I help people help themselves? How can I actually be effective rather than deepening a mindset of dependency? How do I give people HOPE?

Hope Enterprise, the Koshe Project, All 4 Christ, Women at Risk... the list of organizations seems endless. The many service opportunities here are keeping me busy, and between serving enjira (the local food) at Hope Enterprise and playing games with the girls at the Koshe Project, spare time is spent with friends: drinking cups of sweet coffee with Meetu, playing soccer with Hermela, discussing politics with Adonai... It's a blessing getting to spend time really investing in relationships and getting to work with some of the volunteer organizations...

But the more I hear stories of locals, the more I question what seems to be a mindset of dependency. It seems like there are a million and six organizations helping people to get food, to get education... but how can we stop the problems at the root? The issues are so complex that it's dizzying trying to consider what might be a solution.

Yet there is hope. Organizations like one I visited yesterday, called Women at Risk, helps empower women to help themselves. It gives former prostitutes education a means of providing for themselves through learning how to weave. For the next month, I'll be spending some time working with Women at Risk and attempting to learn more about the issues particularly surrounding women's rights. Because the question gnaws at me: How do I give hope?