All Our Colorful Faces: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Ethiopian student attentively listens to the ongoing debate in class.

This past month has flown by. Ethiopia is full of colors and beautiful faces. Most of our stomachs eventually adjusted to our diet of a plethora of every type of carb you can imagine. We leave sadly with tanned faces, scorched from the Ethiopian sun, each one of us carrying a different story or picture in our heart but anxious to get our hands on a Big Mac in the Cairo airport. I don’t think I solely speak for myself. Our month here started with Andy Byrd, who helped inspire us to widen our prayer life as a community and enjoy combinations of intercession and worship together. We have now started a once a week 24 hr prayer session no matter our location. Two people are assigned a slot every two hrs where they are to pray, sing and read the word.  We have done it two weeks in a row so far and we feel it is a habit we wish to obtain.  Following Andy we received Laura Fisher and her husband Dave. Laura taught us on “African worldview” being from South Africa herself she had quite a lot to say.

    Two young girls perform for us in front of the class.

It really has opened my eyes and my mind to better understand the world. When you understand a person’s worldview and what they believe and why they believe it you can understand them so much better. As in the African culture, being in Ethiopia we where able to better understand them because we knew the basics of their worldview and interact with them on their level. One of the most basic concepts found in all African cultures in some form or another is that of the concept of “Ubuntu.” This is their main concept that contains all the virtues that society attempts to achieve to maintain harmony in sharing throughout its members. Africans are extremely hospitable people, but it is built into their worldview. Often as westerners we feel when they go to great leaps and bounds for as, as in their culture, we feel guilty or that we owe them something. But they think nothing of it, it is second nature to them to invite us in for coffee or injara (Ethiopian specialty) Putting others before themselves, is one of their worldviews that should be more incorporated into ours from a biblical perspective, than I feel in most cases that if is.

                                     A young child at the orphanage found my hair bands very fascinating.

Dave Fisher directed us in our ending time in Ethiopia in the aspect of documentary photography. We where taught, or refreshed in this area for about three days and then depending on what God places on our hearts we went out to document for the final week.  Some people where led to a tribe down south as well as one up north, some to the Rastafarian community and others to the conflict of HIV/AIDS issue that is large everywhere in Africa. I primarily felt a bit unguided. Here in Addis we are staying at a pastor’s house, there is a young eleven-year-old girl living her by the name of Radit. So my friend Naphtalie and I decided to visit Radits school for a day and see the children and document an Ethiopian school. We where able to stay for several hours and view how various classes worked. The students appeared very excited to have us foreigners among them. They performed several songs and one child even showed us his Michael Jackson walk. Radit introduced us to all of her friends and the many boys that fancied her. The teachers also appeared very friendly to us.  Despite the disruption we inevitably caused in their classes with the clicking of our cameras. Documenting their learning and smiling faces was not a difficult feat. Often getting them to remain still and not making faces at the camera was another matter.

Through a minor connection we where also allotted to visit an orphanage made up of HIV positive children. The children where adorable and eager to play duck, duck, goose and any type of clapping game. I am now heading off to Stockholm, Sweden for a much needed relaxing spring break with some friends. Following that we will head back to Amsterdam to continue our worldview course.

A young smiling boy at the HIV orphanage was eager to have his photo taken and his hand held. 

The Never-ending Road We Travel Circles Back: Cairo To Addis

Natural Light: Silhouette of my friend Anna in the hostel window.   

The past few weeks have gone by quickly. Our two weeks in down town Cairo where spent practicing different ways of using light in our photography and hours in various coffee shops doing homework assignments. Our first week back in Cairo was spent with Wally Nell a returning teacher from last fall. He taught us on a number of different ways we can use different light sources in our photography. Wally is a brilliant photographer and he taught and inspired us that week. We practiced using natural light, night photography, and painting with light as well as studio work. That week was stretching and fun at the same time, it really opened up my eyes to so many more exciting ways of photography. One night we where able to view real “Sufi” dancing, a practice by Muslims that is a act of worship and the closest they come to having intimacy or a spiritual experience with God. We also spent that week finishing up homework for our biblical studies core course we have just completed.

                    Sufi dancing continues, it is amazing how long they are able to spin with out throwing up.

Last week we opened up our next course that we have just begun and that is “Humanities and Science.” We began a look at the various worldviews as an introduction. We spent the week glancing at Theism, deism, naturalism, nihilism, existentialism, monism and so on and so forth.  We have begun by reading “The Universe Next Door” by James W. Sire to begin to more widely understand these world views and to help us better understand exactly what our personal worldview is and why. I feel there is so much I have yet to learn and understand regarding these issues, it a good thing the next four months will be spent studying exactly these things.

Light Painting: Putting my camera on a tripod and opening the shutter, my friend Autumn poses for 30 secs  as I painted her with a flashlight.

We have now safely arrived in Ethiopia. Here we will be studying ‘African Worldview.’ And out last week here will be spent using our newly acquired knowledge to outreach in the community. Our School leader has come to visit us this week; it is very encouraging to have him among us for a few days since we have not seen him since early November. Along with him he has brought his friend Andrew Byrd. This week Andrew will be guiding us in a much-needed refreshment with the Lord. We are all very excited for this opportunity, after months of traveling we are all very warn out and our excited to be given a new perspective.

                 Two Sufi dancers take off their layers of skirts, after spinning for a good ten minutes.

Lately routine and community living has been wearing on us and we are all getting under each other’s skin. Prayer for our month in Ethiopia is much needed. We are all tough but our living situations are not as privileged as we have been in previous places. Understandably in Africa we have a shortage of water with twenty-five people using it and our food nutrition is not what we are used to as all. I ask that you pray for strength and unity of our school this month, as well as new revelations and deep times with the Lord. Our Internet is limited, and extremely expensive for the Internet that actually works. So I will not be able to update until the end of this month, the 26 we leave Ethiopia and begin spring break. Which I am very excited for, I will be going to Sweden to visit one of my friends. Once again your prayers are greatly appreciated.

 Sufi dancer twirling his "skirts."            

Night Photography: My attempt at a panning shot.