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.
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.
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