Favourite day

I think that yesterday was  probably one of my favourite days since coming to Ethiopia just over six weeks ago. The VBS lesson in the morning was about Jesus washing his disciples' feet from

John Chapter 13, verses 1-17

After the lesson the teachers put this into practice.

 

They washed the students' feet

and they loved it.

Amen even went the extra mile and washed one of  the children's sandals. (Did you notice  that they are not a pair?)

The foot washing took off

with staff washing each others' feet,

students washing volunteers' feet

 and vice versa.

I washed Nadia's feet 

and Elsa wanted to wash mine.

 

 She did such a great job. Everyone was so enthusiastic and thorough.

and could explain to me what this was all about.

 When Elsa was going home

 she gave me a note which she had written in almost perfect English:

"I remembered what I was going to tell you before. I wanted to wash your feet like Jesus did"

Special day!

Vacational Bible School - Ethiopian style

Everything is different in Africa and that certainly goes for VBS. I think the kids are really enjoying themselves and they are learning about God's great love for all people and certainly for each of them.

On Day 1 each child and adult was given a name. This is Jane in Amharic.

The kids were taught Jesus Loves Me, with the actions, in English, so that they could sing it each day throughout VBS. They're doing a great job.

 

Each day food is part of the deal mid-morning. Some of the kids won't have eaten before they come. This was scrambled eggs in a bread roll.

And another day it was sweet potatoes served skin and all. After handing them around to the kids Getu and I took a plate off to his office where we were working on something on his computer. We peeled off the skin and they were SOOOOO delicious!

The children were divided into groups according to age. These were the 5-7 year olds

and the 8 - 10's

and some of the little ones with their artwork.

Petros and I decided that The Jesus Film would fit well into the program/theme, and as YFC Ethiopia owns it in Amharic each class has watched half an hour this week and will complete it next week as a celebration at the end of VBS. No fancy projection equipment here. 

At the end of each morning when the children had gone home all staff and volunteers had lunch together before the volunteers headed off.

Its been a great week for the children but also for the staff and volunteers as we work together as a team to share the life-changing message that Jesus came to proclaim - his sacrificial death for the sin of all mankind to reconcile us to God and give us eternal life with him.

We begin again on Monday.

ፍቅር

The theme for the Vacation Bible School at YFC Ethiopia this year is Love, or, in Amharic, the local language, it is ፍቅር. We begin next Monday and the first VBS goes for two weeks with mostly poor kids from the community. All the staff and also some volunteers have been preparing for this all week and the YFC family is full of anticipation for what God is going to do this year.
 Petros and I have been preparing for longer. Neither Petros nor I had experienced VBS with YFC Ethiopia before and so putting together a two week program has been a real challenge.

We've needed lots of conversations with staff who have done this before.

We've spent lots of hours at YFC figuring things out and locating resources.

We've had to meet at the guesthouse outside of office hours

and I've spent many late hours sitting on my bed with my laptop, paper and pencil.

It seems to have taken up lots of my waking hours recently. I am in charge of the English teaching program and formulating the lessons for each class level with four lessons for each group, each week. I thought that was challenge enough, but then there has been putting together the timetable to accommodate those five class groups of different ages and content, Bible lessons, four character development lessons, three visiting 'teachers' with their own specialties, four English lessons per week and coordinated breaks during the morning. I really wished I had my young friend Cam with me to put it together. I know it wouldn't have taken him the 5 hours it took me, but he's 12,000 km away. Hope it works when put to the test next week.

Apart from what Petros and I have been doing, we've met together as a staff to pray, to hand over what we have done, to invite feedback, to decide on classroom rules, to discuss the finer points and what each person's involvement will be.

We've also moved things around to accommodate the five age groups in a small space each and made the library into two smaller rooms by moving bookshelves and other furniture.

People have drawn, cut and pasted signs 

for each classroom to show the rules,

and also made posters for each class

and then stuck them on each door

so the children will know where to go.

  
I have been truly stretched this week and it's not finished yet. English classes still need to be prepared once I have seen if what I have already done is suitable for each age group. Not sure if there'll be any other blog posts this week, but I'd like to show you some VBS next weekend. Let's see how I go.

Fun and games on Saturday night

One of the many nice things about living in this community is that everyone is extremely friendly and a bit like family. Because I am out at the YFC office every week day in working hours I don't get to see much of the other people during the week, but on Saturday night I joined the gang while

  Lynne and Rob organised a games night for anyone staying or living at SIM. There were people from the USA, UK, Ireland, Belgium and Australia.

 

 I learned an excellent game called 'Just a Minute'.

 

 Look out Bundy young people!  

 

The kids competed against each other by blowing a small piece of paper from one end of the tray of water to the other. These two got VERY wet and had lots of fun. And yes, the power went out at that stage!

And we also played a version of Pictionary with two opposing teams.

 

 Here our team depicted hospital, at top, snake in the middle and basketball (yes, it's upside down) at the bottom edge.

We were the winners!!

And we had a lot of fun.

I love God's way of connecting people

The night before I left Australia I was welcoming people at church with Annika, a gorgeous young woman from our church. She told me that her grandparents lived in Ethiopia somewhere and that her grandfather was a surgeon. I flew to Ethiopia on Monday and arrived on Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday morning I was sitting next to an Aussie lady at breakfast. Annika's grandmother! How good is God. Robin suggested I come to visit them in the south of the country where Barry is Associate Professor of surgery at the Arba Minch General Hospital. So I have just returned from 4 wonderful days with Annika's grandparents, Barry and Robin Hicks, at Arba Minch, 450 km south of Addis Ababa.  Thanks so much for the connection, Annika.
And while we were together we also discovered that Barry had employed Mal's niece for many years. All very interesting when I live in Victoria and they live in north Queensland.

Barry and Robin live in a simple little house on the hospital compound 

surrounded by beautiful tropical plants and

with interesting wildlife roaming the yard.

 

 
 Every Saturday morning Barry and Robin take their gardener and house girl for breakfast

at the hospital cafe.

 Life is different in the countryside here,

 just as it is in Australia.

 

 It's slower

 

and simpler. 

On Sunday morning we went to church (sorry no photo) and then joined the rest of the congregation at a little cafe just down the road for tea and coffee after the service.

In the afternoon we went for a drive to enjoy the beautiful nearby lakes, which are part of the Great Rift Valley. Twas a bit of a hazy day but still very beautiful. Here you can see Lake Chamo behind me.

and Barry and Robin near the entrance to the hotel which provided the lovely setting.

While I was at Arba Minch (which means forty springs) I went market shopping with Robin for vegetables

and eggs

and sighted lots of these cute little bajaj (taxis, pronounced bar-jarj. Very few private cars here).

But I must say that one of my favourites was attending Barry's mornings meetings with his surgery students. On the first morning, as we entered, Barry introduced me as a Professor of Obstetrics from Australia! I must say that it got me thinking about what life might have been like if I had become a doctor.

I found it so very interesting. Such variety in the cases - way more than any surgical student would experience during their training in Australia. 

Barry and Robin have adopted several Ethiopians over their many years in Ethiopia. 15 year old Abel is their latest addition to the family and what a lovely young man he is.

I have come home feeling that I have had a real holiday, and I know that Barry and Robin really enjoyed having me there too. I'm thankful for God's ongoing provision for each of us.