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.

Its so good to be part of the international YFC family

Over the weekend we had a visit from the Africa Area Director of Youth for Christ.

Hilary is from Sierra Leone but now lives in Ghana. I had met Hilary previously at our international gatherings and it was so good to connect again. He came to do training with the YFC Ethiopia Board.

 

 Hilary's presentation was excellent and he had the attention of the members of the board throughout the sessions. I too learned a lot about the role and activities of a YFC board and their responsibilities, and how they work alongside and relate with the National Director of the YFC ministry in each nation. I gained lots of new insights. 

 

Here are some of us posing outside the office on a lovely warm sunny Saturday (about 25 degrees C)

 As usual we enjoyed good African food over the time Hilary was with us. Here he and Alem, the National Director, are enjoying injera, their national dish. You'll see more of this later on. 

As always, I am impressed with the way YFC International takes care of the nations, building them up, equipping and strengthening them to carry out their mission and vision more effectively.

The Young Leaders took the opportunity to meet and be encouraged by Hilary while he was here with us in Ethiopia. What a fabulous bunch of young people these are.

And so what am I eating in Uganda?

For brekky before I leave home in the mornings

I’m eating fresh bananas and mangoes. Yum!

When we get to the YFC office we ‘take tea’ – black tea with powdered ginger added – LOVE it! plus deep friend cassava

or deep fried mandazi or ‘daddies’ 

 or a plain buttered sweet bread sandwich like this.

 We all eat lunch at the YFC centre during the week.

I’ll be getting all the carbs I need for the next couple of months!

 

We eat Posho (cornflour and water) a couple of times a week. Here its served with an eggplant stew.

 

 Beans of some sort plus rice is often served. Its tasty and I enjoy.

 Yesterday I saw Ruth cooking this smoked and salted fish soup (we'd call it sauce)

 and was rather interested to eat it for lunch.

Actually I enjoyed it along with Posho and mashed green bananas.

And at night I eat lots of fresh vegetables so readily available - to compensate for all those carbs during the day but also because that’s what I love most.

A very short stay in Zhongshan, China

I'm back home. 

This will be my last blog post until I travel again. 

I don't know when that will be, but God does. Perhaps it'll be sometime next year, but I'm happy to leave that in His hands.

Just before I came home I spent a couple of very enjoyable and busy days with Aussie friends in China.

 I love markets, not that I think you hadn't guessed that already! Thought you'd like to see these fish heads

and fresh red meats as well. Fewer flies here than we saw in Bangladesh, but then this is inside.

So here it was possible to have clothes made virtually on the spot,

shoes repaired while you wait,

 

and also to buy all sorts of Chinese favourites like chicken feet! You can even buy them as take-aways on skewers, like kebabs. Didn't try.

 This part of China also had some VERY old houses - reminded me a bit of Europe with buildings a couple of centuries old.

This is the church we went to on Sunday. Guess I hadn't expected churches in China to look just like ours in Australia, and people wearing gold and silver crosses as Christians might here in Australia.

After the Sunday morning service we went out for lunch with some of the young people from church . Tried a few 'new to me' Chinese dishes, like this lotus root. It's my new favourite.

And I enjoyed these 'new to me' long, skinny mushrooms that I hadn't seen before

and these thin curly black ones served here with tofu skins - really yummy too.

And after our really yummy lunch my Aussie friend had arranged for me to do a workshop for older people on 'encouraging young people'. I hadn't done anything like this before, but I think I'll be doing it more in the future. The participants were keen and engaged and we had a really good time. I have been invited to do something similar in Kyrgyzstan.

Let's wait and see what happens about that.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner

We are loving the food here.  Tropical fruit is pretty much always in season and is inexpensive compared with Australian prices. I beautiful ripe pineapple purchased from the lady walking past with a basketful on her head today was Rwf 300 – about AU 50c! Delicious! And at the same time her friend was selling huge mangoes for about AU 45c each. We bought two. We usually eat fresh fruit for brekky.

Check out our breakfast.

Lunches during the week we eat with the teachers at the Rwanda YFC school, Kigali Christian School, and the students from the YFC School of Leadership and Discipleship. This is always healthy fare and deliciously tasty. Beans are very often on the menu, as is rice and a type of banana which is not sweet and is always used for cooking – delicious.  And the fellowship around the lunch table is a highlight of our days.

After our very filling and healthy cooked lunch we usually have fresh salad for dinner. Market purchases daily mean that we manage well without a fridge and eat the freshest of the fresh!

The only real problem with all this great food is that we eat too much of it!! Sue decided that she would go without lunch today as she had just eaten too much good food and needed a break!