We left the beautiful resort, rested and ready for another day. An hour-long drive turned into a 1 ½ hour drive, as we had a flat on one of the cars. It was great to arrive in Hawassa and again, join up with the Boozikees. They reported that their trip south was fantastic. We also joined up with our implementing partner, the South Central Ethiopian Synod of Mekane Yesus. It was possible to see four water projects before the rains threatened to keep us in the country over night!
 
             
We are now in the Sidamo area of Ethiopia. This is the fourth language we have encountered in our travels this year. It was interesting to note that most of the water carriers were very small children—with smaller jerry cans, but still heavy enough for the tykes.
 
 
What a surprise it was for Jim when we happened upon the last well. It turned out to be one Jim recruited from a past Lutheran missionary to Ethiopia in the sixties. Jim had started the clinic and hospital at Selekleka, Tigray. When he, Carolyn and their two daughters came home in 1964, Dr. Warren Pierson and wife Wilma replaced Jim at the health center. Pierson built the hospital up to be a fine establishment, even with an X-Ray machine! It was said that when the Marxist government came into power and the missionaries were removed from Ethiopia, the Selekleka people buried that X-Ray machine so it could be used after the Dirg fell from power. After Warren died, Wilma gave money for a whole well in his memory. Praise God!
 
 
On the way back to Hawassa and the hotel, the group stopped at Tula Widow’s Co-op, a program of the Mekane Yesus church. In Ethiopia, when a married man dies, his wife is really left with almost nothing. The worst of this situation is that she is seldom wanted by any other man. She, and any children she might have, are left to find their own way. The program gives widows some small amount of money for them to start some kind of business on their own, and helps them to start a bank account to build up for the future. One of the women we interviewed had bought a goat with her gift. That goat has already (after about one year) produced one kid; with another on-the-way. If the kids are male, she will sell them. But, if a female, she can keep it to have more and more goats. This is a kind of insurance for her and her children. Most of the women have 3 or more children to raise.
 
 
It is good to see that our fellow Lutherans here in Ethiopia are doing well in helping people to advance, and to stay healthy.


 

We left the beautiful resort, rested and ready for another day. An hour-long drive turned into a 1 ½ hour drive, as we had a flat on one of the cars. It was great to arrive in Hawassa and again, join up with the Boozikees. They reported that their trip south was fantastic. We also joined up with our implementing partner, the South Central Ethiopian Synod of Mekane Yesus. It was possible to see four water projects before the rains threatened to keep us in the country over night!
 
             
We are now in the Sidamo area of Ethiopia. This is the fourth language we have encountered in our travels this year. It was interesting to note that most of the water carriers were very small children—with smaller jerry cans, but still heavy enough for the tykes.
 
 
What a surprise it was for Jim when we happened upon the last well. It turned out to be one Jim recruited from a past Lutheran missionary to Ethiopia in the sixties. Jim had started the clinic and hospital at Selekleka, Tigray. When he, Carolyn and their two daughters came home in 1964, Dr. Warren Pierson and wife Wilma replaced Jim at the health center. Pierson built the hospital up to be a fine establishment, even with an X-Ray machine! It was said that when the Marxist government came into power and the missionaries were removed from Ethiopia, the Selekleka people buried that X-Ray machine so it could be used after the Dirg fell from power. After Warren died, Wilma gave money for a whole well in his memory. Praise God!
 
 
On the way back to Hawassa and the hotel, the group stopped at Tula Widow’s Co-op, a program of the Mekane Yesus church. In Ethiopia, when a married man dies, his wife is really left with almost nothing. The worst of this situation is that she is seldom wanted by any other man. She, and any children she might have, are left to find their own way. The program gives widows some small amount of money for them to start some kind of business on their own, and helps them to start a bank account to build up for the future. One of the women we interviewed had bought a goat with her gift. That goat has already (after about one year) produced one kid; with another on-the-way. If the kids are male, she will sell them. But, if a female, she can keep it to have more and more goats. This is a kind of insurance for her and her children. Most of the women have 3 or more children to raise.
 
 
It is good to see that our fellow Lutherans here in Ethiopia are doing well in helping people to advance, and to stay healthy.