THE STORY OF JEMAL

Jemal is the name of the little boy that we have sponsored through Christian Children's Fund for 10 years. He lives in Ethiopia. Through the years, we have sent a small amount of money each month to help support Jemal and his family. We have sent letters and photographs and kept up a good relationship with him through CCF. Each time we sent Jemal a package with a few small gifts in it-we always received a letter back thanking us for the "two t-shirts, the three sticks of gum, the flashlite" etc... So we always knew that he was getting exactly what we had sent. If any of you have ever wanted to support some third world child, but weren't sure if your money was really being spent the way you intended-well, this is the organization to use! They have since changed their name to "Child Fund" but it is still the same charity.

Anyway, we had always wanted to visit Jemal someday. One day, a missionary spoke at our church. His name was Malcolm Hunter and he and his wife Jean had spent over 40 years living and working in southern Ethiopia among the nomadic peoples of the area. He spoke of the desperate need for safe, clean water for southern Ethiopia. We have since come to know Malcolm very well and he is quite the character! He is a tall, ruddy complexioned Scotsman that loves Jesus, the forgotten nomadic peoples of the world--and adventure! He is a modern day Indiana Jones! We listened spellbound for 2 weeks when we traveled with him and Jean last Feb. throughout southern Ethiopia. We heard story after story of miraculous interventions by God, and incredible accounts of suffering of the indigenous Christians from various sources.

But anyway, back to Jemal.

After bringing Tom to speak with Malcolm, and hearing more details of the situation in Ethiopia, Malcolm challenged us to go see for ourselves what it was all about.

So six months later, after about 20 immunizations(10 in each arm) and swallowing giant horse pills every day to protect us from malaria-we were on our way to Addis Ababba-the capital city.

We hired a guide and a driver and began our adventure! There is about 14 miles of asphalt in the whole country and we quickly left it behind. Miles and miles of dusty, rutted roads with herds and herds of slow-walking, stubborn cattle walking down the middle, accompanied by slow-walking herd boys with sticks. Despite lots of horn honking, dramatic exclamations by our driver and elaborate shoulder shrugs by the boys who can't make the cows move out of the way faster, we were having the time of our lives! Everything was so foreign, so exotic, so....African!!

We passed mile after mile of round mud huts, men plowing fields the way they did it in Bible times- with only a sharpened stick and a team of oxen. Little kids running alongside our Land Rover asking for "Highland Highland"- our empty water bottles. To have your very own container to carry water in was a precious commodity to them. It broke my heart to see how desperately they tried to get our empty bottles-and all the while I was thinking of how many countless plastic water bottles are filling our landfills in America. But the thing that made the biggest impression on us was their smiles. Everywhere we went, they would stop whatever they were doing to smile and wave to us. Even the women, bent over with back-breaking loads of firewood on their backs would smile at us. The Ethiopian National Airlines has a slogan "Ethiopia-follow the smiles" and that is so true! What friendly people they are!

So we finally arrive at the little village where Jemal lives. We had hoped that they would be as excited to meet us as we were to meet them. Maybe even his whole family would be there to meet us, we hoped. Well......the whole village turned out to greet us! They lined the road laughing and clapping and cheering and following us to Jemal's house. It was overwhelming!

I mean, here we are-just 'ol Tom and Teresa from Bullard Texas- but they treated us like royalty or something!! Jemal was waiting at the front door with an armful of wildflowers and the biggest smile you ever saw! You could tell he was so proud to have visitors like this-all the way from America! And for us- to finally meet this little boy we had cared about and prayed for for so many years, well- it was a heartfelt moment. We went into his little one room hut. Mud walls, mud floors and two rickety chairs which they insisted we sit in. Then after we had been there a few minutes a man burst into the house. It was Dete- Jemal's father. He had been working in the fields and ran all the way when he saw we had come. Without any of the usual polite introductions he threw his arms around Tom and gave him a big bear hug. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. Our translator told us that Dete was saying how grateful he was to us for our support over the years. Our support helped his family to survive this hard life. Well, we were ALL bawling by that time! haha

The money we had sent went to pay for school supplies for Jemal, medicines for their family and seeds and grains for them. We were overwhelmed to see how that little bit of money that we sent each month-a dollar a day-had made such a significant impact on this family. Wow. Now THAT was money well-spent!

They had an elaborate coffee ceremony honoring us- fresh ground and roasted coffee served in tiny china cups. It was funny for us to see as we traveled all over Ethiopia, how even the most humble of homes has a 'coffee service' for honored guests. They lay fresh boughs of greenery and flowers (if there are any) and burn incense as well. Then Dete really 'put on the dog' for us and served us with bottles of orange Fanta. (warm, of course) Orange Fanta is THE soft drink of Ethiopia and a real treat for them. Bless his heart, he spent way more than he should have on us- but we were his honored guests........

We spent several hours there- exchanging small gifts, Texas Longhorn t-shirts for all his siblings (no we aren't UT fans-just thought they would like something that said Texas on it!)

About 40 people crowded into that small house, faces were crowded all around the one window and the doorway-and the rest of the village were all gathered outside the house-whispering and laughing about what was all going on inside Jemal's house. It was an event for the whole village! When we got ready to leave, they started singing and dancing their traditional dances. Tom danced the twist. Everybody laughed and then we were hugging goodbye and climbed into the jeep and waved as the little kids ran alongside us as long as they could waving goodbye to Jemal's American friends. It was the beginning of a life-changing journey for us.........

.....I'm rolling in the dough!

Bread dough, that is ! To go along with my new-found skills as a campfire cook, I can now add bread baker to my list of survival skills. I put out an APB (All Points Bulletin-remember "Dragnet"?) on our community email network. The email asked if any of my neighbors could teach me how to bake bread the old-fashioned way (no bread machines)

Well- now I am up to my armpits in bread dough!! haha

So far, I have learned how to make Marjorie's Famous Biscuits, Jo's Norwegian Potato Bread, Karen's Honey Wheat and Sourdough Bread, with Beryl's Cinnamon Rolls and Sue's Yummy Bread to follow--- and who knows who else is to come! I will have the biggest hips in Ethiopia by the time I am done!! Hopefully I will walk it all off so I can continue to eat these wonderful breads from these special neighbors. And as you can see, Tom is loving these baking lessons!!

...just call me "Cookie"

Well, for those of you who know me- cooking has never been my forte. I pretty much have honed my microwave skills and that's about it. But things are about to change-BIG TIME! So in preparation for this big- time change, I decided that I better find some alternative cooking methods for Ethiopia. We bought a solar oven and I have been experimenting with that and having wonderful results! I baked a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread that was almost too beautiful to cut into it. (but we did! yummmy!) My next experiment was a pot roast and potatoes and carrots. I put it in at 11:30am and it was done by 4:30pm. I know it was a success because all my neighbors kept sniffing the air as they went by and asking me what was for dinner and could they stay? Tom said it was the best pot roast ever-as good as his mother's!

It's just amazing that more people don't use this method of cooking. It doesn't matter what the ambient outside temp is- there could be 3 feet of snow on the ground. It cooks by the power of the sunlight-the rays of the sun are focused like a magnifying glass onto the pot of food and it is slow cooked by the sun. No need to add any water. It never burns. No stirring needed. Just occasionally make slight adjustments to the direction of the oven in relation to the sun-rays.

The best part is you don't heat up your kitchen and you don't use any electricity or gas. A free, re-newable energy source!

I am especially excited about the implications for the women of Ethiopia. No more fetching wood for fires. No more inhaling all that smoke and soot into their lungs from daily cooking over the open fires. There is a possibility of someone opening a manufacturing facility in Ethiopia to make these ovens (at a considerably lower cost than they are now) Think of all the people they could employ in building these ovens- and the possibility of having sponsors donate money to buy ovens for the women in southern Ethiopia!

Another way of cooking is with a cast iron pot-a 'Dutch oven'. Many people who camp use these to cook-among them my relatives Pete and Karen and Duey who have introduced me to the wonders of peach cobbler and monkey bread by campfire! Dutch ovens have a flat lid and you put charcoals on the lid and a few under the pot. This was how the old-time settlers on the wagon trains heading west cooked their meals-even sourdough bread-which is my next bold venture into the world of campfire cooking! ding a ling a ling ....dinner's ready!!!

LWI Pump Repair camp Aug 24-28

Tom and I signed up for a training class to learn how to repair water wells/pumps through our new friends at LWI. The class was held north of Houston and lasted for 4 days. I was the only girl there in a class of 14 guys! We got to wear hard hats, and leather gloves and handle big, heavy tools-arrgh argghh!! We had to diagnose why the pump wasn't working, completely disassembled 12 different types of water pumps, fix them and put them back together again. (The instructors would 'break' them during the night) They did this three different times-so we got plenty of hands on experience fixing all 12 types of pumps.

The instructors were great guys-and we really learned a lot from them. Every morning we met at 7:30 for devotions, then breakfast, and then out into the hot Texas sun all day until 5pm. Then dinner, an evening class on different topics like water testing and chlorination of water, and then fall asleep exhausted until the next morning. The guys were great-they all treated me like I had a brain and was not just the 'token girl' and I got to handle the pipes and c clamps and get dirty like everyone else!

LWI trains people to go out into areas of the world and fix the water wells that are in disrepair.

The thing that struck me the most, was their constant admonishment to us to be culturally sensitive and respectful of the people we were there to help. And also the possible life and

death consequences of what we were doing with these wells. If we accidentally drop something down the shaft, or are not able to repair it- we can just get in our truck and be on our way, knowing that "oh well, we tried". But for the people left behind, they have no water-and very likely some of their elderly or small children will die. This thought was very sobering to us, and reinforced the gravity of what we are attempting to do.

The men who came to LWI Pump Repair Camp were from all over the country, and had a variety of reasons for being there. Some were preparing for mission work like Tom and I.

Some had already been on a water-mission trip with LWI and wanted to learn more.

Some came only because God laid it on their heart to come-but have no idea why or what God may be leading them into.....and that is what is so exciting about all this I think.

Ordinary people, like you and I, if we open ourselves up to be willing-there is no telling where God will lead us! What an adventure! What a privilege!

The next step of our training will be LWI Drilling Camp in September. I can't wait to drill down and strike water and have it gush up out of the earth all over us! Now THAT will be a blast!

Poultry 101 class......

Since there won't be a Brookshires grocery store just down the street from me in Arba Minch-or fast food take-out either, I figured that I better learn how to embrace a bit of pioneer-style living and learn how to raise chickens! If I can't learn how to cook Ethiopian dishes, at least we can always eat eggs!

So I enlisted the help of my good friends Susan and Joyce and went to my first day of 'chicken school'. I brought my notebook and a prop to learn chicken anatomy with. As Susan's husband Bill was quick to point out-"Teresa, that's not a chicken-that's a duck!" ANOTHER reason why I need chicken school....Anyway, Joyce grew up on a farm in Minnesota (another reason to like her!)

and she knows all about feeding, egg laying and neck wringing! (actually, she explained a quicker method, but for those of you who are squeemish at heart, and not to offend any PETA people out there in blogdom-I will leave that method up to your imagination!) She then went on to describe plucking and cooking. I think we will just stick to eating eggs!!

Solar Cooking

Flies, germs and Tippy Taps !!

One of the things we learned about in the previously mentioned post about LWI Health and Hygiene class (you know, the one about flies and all the nasty germs they carry)

is the importance of keeping the water safe from contaminants. Germs, germs, germs-those nasty invisible things that wreak havoc with digestive systems, and very often in the elderly and small children can lead to death.

Simple measures such as washing hands before cooking or eating can prevent deaths.

LWI taught us how to make a simple contraption called a "Tippy Tap" out of twine and a empty plastic milk jug. You fill the milk jug with clean water, make a strategically placed pencil hole, and tie the Tap between two trees and then tie a footpiece or loop to the jug.

When you push down on the footpiece, the jug tips and a stream of clean water flows out.

Ta-da !! Now those nasty 'ol flies can't get in your water and make you sick! And for the deluxe version, they have a method of attaching a bar of soap in a plastic cup using an old nylon and then tie it to the Tippy Tap. Ingenious !! My husband Tom, being an engineer who used high-tech solutions for most of his career, is really enjoying finding low-tech solutions to comman problems! Wait until you see how he makes us a high-speed internet center using solar energy, a couple of sticks.......and maybe a little duct tape too!! (move over, McGyver!)

Solar cooking success!

Yesterday was our first experiment with solar cooking. We made our cooker out of cardboard and tinfoil. Then set it out in the sun around 3pm. We decided to keep it simple for our first try and made macaroni and veggies. We actually didn't have much faith that this would work, but shazamm!!!! It worked!! Actually, it was overcooked and the noodles were mush, but the veggies were good.
It only took an hour to cook everything-and done without any fuel source, only by the heat of the sun! We were amazed!
Even though we had researched this whole solar cooking idea on the web and YouTube, we didn't really know if it would work.
But now we are excited about it and are going to try cooking some MEAT-argh-argh!!
This has so much potential for the people of Ethiopia! Women and children spend a large part of their day gathering up wood for their cooking fires. Not only does it prevent them from doing other important things (like going to school or a job) but it depletes an already scarce resource-wood. And in some parts of Africa, it has become dangerous for the women-because they are having to range farther and deeper out into the bush, and many of them are being raped and murdered.
We hope to make many solar cookers and bring them to Ethiopia and show the women how they could use these at least some of the time for their daily cooking. If you would like more info about these Cookit solar cookers go to You Tube and type in "solar cooking' We will post exciting video of Teresa cooking MEAT next week, but until then...bon apetit!!

Tom and I just got back from a two day Health and Hygiene seminar at Living Waters International headquarters in Houston. What a great organization they are-they really know their stuff.
We learned all about hand washing, diaherea, flies, and how to design and build latrines!
(lovely topics, aren't they?)
with the training we received, we should be able to approach village leaders and suggest some basic sanitation techniques they can easily adapt to their village. Did you know that worldwide over 5,000 children DIE EACH DAY from diseases caused by poor sanitation and unsafe water?!!!We've got to do something about that!
In august we will take the pump repair class
that LWI offers.
Another project we are working on is a solar cooker.
In Africa, women labor to gather heavy firewood for cooking
purposes. With a solar cooker, no wood is neccesary!
No fuel is needed. A safe, clean, 'green' solution that costs pennies to make! ( cardboard, foil and an old cooking pot)
I'll keep you posted on my attempts to cook Tom's dinner
by good 'ol hot Texas sunshine!!!! ha ha

Welcome to our new blogsite!

This blog was set up in order to help keep family, friends and supporters up-to-date on whats going on with Project Ethiopia.

Our departure is drawing near-we have committed to a 2 year stay in southern Ethiopia beginning next Jan 2011.

There is much to be done before we leave: learning the language (Amharic) learning how to drill water wells, raising money to pay for a drilling rig, pipe, welding supplies, etc...and learning how to raise chickens!! I'm a city girl who always just went to Col. Sanders when I wanted fried chicken-but there aren't any KFC in the African bush! So I guess I need to go to chicken-raising and vegetable gardening school! What have I gotten myself into??? I also will have to wear long skirts in order not to offend our Ethiopian friends, who dress much more modestly than we do here in the US. I am a bit of a tomboy, so this long skirt thing is going to be a challenge too!

For those of you who don't know what Project Ethiopia is all about, here is a short description of what our purpose is:

Project Ethiopia: An East Texas Christian mission dedicated to drilling water wells in the southern Omo region of Ethiopia. We want to help provide safe, clean drinking water for the people who live there.

Water is scarce in the dry, dusty Omo region. Women and children spend 5-6 hrs. per day in fetching water-often from contaminated surface water sources. Worldwide, 5,000 children under the age of 5 die from water related diseases Every DAY.
We are closely affiliated with Living Water International (LWI) and the following facts are taken from their brochure:

Women often walk up to 7 miles per day in the dry season in search of water for their families. This is time that could be better spent working a job earning money to support their families. Children often are needed to fetch water and take care of cattle in the fields. Instead, they could be in schools-gaining an education that will help raise them out of the cycle of poverty.

So, my husband Tom and I are headed over there next January. I will explain how we got into all this in my next blog. By the way, I have never blogged before, so please be patient with me as I learn how to navigate through 'blogdom'

In His joyful service,

Teresa and Tom Rieder
Tyler, TX