January Newsletter - Arrival in Ethiopia

January 2011
Update - Vol#1

After a year of preparations, we arrive in Addis!

So, at last, here we are! During the previous year we took a Health and Hygiene class to learn simple ways to teach tribes about sanitation techniques that will greatly improve their quality of life and health. We also attended and participated in a Well-drilling class to learn the basics of drilling for water. Beyond that we also attended a Pump Repair class so that we would be empowered to repair the broken wells that are scattered around the Southern Omo region of Ethiopia, specifically the village of Turmi. Teresa, a true city girl, even took a Basic Poultry class. Eggs will become a large portion of our diet. However, she has drawn the line on wringing their necks for fried chicken dinners! (Sorry, Tom.) We prepared as best as we knew how and left the rest to God. Let the adventure(s) begin!

Tenayestellegn! (Hello in Amharic, but you can say "ten aspirin" and the locals will understand you. haha) We have been in the capital city of Addis Ababa for almost four weeks. It is a BIG city and full of surprises and contrasts. In some parts of the city there are new, tall buildings going up, while all around those buildings are mud-walled shanty houses and street people sleeping under a tarp on the sidewalk. It tugs at your heart to see so many of them.

Although there are many cars clogging the busy streets, it is not uncommon to see a herd of goats or donkeys walking down the road. I am amazed that they are not killed by the crazy drivers. The dotted lines dividing the roads are not lane markers, they are merely suggestions that no one seems to follow except the newcomers (or "farenjis" as foreigners are referred to here). Horns are heavily relied upon and pedestrians are fearless in that they step out in front of oncoming traffic. I am only now starting to keep my eyes open in the back seat where I am clutching both of the armrests in fear! haha There is no such thing as 'pedestrian right of way'; when you cross a street you are never sure if the car if the car that it is hurtling toward you will stop or not. It depends on the driver's mood, I guess. (If you have been watching us on Facebook then you already know of our adventures in obtaining our new Ethiopian driver's license.)

The noise of the city is constant and unending. We are temporarily staying at the SIM Guesthouse - kind of an old boarding school built by a wonderful mission group SIM (Serving in Mission). It is a place where missionaries working in Ethiopia (from all over the world) can come to sleep in a bed, have a shower (when there is water), and get refreshed spiritually as well as physically. The one snag in this "refreshing sea of tranquility" is the disco that has opened up right behind the guesthouse. The throbbing beat of the bass thunders on until 1:00am. At that time we finally fall asleep only to be awakened at 3:00am to the chanting over the loudspeakers by the nearby mosque. Needless to say, I am sooooo glad I brought my earplugs.

Meal times are family-style around big rectangular tables. The food served is Ethiopian-style Western cuisine. The head cook, Chafamo, has worked at the guesthouse for over 40 years! Most of the recipes are not written down, but are recorded only by memory. He makes a wonderful chicken pot pie but his interpretation of bean tacos leaves something behind in the translation. Meal times are a wonderful time of laughter and chatter and exchanging of ideas and helpful tips - especially for us "rookies."

Every day is laundry day at SIM Guesthouse

Living room where we share our meals.

SIM Guesthouse where we have been staying

We were anxious to leave the city and travel "down country" as they say and get started with our mission. But we were advised to not be too quick in leaving Addis and now we know why. The Lord is opening doors for us and preparing a way. We have met critically important people who will be able to help us in obtaining visas, work permits, among other things. We have met new friends, Habesha and ex-pats, that without their kindness and generosity, we would still be walking in circles.
It can be overwhelming coming to a different culture. For instance, one way of how I (or maybe you) may look at something can be looked at from a completely opposite point of view here. And we have to constantly remind ourselves that just because it is different from our view does not make it wrong; just different.
Frustrations can abound, but we are here to rise above those frustrations in order to share the love of Jesus with our brothers and sisters in Ethiopia. When you do not have the comforts of home and all the distractions of a busy lifestyle it is easier I think to listen to the promptings of Jesus in our hearts. We are praying for all of you at home that you will be able to hear the quiet voice of God as He talks to you. We are frequently moved to tears as we feel the overwhelming love of Jesus in our hearts.
Life is about to get much harder for us. Around February 21 we will begin our journey south to a more remote region. This is where we will be physically challenged as never before. Although it sounds (kind of) crazy with no water, no electricity, (and no pizza!) we are excited and can hardly wait! We will always try to keep you informed with periodic updates (as long as the spotty internet connection will allow). Thanks so much for your faithful prayers.

In His joyful service,
Teresa and Tom Rieder

Prayer Requests:
• A truck. We need one desperately. Vehicles are very expensive and hard to come by, even used ones. We need approximately $48,000.00 to purchase a heavy-duty, rugged truck and the proper paperwork so we can avoid the high duty tax.

Answers to Prayer:
• All of our luggage and totes arrived safely!
• Tom's Mac laptop was beginning to "crash". We asked around and there are no Apple repair shops in Addis. (Not many people use Apple products to date.) We heard a story about a missionary taking his Toshiba laptop to an authorized technician to be repaired, but when he got the computer back it was thicker than it had been before it was brought in.

"All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go....."

Well, here we are-in countdown mode! Only 4 days until we leave for Ethiopia. Only 4 more days to enjoy hot showers...ice cold diet cokes....chicken fried steak... mashed potatoes and gravy...PIZZA!!...

But we are excited! We have prepared as best we can, and will leave the rest up to God.

After all- WE did not dream this up, or think where can we go to make ourselves miserable for 2 years? Nor do we want to be martyrs for a cause.

God has placed this desire in both of our hearts to go. Out of a sense of gratitude for all that He has given us. And since He has planned this, we surely have no reason to fret or fear...because the Lord has gone ahead of us to prepare the way. He has already started working in the hearts of our friends here to help-so many we can't count them all-and He is working in the hearts of people in Ethiopia-government leaders, tribal leaders, people who will want to help us to achieve God's purposes.

So....we may miss our hot showers, and our diet cokes and pizza-but what a blessing we are getting in return! We don't see this as a sacrifice-we see it as a priviledge. We will see and experience things that most people never get to see. And to have an opportunity to effect lives in a positive and longlasting way--well, that is way better than pizza!!

'Early bird' Rotary Club meeting!

After the newspaper article came out about us in the Tyler Morning News (Dec 24)

we were contacted by Kevin from the Bullard Rotary club to come speak at their breakfast meeting. I said sure-we'd love to and then he said great- we meet at 6:30am ! Agghhh! But of course, even though he said he 'tricked us' about the early bird time, we were happy to go. What a great bunch of service-minded guys! These men voluntarily meet once a week before the crack of dawn to discuss ways that they can help impact their community and the world. Of course, Rotary Club is now a well-known, world wide organization with branches that meet all over the world. Their main service project in past years was the goal of irradicating polio worldwide. This they have succeeded in doing. Now they are turning their efforts to water projects--ta da!! Another example of God's perfect timing in our lives! Project Ethiopia's water mission is right in line with Rotary Club. I have a feeling these men will continue to stay in touch with us as we all seek to help bring water to the thirsty.

H20 Challenge week!

Dec 6-10 was a big week for us. I went to one of our local schools and spoke to the students there. TK Gorman is a Catholic school with a combined middle and high school campus of approximately 300 students. I showed a short video that told the story of the water crisis in Africa. Then, I gave a speech to the students. (I was nervous, but at least I didn't throw up this time! haha) I told them about Jemal-the Ethiopian child we have sponsored for the past 10 years. I spoke about our previous trips to Ethiopia, and how it has impacted our lives. I told them some basic water facts: that 5,000 children die each day from drinking dirty, unsafe water. Yes.... 5,000, every day. The women have to haul dirty water several miles each day-knowing that this same water could very likely kill their children. That fact alone just breaks my heart. Can any of you imagine the anquish of those mothers? But they have no choice. That dirty water is all that they have.

So I challenged the students at Gorman to be a hero-to save a life! Through an organization called: Project H20, the kids decided to only drink water for one week. Then, instead of sodas and sports drinks or Starbucks, they drank water only and gave the money they would have spent on those things to a water- based charity named Living Water International.

(We hope to one day become affiliated with LWI-a wonderful organization based out of Houston, TX.)

Anyway- the students did great!! With the help of two student leaders, Sarah and Emily, we made posters, put up flyers, made morning announcements, etc..They had a contest between the middle school and high school to see who could raise the most money.

They made two posters with a thermometer on each showing which campus was ahead on money giving. It was a real close contest, but the High school campus pulled it out at the end and won!

Are you ready for this???? (drum roll please.....) They raised $2000.00 in 5 days!!! Isn't that incredible? We are so proud of those kids! And you know what, if they can make that sacrifice of only drinking water for one week-how about you? Why don't YOU be a hero? You can save a life-by giving your money, that will be added to someone else's money, that will be added to someone else's....and then a well can be dug in a village and lives can be saved. Think about it.

A small short term 'sacrifice' that will have long-lasting impact for good.

If you are interested in doing something like what the TKGorman students of Tyler Texas did, go to the H20 Challenge website: www.theh2oproject.org for more information.

Of course, we here at Project Ethiopia also could use your support. Perhaps you could have your own water challenge at your church, your office, neighborhood or organization-so please make note of the address below where all contributions can be sent. The church will wire the money to us in Ethiopia, and you will receive a year end gift tax statement in the mail from them.

Emerald Bay Community Church 160 LaSalle Dr. Bullard, TX 75757

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!!!