Greetings to you all.
I am planning, with Yonatan, to give a report on our recent journey to Sudan and Ethiopia to visit Eritrean refugees.
In person at Lincoln Road Chapel, 145 Lincoln Rd, Waterloo, ON, April 11th, at 7:00 p.m.
and by zoom, click on https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89055708565?pwd=L3JUSk10RWJwQng2QWREMGZNdkZjUT09
Monday afternoon was the highlight of our trip. Not because we saw or experienced something wonderful. Quite the opposite. We came looking for trouble and found it!
We visited an Eritrean refugee camp north of Gonder, not too far from the Tigrayan border. That’s where war had been raging up until December.
The people we met had fled from Eritrea to settle as refugees in Tigray, the northernmost province of Ethiopia. Then war broke out between the federal government of Ethiopia and the province of Tigray. Now these Eritrean refugees had to flee again! They are double refugees.
We met with six church leaders who told us of the miserable and dangerous conditions for the 23,000 inhabitants of the camp. They said it’s not uncommon to find a dead human body, left in the open. There are armed bandits everywhere, part of the aftermath of war. They told us how desperate they were to immigrate, to anywhere safe. One of the men had his arm broken by a bandit who robbed him. They said that in the winter, coming soon, its cold and muddy. The place is called the ground that “swallows up”. They are not allowed to leave the camp and its immediate surroundings. They cannot work legally. They have no rights.
One of the men said, “seeing you here gives us hope that God still cares for us”. Another said, “you have no idea how much this means to us, that you would come from such a distance to visit us!” So, sobering!!
We went right into the camp, looked inside the tents, visited two churches that are meeting there. Of course, kids were curious, wanting to practice their English on us/me. I am more than a little conspicuous here!
We talked with them about possible solutions, short term and long term. Yonatan and I have been talking about those options since Monday.
Please pray for us that we will find a way to bring meaningful help to these dear “loved by God” people
Am heading home at 11 p.m. tomorrow night but am planning to meet a group of Eritrean pastors from about 3 till 7 p.m., to provide some leadership training/encouragement, “on our way to the airport.
This is a homecoming for Yonatan who hasn’t been in his home city for 25 years. He doesn’t recognize 75% of it. Addis Abbaba (new flower) is a 9M person, sprawling, flourishing city that has something of everything and for everyone! Far more developed than Khartoum. Its high elevation (7700 ft) makes it cool at night and variable sunny or rainy during the day. It was hard to imagine rain while we were in Sudan!
We are staying in a very nice condominium that belongs to relatives of Yonatan. We are alone here except for a woman in her fifties who worked for Yonatan’s family as a domestic helper when he was about 12. He hadn’t seen her for 30 years or more. She talks with him constantly in Tigrigna, doesn’t know a word of English.
On Thursday we met with four Eritrean refugee pastors. They support a group of 24 Eritrean refugee churches in Addis. They are well organized and are carrying on effective ministry. All of them are illegals from Eritrea and as such have no rights as citizens in Ethiopia. Nevertheless, they can work informally for Ethiopians, arrange business partnerships “under them” in a variety of ways. They were impressive! They wanted us to see a group of 60 of their evangelists who were receiving a 3 day evangelism training course by an Ethiopian trainer from Russia. Apparently the Ethiopians have an enormous church there. We met them and Yonatan and I spoke to them briefly.
On Friday we visited Pastor Girmu, a key leader among the brethren churches here. He told us a remarkable story of the first missionaries who came to Ethiopia from Ireland. When they arrived here, one of them met Emperor Hailie Selassie at a birthday party. Selassie asked him where they were going to be working, they said they were still discerning that. He arranged for them to go to the north of Ethiopia to a very difficult place, the hottest area in the country and totally Islamic. Nevertheless, they began a clinic there which eventually became well known and people from all over the country came to it. One of them moved to Addis, it was Stephen McQuoid’s father. I have met Stephen of GLO mission in Scotland several times. He began a church on the South side of Addis which eventually became the mother church to all other churches of that network in Ethiopia. There are now 284 churches. The story was much longer, so interesting I hate not to tell it! Another time!
There are so many beggars on the streets. The most troubling, is seeing young girls, mothers, carrying young children along side of a busy road where the traffic often slows down, begging. I wanted to see their faces and on one occasion I caught the eye of this young woman. She immediately came up to our car and began to beg. I didn't know what to do. Nobody else was responding. I didn't have local money. Even the child who was probably 14 months began to smile pleadingly and began to beg with her hand. The image of that young girl and her baby stayed with me all night. Disturbing. I was told today that this problem had tripled since the horrible two-year Ethiopian civil war which concluded in December.
We’ve done quite a bit of sight-seeing here. Looking forward to preaching at a church tomorrow and visiting another in the afternoon. Thank you for praying!
Photo of Eritrean leaders
Photo of 60 evangelists
Photo of children and young mothers begging
Much of what I am to say revolves around two people Yonatan and myself are working with here, Pastor Habtom and Evangelist Kahsay.
We made a long and tedious bus trip together from Khartoum to La Gedarif – not too far from the Ethiopian border. It’s a giant dusty town where Yonatan was homeless as a 16-year-old for three months after fleeing a violently anti-Christian communist regime in Ethiopia. He and I walked the streets together on Friday evening as he showed me places where he slept in various stair-well, right on the street. It was quite emotional for him. This is the first time he’s visited this place in 30+ years! So much more to say about that!
On Saturday we drove to the UN refugee camp at Um Rakuba. It turns out I was a handicap there. Even though we had obtained legal permission to enter the camp, the people in charge there were very nervous about a white man going into the main camp, fearful that I might produce a negative report about the camp. So Yonatan and Habtom “hid me in the taxi” while they carried on negotiations with several key camp members. They still didn’t let us in. However they agreed to provide detailed information (including pictures) to Haptom. Disappointing but we did get to take some photos nonetheless. The population of this camp ballooned from about 15,000 people to 30,000 people because of the recent war in Ethiopia. The UN provides $25 worth of food per individual per month. The camp is in the middle of nowhere.
On Sunday we visited another UN camp that houses elderly people that have no one to care for them. Kahsay has a huge heart for them because he was born in that village. All are frail, most are blind and unless someone provides for them, they find their way to the Orthodox church where they beg. We rented the most worn out van you could imagine, pushed our way into a narrow alley at the open market where we purchased bags of: onions, rice, lentils plus cooking oil and other basics that will provide for them for one month. It was most touching to see Yonatan bending down, talking/interviewing each one by turn.
We took an even more crowded bus, 7 hours back to Khartoum. It was 9 or 9:30 and I thought, I am so ready for bed! However, we ended up at Habtom’s house where his wife had prepared a meal. Their five kids were eager to stay up because we were coming. He had brought his family to meet Yonatan and I after our Thursday sessions. That evening I asked the kids to tell us the most crazy things their dad had ever done. They were so funny!! Cracking up as they told us.
But on Sunday evening the two girls brought a big basin of water and washed mine and Yonatan’s feet. I have never experienced this previously other than in “spiritual settings”. They discovered I was ticklish and began to tickle my feet on purpose! Had a great time with them!
Today, Monday we were tourists. We visited the point where the White and Blue Niles meet, right at Khartoum and then the two rivers flow together through Egypt and on to the Mediterranean. We walked along the Nile and visited a gigantic open market.
A group of five from Calgary are in the process of sponsoring Habtom and his family (they are also refugees) to immigrate to Canada. I can tell you, if they come to Canada, it will be Canada’s gain!
Tomorrow we are headed to Ethiopia.
Thank you for praying!!!
Pictures
Elderly people and supplies
Camp we visited
Habtom's family, some of
Negotiating, while i sat in cab - "hiding"
