October 22, 2000

Dear Friends,

As the "Year of the Child" unfolds within the synods, presbyteries and congregations of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), I read daily with deep interest the stories of Christ’s disciples reaching out in creative ways to meet the needs of young people in local and international situations. Such a blessed task is ours, Christian education: at its best opening the minds of children to understand themselves, others, and the world they live in through the mind of the Creator who brought it all into being, and the Word who connects it all. This is what we who live and learn at the Bethel Evangelical Secondary School (B.E.S.S.) in Dembi Dollo experience every day. The Spirit of Christ is the inner force within this community of 17 teachers and 330 students in grades 7-12 who seriously study their math and physics, lead us in worship and Bible study for morning chapel, praise God with such beautiful singing in their dorm prayer programs and sometimes disturb their teachers. No group demonstrates this balance so beautifully as the eight twelfth-grade boarding girls who live in the "Special Block" on the other side of my bedroom wall. Their love for studying and for praying is wonderful.

A week ago, a group of nine guests from across the United States came to visit Dembi Dollo and the work of our local synod. They were interested in seeing health services, water projects, and educational programs that are a part of the life of the Bethel Mekane Yesus Church. The director of B.E.S.S., Obbo (Mr.) Asefa Ayana, led them and a small group of us teachers inside our beautiful chapel. He prefaced his short welcome and introduction to life at B.E.S.S. by saying "I brought you here first because this is where our educational process begins. The banner there above the stage says it, ‘All wisdom, knowledge and understanding come from the Lord.’ Passing that on to the youth of this land is not a job for us. We take it as our ministry." From there we moved into the wood and metal-working shops and home economics rooms where students learn skills which enable them to produce beautiful and useful articles, and possibly sustain themselves with a life-occupation in the future. Then, on down the hill we went to the cow barm where a growing herd of fine dairy cows are milked by hand morning and night and the milk sold to people in the town; next to three deep wells in the valley that provide water for the town; and back up through the corn and sorghum fields waiting for the annual rains to cease before the harvest. Then we moved through the coffee groves where students and teachers were using their machetes to cut the tall grass from under those trees. This labor education program two Friday afternoons a month is one in which students are asked to give back to their school something valuable in return for what they receive.

Rains continue until now in this far western corner of Ethiopia. People comment often on God’s goodness to the people of this area. The rain and the sunshine follow the daily pattern upon which farmers depend for their livelihood. And the Dembi Dollo market fills up every Wednesday and Saturday with five to seven thousand people buying and selling their produce, which they spread out on the ground in front of them. Truck drivers from towns several hours away come in their Toyota pick-ups to purchase a wide variety of grains, legumes and vegetables which flood the market. The 25 years of selling vegetable seeds here at B.E.S.S. to the farmers in this area has made cabbage, carrots and beets a staple in the diet of many. But so much of Ethiopia is again dry, with millions affected by the drought. Unfortunately, government policies fail to protect the forest by not encouraging the replacement of trees cut down. Human error adds more suffering to suffering while political issues consume national interest and energy. Pray that those in places of policy-making will be convinced to think and plan for the well-being of the entire population.

Pray that the Church will in fact be the Church at times such as these.

Cordially,

Jo Ann Griffith

The 2000 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 34