| I wanted so badly to visit more
churches in November and December, but I was late in making contacts.
To those of you who responded on time to my March 2002 newsletter,
I want to again express my deep appreciation. And a word of special
thanks must be mentioned to Rev. Richard Braun of Youngstown,
Ohio, who arranged a month’s itineration to many of the
churches in Eastminster Presbytery in Ohio. The story of BESS
from its inception within the leadership of the Bethel Evangelical
Church to the present is an amazing story of God’s gracious
and sustaining power. It was my privilege to tell that story again.
This educational institutional today, however, faces a number
of serious problems. For the first time, we are dependent on six
part-time teachers from the government school in town for handling
the daily teaching schedule. The second teacher in two years has
left us recently to move to the United States on a diversified
visa, a lottery that enables thousands of Ethiopians to emigrate
yearly. Several other teachers left to find a better paying position
in either the government (public) school system or one of the
now prospering, high-paying non-government organizations. This
crisis is forcing us to prioritize our funds with our needs. Please
pray for the BESS administration and our local Bethel Synod officials
to do that. The three young teachers hired as replacements are
doing well. We hope they don’t leave quickly. And we hope
someone from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is found to replace
me as an English teacher. To ensure quality education, BESS needs
committed teachers.
Several nights ago Astair, a young woman who graduated twenty
years ago, came to eat supper with me. She lives in Addis Ababa
with her husband and three daughters, but returns to Dembi Dollo
at least once a year to visit and care for her aging parents.
She told me again the story of her life with its own set of family
problems. But the emphasis was on her job as a social worker.
The tiredness she described was evident in her face and voice
as she spoke, of the hours a day she spends asking questions of
the steady stream of single mothers as she records their case
history. She spoke of how she wept with them, bought bread for
the children to quiet them on the floor as she listened to the
mothers. I thought then of how Astair represents many in self-giving
love. Still, secularization pushes in from every direction with
its vices and demands. The human tendency to put self first is
strong, so pray for our graduates.
While drought and famine run rampant in several areas of Ethiopia,
the harvests here in the western region were quite good last year,
and that includes BESS’s agricultural efforts. Students
on their labor education session last Friday picked the last of
this season’s coffee. The sale of farm produce—corn,
sorghum, millet, beans and sugarcane—continues to help towards
our operational costs. Pray for buyers and good prices.
Another young woman of our community died of AIDS last week and
was buried here in her hometown. She was in her last year at the
university, ready to graduate in June, but is now one of Ethiopia’s
millions, 10 percent of the population, living and dying with
AIDS. Our anti-AIDS club here at school is active under the leadership
of Ulpu Leino, a Finnish biology teacher of many years experience.
BESS students go out to other schools in Dembi to teach what they’ve
learned. And there has been an active group of women in this synod
going out regularly to hold seminars within the 14 presbyteries.
Now that the outstanding young leader, seminary-trained, has left
Ethiopia for life abroad, another key position is vacant. Pray
for all those working in this country to combat AIDS.
And pray for me, that through my life the fragrance of the knowledge
of God might be spread, the transcendent power of God over evil
revealed. These ideas from our Mission Yearbook lectionary found
in II Corinthians have touched so sharply on life in this country.
The obstacles to living a true life in the light of Christ are
many, but the power is available through daily renewal of the
Spirit. May God bless you as you live in Christ.
Cordially,
Jo Ann Griffith
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, p. 43
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