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A letter from Jo Ann Griffith in
Ethiopia |
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September 30, 2003
Dear Friends,
Another September, and another new academic year began on the
15th. Another batch of 12th-grade graduates coming the week before
to receive their Ministry of Education certificates with the scores
of their May placement exams, get their BESS transcripts and move
on to Addis Ababa for actual placement in the universities scattered
throughout Ethiopia. Another seventy new 9th-graders entering
BESS after taking entrance exams. Another new 10th facing their
stiff matric in May, and a new 11th moving into college prep with
a new curriculum in natural science and social science. A new
12th, too, facing their placement exams in May. Six new teachers,
full-time, to replace those part-time teachers hired last year.
And a new acting director, BESS’s excellent geography teacher
and vice-director of some years who is replacing Obbo Asefa this
year while he is on a year’s sabbatical.
Our beloved chemistry teacher, Liisa, has just returned from
Finland with a husband. As she says, her 57 years and Maati’s
63 average out to 60, a perfect age to marry after 22 years of
teaching at BESS. I trust that you can feel the hope and anticipation
we have experienced at this new beginning. Of course, some old
problems persist, so pray that God’s spirit will motivate
teachers and students alike to leave behind old patterns of self-interest
and bondage to traditions and move into the freedom of Christ
found in self-giving to others. |
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Tsgaye, with appreciation for what he gained at BESS and hope for
moving into the future, stands here at the Borta Lake in 2002. |
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This, of course, is always happening.
Even within these last few weeks, the special feature of productive,
happy days has been visiting with former students still on their
vacation before returning to their university life. As they tell
their stories of God’s goodness to them in specific ways,
I see God’s spirit at work. There’s a new sense of peace
and confidence as they’ve experienced the reality of God’s
help when one trusts in Him. Tsegaye, studying a thousand miles
to the south in a predominately Muslim area, has found a group of
new Christian friends from different religious backgrounds newly
banded together for Bible study and singing. With a wide grin he
said, “And I’ve found a new choir to sing in.”
Two of his professors are BESS graduates of recent years, so Tsegaye
feels at home in his new locale. Gemechu, a senior in another distant
university, told of the strong interest of his Christian students’
group to witness to Muslims in that area in their own language,
feeling that then the gospel could be more easily understood and
accepted. This immediately becomes political, however, so the students
have faced opposition. Again and again, stories are told of God’s
help in overcoming obstacles and assuming responsibility in this
society. Recognition and thanks are always given to God, who made
it possible. |
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Just three days ago, our whole
school community, with 105 boarding girls and boys and twenty-some
teachers with their wives, celebrated the Ethiopian legend that
a piece of the true cross was found in this country centuries
ago. The dorm boys prepared a huge, wonderful bonfire and dorm
girls the traditional food eaten on this holiday. We enjoyed such
a happy, peaceful evening together as we sat around the fire,
chomping our good edibles and watching the boys dancing and singing
the traditional songs.
But the next afternoon, tragedy struck. A 10th-grade boy named
Melcamu from a neighboring town drowned in Borta Lake, the large
reservoir created in the 1980s when an earthen dam was built.
The day he drowned, walking home from church with several 12th
grade boys, Melkamu had spoken of death, the brevity of life and
his willingness to die if God called him. Very strict rules regulating
access to the lake and its surroundings have become non-existent.
Deep sorrow was felt, and hopefully, a lesson learned.
Today, the last day of September, happens to by my 69th birthday.
With no classes for two days now, I’ve had unexpected and
unwanted time out of the routine I love. But it gave me time to
reflect on God’s goodness to me during my many years here.
By this time next year, I expect to be retired and living in the
house I purchased last summer in Due West, South Carolina. We
here are still trusting that our Mission
Service Recruitment office at PC(USA) national offices in
Louisville will be able to find someone to teach English here
at BESS and also be a connecting presence with the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.). You who read this letter may know of someone
interested in serving Christ in this kind of setting. If so, please
steer her/him this way.
Cordially,
Jo Ann Griffith
The 2003 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, p. 43 |
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