July 2005

Dear Friends,

I’m new in the country, have an assignment, but don’t know where to start! Where can I go where I will be welcome everyday, even if I haven’t completed my assignment? Where can I go to be listened to, praised for the new words I learn to say, respected, asked about my grandchildren, provided with devotions and given tea at 11:00 a.m. everyday? Where? The Joint Language School on the Mekane Yesus Seminary compound in Mekaneesa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Truly—can you imagine having someone listen to you every Monday through Friday, someone giving you undivided attention for 40-minutes at a time, someone wanting to hear what you have to say, someone telling you that you are clever? Language school provided such an environment for me. Initially it was stressful and I felt a sense of failure. Then I designed my own program, wrote learning objectives, and was met with flexibility in the language school. I changed from two periods each day with a one-on-one language helper to five of the six periods being one-on-one. It worked well and on June 2, I took my final exam, a different one from the other students, but based on my own learning objectives, and I passed with ease. Language learning is not finished, only the formal school experience is now over. Learning Amharic will continue as long as I work in this culturally rich country. I praise God for the opportunity.

Among my new friends is a young man, Kalbessa, whose parents died of AIDS three years ago, both in their 40s. One day Kalbessa invited me to attend his cousin’s wedding (they needed another car in the wedding procession and a 20-year-old Toyota station wagon from our mission would do just fine). Once decorated with green ribbons, we were recruited to transport three beautiful young women, the bridesmaids, from the bride’s house to the church. This involved a parade consisting of the lead car carrying the bride and groom, followed by the car I was driving, and three more behind. Kalbessa thought it best to ride with me (“they might not know English”) and he entered into a serious conversation with these young single women about HIV/AIDS. I could not have done this myself—but their answers provided me with still another lesson.

And then there was the trip to Mekele, a city in northern Ethiopia, to visit Karen Salmon, a nurse practitioner and missionary from Ireland who works in a youth center on HIV/AIDS prevention. The big lesson I learned there was about medicines for those who have AIDS. Karen encourages everyone to go for counseling and testing. Ten individuals have returned to her—having taken her advice, they learned they were HIV positive. Now what? She responded by providing them with a broad-spectrum, low-cost antibiotic (Bactrim) every other day. This controls the infections that plague people living with AIDS and enables them to work or attend school. Karen reports that all are doing well.

Also in Mekele, I visited the People Living With AIDS Association, which has 450 members (though it is known that there are more than 5,000 people living with AIDS, or PLWA, in that town). Based on blood tests, 20 of the 450 were selected to begin anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Of those 20, eight developed such severe side effects they had to be hospitalized. Why? Good nutrition while on ART is essential. Is it possible that these people did not have the resources to eat properly?

ART is new in Ethiopia, (President Bush’s funding for HIV/AIDS in Africa is intended to start medicines). More than one doctor here has raised the question: Is Ethiopia ready for distribution of ARTs? Will the supply of medicines last? Will the PLWAs be able to tolerate the medicines? Lesson learned: simple and inexpensive may provide better results.

Working in the HIV/AIDS office of the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY) is much like working in a large organization in America, except there are frequent references to Scripture, spontaneous and informal Bible studies develop, and the work is Christ-centered. But the challenges are tremendous. EECMY is the largest Protestant church in Ethiopia, with over five million members. Other organizations that do HIV/AIDS work—other faith based organizations (FBOs) and NGOs, the government—see the EECMY as having the infrastructure to carry the work out into the communities. In the past four weeks four large organizations have come to the EECMY with proposals, and the EECMY’s infrastructure and the large numbers of sites already in existence make it possible to carry out programs that organizations such as World Vision cannot. But demands on the small staff in the head office are overwhelming.

Pray for my teammates: Dr. Habtamu, Ato Alemu, and Ato Dereje. Pray for the pastors who are beginning to talk about HIV/AIDS prevention but who are faced with implementing policies such as the one that prohibits a wedding ceremony in a church unless both bride and groom produce documentation of being HIV negative. Pray that I stay healthy—this big, dirty city’s air looks terrible, and now I must commute every day.

For the latest on Ethiopia’s May 15 elections, for which results are still not released, go to this Web site on Ethiopia.

To donate to God’s work in which I am involved in Ethiopia, send checks to Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Individual Remittance Processing, PO Box 643700, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3700. Contributions from churches should be sent to: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Church Remittance Processing, PO Box 643678, Pittsburgh, PA 15264-3678. Write the title (AIDS Consultant, East Africa) and the ECO number on the subject line (ECO #051770) of the check and put it on your cover letter, too. Send a copy of the cover letter to Internataional Health Ministries, Worldwide Ministries, 100 Witherspoon St. Louisville, KY 40202-1396. To give online, click the "give" button below.

Prayerfully,

Peace!

Dorothy

The 2005 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 330