Letter from Janelle and Mike McCarty in Ethiopia
August 1, 2007
Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings and happy summer! We are in the middle of the rainy season and although the sun sets about 30 minutes later than usual, the nights and days are a little damp and chilly.
News from BESS
The school officially closed on July 6, and the students have finished all of the exams and returned to their homes. Last year was very busy and stressful at Bethel Evangelical Secondary School, but we feel that many good plans are set for next year. We haven’t written much about BESS over the course of the past year, because frankly it has been discouraging. There were many discipline and management challenges at the school in this last year, but the Synod and BESS administrative staff are beginning a strategic planning process that should help to set a clearer focus for the school and establish some disciple procedures and policies to help address some of the issues. Please pray for this process. Also, there will be a class size limit next year of 50 students per class and an entrance exam, which will allow a better learning environment and higher student achievement.
Since the end of the school year, we have been preparing for a group of seven American volunteers coming to help in our summer English program. Please pray for each of our volunteer teachers: Malcolm and Matthew from Susquehanna Presbytery in New York; Anne from Virginia; and Rose, Neil and Carol from Seattle. Also, Thomas Weller (son of Rachel and Michael Weller, mission co-workers here in Ethiopia) will be helping with the computer program.
With that many volunteers, we will be able to serve about 120 students this summer. Our goal is to share conversational English skills and computer skills and exchange stories about faith, culture, and growing in God. The guests will be in Dembi Dollo only 10 days, but we are excited to offer seven days of classes. Please pray this will be a good time for us to get to know some of the students better, and a chance for all involved to grow in their cultural awareness and in their faith.
Development work of the Synod
In Mike’s work, the Synod has been getting ready to ramp up its work with the two Meshangir communities to strengthen their faith and their development knowledge. The Synod will hire development workers to assist in both villages teaching agricultural and self-management life skills. We hope to hire Meshangir people from other areas with agricultural training, if possible, so the search may take some time.
There have been some challenges in working with the communities. The Ula-Wata community has become a little too comfortable in receiving development assistance in the past, and now seem to expect that projects will give them things. We are working to move away from this idea, advising that we want only to help them learn to do things on their own and assist them in evangelism and discipleship with their congregation. In the Meshangir culture, one traditionally gives to those who have less, no matter whether they have contributed to the community’s benefit or not. In this context, it is a challenge to advocate for the value of communal self-reliance. There also have become too many things that the Synod is now doing for the Ula-Wata community that don’t relate to building capacity, and the community seems to be losing some of its desire for self-reliance. There is a famous Chinese proverb I’m sure you know about fishing that fits the situation well! Please pray for us in moving in a more sustainable direction with this regard together with the Meshangir.
Children in rural Ethiopia
As we walk through town the children are always the most enthusiastic in greeting us. Their smiles are contagious and we enjoy joking with them. One day Mike was walking to work and kids called out, “Farangii! Farangii!” Mike explained to them that they shouldn’t say that as a greeting since it means “foreigner.” In a timid response one young girl said, “Keesuma?” (which means “guest”). Mike continued on his way with the chorus of “Keesuma, Keesuma” following him across the hills.
Children find anything and anywhere for playing. We see many boys on the road with their handmade wheels and small cars. They often play a game with rocks in the dried up holes in the mud. Girls are often seen juggling with small rocks. Sadly, we also see the hard work that the children must do, especially girls. We always see girls from age 4 on carrying heavy loads of water, wood, grain, etc. on the muddy paths. Our neighbors are both teachers, and their baby is cared for by an orphan girl barely 10 years old. Typical work for young boys includes cattle herding, market shopping, and shoe shining, although they seem far less bound by work than the girls.
At home
Now that we have more time we’re working on preschool with Carolee. She really enjoys her chance to learn numbers, coloring, and anything else. Our dog, Hailey, is learning the main job of dogs in our area—monkey chasing. We really like Hailey to scare the monkeys away from the fruit trees and gardens, and she really enjoys her daily task.
Please tell us your prayer requests and let us pray with you also.
With God’s Love,
Mike, Janelle, and Carolee McCarty
The 2007 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 329
