Shameless posing

A household of children living in a house built by funds through the Victimized Orphan Children Rehabilitation Program (VOCRAP) in Nekemte , Ethiopia

The Ethiopia Travelers (2006):  Girma Daka ( Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Church ), Terry Haugen-Sjostrom, Pr. Jon Buuck, John Mendesh, Don Meyer, Karen Walhof, Phil Jacobson and Sue Lyke (not pictured)

Touring a tree nursery of the Yubdo Integrated Rural Development Program sponsored by Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd and the Minneapolis-area Synod.

Ethiopia Mission Trip II:

A new mission trip to Ethiopia is forming and preparing to travel again to Addis Ababa (capitol city) and into western Ethiopia (known as the Wollega region). Our group includes the following members at this time:

Karen Walhof and Sue Lyke – co-leaders
Carla Sykora
Nancy Liddy
Wakgari Geleti – Oromo congregation
Martha Gisslequist
Terri Haugen-Sjostrom
Suzanne Rudi
Sharon Berlin (tentative)

The group leaves Minneapolis on November 2 and returns on November 17.

Where will they go?
The group will begin in Addis Ababa , worshipping with members of an Ethiopian Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus (EECMY) congregation and hosting a dinner for people we met on our first trip.

Then we'll spend a day at Burayu Katta school, where we sponsor 15 bright but poor students through the REAL program, the students' mentor and a master teacher.

Next we'll travel half a day to Nekemte to visit the Victimized Orphan Children Rehabilitation Program (VOCRP) run by the Central Synod of EECMY. This remarkable program provides housing, stipends for school and food expenses, health care and case management services for children who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS in this regional hub in central Ethiopia . We'll also meet the students sponsored by members of our congregation and others in Nekemte through REAL .

On to Aira , next. Aira is a charming, dusty agricultural town that is the site of the BirBir Dilla Synod. We will spend about 5 days here, helping out and observing at the Aira Hospital and Nursing College , the Onesimos Nesib Bible College , the Yubdo Integrated Rural Development Project and the congregation of Lalo Aira. The first Ethiopia travel group was touched by the hospitality and spiritual fortitude they experienced at Lalo Aira during its visit. We hope to partner with this congregation and will explore this while in Aira. Traveler Wakgari Geleti is from Aira, originally, as was Girma Daka. He still has family there.

What we hope to pack
English as a Second Language Dictionaries – pocket and larger for several schools we'll visit

One or two laptops computers (new or nearly new) to leave with schools along the way

Theological books for the Mekane Yesus seminary and Onesimos Bible College

A bible story book in English and Oromiffa for children at the churches we visit (to be made with members of Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Church and Good Shepherd)

How YOU can “travel along” with us:
Participate in our daily devotions. More on this in October.

Sign up to be a mission partner with one of the travelers. More on this in October.

Watch the web-site for e-mail updates as they come.

Learn about our partner church by clicking on the EECMY web link

Ethiopia Related Web Links:

EECMY: www.eecmy.org

REAL: www.real-africa.org

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America 's (ELCA) global mission page on Ethiopia :

http://www.elca.org/countrypackets/ethiopia/desc.html

Burayu Katta: This private elementary school was established by Amanuel Mussie in 2005 at the crossroads between two poor to low-income neighborhoods, Burayu and Kata, about 14 kilometers west of Addis Ababa. The school had enrollments of 1021 students in its day school and 898 in its night school in 2006. Since 2006, Good Shepherd members have sponsored 15 poor but bright female students at the school, a full-time mentor for the students and a master teacher through the REAL program. In addition to their education, this pod of students participates in leadership training and

service projects to benefit the wider community. As such, these girls in turn mentor and assist younger learners, have planted a community garden and are planting gardens at their own homes, as well. Our members have written to their students and received letters from them.

Victimized Orphan Children Rehabilitation Project (VOCRP): Initiated in 1991 by the development staff of the Central Synod of EECMY, this project seeks to provide for the basic human needs of 120 children and youth who have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. The goals of the program include improving their living conditions (includes building simple housing), stipends for their education, guidance for vocational training and education on health issues, sanitation, home management and HIV/AIDS. Good Shepherd's grant of $50,000 through Momentum for Mission allowed the program to expand to 120 from its original 100 children. The needs far exceed what this program can provide.

Aira: Also spelled Ayra, this small town is about 520 kilometers west of Addis Ababa and was the seat of German protestant missionary activity which began around 1930. The offices of the BirBir Dilla Synod of EECMY are located on the former missionary compound of the German Hermannsburg Mission . Our group will spend most of its time in Ethiopia in Aira, establishing relationships with the congregation of Lalo Aira and preparing for future medical mission trips to the Aira hospital. While in Aira, the group will stay in a charming guesthouse surrounded by flowers.

Aira Hospital and Nursing College : These two institutions are run by the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus (EECMY). The hospital has 80 beds and is one of 4 serving people in the western Wollega region. The hospital can offer general practice medicine, ob-gyn, pediatrics and surgery. An average of 200 people seek care there each day coming from distances as far as a 3 days' walk. About 53,000 people are served in a year. Staff ing is a serious problem as the hospital has found it difficult to recruit doctors based on its remote location and relatively low salary. The Nursing College is staffed by Scandinavian missionaries.

Onesimos Nesib Bible College : This seminary was founded in the early 1900s by the German Hermannsburg Mission , closed during the Derg regime (1980s) and reopened in 1990. This is a three year college training about 50 men and women to become pastors and evangelists. The seminary also offers an extension-like theological education to more than 750 male and female students participating in one of 52 combined local groups. Named after Onesimos Nesib (1856-1931), an early Oromo who converted to Lutheran Christianity and translated the Bible into the Oromo language, the seminary is staffed by a German missionary and Ethiopian coworkers.

Yubdo Integrated Rural Development Program: This pilot project was initated in 2005 by a request from the Minneapolis-area synod Hunger Task Force to fund a program addressing the root causes of food insecurity. The Development Staff of EECMY identified the Yubdo area as one underserved by other development efforts and one that had the potential of food security. Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd has committed $44,000 to this project for its third year of operation through Momentum for Mission. The project addresses the need for accessible clean water, termite mitigation which has ruined crops and buildings a like, new planting techniques and reforestation.