Ethiopian Good-Byes

Reflections from the last few silent blogging weeks:
The last month has been a lot of good-byes to people and even to lots of things. My two workers at Yabello said good-bye to me in their own ways. I had to make a separate week-long trip down to Yabello just to finish up packing and to say good-bye. It was a tiring journey, but a worthwhile one. For Ethiopians, greetings and good-byes are very important. Leaving without saying good-bye makes one feel like they weren’t important enough for you to remember them.

Daniel’s good-bye consisted of sharing at devotions one morning. He reminded Baharnish and I of all of the times that God was faithful and answered prayers…he included the time when my old landcruiser’s clutch went out just as I got home after a couple days journey, and then how God provided a mechanic to fix it on the only available day, how God provided rain in a desert area after we prayed, and how we had built good relationships and gotten to share with the healers. (photo of Daniel & his wife)

Baharnish said good-bye to me on the last day. It was a busy day of cleaning the house. She got up early and slaughtered a chicken for me to feed me doro wut (spicy chicken stew and injera) for breakfast and lunch. She made me a special basket as a good-bye present (made from grass and recycled plastic bags).

That evening an evangelist family invited me over and I had my third meal of doro wut for the day. Their three girls pulled out photos of them from their photo album to remember them by.

Moving means getting rid of things….One of the fun but tough things about leaving is gifts. It is fun to be able to give gifts to those who are friends or to those who are needy. But sometimes neighbors who haven’t ever stopped by to greet me before expect that I should give them something. Not because they are poorer than anyone else or because they have a great need. They just expect me to give to them just because they stopped by my doorstep. I don’t really like to give to the “just becauses.” I tried to give nice things to those who were close to me (and not just things that I wanted to throw away). They were very grateful for that.

Other items were given to ministries and people that have a need. My desks, tables, bookcases and shelves went to the church’s Bible school that started back up a year ago. (My extra clothes went to a church program that helps individuals with HIV/AIDS. –I recently read a statistic that 60% of women with AIDS in Ethiopia were faithful before and after marriage (they contracted HIV because their husbands were not faithful.) That is a very sad statistic. I enjoyed being able to help in this way. Plaques that my dad had made me were given to very special friends also and other things were sold to SIM missionaries or staff. Usually missionary items have been bought carefully or even brought from overseas and so missionary garage sales are really a helpful thing to new missionaries who are moving in. In the end I had 4 boxes packed up to go back to America, my dog and her kennel (thanks again Mary for letting me buy your kennel), and my carry-ons. The only possession that remains in Ethiopia is my landcruiser, which will be leased to my Trent, my south team leader. (That way it will be waiting for me "just in case" I return. :-) ) It is quite freeing to know that I am no longer loaded down with lots of things.

Other good-byes were from my team in Dilla…we all had a Korean meal together (YUM!!!), and a prayer time. In Addis Ababa some of the ladies invited me out to a nice meal , and the press compound (where I stayed for the last month) had a special time of prayer for me.

It feels like I have just left Ethiopia for a regular home-assignment. At the same time I know that it is an extended time in the USA, including working for the home office for at least two years. I don’t know if God will lead me back to Ethiopia after that. It has been a great journey full of God's faithfulness. It seems like a lot to process because Ethiopia, with its donkey-filled streets, is still home to me.