I wanted to let you know about my trip to Ethiopia.  I went to help Dr. Patrick Gitonga from Kenya train our Ethiopian trainers (23) in an additional curriculum we want to implement as part of our HIV/AIDS education work.  Under a grant from USAID, Samaritan’s Purse is administering a program we have developed (according to USAID guidelines) to educate young people aged 10-24 about HIV/AIDS.  This program is being implemented in four African countries - Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, and Ethiopia.  Previously it was a two part program in which we train our national trainers who in turn train adults who already have a platform among youth, for example pastors, youth leaders, scout masters, school teachers, soccer coaches, etc.  Part one was all about HIV/AIDS - how it is transmitted, reducing stigma, its effect on families and communities, how we can help effected families, etc.  Part two is about giving youth the social skills (decision making, communication, relationship evaluation, etc.) necessary to make healthy choices and to live healthy lives.  This third curriculum, which Paul and I helped to write last summer, was developed in recognition of the fact that many young people between the ages of 10 and 24 are already married.  It is called “One Love” and is a marital faithfulness curriculum.  I think it offers valuable information and training for building strong marriages, thus reducing sexual promiscuity.  Wish I had known all this stuff 40 years ago!

The training went very well.  The curriculum was well received and we got some good feedback on ways to improve it, which I hope will be implemented soon.  The training was occasionally a little pressed for time because we had to do everything through a translator, more than doubling the time it took to teach.  He was excellent, a journalist for an English language newspaper in Addis Ababa who was on vacation.  But he admitted that it takes about 20 - 30% longer to say things in Amharic than it does in English.  This is partly because Amharic doesn’t have some words we commonly use in English, like “communication” so several words had to be used instead each time we used that word.  It was a lesson to me in remembering to write very simply both conceptually and verbally. Many people groups live very simple lifestyles that have not required them to develop some of the more complex concepts, and words to represent them, that we have.  On the other hand, they can sometimes say more about spiritual forces, agriculture, animals or some other topics than we ever thought of!  It’s thought provoking to consider how our language controls to a large extent what we can even think about!!

The Ethiopian people were wonderfully hospitable and the food was delicious.  I avoided some of the spicier stuff but I do love injera, the staff of life in Ethiopia. Tef is a small grain that is very nutritious.  It grows like wheat.  It is ground and made into injera, a kind of giant, thin pancake.  Injera is not turned, so one side is covered with broken bubbles and actually looks a bit like tripe.  Small piles of assorted yummy meat and vegetable mixtures are placed on this large (think large pizza size) pancake and you tear off stretchy pieces of injera and use them to pick up bits of meat,etc. and pop them into your mouth.  It is rude to lick your fingers because normally everyone shares the same meal!  When eating with other Ethiopians, our staff was careful to see that I always had a separate plate, fearing I would be offended.  Actually I have shared one plate meals of rice mixtures before in other parts of Africa and so this really doesn’t bother me.  You just stake out a territory and stay in it!  Maybe they were really more concerned about MY germs! 

So I had a successful trip, I feel, thanks in no small measure to your prayers.  There are always a thousand things that can go wrong, both in regards to travel and to the work itself.  Of course health issues are always a concern, but I stayed healthy throughout the training.  (I waited until it was finished to take any food risks and then paid for it!)  I was surprised to see Dr. Gitonga become quite ill one day however.  His stomach does not tolerate injera and he had to stick to rice, a more Kenyan staple.  Ethiopia is a beautiful country and Americans seem well accepted.  As you may remember they had a brief period of communism and a war with Eritrea, but the country seems to in a period of relative peace and prosperity at the moment.

This is probably more than you wanted to know. 

Thanks again for your interest and prayers,

Joyce