Church service and other miscellany

Here are the promised photos from our church service yesterday, including a 20 second clip of the choir singing and dancing.  Just a small sampling of the happiness reflected in the service.  The members of the congregation were thrilled with the wooden crosses we brought and they were passed out very very quickly.  This people, the Anouak, are from the very most Western part of Ethiopia and also from the eastern part of South Sudan, across the border.  They are looked down upon here in Ethiopia because of their color (I think I told you that before.)  But despite their oppression they are filled with joy and kindness.

I just had a wonderful conversation with one of my students, a pastor who has come for a Masters degree in Practical Theology.  He worked for 10 years at a church in an area 98% Muslim, and then moved here to the city and established a congregation 5 years ago.  He said it is in a very poor area and that the congregation in working to help the people.  He said they began a kindergarten this year because public school is only available at age 7. Many families send their kids to kindergarten earlier than that to prepare them for school, so of course, the poor that can't afford to do so are behind the first day their child starts school.  So they notified the neighborhood that they were going to start a free kindergarten and had people sign up. They got the teachers, material and space for handle 40 kids. But 140 showed up. So they had the difficult decision of selecting 40 and turning 100 away. He also spoke of how he handled a beggar who came to him asking for money. He asked the man why he came to him, the pastor for money. The beggar replied that it was because he got all the offerings, so he certainly had extra money. This pastor said, Here, you do the math:  I earn 1730 birr ($100) a month. I pay 700 birr for rent, so I have 1000 birr for everything else. I have two sons and a wife, so we have food and clothing and school tuition and bus fare to pay (no car).  How much do you think I need, and how much should I have left over to help you?  He said the man walked away with a new understanding, having withdrawn his request.  Makes one think twice! And he said he has had several friends go to the United States to study, but they don't come back. They get seduced by the life there. He would go, he said, if it was God's will, but he feels that God wants him here in this place, bringing life and better living conditions and self-concept to the people here.

The standard of living here is of course lower than in the US. We just bought eggs, nice farm-bred brown ones, for $1 a dozen. We bought a package of cardomom for 40 cents and ginger for 20 cents.  We buy a big bagful of fruit (oranges, plums, limes, papaya and mangoes, maybe a pineapple) for a total of about $4. A macchiato at the campus cafe (the best we have had yet) is 20 cents.  Jim bought a kilo (2.2 pounds) of green coffee to roast for $6.  However, gas is expensive.  OilLibya seems to be the main company, though I have seen Shell as well. No one we have been with fills their tank. They buy $5 or $10 worth at a time.
 When we went to the Sheraton Hotel last evening, the oasis, it was an incredible contrast, including the prices in the gifts shops. Silk scarves for $50, gold jewelry for thousands of dollars. Apparently the majority of guests there are Arab sheiks and Americans.  Though it was full last week when the representatives of the Organization for African Unity met here in the city.

Enough for now. Hope the video works. Love to all.

Carolyn