A Day of Miracles

This is Pastor Brad writing in the Ethiopia blog today. Pour a cup of coffee and settle in for a little journey. We had an amazing day today.

First of all, about that coffee. Ethiopia has the best coffee I have ever tasted. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but the macchiatos here? Whoa!

Today we drove to the Shone ADP (area development project). After 19 hours of flying on Tuesday and Wednesday, and five hours of driving on Thursday, we drove two hours to Shone today. We met with Samuel, the Director of the Shone ADP, to understand his role and the mission of the ADP. World Vision's mission is all about serving children with the love of Jesus in very practical ways. Samuel told us about projects to provide clean water and sanitation, health care and training, food production and security, education, and Christian commitment. It was a very helpful presentation, including some really funny misadventures in communication. (I can't write about these, but I'll tell you about them when we get back. If you ask. More than once. And buy me a macchiato.)

After lunch we drove to the water development project in Shone. Water is a major challenge for developing nations. I was reminded today how much I take for granted the basic gift of fresh, clean, safe and instant water. I have at least 15 sources of water in my house, not counting the case of bottled water in the garage. In Shone we watched as thousands of people (yes, thousands) trekked across country to find this precious, life-giving gift. They traveled on foot, on carts pulled by donkeys or horses (all of these animals also needed water), in tiny crowded buses, in three-wheeled taxis and on bicycles. They came from everywhere because everyone needs water, and nobody has it in their home.

We eventually made our way up to a spring in the hills. (Another 40-minute drive.) That's when we saw the first miracle today. (Actually the first miracle might have been that I got to take a warm shower in the hotel, right inside my own room. Amazing.) World Vision has capped a spring in Shone to provide water for the region. Before doing anything with the spring, though, they built a complex system of laundry and bathing facilities for the locals who would be affected by the capping of the spring. So these local people were cared for first.

Then World Vision's engineers and contractors built a new outlet for the spring a little ways downstream. At that location they built a pump station. They have run a pipeline up the mountain another seven kilometers where they also built a reservoir. (I asked if I could climb down into the still-empty reservoir. They said Yes. How cool was that?) Next week the electrician and engineer are installing the pump in the pump station and within a month water will be flowing up the hill, into the reservoir, out the dispersal pipes and through a network of pipelines taking fresh, clean, life-giving water to 45,000 people! That is 45,000 people who will no longer have to walk to a well. 45,000 people who know little girls who can go to school because they don't have to spend their day carrying water for the family. 45,000 people who may suddenly understand the implications of Jesus' words: I will give you living water. In one month, 45,000 people will believe in miracles. You might not think of it like that, but then, you've probably never lugged water to your house from a spigot half a mile away, three times a day every day your entire life. Yup: miracle!

After this water miracle, we drove to the site of the second miracle. One of World Vision's goals is to encourage the Christian commitment of the people with whom they work, or to bring people to a faith commitment to Jesus. Ethiopia is about 65% Christian. I believe it is about 19% Muslim. In one particular region of Shone there are six churches and eight mosques...and a whole lot of orphans. AIDS is not the epidemic in this part of Ethiopia that it is in some parts of Africa, but it is still a problem. Just ask these kids who have lost Mom or Dad.

Well, in the region of Shone with the mix of mosques and churches, a local Muslim imam and a pastor of one of the churches are friends. They grew up together. They like each other and trust each other. And they began to talk about the problem of these orphans. Who was going to care for them? When someone "appropriated" their family land, who would stand up for them? The pastor and the imam decided they would. They approached World Vision to ask for help. Then they brought together their colleagues from the mosques and the churches to explain the problem and the solution. Together these people are caring for over 200 orphans in peace and harmony. (We can't even get Presbyterians and Baptists to agree on an agenda. These were Christians and Muslims!)

We sat in the community building of these neighbors today and listened as the imam told, without rancor or apology, of the compassionate work of these unlikely teammates. Then one of the Christian pastors told, with grace and truth, of the partnership between them that was making the life of these orphans bearable. We watched and cried as these men (it was not even the women, but the men) told their story of the loving, giving nature of God. In the end they let me pray for them. That was one of the most holy moments I have ever experienced.

Now, some people may say Christians and Muslims should not be joining together for such purposes. After all, we don't believe the same things. And that's true, we don't. But Jesus taught at least two things that were miraculously evident in Shone today: love your neighbor and love these little children. I saw it happen. It was a miracle.