Video and Message from Costa Rica

Last Sunday, we greeted our friends at Union Church in Costa Rica.  Rather than giving a traditional “missions report” to our home church, I condensed some of our best pictures into a video.  The message is in English (translated to Spanish) and can be streamed here (to download, right click the link and save).  A note of clarification:  Andrea and I began the intro together. But after watching the video, we were both so moved by seeing our friends in Ethiopia, we were brokenhearted and unable to speak.  After 1 minute in the audio, it jumps ahead when our friend Betty Lewis helps to translate when Andrea is not able.

Love is Patient: Report from Ethiopia – Aaron Smith

A Green Famine

Well, our best intentions to keep our communication up-to-date were fumbled by sparse electricity, unavailable transportation, and uncertain internet.  Here’s a late report from our last full month in Ethiopia:

Last May, rain became uncommonly common.  While people think of Ethiopia as dry and hot; the climate in the highlands region is actually in the mid-80s nearly all of the time.  For much of the year, we frequently saw rain clouds spying over the mountain ridge just above us.  They always seemed to glide alongside the ridge and never spill over.  Starting around February and March however, rain was present and unpredictable.

Our friends let us know May was to be the hottest and dryest month.  What a surprise when we got two weeks strait of rain.  In these conditions, one begins to be acquainted with the term “green famine.”  Basically a green famine happens when there is plenty of rain, causing plants to sprout up, but there is inadequate sunshine.  During previous famines, United Nations representatives drove by fields of maize and wondered what the problem was.  Knowing better, the Ethiopian drivers pulled over, opened up corn husks, and revealed their empty insides.

2 Videos from Rural Ethiopia

These videos will give you an insight from our year in Ethiopia.  More to come…

Take the quiz.  Go for a perfect score!

The following is mostly raw footage from religious life in Ethiopia:

Amusing pictures

Here are some amusing pictures from Ethiopia. Most of the time we were laughing at ourselves for one misunderstanding or another. To see them well, you’ll probably have to click and enlarge.

Many Ethiopians were fans of Obama. This school notebook reads, “This revolution will last forever.”

Kindergardeners with Christmas hats.

Got atmit?

Salam having fun with extra tape!

Sorry, you get a point for getting the RIGHT answer!

For this physics quiz, Nathaniel started number 5 and got a surprise in the blank.

The joke isn’t on her. It’s on the person who donated this WWF shirt with a surprising quote.

I’m greeting the bride and groom with a ridiculously large gift. Imagine holding THAT in my seat for 60 min.

The African alternative to don’t drink and drive.

I’m not sure if this stairway is OSHA ready.

When I consider the Heavens…

I’ve never been one to really get into star constellations.  As a student and teacher, I have visited planetariums with interesting presentations; but somehow I always got lost while searching the night’s sky alone.  In Ethiopia, far away from vast metropolises, I look up and see beautiful star patterns stretched across the sky.  These pictures hardly begin to capture the sheer size (click photo to see).

O LORD, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth,

Who have set Your glory above the heavens!
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?

-King David’s writing about the skies

Pictures from March

We were very fortunate to have Aaron’s mom and brother visit us in March.   We had a lot of fun.

Please Help Baby Debora!

Just before we came to Ethiopia, two of our school’s teachers had a baby born with two spinal discs open (no skin).  Nagusse and Fanosey are the proud parents of Baby Debora.  They were able to receive the financial assistance (through previous volunteers) necessary to connect the discs and graft skin over the wound.  After the surgery, a new problem developed when water began amassing on Debora’s brain.  The family was able to use the remaining funds for surgeries that would contain the swelling and remove some fluid.  Debora has been at home with mom and dad in recent months.  Her condition has been stable, but critical.