On the Move!

I’m so thankful for the life that God has given me and the places where he has me right now.  To bring you up to speed…I’ve been back in the U.S. for two weeks now and it’s been a wonderful time of rest, re-acclamation, and rich times with family and friends!  Over the past few weeks I’ve been bouncing between Jacksonville, Gainesville, and Orlando Florida.  In the words of my boys the Avett Brothers…

“A lot of movin', A lot of rollin'
A lot of drivin', A lot of strollin'
A lot of leavin' here
A lot of arrivin' there
Trying to go just about everywhere
A lot of thinking about where I'm going next.”

I have indeed been doing a lot of moving and driving lately!  The beginning of this week I spent in Orlando for our Water is Life staff…ummm what we’re calling “conference”.  Water is Life is an organization that is based in the U.S., operates in Ethiopia, has staff in the U.S. and Canada, as well as staff in different cities in those countries, so you can imagine that it is a rare occasion that all of our staff (mind you there’s a grand total of about 5 of us officially) is in one place at one time!  Well the past three days was one of those rare opportunities for all of us to gather together to cast long-term vision, to discuss logistics and budgets for our on-going projects, and most importantly to study God’s word and come together as a team in prayer.

The past few days we spent a good bit of time discussing our organization’s strategy and the way we operate.  David, our Executive Director, cited somebody famous (sorry I don’t remember who!) who first described in international development “the addiction of helpfulness”.  Water is Life’s basic purpose is to serve, love, and “help” impoverished people in Ethiopia and one of the core values that we discussed together this past week was that of simplicity and love.  Helping can sometimes be simple, but often it can become complicated and requires thoughtful and careful approaches.  We can’t just throw money at problems, we don’t want to foster a culture of dependence in our projects, and we also don’t want to undermine individual’s agency by what we do.  At Water is Life we are committed to taking simple approaches motivated by love in order to invest in local capacities, promote individual transformation, and extract our western influence as much as possible.

Where I’m going next is back to Ethiopia :)  On Sunday I depart to return to Ethiopia for another 5 weeks.  I’m excited to have the opportunity to get back to Ethiopia so soon, to jump right back into the rhythm and to continue building relationships and furthering the projects that are ongoing.  The past two weeks have been a great opportunity to research, connect with Water is Life partners in the U.S., and reflect and prepare for the future…but for the work that we are doing there truly is no replacement for being on the ground in Ethiopia.  So much of the work that we do is contingent upon face to face meetings and hands-on work in country in Ethiopia, and those things simply can’t be replaced by emails or Skype calls.  Your prayers would be much appreciated as David and I travel.  Next update will be coming from across the pond!

Blogging from Berlin

Six weeks ago if you had told me I’d be in Berlin, Germany today I wouldn’t have believed you…but here I am!  This morning I had the opportunity to meet with a representative from one of Water is Life’s donor partners here in Germany.  It was an encouraging time of sharing our vision for Sustainable Living Groups, reporting on growth and progress, and building our organizations’ relationship.  I feel honored to represent WiLi in this way, and it has been a really cool experience for me to explore a little bit of Germany as well :)

At the remains of the Berlin Wall

Berlin is a beautiful city, rich in history dating back hundreds of years, and it is evident in the construction of this place the effect that history has had.  My experience in Berlin has been unique coming off the perspective of Ethiopia!!!!  My eyes have grown accustomed to streets full of donkey carts weighed down with jericans, mini-buses piled high with live chickens and goats, and people pointing at me and calling ‘ferenji’ (Amharic word for foreigner) everywhere!  In contrast, the streets of Berlin are seemingly clean and orderly, full of BMWs and Mercedes, and inhabited by a population which is politely indifferent to my presence :)

Street life in Berlin

Yesterday I had some time to see some of the sights of the city and one of my many stops was Gendarmenmarkt Square.  This gorgeous area is the location of the Konzerthaus Berlin, as well as the German and French Cathedrals.  I was sitting on a bench drinking some coffee and just soaking in the sights when an older Berliner approached me and struck up conversation.  He assumed I speak German, as I’ve found most Berliners do, but we quickly transitioned to English and worked our way into conversation (I’m certainly no stranger to language barriers)!

 

Part of Gendarmenmarkt Square

The conversation that followed with this man has been on my mind since yesterday, and has continued to challenge me.  As we were sitting and chatting we were approached by a young girl with what looked like a petition.  It turned out that she was deaf and was asking for a donation.  My friend gave her 5 Euro and she went on her way.  Later on in our conversation I was telling my friend what I do with Water is Life, and I was explaining why I care about Ethiopia and why I’m passionate about water issues.  I told him it’s like what he did for that girl; he saw the need that she had, he had the resources to do something about it, so he responded.  Now obviously our work with WiLi isn’t about just handing out charity, but I hope you get what I mean!  My emphasis was on the recognition of a need, and a compassionate response that spurs action.  I began to explain to him that I’m a person of faith and it’s my belief in God and my understanding of his love that has led me to serve in this way.

My friend stopped me and said something really interesting.  He said in regards to the girl who had asked for the money that he didn’t know really if she was deaf, maybe she was faking in order to get money, but to him it didn’t matter.  Whatever her situation was, she was in a place where she felt the need to ask people for money, and that was reason enough for him to help her.  He said he didn’t even care if it ended up going towards alcohol or drugs, it wasn’t his place to judge that or decide the validity of that need, he just wanted to be kind.  Does that sound naïve to you?  It did to me at first, but the simplicity of this man’s approach has been challenging my personal thinking.

I come from an educational background and professional setting that constantly analyzes “best practices” in regards to development and aid, and is constantly seeking to ensure sustainability.  We worry about whether what we’re doing to help is actually helping, or if it could somehow be hurting and undermining an individual’s agency.  Now those considerations are really important, but as I was sitting in Gendarmenmarkt Square I was reminded of a simplicity that I often get away from.  It’s not rocket science, there’s no magic formula, and in fact it’s not something reserved for people who work in Africa or other impoverished places.  We’re meant to recognize the inherent value and dignity that everyone has, whether rich or poor, because we were all created in the image of God.  All the time we have opportunities to be generous, to be compassionate, and to be kind to other people.  Maybe it’s not an overly analytical mind that stops you like it does me, maybe it’s embarrassment or being busy.  Whatever it is my friends, sometimes I think we just have to get back to the basics.

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted."  Aesop's Fables