Mission Ethiopia: Post Trip #1

It's hard to believe that a month ago we were thousands of miles from home in one of the most ancient nations in the world - Ethiopia. Just this past Monday our team met for our first trip debriefing. So many mixed emotions through the memories were expressed. One person on the team shared that prior to returning from the trip she felt that coming home meant the experience was over. But she had to admit that she was wrong. The impact of this trip and where the Lord leads each of us from it will continue to unfold throughout the rest of our lifetimes.

We did preview the post trip Ministy Moment video on Monday which will be shown during upcoming worship services. You can view it clicking on the link Mission Ethiopia Video on the left sidebar. We pray it will be a blessing to you!

For me personally, I left on this trip filled with hopes and prayers that the Lord would reveal His future path for me in the mission field. My expectations of a clear answer did not come to me...or so I thought. Our team came back with many requests by the Ethiopian people. But the one that tugs on my heart is for the future of the Gefersa Rehabilitation Center for the mentally handicapped. Finding ways that I can help the center from here and working with the refugees that have come to Fort Wayne are becoming an extension of this mission trip for me and part of His answer.

As team members have blogged in early postings, Gefersa is the only outpatient mental facility in all of Ethiopia, a country where it is estimated that 1.3 million people have mental health issues. While Gefersa is called a "rehab" center, the residents there will probably never leave. Many have been there 10-15 years already with little or no contact from the outside world. Most of the 150 residents have been "put" there because of their schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Most have no families or, if they do, they have been castout due to the stigma of mental illness.

The conditions at Gefersa are extremely minimal. They have basic shelter, food and medication but that's about it. Until recently, there was no medical personnel on daily staff. The residents who are able are allowed to work in the center's "factories" making yarn, running the looms to make shawls and milking cows, all of which are sold to help subsidize the center. The rest of the residents sit or lay around with no other mental stimulation. Sadly many of these residents are brilliant people. It is heartbreaking!

But now they have an angel by the name of Mrs. Merat Kedebe who has taken over management of the center. She is actively working to improve conditions there and is one of the founding members of the new mental health awareness society in Ethiopia. We have just learned this week that the investors that accompanied the prime minister's wife one of our days at Gefersa are providing site plans for additional dorms and other needed buildings. They are also working up plans to level out the grounds taking out the cattle paths that run through the center for easier walking and mud control. Praise God! And Merat is working on a proposal to Orphan Grain Train, a non-for-profit Lutheran outreach organization, to supply the center with much needed bedding, clothes, and living supplies.

Mission trips like these bring a well-needed awareness of how good we have things here in the US and how thankful we should be. But they also give us an increased urgency to do more for those who have so little here at home and afar - not just on a physical level but, more critically, on a spiritual level. Every day in the US and around the world, people are dying who have not heard the Word that can save them eternally. We pray that God continues to keep us mindful of His call to us to engage others with Christ and provides us with the strength and courage to step out of our comfort zone to be the living witnesses of His love.

To God be the Glory and Praise! Selam!

Ellen Mann