What an adventure we had! We spent 4 days out in the Bush of Ethiopia. Our goal for this month was to go to the Hamer and Banna people. When we first arrived in Jinka, we had no idea how we would get out to meet these people. However, God made a way. I have already told you about Omo Child Center and we have been building a relationship with them this month. They go out to visit many villages in the Bush monthly so they have relationships with many of the tribal people. Well, they were planning a trip to visit the Hamer and Kara people and they agreed to let us come along with them. What a blessing!!
The ride there was very bumpy and we were able to fit 11 people in a Land Cruiser.
When we arrived we ate and then headed out to visit some of the Hamer people. Our guides were Buche (below right), who was our translator, and Berki (below left), who is from the Hamer tribe.
First, they took us to the local church there where Hamer people attend. Then they took us to see the school the church has. We met a teacher, Garsho, who is also from the Hamer tribe. He told us about what they do and how they teach the kids but also tell them about the Lord. What a blessing they are to the community there!
Then Berki took us to the place where he and 2 other guys are translating the Bible into the Hamer language. He told us all about the process. They receive a passage that needs to be translated and then the 3 of them translate it. After that, there is a committee of 15 people, from the Hamer tribe, who review the translation to make sure it‘s correct. Then it gets sent to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, and gets put together with the other passages that have already been translated. He’s been doing this for about 3 years now. I was asking him about how we can help him and the community of Hamer people. We wanted to help in any way that we could. He asked that we would pray for them and not forget them. There are people there working to reach the unreached people of the Hamer tribe so pray for God to help them with that, to send them helpers and for them to be able to go out even farther into the Bush. He also asked that we would pray that God would continue helping them to translate and that they would get the whole Bible translated into the Hamer language. They really need our prayers and to know that there are people thinking of them and that they are not alone.
After lunch, Berki took us to visit one of his relatives who lives in the Bush. We met her while we were walking. She was shooing away a bunch of camels because they were eating her corn and sorghum crops. Her and her family were gracious enough to serve us coffee in large gourds. And they even showed us how to grind sorghum. They use it as flour to make things.
The next day we went to the church that we had visited the day before. It was a very nice service. They started out with prayer and then sang some songs and then a lady preached the sermon. I wish we could’ve understood all that was said. But I was still very encouraged by the passion these people had for the Lord. I could see and feel it in the way they prayed and the way they worshipped. It was so beautiful.
That afternoon, Berki took us to his house and told us a little bit of his story. He became a believer when he was a teenager, around 16, but his family was not. He was the oldest of his brothers and in the Hamer tribe, the oldest son has to get married first. His family wanted him to do the traditional bull jumping ceremony and all the others things required so that he could get married first. But Berki refused because He was a Christian and the things his family wanted him to do were superstitious and like witchcraft. So his family gave him 3 options: we disown you and you are not our son anymore, you move out of the country or you die. He chose to move out of the country. But his family decided they were going to kill him. He didn’t know this until later. His brother took him out far into the Bush. They walked all day. His brother was going to shoot him but couldn’t do it. So he just left him there in the Bush to die. Long story short, God protected him through the night from the wild animals and he arrived back home before his brother did. His family felt bad for what they had planned to do and with time, they allowed his younger brothers to get married and they didn’t require him to do the bull jumping ceremony before he got married. So now he is happily married and has 2 children.
After this, he took us down a dry river bed because he wanted to show us some monkeys. They are called Calamas monkeys and they are black and white. It was really neat to see wild monkeys just swinging around. It was such a joy and privilege to get to spend 2 days with these guys. They were such a blessing to us! I look forward to hearing what God is doing through them in the future.
Our third day there, we left Turmi and headed to the Kara people in Kara Dus. Some of the leaders of Omo Child are from the Kara tribe. They are doing such amazing work with these people and many other tribes. The purpose of this trip for them was to meet with many different tribes and talk to the elders and see what they need. For example, clean water, grinding mills, schools/education, etc. They are trying to figure out how they can help these people and specifically which people they can help. We were able to go to one of the meetings with Lale, the founder of Omo Child. It was so cool to see him in action. He was able to communicate so well with them and they respect him because they know him. Everyone knows him. He loves to serve and help his people and all the others around him.
So we went to a kind of campground near the Omo River and set up our tents. It was very challenging for me because I don’t like camping. I was also sick for a few days so that didn’t help. I rested a bit because I wasn’t feeling good and I actually laid on the ground under a tree, which I don’t normally do because of bugs, but it was so hot in my tent that I had to lay down outside. It was really nice and as I was looking up in the tree, I saw a monkey just swinging and jumping around. It was really neat! That night we went to a church service in this town. Lale, the founder of Omo Child, started the church and even wrote the songs they were singing because there aren’t songs about God or Jesus in their language yet. Again, I was very impressed by their passion for prayer and worship. It was awesome to be there! I’m so thankful for all the people I got to meet and to see all the work that these guys have been doing in this village.
I am so happy for most of the experiences I had. I could have done without the bedbugs, black mold and giant locusts that were flying around. But I know that this was part of it and I can’t complain. The relationships I have built this month were worth it all and I’m looking forward to building on those relationships in the future. It was such a pleasure to encourage and pray for all the people I’ve met and I plan to continue praying for them and keeping in touch with them.
