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ETHIOPIA We went to Ethiopia in July 1967. I had a contract to teach at the Public Health College in the historic city of Gondar, and we lived in that ancient Ethiopian capital for two years. Randy was eight, Jeff was five, and Amy was not quite a year old when we arrived. The children have fond memories of Gondar and I enjoyed my work in rural Ethiopia, but we thought our farewells were final when we left. A communist coup that took over the country in the mid-70s made any future reconnection seem very unlikely. Ethiopia was a tumultuous country during those years. An amazing Ethiopian lady named Marta Gabre-Tsadick had earned her college degree in the United States, and she was the first female ever appointed to the Ethiopian Senate by Emperor Haile Selassie. Following the 1974 coup, many former governmental leaders were targeted for arrest. After the first wave of arrests, sixty-two were summarily executed (the first of thousands). Fortunately, Marta’s name was not included in the first several arrest lists, but her friends warned her to flee. Finally, she and her family made a dramatic escape into Kenya, going across Ethiopia’s rugged southern terrain by Land Rover. They were extremely fortunate. Marta’s arrest had been called for the day they fled, and they had many narrow escapes during the week of their flight, all narrated in her book, Sheltered by the King. Almost a year later, sponsored by a church, Marta and her family settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana as refugees. They established a small business there, and later founded Project Mercy to help the thousands of other refugees who fled from Ethiopia. Soon after settling in Fort Wayne, Marta’s third son, Bete´, enrolled at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. My son Randall went to Taylor during that same time period. He and Bete´ became good friends and roomed together during Randy's senior year. Bete´ visited us in Inverness over Thanksgiving weekend. Later, he was one of the groomsmen at Randy’s wedding, and they have continued to stay in touch through the years. Marta and her husband, Deme, returned to Ethiopia when it became safe to do so in 1991. They established Project Mercy in Yetebon, Ethiopia. Their purpose was to help improve the health and education of people in that area. Their success in building these services in addition to developing other community projects has had an amazing impact on that area. Taylor University sent a team of college students to help at Project Mercy during January 2008. Randall Dodge, Dean of Students at Taylor’s Fort Wayne campus, was one of the leaders of that team. He is now leading another team of sixteen Taylor students to Project Mercy to assist with teaching and other projects during January 2009. A few months ago he called to invite me to join the team, if I could, in a mentoring kind of capacity. So it is that, after forty years, I have the wonderful privilege of visiting Ethiopia again. I will be re-kindling many memories, and it will be a special joy to meet Marta and Deme, and to learn more about the visionary work they are doing. What a remarkable couple! |