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When the Taylor University team reached Ethiopia in early January, they found three American teachers already on the staff at Project Mercy’s School. They had known about this in advance, but the story of these teachers and how they came to be at Project Mercy is most interesting. Abbey Jo Friend graduated from high school in Flanagan, Illinois, in 2008. She had been accepted at several colleges, including Taylor, but she really wanted to have some kind of service experience abroad before going to college. She had worked in an orphanage in Mexico for a week with her church youth group one year, and had thoroughly enjoyed working with those children. Abbey learned about Project Mercy after her father found it online while researching Taylor University’s links to various service opportunities. After learning as much as possible about Project Mercy online, she decided to apply as a volunteer. When she was accepted, she knew that was where she wanted to go.
Last summer, Abbey found out that a girl named Kaitlyn from Fort Wayne, Indiana, had also been accepted as a volunteer at Project Mercy. Abbey and Kaitlyn connected with each other by email. Later, they and their families met one evening at a place midway between their homes. They coordinated their travel plans to fly to Ethiopia together in mid-September.
Kaitlyn had known about Project Mercy for many years. Her parents became acquainted with Marta and Deme, founders of Project Mercy, when they first came to Fort Wayne as refugees, and had maintained an interest in them and their work ever since then. In fact, they named Kaitlin’s youngest sister Marta.
When Kaitlyn was a senior in high school, she became interested in doing service work before going on to college. Her parents had been missionaries in the Congo when she was a small girl, and she always had an interest in Africa. Project Mercy seemed like a natural fit when she was accepted as a volunteer.
Abbey and Kaitlyn were first assigned to help in the kindergarten program, but they were asked to start assisting with teaching third grade English until kindergarten started up a couple weeks later. After their first week as teaching assistants, they did so well that they were asked to take over that teaching full time. They teach third grade English daily, and a few fourth, fifth and sixth grade English classes weekly.
Abbey and Kaitlyn love the children and their work. The Taylor team was very impressed with them and their impact at Project Mercy. Kaitlyn plans to major in Elementary Education in college. She would like to work overseas again later. Abbey is not sure about her major, but she would also like to work abroad when she finishes college. Both young ladies are great ambassadors for their country and their faith!
Scott Martell has worked longer as a volunteer teacher at Project Mercy. He was a journalist who was also Mission Team Leader at the Sanibel Community Church on Sanibel Island, Florida. He met Marta and Deme when they visited his church in 2004. A year later, Marta sent an urgent request for an English teacher at Project Mercy. Scott was involved in setting up his own publishing business, but eventually felt God calling him to Project Mercy. He intended to fill in as a volunteer teacher for only one semester, but he fell in love with Ethiopia and the kids at Project Mercy. He is still there, three years later!
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