Home and Abroad

Our guest from Ethiopia

We can hardly believe that six months have passed since Adrian and I went to collect Teklu from Glasgow Airport. It was a warm, sunny afternoon in September (probably the last time Teklu saw the sun since leaving Ethiopia!) and Teklu was due to start Glasgow Caledonian University in two days time. As we waited in the arrivals lounge, we thought about the last time we had all been together, and wondered what the next year would hold for all of us as we shared our home and our lives with Teklu.
We had spent time with Teklu and the other staff members of the GTF when we went to Ethiopia in 2007. We were impressed by Teklu’s dedication to his job and the way the Karayu people greeted him with such warmth and friendliness wherever he went. Our group travelled with Teklu from place to place, finding out about the Karayu and the wonderful work that the GTF does in each area. Not only did we realise that Teklu had a passion for these people and their plight, but also we saw a young man who lived his faith and was God centred in every aspect of his life.
Returning from Ethiopia, we kept in touch by email and Teklu was always willing to update us on the latest developments regarding each of the projects we had visited.
We knew that Teklu was hoping to continue his education by studying for a Masters degree, and over the next two years we helped him get
information about the various Universities where he could study, ranging from Holland to Leeds! However, God had a different plan for Teklu. After many disappointments and thanks to the generosity of Avendale and Drumclog, Teklu arrived in Scotland to study for his Masters degree in Energy and Sustainable Management.
We have never shared our home with anyone, other than family members, so we were unsure of what to expect. We needn’t have had any concerns as Teklu has fitted into our family with great ease. He has experienced our sadness with the death of Adrian’s Dad and he has shared in our joy when Emma got engaged last month. Teklu is working incredibly hard with each piece of coursework he is given and is an exemplary student. He is too modest to tell people that he is excelling in every area of the course, and the University lecturers are overwhelmed by the level of the work he submits. Although Teklu’s University work takes up most of his time, we have been able to do some sightseeing with him and look forward to showing him more of the Scottish countryside when the weather improves – surely it will soon! Teklu continues to be a blessing to us in every way and we look forward to the next six months.
Please continue to pray for him. Adrian and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each member of the congregation who has made him so welcome and contributed to his financial needs. Thank you for your generosity and kindness.
Written by Sharon Wood

Karayu in Ethiopia

In 1998 the congregation established a link with a group of people in Ethiopia called the Karayu. They are amongst the poorest of the poor. Over a period of five years we have continued to raise vital funds for the Karayu who lack many of things we take for granted such as clean water, education, and medical health.

We have also continued to pray for them in our services of worship. In 2002, that relationship took a huge step forward as we sent out a team of people from the congregation to visit the Karayu. Their job was to help in any way possible. Amongst the all-female team were teachers, a doctor, and a business manager. What they achieved with God’s help was truly incredible. They set up a medical clinic that treated hundreds of people every day for basic, yet vital medical needs.

The teachers assisted with classroom lessons. The trip was remarkable in that it really established a very personal dimension to our relationship with the Karayu, and those who travelled were in no doubt that it was they who had been given so much in terms of the kindness and hospitality bestowed upon them. Edith and Irene returned to the Karayu in October 2003 to assist in the setting up of a permanent medical centre.

LATEST NEWS
KARAYU
What a difference ten years makes!

Our involvement with GTF has now been in force for ten years. At that time, a primary school was struggling to attract pupils, and GTF was al-ready thinking ahead to help these people who had nothing. Now they have their own university graduates working to take their people forward. Progress has been rapid, and until now, most of the work has been accom-plished by GTF and the donors who support them.
I recently received a major report from GTF indicating some of the work that is going on in the area, and some of their concerns about how the Karayu might be affected by it. The report mentions various interventions by other NGOs and organisations and I will try to summarise what and who is involved.

A major project being financed by Oromia National Regional State to the tune of 326 million birr, and involving the District Agriculture Office in partnership with Oromia Waterworks Designs, aims to provide irrigation to 11 villages in the Fantalle region. At one of the villages, the work is complete and the irrigation system is functioning. Already some of the Karayu are growing crops. At the moment they are mainly growing maize, not to sell, but to provide food security. They intend to stay with this strategy for the next two years before switching to some commercial crop-growing. The whole project is intended to be completed in 2009 for the remaining villages.

On the face of it, this is all excellent news, but, as you are aware, the Karayu land has always been communal. With the advent of the irriga-tion system, land tenure certificates are now being issued to families, for instance, at Gidara where the project is complete, 588 hectares have been distributed so that each household has 0.75hectare. This totally changes the idea of communal land for the tribe. The households have been or-ganised into a co-operative of 695 farmers by a development officer. The association has been provided with seed and fertilizers on a loan basis, and the government has also provided three tractors to plough the irrigated land.

The project at Gidara seems to be working well so far, but there is suspicion among many of the Karayu, who see the land tenure certificates as a way for government or other organisations, such as the sugar plantation, to buy or rent the land from individuals; thus the Karayu as a people, could find them-selves deprived of their land and livelihood again.
We need to wait and see what will happen and how the Karayu will manage their land under the new ownership regime.

The District Government office has begun to exercise efforts in the area of fishing. Subsequently, a group of 42 Karayu have established themselves into a co-operative to operate a fishing initiative. The same co-operative have a shop at Haro-Adi and are selling their fish from there.

As there is little water in the area, I can only assume that the group is fishing Lake Beseka. It was an idea identified by us when there was no food avail-able and people were starving to death, but I would worry about how the fish are affected by the high fluoride levels in the water for general use.

A Saudi investor is establishing a park and recreation centre on the shores of the Lake. With the proximity of the national park, this might encourage tour-ism to the area. The local Karayu may be able to achieve employment here, though there are others who may be quicker to take the advantage.

Other major interventions are being planned for fifteen years in three year phases by the Oromia Pastoralist Community Development Project.
The first phase has seen:

• a substantial restocking of animals across the area
• the setting up of many income generation schemes
• the equipping of eight primary schools and the upgrading of a ninth, thus making primary school education more accessible to the Karayu,
• the establishment and equipping of six health centres in various locations

Whilst progress is being made, GTF continue to experience interference in the running of the high school.

Animal health is still crucial to the Karayu, but despite many centres being in existence, thanks to CARE and the District Agriculture office, none of these is functioning. The exception to this is the GTF vet clinic gifted by Avendale and Drumclog, which continues to function well. Dr. Roba Fan-talle, the local vet (a boy who was educated by GTF), is willing to co-ordinate the distribution of medicine on a diagnosis basis, rather than the ad-hoc system that is applied by the district office.

Despite the new irrigation systems, water security is still a major cause for concern. Many of the boreholes are in urgent need of refurbishment, but it is understood that more training of users is also needed to ensure that proper care is taken of drinking water sources. This is a major concern for GTF.

The Karayu are still unable to open a bank account with the only bank in town. A new savings bank has opened and it seems that they are more likely to accommodate Karayu banking. With 120 co-operatives now oper-ating, this would be advantageous, as much of field staff time is taken up with operating the various accounts.

The other major concern is that with so many organisations now working in this area, communication between them is poor. This leads to duplication of work, wasting precious resources. Joined-up thinking is more necessary than ever so that actions are not misunderstood, and good stewardship of all resources can be managed appropriately.

Although things have moved significantly in ten years, there is still much to be done. The bible tells us that when we do it for the least of these, we do it for Jesus. Prayer support is always welcome, as is the practical resource of money. If you would like to contribute to this special fund, or have more information, please speak to Nancy Anderson or Edith Scott.

Loaves and Fishes

For the past 14 years 'Loaves and Fishes' main remit has been to feed and clothe people in need in the Glasgow area especially those who are homeless. Members of the congregation support this 'street level ministry' on a week to week basis by supplying food. In May 2003 'Loaves and Fishes' moved indoors to St Patrick's Church in Anderston, Glasgow giving shelter for a few hours twice per week. Those whom the charity serve do not know when they will next eat or where they will sleep that night.

Manali North India

For the last 20 years the church has had a close link with the medical and educational programmes in Manali a remote are of Himalayan North India.
In the years some of the congregation have visited and the ties were more closely forged when Drs Laji and Sheila Varghese visited us first in 1995 and again in 2008.
The church sponsors an orphaned child through the Manali hospital Fund a Scottish based charity that supports the work in Manali

Spartanburg Orphanage Project Update

This has been a busy year for our partners in Ghana with the work moving on in a variety of ways.

Since Dad (Sinclair) and I visited the Orphanage for the first time in July 2006, our bond with the children and the local com-munity has gone from strength to strength because of the support received from the Avendale and Drumclog Congregation. Moth-ers are now employed to look after the children on a full-time ba-sis and many of the children attend school.
Clyde Valley Academy (Kindergarten) was constructed during 2007 and staffed, ensuring the children are in education earlier. In addition , because a minibus was donated to them, the older children are now attending primary school and mixing well with the local children from the villages.

These education initiatives mean the orphans are being inte-grated into the local community and mixing with their peers from an early age, helping to remove the stigmas which were too com-mon in the past.

A new scheme encouraging more self sufficiency is the Mango Farm initiative. A sum of around £10,000 was gifted over the course of the year to purchase a tractor, allowing the land to be prepared for the mango trees. The photographs we have of the mangos produced to date are amazing.

This summer, a larger than normal group, left Scotland to travel to Ghana. Most of the group of eight were teachers and they were keen to forge stronger links with the local secondary Don-korkrum Agricultural School . Laptops had been donated and one of the group, a computer specialist, set up a small network. This is fully linked to the internet and opens their world of education further. Of course I spent as much time as I could at the Orphan-age playing with the babies.

Some of them are remembering us from year to year, and I was very excited to see their work at the school The number of chil-dren is around nineteen, with the mothers caring so well for them. The atmosphere is relaxed and happy. Everything is so dif-ferent from our first visit!

Two concerns we had about the Orphanage have both been re-solved. Firstly the hygiene is still found to be a bit wanting by our standards, and a part time cleaner has been approved by the Trust. A bigger concern was the retiral of Papa Ananba. He is the founder of the orphanage and although he is the chaplain for the Hospital, spends much available time with the children. Their love for him is without question. When he retires later this year his successor may not feel the Orphanage is part of his ministry and not give the same love and attention to the children. It was suggested that Papa Annaba could be kept on as “Orphanage Overseer” , the Ghanaians love titles. The funding for this has been secured after permission was again granted for the Presbytery.

In September we were honoured to see Robert Forson and Rev Emmanuel Boateng in Strathaven for ten days. Their trip coin-cided with the lovely weather almost exactly. They visited the Scottish Parliament and Church of Scotland Headquarters. They were taken around the Covenanters’ Trail, visited Glencoe and danced at a Ceilidh. In addition, they visited some educational establishments here, Hollandbush Nursery, Bent Primary, Ham-ilton Grammar and South Lanarkshire College. They met many of the sponsors, and could express their thanks in person for all that has happened to change the lives of so many of their commu-nity/presbytery.
The next chapter will unfold and we look forward to sharing it with you.

Thanks again for all your support which God has so richly blessed.
Kim Dyer

© 2010 Avendale Old and Drumclog