Sometimes Impressions Can Be Misleading

CLWR Community Relations Director Tom Brook is reporting from Ethiopia.

I have to say that the reality of Ethiopia was entirely different than what I had thought would be the case. I have described earlier the many things that we have in common and they really extend beyond the agricultural background and the values that flow from that common experience.

I visited communities which have specific visions for their future and a plan of how to achieve them. People have great initiative and work hard for what they have. There is an overall sense of harmony and relative peace here.

On every border of Ethiopia, refugees fleeing war, famine, drought or economic persecution find a sincere welcome and the government in concert with aid agencies take care of as many people as possible. It is as if the border doesn’t really exist or does so at least as an artificial human creation. North America could learn from this attitude.

I think the reason I had a false notion of conditions in this country and Africa in general was because we constantly see images of starving and disadvantaged children and other people which form part of the advertising campaign of some relief agencies.

Of course there is poverty here as much as any place in the world and there are refugees and displaced persons with tremendous needs, but that is not the whole story. Agencies that dwell on the negative for maximum fund raising impact do a tremendous disservice to people who are working hard with the resources they have to build a life of hope and a future of prosperity.

So when you see those ads on TV, posters in your church, or appeals in your mail; please remember there is a completely different world that is reaching out to you not just for assistance but welcoming you to be a partner in their vision that will save and change lives.

- Tom Brook

Not As Different As You Think

Residents of the small Ethiopian farming community Abichu Gna come to hear from CLWR and LWF about possible future collaboration. Photo: Tom Brook

As we passed through the rolling farmlands full of durum wheat, rye and barley all ready for harvest, it occurred to me that there is really little difference between Canada and Ethiopia in many respects. Certainly our rural roots and heritage are much the same.

In Ethiopia, land holdings are very small. The crop, gardens and livestock will support a family under normal conditions, with perhaps a little leftover for market. The country of Ethiopia is predominantly rural. Estimates vary but as much as 70% or more of the population resides outside the cities. And the people are very much guided by their religion.

Canada is only a generation or two removed from a time when a typical farm was no more than a quarter section. The family lived off the farm output and faith was an important part of life. Our provinces were largely rural.

When we met the Abichu Gna District Manager he said he understood those familiarities. He told us that is why the National Development Strategy urges development districts to emulate the Canadian experience.

He said that coming to them in this way to investigate ways in which we might help was evidence of our concern and recognition of mutual values.

The area certainly had the feel of a peaceful and secure district and had a particularly good environment for development. There was an open and welcoming attitude among local authorities.

This is an area of Ethiopia that CLWR is considering for future development support. There is a great need for water diversion, water retention and irrigation. There is a great deal of good farmland waiting to be broken and brought under cultivation. As well, capacity building and assistance with marketing would go a long way to bringing prosperity.

But here’s something else. There is a great opportunity here for Canadian farmers to use some of their knowledge and ingenuity by coming here in their off-season helping to bring new fields under cultivation, and passing on farming techniques which would maximize the limited resources available. We will work toward determining the feasibility of a farmer-to-farmer development experience.

People here are eager to change their lives and deeply committed to work with anyone who wants to help.

- Tom Brook

I Can Keep My Children

CLWR’s Community Relations Director Tom Brook is reporting from the Goro region in Ethiopia.

Fekadu Genite, LWF Goro project coordinator; Asha Haji Abdu of Gobu village; and Tesfaye Saboka, LWF emergency assistance coordinator. Photo: Tom Brook

While touring in the town of Gobu in the Goro district of Ethiopia, Lutheran World Federation’s Goro Project Coordinator Fekadu Genite and Emergency Assistance Coordinator Tesfaye Saboka introduced me to Asha Haji Abdu.

Asha is a single mother of four who is receiving food assistance from the Canadian Lutheran World Relief-supported Goro Emergency Response Program.

She was asked how this assistance benefited her. She was very deliberate in her response. “I could not feed my family and myself without this food ration.” She said it with a deep note of sadness and that seemed to come from the unspoken consequences should she not have received the food – either she would have gone hungry or some of her children would have to live elsewhere. But that’s not necessary thanks to the CLWR-backed food aid program.

In fact, the presence of a reliable food source has given her the strength and hope that a neighbour might provide his oxen to help her plough her small field and plant a crop for herself.

A small bit of kindness – only pennies a day for a ration – really goes a long way!

- Tom Brook

“You Are Wrong to Think That Way”

CLWR’s Community Relations Director Tom Brook is reporting from the Goro region in Ethiopia.

I don’t have a lot of international travel experience in the context of Canadian Lutheran World Relief’s work around the world. Even so, I have to express that those visits I have made always left me with the uncomfortable feeling of intruding in the lives of people who have become incredibly disadvantaged through no fault of their own.

Work for food soil conservation program in Ro'o Nagya, Goro, Ethiopia. Photo: Tom Brook

Whether it was visiting relief camps in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; refugee sites such as the settlements in Palestine or camps like Sherkole in Ethiopia; or the drought-stressed farmers of the Goro district of Ethiopia, I could not escape the feeling of coming to those places from a position of privilege which was provided as much from the place of my birth than from anything else.

When I expressed my concern over coffee with a local LWF worker in the town of Gobu in the Goro district of Ethiopia, he told me it was wrong to think that way.

He said, “People are excited that you would come and see their problems for yourself. It gives them hope that people really care for their situation, but most important of all – it allows them to say thank you and bless you for the generosity of the people you represent.”

I’ll probably still carry around a good dose of Lutheran guilt, but those words put everything in a completely different light, and for that I was very grateful.

- Tom Brook

Watch a video of Tom Brook reflecting on his experiences in Goro.

There’s No Doubt – You are Making A Difference!

CLWR Community Relations Director Tom Brook is reporting from Ethiopia.

One of the questions I am asked so many times as I meet supporters of CLWR is, “Is our money getting there? Is it being used wisely?” Following a visit to the drought-plagued region of Goro in Ethiopia, I am pleased to report that it is being used to make a difference in the lives of people struggling against the loss of crops due to the untimely rains in that region.

Thousands of bags of Canadian wheat along with beans, oil and Famix at the Gobu distribution centre, Ethiopia. Photo: Tom Brook

Typically, farmers could rely on two rainy seasons, a short one in October-November and a longer one from April to June. These would allow planting of two crops and relative food security. But when you can’t count on the rain at the proper time farming becomes chaotic at best.

CLWR is participating in the distribution of over 3.8 million pounds of food to support 18,000 people as part of its East Africa drought and famine relief efforts. The food rations consist of wheat, beans, oil and a food supplement called Famix which is reserved for children and pregnant women.

The first coping mechanism in these times of food shortage is for farmers to begin selling resources – mainly livestock. This food aid makes it more feasible to keep their resources intact.

I was pleased to visit one of the three warehouses in the region where there were thousands of bags of Canadian wheat and the other rations food being carefully stored and guarded. While I was there, a new shipment of wheat and oil had just arrived.

You have helped supply more than 10,000 agricultural tools. I met two young men on the road carrying their new tools. They were walking to a work-for-food site at Ro’o Nagya where I witnessed thirty or more people digging trenches in the hillside to prevent rain runoff from flooding the fields in the valley.

Those who are able spend two days a week participating in work-for-food projects such as brushwood check dams; cut-off drains; vegetative fencing and stabilization; and rural road maintenance.

Young men on their way to Ro'o Nagya work-for-food project for a day's work. Photo: Tom Brook

Not only is this aid making a difference but it comes at a very low cost. Of a budget of $1.3 million, only $60,000 is being spent on administration – less than 5%!

You are making a difference in the lives of people who are reaching out for hope today. These are resourceful and hard-working people. How else can you explain being able to support a family on an average farm of only 1.3 – 1.5 acres in size and even having some produce leftover to take to market! Your gift of food aid in a troubling time provides that hope.

- Tom Brook

There’s A War No One Knows About

October 14, 2011

Children in a section of Sherkole camp not far from the Ethiopia/Sudan border. Photo: Tom Brook.

Tom Brook, CLWR’s community relations director, reports from a Ethiopian refugee camp housing thousands of Sudanese refugees.

I think we all thought with the division of Sudan into two countries, all was well. That’s not the case. In North Sudan the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM-North) has begun an armed struggle following the recent elections to create a third country and the war is displacing thousands of Sudanese.

It’s nothing new. During the previous struggle, refugees from the north of Sudan streamed into Ethiopia and camps like Sherkole close to the border. After the formation of South Sudan many returned home, but 3000 remained as they were unsure of the future. With the new hostilities, the camp has grown to nearly 9000 and many thousands more women and children are poised on the border to come across at a moment’s notice once their husbands have finished harvest or the fighting gets more intense.

And there is no doubt there is fighting. You can hear gunfire from the ground war from the border and the bombing and air raids are even more evident.

As it stands now Sherkole is not accepting any new refugees unless it is for family reunification. Otherwise they are going to a new camp at Tonga nearby.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is managing the camp and with assistance from two or three other agencies are providing health and sanitation requirements, education up to grade eight, shelter and water. CLWR is looking to see where there may be gaps that we can fill and there are some.

High school education is only available in the town 16 kilometres away and there is need to provide transportation and increase the school size to accommodate students from the camp. There are a large number of unaccompanied youth in the camp who need an education.

Another area of assistance that would be helpful is in an area that CLWR has a lot of experience and that’s in providing fuel efficient stoves. Large areas of forest were cut down during the previous encampment and have been reforested and rehabilitated but now the fear is that the camp will again cause widespread environmental degradation.

These may seem like small things, but are a way that Canadian Lutherans can step in and make a significant difference in the lives of people who live for signs of hope.

Watch a video of Robert Granke, CLWR’s executive director, reflecting on the situation in Sherkole.

What an experience it’s been

July 18, 2011

“The last concert of the tour took place at the JL Zwane Training & Development Centre (Gugulethu, Cape Town) and featured a joint concert with the Fezeka Choir.  The Fezeka Choir is a high school choir, and the concert was supported by many community friends and family. The choirs had spent the afternoon practising together and shared a meal prior to the concert.  Many email addresses were exchanged following the concert – evidence good friendships had been established. 

Helping hands and new friendships made

July 15, 2011

“What a day We Care day was! The choir visited the Siyabonga Helping Hands – an after school/community program (supported by one of the member churches of LUCSA). The Siyabonga Helping Hands children’s choir sang for the SCC (you’ve never heard kids sing with this level of volume and energy!) and the SCC sang for the Siyabonga Helping Hands children.

SCC member with a new friend at Siyabonga Helping Hands, South Africa

“The SCC also presented the We Care kits they brought with them to South Africa. I had the opportunity to explain to the children what was inside the kits and the relationship of CLWR & the choir. We then all enjoyed sandwiches together and an hour of play on the playground. It was wonderful to see the Siyabonga Helping Hands children take the hand of the SCC children and share traditional games common to both groups such as skipping, rhythm games, and circle ball games. A few also enjoyed the use of their new-found SCC friend’s digital camera to take pictures of each other and then view them together. At the end, when the kits were given to the Siyabonga Helping Hands children as they left, it was lovely watching them  dig into their We Care bag and shriek over the items they discovered inside. A few adults from the villages were there as well and appeared just as happy as the children to discover the items in the We Care bags  – such as the plush toy.

“It was a happy and moving sight to watch them walk back to their village with We Care bags in

Enjoying their We Care kits!

hand and huge smiles on their faces. As we passed some children on the road, I rolled down the window, Rev Mathe (General Secretary of LUCSA) turned up the African music in the van, and the children along the side of the road danced to the music with We Care bags in hand.

The evening featured a concert by the SCC at the Hillside Lutheran Church where admission fees further supported the Siyabonga Helping Hands Center and where I was able to briefly share the work of CLWR and its relationship to the partners (SCC, LUCSA & ELCSA) supporting the choir tour and shipment CLWR will make to the region.” – Irma

It’s We Care day!

July 14, 2011

The Saskatoon Children's Choir packed lots of We Care kits!

“Today is We Care Day for the SCC in South Africa!  They have been carrying the We Care kits in their bags, eagerly anticipating this day. This will be their opportunity to give to children in the Siyabonga Centre the school resources they have generated and brought with them as a token of the larger donation provided to CLWR’s We Care program.

“The day will include a visit to the Siyabonga Helping Hands at the Esigodini Centre, and then a concert this evening at the Hayfields Lutheran Church – the church that directly supports this centre (and member of the Lutheran Communion in South Africa – LUCSA).” – Irma

Saskatoon Children’s Choir performs with South Africa’s Drakensberg Boys Choir

July 14, 2011

“Wednesday (yesterday) was a very special day for the SCC Choir who have been anticipating the concert with the Drakensberg Boys Choir for some time.