Community transformation through the care of orphans in Zeway, Ethiopia by Grace Church, Food for the Hungry and the Zeway Evangelical Church Fellowship.
Enjoy a few pictures from Tom's trip. This is Tom's brother, Stephen. He spent the first day meeting children and getting right at their level to minister and love them. Tom is here with Dawit (who traveled to Austin in February and spoke at the Missions Conference) Abei is on the far right. He is one of the 5 missionaries that Grace is supporting through the Partnership.Pray for Abei and his family -- they are on the front lines serving Christ! A picture of the social workers who attended Stephen's class
Tom's brother training the social workers on grief and loss.
Keep in prayer the next team going to Zeway! They will be departing the first of July. Click here for more information on the trip and how you can support them!
Pure and undefiled religion is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27
Bridges of Grace has used the command in James 1:27 as a foundation for their ministry. There are orphans ministries and non-profits all over the country that have sprung up in the past 5 years toting 1:27 on their banners.
And yet, there is a piece of it that seems like we've missed. We are to visit and care for orphans AND widows. We've moved forward to care for the orphan, but what about the widow? How can we use James 1:27 so diligently as the backbone of our ministry when we have chosen one vulnerable people group, but not the other?
Now we have justified this because the needs are so great, how can one ministry tackle the global orphan crisis AND widows in their distress? It is overwhelming enough to take in the numbers of one group of "the least of these" let alone to add widows as well. We do believe, however, that focusing on this one group, orphans, is not just justified, but right thinking. We all have God-given passions and talents, and we are finite beings in our time and ability to care, so singling out one group of people to care for is how we manage in this flesh.
But God is not going to allow our inability to care for both widows and orphans to limit His work. He is not allowing our susceptibleness to be overwhelmed by the suffering to single out just orphans in the Zeway Partnership.
We are rejoicing that God is allowing us to expand our care circle to include widows. Single parents who are dying of HIV/AIDS and who will not be there to parent their children within the year will now be a part of the Partnership outreach. God is allowing us to support the social workers and the Zeway Church body so that they can care for these dying mothers and fathers.
Here are some of the reasons why this is a desirable opportunity:
These dying men and women need care and love. They need to hear about the peace and comfort of our Savior through the social workers and Zeway church members.
In an environment where children of parents with HIV/AIDS are outcasts, these widows desire to know that someone will watch over their children.
The orphaned children will not go one day without knowing there is an adult who cares for them and is advocating for them after their parent dies.
There will be a transfer of trust as the child watches the social worker and parent forming a relationship.
The orphaned children will be admitted into the Food for the Hungry programs with little to no gap between losing their parent. They will not spend months or even years fending for themselves.
We are rejoicing that we will be able to care for orphans and widows as well. It makes sense that these two groups of people would go together in a circle of care, and we are blessed that God showed us His ways again through this Partnership!
Tom Sanchez, the Global Outreach pastor of Grace Covenant, went to Zeway with his brother who specializes in grief and loss counseling. As part of the Partnership, we are to provide a variety of training for the social workers and staff. Read below from Tom:
On April 11th, Stephen, my older brother, and I arrived in Zeway, Ethiopia. We spent the evening visiting three of the child headed households that are the primary target of Grace’s partnership with Food for the Hungry and the Zeway Evangelical Alliance of Churches. The purpose of these visits was to expose Stephen to the actual living situations and stories that the social workers with Food for the Hungry deal with day in and day out.
On Monday morning, Stephen began a 4 ½ day seminar on Trauma, Grief and Loss for 50 social workers from three different ministry centers in Ethiopia. Although most of these social workers have college degrees, they have never been exposed to specific training regarding grief and loss in children. Since this has been Stephen’s specialty in his career as a school counselor for the last 20 years, his teaching was filled with real-life examples and stories that took it out of the theoretical arena to the very practical. The comments of some of the social workers at the end of the week demonstrated what a huge unmet need this had been and how very grateful they were for the training Stephen brought.
Meanwhile, I had a chance to interact with 9 missionaries that have been sent out of the Zeway evangelical community to mostly Muslim villages in the larger region around Zeway. One of these men is named Abei. For the last 10 months he has been spending eleven out of every fourteen days in a community about 15 miles out of Zeway. He is homeless, has no job, and carries a small leather bag with his personal possessions and a well worn Bible. His wife and children, Marta, Abram (5), and Lydia (6 months), live in Zeway. Marta shared with me that after he spends a weekend at home, on Monday morning she has his bag packet with clean cloths and she pushes him out the door, eager for him to return to the mission of carrying Jesus Christ to this community. In 10 months, Abei has seen 20-25 people come to faith in Jesus. He is considered a holy man in the community. He was asked to deliver the commencement speech and pass out diplomas at the local k-8 grade school. The “chief” of this village, a Muslim, has given him land for the purpose of building a church that will also function as his home.
I was deeply humbled by the price both Abei and Marta are paying with joyful hearts in order to fulfill God’s call on their lives. They are one of five missionaries that are supported through the partnership we have with this city and Food for the hungry. Praise God for the opportunity that He is giving us to be part of the miracles happening in this place.
Thank you Tom and Stephen for giving of your time and talents. Pictures from this trip will soon be posted!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Saturday, May 15th @ 1:00.
Please send an email to ragznson@austin.rr.com and we'll be happy to provide additional details. We'd love to see you there!
God is moving in Zeway through the visit of Tom & his brother Steve. We thought we'd share with you a recent email from Tom:
It's 11:15 am Monday morning and Steve is in the first session of his seminar. There are right at 50 social workers here. Yesterday Dawit and Feye picked us up at the hotel in Addis and drove with us down to Zeway. It was a great time for Steve to get to know them a bit and vice a versa. When we stopped for lunch I suggested to Steve that he drink a Sprite instead of just water since he still wasn't feeling normal. The Sprite had an immediate positive affect on his body chemistry. He said it was the first time he had felt normal for days. He had another for dinner and is much, much better. Praise God for soda pop.
When we got to Zeway, we dropped our stuff at the hotel, (a different one than the one we stayed at before), and then went on three house visits. The first was a family led by a 17 year old girl with a 15 year old sister and a 9 year old brother. They are all HIV positive. They are Muslim. Their mother died 2 years ago and they are fairly marginalized by their neighbors because of the HIV. It was the first time to watch Steve work. It was fascinating. By the end they had cried, remembered, been affirmed, given purpose, and laughed. The second family was a 17 year old girl with three younger brothers. She is a brand new believer and they all attend a local evangelical church. Their mother took her own life 10 years ago and the father died of aids a few years ago and their step mother abandoned them. Steve really connected with these kids. In fact he is talking about "adopting" them through the sponsorship program, writing them and supporting them. The third visit was with Melekete and Denabe. This was refreshing to my soul. Denabe has grown so tall and Melekete has grown into a beautiful young lady. She is doing so very well!! She loves the Lord and speaks about her past with amazing calm and understanding. They have three new kittens in their home and it's wonderful to see how they care for and love the kittens.
After the visits we had dinner at a new restaurant in town and a great visit with Dawit and Feye. Back to the hotel where Steve and I have separate "cabin" like rooms. Lights out before 11. Best night rest for both Steve and me since we left the States.
Breakfast at 7, to the church where the seminar is being held by 8. I gave a devotional after the worship time and then Steve began. He is into the Trauma section and doing a great job. The social workers that I am watching right now are completely engaged, taking copious notes and working hard to understand. Lot's of information.
Please be praying for Tom, our global outreach pastor, and his brother, Steve as they travel to Ethiopia. Steve just happens to be a grief and loss counselor and part of the Partnership is to provide training for the social workers. Grief and loss is an appropriate place to start with the children, most of whom cared for their sick and dying parents in their own homes until the end.
Please be praying for Steve as he is doing 5 days of training. That can be exhausting on its own, let alone working through a translator. Most of the social workers understand English, but a translator will be necessary to avoid confusion and make sure the particulars are understood.
Also, be praying that Steve can overcome any cultural differences that may get in the way as he trains the social workers. Measures have been taken to make sure the information he is teaching is culturally relevant, but this is difficult to do entirely. Our prayer in the Partnership is that we will never leave American footprints in Zeway, but only the hand prints of God's work, not ours. God is cultural relevant wherever He goes!
Dawit's visit to Austin was such a blessing to us! His visit here made the Hope in Ethiopia partnership touchable and within reach for those who have never visited Zeway.
I was struck by a quote that God revealed to me Easter week:
"The joyful news that He is risen does not change the contemporary world. Still before us lie work, discipline, sacrifice. But the FACT of Easter gives us the spiritual power to do the work, accept the discipline, and make the sacrifice." ~Henry Knox Sherrill
I believe it is so fitting for this partnership.
Today, Tom Sanchez along with his brother, will be traveling to Zeway to offer training on grief and loss counseling. Tom's brother, Steve, is a grief and loss counselor and will be training the social workers Monday-Friday of next week. Pray that the Spirit removes any cultural misunderstandings and that the social workers can apply the information to the children. Pray for strength for Steve as he does 5 days of training. Pray for Tom that he is an encouragement to his brother, Dawit, the social workers, and the church leaders in Zeway. Pray for God to move mightily during their visit!
God has also given us a very special opportunity to sell our Hope Jewelry at a large women's conference this weekend in Austin. This is an awesome opportunity to raise awareness to this partnership and God willing, will allow us to send additional funds to help support the orphans.
God is moving and our sails are raised! What an awesome God we serve.
Please take a moment to view this wonderful letter from Dawit on behalf of the 14 churches in the Zeway Evangelical Church Fellowship, with whom Grace is partnering along with FH for this initiative. It truly is a moving letter…
This is Tom's brother, Stephen. He spent the first day meeting children and getting right at their level to minister and love them.
Tom is here with Dawit (who traveled to Austin in February and spoke at the Missions Conference) Abei is on the far right. He is one of the 5 missionaries that Grace is supporting through the Partnership.
Pray for Abei and his family -- they are on the front lines serving Christ!
A picture of the social workers who attended Stephen's class
