Many of you have heard about Askale, the Ethiopian woman evangelist that I was hoping to join in reaching Gumuz women with the gospel. We are so thankful for the 2 weeks that we had in Gesses because it was during this time, I was able to visit 6 villages with Askale. Sadly, Askale and her family are moving to Dibate (10km away) because of their children's education. Askale and Demelash (her husband) will continue to be part of our ministry team but they will not be living right in Gesses with us.
Askale is an evangelist and though she has not seen much fruit in her 6 years in Gesses, she has done a lot of kingdom building work. It was an honor to visit the different villages and hear her heart for these women.
Meet Askale. She is Oromo and speaks Oromo (her mother tongue), Amharic, Gumuz, English (partial), and one more language in the area. Her husband speaks 5 languages as well though he is actually from a different tribe. Their children speak 4 languages.
When I found out that Askale was moving to Dibate within 2 weeks of our arrival, I asked if I could join her when she visits the different villages. She said, "Sure, I leave at 7am each morning. Meet me at my house."
Those of you who know me, know that I am not a morning person. My husband on the other hand thrives with early mornings. Let's just say "early to bed, early to rise" is the only way to function in Gesses. It gets dark by 7pm each night and the donkeys, roosters, dogs and people are all awake when the sun rises at 6:30am. We have adjusted.
The first day, we visited 2 villages and I was reminded so much of the Uduks and the way that they live. These 2 villages were very small and each had about a dozen huts (so less than 100 people in each village).
I was wearing runners and my feet were soaked by the time we arrived at the village because of the rain the night before. The path was slippery but manageable because of all the rocks.
I was trying not to think about the snakes that must live in the grass since no one else seems to worry about it. We walked along this path for another 20 minutes and quite suddenly a village appeared. Everyone was very curious about who I was and it was nice that Askale could introduce me. They were disappointed that they didn't know we were coming as they would have liked to feed us. We only stayed about 10 minutes, going from house to house, greeting women.
This is the 4th village and it is Wotak's village. Villages are named after the acting chief. If the chief dies, the village is renamed after the new chief. We have actually met Wotak on several occasions though the first time we met him, we did not know he was the chief of the village nearest to us. In fact, we did not realize that he had actually given this plot of land to SIM. We met him because he came to greet us and was quite comfortable walking into our house. We fed him lunch. He has returned two times since, at lunch time.
We found out that it is his custom to make his rounds from time to time and is quite comfortable just walking in. This may be because it is actually his land. He is an elderly man and though our Gumuz is limited, we have used these opportunities to practice the Gumuz we do know.
The rain continued at a gentle rate. After 15 minutes of walking, I saw a village on my right at the top of a ridge. I figured it was the village I was looking for and I met several women. I asked them, "Cehe Naandi?" and they replied, "Akh" (translation: where is Cehe? reply: here)
I picked my way up the ridge and arrived at the village. I then proceeded to ask: "Askale naandi?" I am sure they wondered what a white woman was doing in their village looking for Askale but a young man led me to where she was setting up a white board. (It is quite odd to find white boards being used instead of blackboards but that is the preferred teaching tool.)
Askale was surprised to see me and I was surprised that I can't caught up to her. She must have actually left 10 minutes before me. Possibly her confidence in me has risen slightly now that I have walked to a village on my own. She knows I came to do women's ministry but she can't quite figure out how I will do that. Will I actually travel from village to village?
It was still raining when I arrived and Askale went to round up some more students. I followed some young girls into a hut and practiced some Gumuz language. They were quite helpful for a few minutes but then decided they had enough of me asking "What is that?"
Several men and women gathered for their Amharic lesson (though I don't know how learning the Amharic alphabet will actually help them.) This village does not have a single believer. They invited SIM (Askale) to come and teach them some Amharic. She begins each lesson with a prayer and a Bible story. The people in this village were not nearly as friendly as previous villages and it could well be because there is no believer living among them.
On Monday mornings, Askale invites a dozen women from numerous villages (who are interested in spiritual things) to come for tea and a Bible study. It's a great idea but hasn't worked as well as she hoped. There are usually only a handful of women who attend.
This week however was special as it was Askale's last week in Gesses. She hadn't told them she was leaving when she invited them but I am pretty sure they knew (because they almost all came).
Askale had asked me to lead the Bible study and so I prepared it in Amharic trusting that the Lord would speak clearly His word. As I shared of the Lost coin and the Lost Sheep, my heart broke for the many lost Gumuz women. These women have shown an interest in God's word but my hope is that they will hunger and thirst for righteousness.
The 6th village is Mammo's village and I must say it is the most beautiful village. It is also the furthest away and straight up a mountain.
These huts are actually huts for goats and sheep but you can see where Askale has hung the whiteboard and a few benches are balancing on rocks. When we arrived, Askale went from house to house to announce her arrival. The people lived in little clusters of huts (I assume family groups) all along the ridge of this mountain. They were growing maize and sorghum and it was remarkable to me how anything could grow.
We walked from the "classroom" to this cluster of huts (also part of Mammo's village) to call people to come to class.
With it being rainy season, the paths are overgrown. Later in the dry season, all the grass will be burned off and I imagine that Mammo's village would be a difficult place to live with little shelter from the sun.
As I was walking to the cluster of huts, I met a cow enjoying the path as well.
The Gumuz make basic fences to keep out the goats and cows from destroying their crops.
Askale is an evangelist and though she has not seen much fruit in her 6 years in Gesses, she has done a lot of kingdom building work. It was an honor to visit the different villages and hear her heart for these women.
Meet Askale. She is Oromo and speaks Oromo (her mother tongue), Amharic, Gumuz, English (partial), and one more language in the area. Her husband speaks 5 languages as well though he is actually from a different tribe. Their children speak 4 languages.
Those of you who know me, know that I am not a morning person. My husband on the other hand thrives with early mornings. Let's just say "early to bed, early to rise" is the only way to function in Gesses. It gets dark by 7pm each night and the donkeys, roosters, dogs and people are all awake when the sun rises at 6:30am. We have adjusted.
The next day, we headed to the 3rd village. This time we actually walked along the road for about 20 minutes. After this, we took a footpath to the right.
This is the 4th village and it is Wotak's village. Villages are named after the acting chief. If the chief dies, the village is renamed after the new chief. We have actually met Wotak on several occasions though the first time we met him, we did not know he was the chief of the village nearest to us. In fact, we did not realize that he had actually given this plot of land to SIM. We met him because he came to greet us and was quite comfortable walking into our house. We fed him lunch. He has returned two times since, at lunch time. We found out that it is his custom to make his rounds from time to time and is quite comfortable just walking in. This may be because it is actually his land. He is an elderly man and though our Gumuz is limited, we have used these opportunities to practice the Gumuz we do know.
The next morning, we planned to walk to the 5th village. Apparently I was 5 minutes late though and Askale left without me. Do I dare venture to find the village on my own? I have learned some Gumuz and can ask a few key questions. Askale's husband pointed me in the right direction and said that I would easily catch up to her as she had just left.
It started raining as I walked/jogged and though I could see quite far down the road, I did not see Askale anywhere. I was to travel down the main road towards Dibate (opposite direction to the previous village situated near the main road). Well I figured I wouldn't get lost so it was worth a try.
Several men and women gathered for their Amharic lesson (though I don't know how learning the Amharic alphabet will actually help them.) This village does not have a single believer. They invited SIM (Askale) to come and teach them some Amharic. She begins each lesson with a prayer and a Bible story. The people in this village were not nearly as friendly as previous villages and it could well be because there is no believer living among them.
This week however was special as it was Askale's last week in Gesses. She hadn't told them she was leaving when she invited them but I am pretty sure they knew (because they almost all came).
Askale had asked me to lead the Bible study and so I prepared it in Amharic trusting that the Lord would speak clearly His word. As I shared of the Lost coin and the Lost Sheep, my heart broke for the many lost Gumuz women. These women have shown an interest in God's word but my hope is that they will hunger and thirst for righteousness.
We walked along this path for a full 25 minutes and then reached the top. Spectacular view!
I took a picture of myself at the top and you can see the overgrowth and then some fields in the background. The mountains in the distance are full of Gumuz villages.
These are the Gumuz huts. There are about a dozen believers in this village and several of the evangelists that Rolf will be training come from this village. It was exciting to see the response of the students during their Bible lesson and Amharic lesson.
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