WOW – we are on our way!!!!

Having left Addis on our flight at 1.10am this morning, we now sit in Turkey having had 2 hours sleep. The time is 9.13am now and I can hear English music in the coffee shop – I am actually using WIRELESS internet and Heledd is shopping like crazy to find nice items that have been long missed during our time away (I think the last I saw her she just mentioned buying Gummy Bears!?)

So we are coming home! Our last couple of weeks was great, nice travels, lots of stories to tell and nice to see even more of Ethiopia. Addis was nice to get some luxuries in before we flew.. at the Sheraton hotel swimming – at the Addis restaurant trying out Tej (locally brewed, honey and something alcoholic, nice – makes you tired!) – at the SIM guesthouse, nice food and rooms – meeting old and new friends.. it was pretty good livin’.

So back to a new reality. As I mentioned last time the future is not orange but is definately hazy as we are not too sure at this point what we are going to do next. We know God knows and we know that we also have a budget that will last us for a month or so – so we pray that jobs, a home, that seeing family and friends goes well and that God leads us on to the next thing..pretty exciting really!!

So to all of you in Ethiopia – WE ALREADY MISS YOU and we will be in touch very soon!!

So to all of you at home – Call us, Email us, visit us (?) WE CAN’T WAIT to catch up with you and your news… SEE YOU SOON!!! 🙂 🙂

Well, we have loved it and alas the time has come to say goodbye to our friends in Mekelle and start to make our way back home! We cant believe how quickly 6 months can go.

So we have decided to have our last injera with friends and celebrate good memories. Everywhere we go at the moment we are greeted by people wishing us well and inviting us in for food and coffee ceremony.. we are so full and wired on caffeine now! People are really generous too and we have been given many presents from the young people we really feel humbled and grateful to God for the amazing relationships we have made out here!

So ..what’s next? Well we have decided to travel N.Ethiopia for the next two weeks and see Gheralter Mountains, Axum, Gonder and then Addis. Exciting stuff!!

After that..? Ummmm well we are jobless, homeless and havent really a clue. Matt has seen a few opportunities in Youth Work and Hels is looking (when internet works!)..if you are the praying type..please pray God directs our path at this new and exciting time!

Well Goodbye Mekelle. We will miss you! 😦

Well can you believe it, they said there might be rain in March, and here on it’s first day and I’m sat in a small tin shop typing and..its tipping it down outside!

Besides this nice little reminder of home, it has been great to hear from so many of you and as we have only 6 weeks left in Ethiopia.. we will be seeing you soon! Crazy how time flies.

In this last month, Hels and I have been pretty busy. Hels’ English class is going well and with a new batch of 15 students from the Theological college – it has made the class pretty exciting for her. She also took on orphanage work with a blast and that continues to be a highlight of her week. I started up a new club for teenagers at the MYC which was much needed and also a very good excuse to play games, have a laugh with some of the guys and also chat to them about things like being a good friend, dealing with School life, Sportsmanship and other topical things. So that was a real highlight for me! 

We were sad to see the departure of our friends, Andy and Connie who had been with us since we started working at the MYC. They left to travel and then return back to their home in Switzerland. We will miss them especially as Connie made great cake (he he). So with less forengies at MYC there is more work then ever to be done. We are praying that more folks might want to come out here and work.. so if you know anyone – let us know!!

Well that is the plug over with.. It is now the 8 week fasting period in Mekelle and this means no dairyor meat and we are fast adapting to all things Vegan. With this comes excitement about Easter and people are already preparing in their way for this. Often this means visits to the Church but we have also spotted the appearance of little goats everywhere that are being fattened up quickly for Easter day. Thankfully they remain oblivious to the fact that they are a walking barbeque and just eat everything in sight! I accidently moved one bleating goat near to MYC so that it was out of the way and it eat all the wall plants.. whoops! (shh don’t tell anyone 🙂 )

So we continue in our work, and begin to think of home, which is getting closer day by day. We are loving the work and continue to enjoy developing relationships and preparing more and more activities for the young folk which are such a joy to be around!

Love to all you folk back at home and thanks for your continued prayers too!  M&H

Well, we’ve managed to borrow a computer to have some time on the Internet tonight. Our laptop keeps crashing every time we try and connect! If anyone has any tips on what we could do to fix it then please feel free to contact us.

Apart from Internet problems, things are going well here on the whole. We have both started new projects this week which will see us through to the end of our time here (less than two months away!) Heledd has started an English class in an orphanage with 14 and 15 year old girls. The plan is to help them with their school work, which is something many of them find difficult. She also has the more challenging prospect of teaching an 11am class to 7, 8 and 9 year olds! What a challenge!!

Matt has got a to-do list the length of his arm and is keeping himself busy in the centre! This week he’s also been teaching English at the Orthodox seminary. This has been a great opportunity for him to interact with the young men there and perfect his recently acquired teaching skills!

The weather is still very sunny and it’s strange to picture the snow at home although Heledd was gutted not to get a snow day this year! Everything else is going well, but we’re sad to have to say goodbye to Coni and Andi, our Swiss friends, who are leaving this week. It’s been great to be here together and it’ll definitely be strange without them.

We hope that you’re all not too cold and that the weather changes soon! M and H

Well the Christmas decorations are finally down here. It seems late, but Christmas was only celebrated here on the 7th and so there was no point taking all of our decorations down and it was quite fun to have a second Christmas here too!

We were invited for Ethiopian Christmas over to our friend Philemon’s house, where we were treated to a freshly slaughtered sheep and what they call ‘Dorowat’ which is a special spicy chicken dish that goes very well with injera. A great experience and better still was to see the delight of Philemon’s little sisters and brother at receiving a Christmas present from us (as this is not really practised out here!).

At the MYC Christmas marks the halfway point in our stay out here in Ethiopia and work continues to go well. Matt has nearly finished his computer courses now and needs to find out what course he teaches next and Heledd is doing really well with her French and English classes. Introducing French has produced a buzz in Mekelle and the students who take part in it love to practice wherever they go! Sometime however this can get very confusing as they say hello in French and then finish a sentence in Tigrinya!

New year for us has been quite strange, Ethiopia is still in the year 2001 which doesn`t end until September so it was only foreigners that celebrated, however with friends and some Ethiopian Champagne and sparklers it was a nice way to see in the new year. Andy and Coni our Swiss friends even managed to treat their guard dog to a new year present, a cow`s head fresh from the Christmas celebrations…Nice!

Other things going on at MYC:

– Hels visited the Mekelle blind school with a group of girls from MYC to hand out Christmas parcels and play games, which was a really amazing and fun experience!

– We are beginning to plan for a programme of activities from sports tournaments through to workshops and even Karaoke for the schools’ break in 2 weeks time which will be fun for all!

 – Helping with volunteers to repaint the basketball, volleyball and tennis court lines which was much needed.

– Visits to some of the young people’s homes as we continue to work with them has been very humbling and yet a big sign of progress. To be invited shows friendship and has been really encouraging for us in our work.

– Boys and girls clubs and discussion groups continue to go well, with regular and new attendees this is becoming a highlight of our week.

 

Photos: Boys club meets weekly and they enjoy listening to Bible stories, colouring in pics, playing games, practise their English and sing songs.. great fun!

 

Happy New year to all of you back at home too!

Well it has been a while since our last blog post and apologies.. unfortunately, internet connections have been very poor recently so this has been the first chance to update!!

Work at MYC (Mekelle Youth Centre) is going well. Heledd’s French and English classes have finally started and she is really enjoying them The students are so keen to learn which makes quite a difference. Alongside classes, girls clubs have started well with girls learning the story of Jacob and getting to play fun games and eat pancakes..much to their delight!

For Matt, there has been some progress with the centre’s many lads. Playing basketball each day created some good contacts with them and now there is a new workshop group that they wanted to run in which they can discuss issues such as friendships, drugs, sex, alcohol and safety etc. This has been running for the last two weeks and has really been productive. Computer lessons and boys clubs are also going very well and we are seeing over 60 boys charging into our house each week to play games and also hear the bible which is amazing!

At times we have had some difficulties with water supply or bad stomachs as we get used to the food (we actually have to bleach food to make sure we can eat it!). But generally health is good and we are loving the culture, local food and friendly encounters with people and their families. It is nice but strange to be getting hot weather in November so that too is quite a change! So for the next few weeks we are now pretty busy with things in full-swing.

It is really exciting to see how things have developed so far and we are looking forward to what is next too! Thankyou for your continued support and prayers and please keep sending those emails..it is great to hear news from you guys back at home too!

 Love to all and hopefully our next posts can be more regular now 🙂

M&H x

Having been here now for a couple of weeks, we are slowly getting to grips with life in Mekelle. Home is a nice appartment style house called the ‘Pink house’, a name Heledd loves! Things are relatively basic here, like intermittent water and electricity, but then there is a mix of westernised delights such as a shower and a flush toilet.. that put a smile on our faces! 

The marmite supply is still at good levels and we are discovering the delights of bovril (which I never used before but my Sis gave us to bring with us!) Nice one Sis.. we are having many a nice stew or… well.. stew with it! They seem to have only beef in all of the butchers so we are struggling for ideas. But you know we always loved stew so that is good!

Our top number one thing to do here is have coffee..We love coffee, The Ethiopians love coffee so it is a match made in heaven. They are very proud of it too. They even have a coffee ceremony and it is seen to be of the highest honour to receive it. We of course love it! Someone, usually a girl, places grass all over the floor and sits quietly roasting coffee beans on open coals. They then boil it whilst incense is burnt (usually frankincense – I am told) and then you get lovely cup of Ethiopian espresso, fresh from the coals. To this they finally offer you popcorn, which is a change to a digestive biscuit but still very well received! mmmmmm.

 Home life in Ethiopia sure is tough… 🙂

                      

A girl called Abrahat making a coffee ceremony for us at Aragawi

Hello from Ethiopia!

Well this is our first chance to use the internet and to say hello to you ALL!!

We are safe and well and after a pretty long journey, many security checks and a stop off in Istanbul, we made it safe to Addis Ababa at 6.30am (their time).

Having landed, we were promptly picked up and taken off to the SIM HQ or ‘the Mission’ as Addis folk say, and in our tiredness, managed to say a few hellos and then were delighted to find that we had a lovely room and bed awaiting us. I think we had only had about 2 hours sleep between us during our 16 hours long journey!

We awoke to the sound of a bell and figured this was lunch time here and managed to eat some Beef stew and bread, which was very welcome. It was after a little while into our Orientation with one of the SIM staff Meryl, that we learned that we would be able to go to Mekelle (where we are currently based) with two other missionaries called Andy and Connie who were are from Switzerland and were travelling not by plane but by car! This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel for 2 days to see the countryside of Ethiopia, as well as to get to know our new friends.

The countryside was similar to Addis, quite poor and there seemed to be people everywhere. The roads were a mixture of almost UK standard, quickly changing to dirt and rock. Many roads seemed to be being re-built which was especially scary on highland clifftop roads, but all this added to the experience! We were also amazed and happy to see camels, donkeys, goats, sheep and many other animals all being used by locals to take their produce to market in the towns that we passed! As we passed by many of the Ethiopian children would shout ‘You’ followed by ‘Where you go?’ to which we smiled and shouted “Mekelle” which was often greeted by a somewhat confused glare.. why would we go to Mekelle I think they thought! 

Mekelle itself is beautiful and has a really nice feeing about it. It has some beautiful buildings and most importantly we have hot water in our appartment!! Having met the youth centre manager Jon and his wife Kristi, we were quickly excited about being here and seeing the centre and finding out what they wanted us to do! The centre is really quite amazing. It is almost like a community hall that accomodates English classes, HIV awareness, computer classes and of course table tennis.. but there is much more. There is a library for young people to study in and a basketball, football and volleyball pitch. They have a sort of cafe for the young people too and a garden full of maize, cabbage and egg plant (i.e. aubergine!).

Although as we write we are not entirely sure what we will be doing as it is only our third day here – it looks like Heledd will be teaching English and developing a brand new French class and Matt will be teaching a computer course alongside some workshops and outreach for young people. . all of which we gather are much needed here for the young peole ( we are told we will see over 700 of them per day and up to 1700 young people when there is a special event or a cinema night!). So lots to do already and the four of us that are new are a little nervous about getting started and whether we can really do all of this! Eeek.

We will of course be updating you soon! 🙂   M + H x

 

Please note: The Internet is very slow here so please don’t send any attachments.

We will also have a landline number soon, so if you want to know the number just drop us an email (see contact us page). Goodbye for now x

Well we are all packed up and as I write this, Heledd is stumbling out to the car half leaning to the left with her overfull backpack and I scramble to finish this before somebody realises that I am not helping pack the car but am instead scribbling down this goodbye!

But we are well prepared honest..! Tonight we travel to Slough and stay in a travel lodge so that the journey is easier in the morning and then we go straight to Stansted and are we away!

So this is goodbye! We will be in touch the other side of the pond! Love Matt and Hels x

Please feel free to email us. We’d love to hear from you!

Croeso cynnes i chi e-bostio.

Well having completed the training.. we were off to the capital to get our Visa for Ethiopia travel. We were greeted by a lovely lady who after having just finished her lunch was really helpful at explaining all of the details about Ethiopia that we hadn’t fully known.. so here are some Ethiopian facts for you:

– Ethiopia is currently in the calendar year 2001 – They follow the Julian calandar and of course the highlight for me and Heledd is that we get to be young(er) again.. yes you may smirk, but I’ll have you know that I am in fact a young 21 year old at the time of writing this! he he!

– Ethiopia has 13 months in its yearly calender – Their famous catchphrase to tourists is ’13 months of sunshine’ .. we cant wait!

– Ethiopia celebrates Christmas on January 7th – so two lots of pressies this year for us please 🙂

– Ethiopia’s national dish is a pancake called ‘Injera‘ – it is made from a fermented seed and tastes like pancake with cider, an interesting cuisine especially when you add sauces and meats.

-Ethiopia is the only country in Africa that has remained uncolonised – they famously fought off the Spanish and kept their own independance to which they are justly proud.

So with all this to look forward to we had to get a taste of it straight away and we headed to Kings Cross to taste Injera for ourselves at a lovely Ethiopian restaurant called ‘Addis’. It was quite an experience, and we particularly enjoyed trying to eat the food using only our right hand (which we were informed is the correct and hygienic way to eat in Ethiopia – for reasons I won’t go into).

Well with Visas sent off for, full bellies and a whole lot of tiredness building up from our long week.. we headed home to Swansea. Ahh we had to admit, it was nice to be back in Wales and rain just isn’t the same anywhere else either!

Just a week and a half to go until we fly!!!