See what is happening in Wolaytta Village, Ethiopia!
WV is now on FACEBOOK – come visit us here!
WHY Wolaytta Village in Soddo?
USUAL UNUSUALS
Her 25-year old body hosts the exhaustion of a much longer life. Her tired eyes do not smile along with her weary lips. She pulls her twin 10 month old little boys close to her on the grass mattress where her family sleeps. She does not demonstrate the usual energy to a stand up welcome as is custom in the Ethiopian culture.
We sit down on the dirt floor next to where she sits with her babies on their damp mattress. The weaker little one searches for the comfort of Mama’s breast and I notice the malnutrition symptoms of his light hair, a frail bone structure visible under his loose, dusty skin. His brother smiles and interacts with caution, just slightly more present and alert. My heart aches as Mom tries to hide her deformed feet in her green plastic shoes.
Their little hut is already leaning sideways, preparing to collapse to one side – rusted metal sheets provide spotted sunlight and in the far corner of their hut, the bright day light forces its way into the otherwise dark, depressing interior where this young widow protects and watches over her baby boys’ growth…….
We learn that Mom is fed by a compassionate government hospital worker who brings them the daily left over food from hospital patients. She sun dries the injera and warms the ‘wat’ (sauce) in a borrowed pot over a little fire, provided by a friendly neighbor. Her brother delivers river water to her from his own little water business.
The details to her husband’s death and burial, are unknown to her – she survives, with 2 babies! We ask her what her heart’s desire is if she would have resources to do with it as she pleases. She responds: “I will start my own injera- or veggie/fruit selling business to feed my children so that they can go to school later.” At the end of our conversation, she allows me to take photos of her deformed feet. We pray over her, encourage her for being such a devoted Mother and depart with heavy hearts.
I hold on to the strong of our Social Worker on his motorcycle as we bounce over the uneven terrain – in silence back to Wolaytta Village. We sit down inside the beautiful compound ……. Brainstorm how to activate the plan which we both know of already:
- I plea with a friend-Orthopedist to consider having a look at her feet to see if surgery would be an option to correct her feet;
- The priority needs are to get Mom and babies off the damp ground floor, so we search materials for a bed, check our “Help-fund” and discover that we do not have much to help her with yet, as we are still building WV-businesses. We continue to list the absolute necessities and gather MITTIN, children’s clothes and blankets from saved donations;
- At the end of the day, I arrive home and discover 1 500.00Birr waiting in response to my plea with Our PROVIDER! We will continue to watch this little amount stretch to demonstrate grace, blessing and care for 3 little desperate people. We work towards helping in this mother’s physical, emotional and spiritual needs to care for her sweet twin baby boys!
Another USUAL day to UNUASUAL motivation.
Grow WOLAYTTA VILLAGE (facebook) into the full potential of its vision – as fast as we possibly can!
MITTIN is being produced weekly – sales are still slow, as we face desperate poverty situations such as these regularly, forcing us to feed the hungry and the poor. THUS, Wolaytta Village has been planning for a second and third supporting business to propel the goal of building a self sustainable business module, so that we can care for orphans and widows faster!
WRAPS (facebook) is constructing its own workshop on WV-property, preparing to join us soon!
BAKERY has been recognized as a tremendous need in the area, providing great potential to develop a strong business in the community to 23 000 Soddo University Students, 2 500 Ottona College Students and Ottona Hospital, several little cafes & restaurants in Soddo and nearby villages! We are fundraising to establish a WOLAYTTA VILLAGE BAKERY now!
WV-SHOP is selling MITTIN, coffee, chaikimim, kolo and a few cultural art effects to increase the profits so that the profits can be applied to minister to- and care for orphans, widows & the poor, eventually helping them to grow their own independent little businesses to care for themselves!
Back to Ethiopia We Go!!!
Yes, nearest blog, we are back, We are sorry for our absence, but will now try to visit you regularly. Here is our
latest update.
SODDO: 15 JUNE 2014
WOLAITTA VILLAGE is still the place where the FOOD PRODUCTION CENTER is to be established and we have been here now for 3 months! We are working with http://www.4MATI.foundation (based in Arizona) to create an infrastructure/business on behalf of an Ethiopian NGO with whom we worked with during 2006-2011. The director and staff are still dedicated to serve the poor, orphans and widows of the southern region in Ethiopia.
HISTORY:
…it was during our early days in 2006, that I cried out to the Lord after a challenging week in our Soddo orphanage – along with staff, we fed and attended to many malnourished children, listened to sad reports of how families have layed down their dying children. I asked the Lord where we are missing the solution, since HE created Africa with such wealth in its earth, we MUST be blind to the resolve……? The Father’s words: “it is under your feet” motivated me to research what is in this land – so, with the Ethiopian orphanage staff, HE showed me what is here and I discovered an already simple ‘muke’ which was being used by mothers in labor to replenish their strength after giving birth. After months of researching and learning all I could about what ‘is under our feet’, a recipe containing 11 Ethiopian grown products was born! We started producing in the Soddo orphanage and the children started healing and recover over the next few months. I had the product tested for nutritional value and shelf life, to discover that it was well balanced, just needed another plant oil, so I added the needed product and now we have 12 products in this recipe. We are in the process of patenting, so I cannot share more details at this time.
TODAY: ……construction of the FOOD PRODUCTION CENTER on the CCC-WOLAITTA VILLAGE property, is almost complete! We are using the beautiful physical plan of the Arizona State University Students (Masterclass of 201) who designed the vision into a well orchestrated, harmonious plan – under guidance of well known Architect: Jack DeBartelo! We are hoping to start “Mittin Production” during July 2014! Exciting days!
WHY A SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS PLAN?
As a result of our African experience, we are learning/have learnt that sustainability plans within a nation, provides many more layers towards independence. We are convinced that international funding and fuelling of projects, does not motivate long term (self)sufficiency. We trust that this model and module to teach and train simple business concepts, finding ‘gaps’ in the market, providing in the need and building simple businesses, will provide the needed funding for the overall heart and vision that compassionate leaders have to feed the actual needs in their communities.
This will be the first business module of its kind for this NGO. Much time is devoted to training and casting vision. We are already researching future business options, which will provide revenue for CCC to care for the poor, orphans and widows. We are currently waiting on approval of a proposal to provide orphan care within Ethiopian families – as many abandoned infants have no where to go, mortality rates are high for both newborns and birthing mothers. During our earlier living here, about 19 orphanages opened, but the government closed down many and today, only the CCC-children’s home is operating and the demand is overwhelming. Along with the NGO, we do believe that orphanages are not a long term solution. So, we are researching for ways to place abandoned and orphaned children into loving families, providing help from within Ethiopia through a compassionate Ethiopian NGO.
If you would like to invest or seed into this ministry/work, please let us know via email and we will gladly guide you!
Stephne’s Trip to Ethiopia
Dear Friends,
Please find our latest update of Stephne’s trip to Ethiopia before Christmas.
Honeslty, I am new to this linking thing, so bear with me as I learn
Be blessed
Harry
Christmas with Family in Holland
WE had a wonderful trip to see Steph’s sister in Holland over Christmas.
Our Malsburg Home
This is our current home, and you can see the car we recently purchased through a blessing of you, our supporters. It is a Renault Scenic, and we feel so blessed to have more freedom to travel now. THANK YOU ALL
Mittin Facility
This is a picture of the mitten facility that Steph went to Ethiopia in Dec to open.
The Lord is teaching me patience!!
Dear All,
I have attempted to update the blog, of which I have had limited success. Stephne did a GREAT job of making the newsletter very nice, and then the format would not transfer over to the blog site. So, I then copied and pasted the text and I thought the photos, but alas, the photos did not seem to make it to the blog.
I promise you I will get better at this as we get back into the habit of keeping you all updated. For now, enjoy the writing, and we will post pictures one by one. At least this will be a reason for you to return to the blog perdioically 🙂
Blessings to all
Harry
The Bowers Weblog 
