June 26, 2009

We spent the day with Fanosie and Dianne travelling to Sire to visit Fanosie’s family. On the way, we stopped in Nazareth and checked out some of the historic buildings from the early years of Meserete Kristos Church (the Ethiopian Mennonite Church). We saw the first church, the Bible Academy and the hospital which were founded by Mennonites in the early 1950’s. During the Derg years (Communist years), the government took possession of the hospital and the Mennonites never did get it back. Today it is the main public hospital of Nazareth. The Bible Academy was also taken by the Derg government, never to be returned. Now it is a law school. Richard was able to take pictures of the church and hospital, but was not allowed to take any photographs of the law school. In fact, while we were permitted to drive on to the campus, a security guard boarded the van and stayed with us until we exited the gate to make sure that he didn’t take any pictures.

Fanosie’s family lives in Sire, a rather remote hillside village another hour outside Nazareth. His parents moved there in January from an even more remote farm that was about an hour and a half walking distance from Sire. His parents were tired of doing that walk several times a week and so they moved into a simple mud house in town. Their living conditions are pretty basic with no electricity etc. The cattle are kept in their small compound, right outside the front door. Dianne tells me that sometimes the cows are let into the house but never the dogs! His parents speak no English but were very welcoming. We had brought injera and chicken wot along with us and so we shared a meal together. It was a really nice afternoon and good to spend time with a more typical Ethiopian family in their home.