Posted Tuesday 11 October 2011
Rebecca writes: Last week I attended two days training in Hoddesdon, in preparation for a life changing experience at the beginning of November. I have been selected to take part in a visit to the Amhara region of Ethiopia to see the work of Save the Children as part of a team of six volunteers from around the country. We are to visit as observers and become ambassadors for the charity by giving talks on our return, raising awareness of the long term projects for saving children’s lives.
It was good to meet and get to know the others in the team before we go and to find that we all had similar questions, fears and uncertainties but all feel so privileged to have been selected to go on this amazing journey. Our team leader, David, has the experience of a similar trip to Zambia a couple of years ago for the Salvation Army and his calm and re-assuring support and preparation of information is turning our fears into a positive excitement.
On 29th October we will fly into the capital, Addis Ababa, and meet the local project co-ordinators, before taking a long journey northwards through the mountains into the pastoral region of Amhara. We will visit three community projects: a water and sanitation hygiene project being run through a rural school, training of community health worker in remote villages, and a maternity project training birth assistants and providing ante and post natal care to babies and their mothers. Save the Children have nearly 500 trained staff and volunteers working in Ethiopia and all are locals except for 12. The success of the projects is by initiating local sustainability.
On our return to Addis Ababa we hope to see similar projects being run in an urban situation before flying home after just a week that will be crammed with incredible experiences. They warn us we will need several weeks to assimilate the experience before preparing our talks and we will be meeting as a team to help each other put that together and prepare for the work we can do spreading the word in our own areas.
I hope that after the trip I will have the opportunity to share the experience and give talks to interested groups around the diocese - for raising awareness rather than fundraising.
So, currently I am in the last stages of preparation with vaccinations, buying mosquito nets and knitting newborn baby hats. We would all value the support of prayers for bravery, team fellowship and health to sustain us.
Category: Bishop's Office
