A few years ago, our church "adopted" a people group in Ethiopia called the Arsi Oromo. Currently, there is no established church of national Believers among the Arsi Oromo, so New Hope is committed to staying connected with this people group until they have an established and growing church body among their native people.
When New Hope first visited this area and people, it became clear right away that water is a huge issue. I can't remember the specifics now, but the people have to walk about 2-3 miles (one-way, I believe) to get water and bring it back to their village. In 21st Century San Diego, it's not even a thought for us to turn on the faucet with ease to brush our teeth, shower, wash dishes, etc, so the reality of not having easy access to water (not to mention CLEAN water), really impacted our Pastor and church team. So, the first project our church initiated was to buy a water well for one of the villages. Through God's provision, the money was raised, the water well was purchased and installed in the village, and the people had instant access to clean water. This was only the beginning.
After more trips to Ethiopia, more prayer, more conversations with the nationals, it became apparent that a different strategy was needed to help the people from a long-term perspective. Instead of raising money to buy them needed materials (like the water well), it became apparent that the people need help to shift their mindset to one of empowerment and hope instead of their current state of defeat and hopelessness.
As a result, New Hope is now focusing on helping bring about long-term, holistic change, all in Jesus' name, of course. To do this, the church is setting a goal to raise $50,000 (not sure what the timeline is!) to help establish self-help cooperatives, send girls to cooking school, buy mobile threshers for business partnerships, and to send boys to a vocational school for mechanics & electrical work. To raise the money to make these things possible, instead of making an announcement at the pulpit and "passing the plate" to collect donations, the church is asking everyone, particularly families, to take this fundraising project on in a grass roots effort to raise money in creative ways.
This is what our family is doing:
We use craigslist a lot to buy & sell items, so for the next few months, ALL money we earn from selling our used goods will go toward Africa Water & Life. We started a few weeks ago and already our amount raised is at $362!
We made a money jar that we're collecting everything in and we've gotten Keira involved in the process as well.
The day we made the jar & put in our first $40!
When we ask Keira who the money is for, she shouts, "AFRICA!"
Adding more money!
This is so fun!
As a family, we are so excited about this new journey/project our church has taken on! The official kickoff to the whole congregation will happen tomorrow and we're excited to see the creative ideas people come up with to raise money.
If you would like to learn more or donate directly to Africa Water & Life, check out their website:
http://www.africawaterandlife.com/. They can also be found on Facebook! We will keep you posted on our family fundraising efforts and how things are coming along as a whole to bless the people in Ethiopia.
