This work is rarely dull! Often a day in the field can be punctuated by moments of joy and pride but as quickly descend to concern and frustration – the challenge is to ride the waves and stay afloat
Yesterday was one of those days that had it all. Our day came to a climax when a security incident at one of our visits had us all beating a hasty retreat. It was a text book evacuation, that went well, but nevertheless at the time added some excitement to the day and resulted in a change of plans.
But, earlier in the day, I had visited with two families that have a child who has been the recipient of (Australian) child sponsorship for the last 15 years. This is one of the immense privileges of my work - meeting inspirational people in some of the most unlikely, fragile contexts.
As we pulled up to the roadside house a small scramble of children erupted – we were obviously expected as calls of “you, you” went up around the vehicle and signalled Tamirat to come out to greet us and to usher us into his house.
Tamirat and his family, (wife and eight children) have lived in this area all their lives, but it was only after World Vision visited and offered to enrol Simret into the child sponsorship program that life began to change. Originally a share farmer in the valley, Tamirat tells me with pride that he now owns three plots of land. He has built his house on one and the other two are planted out with potato, banana, apple and coffee and he owns some livestock.
He is one of the farmers that has been selected by the government to be trained at the Dilla University in agriculture techniques and the production of high yield variety potatoes. (As we speak a small group of men arrive to buy seed from him – they must wait!) Out the back of the house Tamirat has built a barn where he keeps produce, but also where he has started his own seed bank. “Now”, he says, “regardless of the harvest, I will always have seed”.
Mrs Tamirat has received training in sanitation and hygiene, and family planning.
Simreet, sitting below an Australian calendar featuring a koala and kangaroo that she received from her sponsor, tells me that she has just completed year 9 at school and can’t wait to start her last year of school in a few weeks’ time. She shows me a Christmas card, and reads to me the personalized message she received from her sponsor. She has a large wooden box in the corner of the room full of school supplies, text books, and uniform all supplied by the sponsorship funds and ready to go.
Tamirat tells us that, “This training changed not only my life but also those around me. I helped them to increase their potato yields as well”. Not content to see his children at school, Timrat decided that he too would go back to school, having had to leave after year six, and he has just matriculated from year ten.
There is no denying that the Kochere AP, with the funds from Australian sponsors, has transformed the life of this family, but it’s much bigger than that. At the height of the program 3,800 children were sponsored in this community and as a result received similar interventions to Simreet. But the impact is much wider than that – the community today has school and health buildings; clean, safe water piped into community water points; food in the market, seed in the reserves. And if the family I met are anything to go by, the children are healthy are happy.
Life might be simple, but this is where ‘life in all its fullness’ starts.
