Another side of Addis Ababa.

While here in Addis Ababa, we’ve had the pleasure of meeting a couple who has lived here for 12 years, after being uprooted quite suddenly from the other African nation where they lived.  It has been interesting to hear a bit about their life here as expats.  We met their daughter and son-in-law in Amsterdam at our conference there in January.

The economy in Ethiopia is growing rapidly.  It had an abusive communist leadership during the years 1974-1991, but it has come out of that and is thriving.  In fact, we heard many international business people conducting meetings in our hotel.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who do not have much, and live in homes that appear to be made of a type of sheet metal with metal roofs.  As in many new economies, you have the entrepreneurs and investors, and the masses which have not caught up.

The students at the Bible College are serious about their studies and the attendance for the class Baruch is teaching is quite large.  These students want to prepare properly to lead congregations and do ministry.  It is a privilege to come here.

I did not go to the college today with Baruch.  Instead I stayed at the hotel and filmed two videos, answered emails and completed some other work.

This evening, we met with the couple I mentioned above and then we met with the husband of another couple who live here and are doing mission work.  They are sponsoring a medical mission group from the U.S. in May.  It was very good for us to meet with all of them in order to get a better understanding of the country, the religious make-up, and to get a sense of how our teaching could be used here.