ታዲያስ – Hello
Thank you all for attending our Harvest Thanksgiving service in Kilteevogue. It was great to see and hear the sounds of Ethiopia in our small church in Donegal. Truly one God, one creation, one world.
Our theme this year continues to be generosity. Both Karl and Rev Adam led the service and explained about the work being done by Tearfund in Ethiopia, a country of contrasts where the donkey and the John Deere both are to be found on the roundabout.
Tearfund trains people to act as helpers to the Self Help Groups. These groups are generally the poorest of the poor, they are multi denominational and have about 20 peoples in each group.They regularly save some money and then can get loans to help out in times of need or to start their own business. For example one person prepared and sold the local form of flatbread as street food, but had to buy the flour on credit and made very little because the cost of the flour was so high. The Self Help Group was able to lend money to buy the flour, this meant more profit for the bread maker. The extra profit paid back the loan and the person was able to save more money with the self help group.
We often talk about challenges in Church, Rev. Adam was challenged to create Self Help Groups within Donegal by our Ethiopian friends. It is something that he is taking seriously and is looking for ideas on areas within our own community where that such a group could help.
Afterwards there was a chance for refreshment and fellowship in the hall. We got a chance to try the Ethiopian flat bread, their coffee and see a slideshow that Rev Adam prepared.