Ethiopia Day Four/Five: Gambella
by Frank Dimmock
Yesterday was a travel day from Addis to Gambella in western Ethiopia. We spent the afternoon meeting local church leaders and preparing for the trauma healing training sessions.
Wow, what a great and busy day today. We began with the first two core lessons on trauma healing with 16 participants. They included six women and eight men from the six South Sudanese refugee camps and two pastors from our Ethiopian church partners (and hosts).
Three of the refugee men are pastors, three of the women are elders and two are teachers with one from the youth program. All-in-all, very good representation. They are being trained as “listening group” leaders and will use the audio trauma healing lessons that are recorded in their “Nuer” language with groups in their churches and camps. They are excited and were very interactive today. We will teach two more lessons tomorrow, covering grief and releasing trauma pain at the foot of the cross.
We endured a rainy day by using the porch of Presbyterian Mission and Outreach co-workers Michael and Rachel Weller. We are hoping to be under the “training tree” tomorrow. Debbie Wolcott, master facilitator from the American Bible Society, led the training today and David Paduil, Sudanese-American pastor, helped to translate. All the participants are excited about the training.
Blessings,
Frank Dimmock
Africa Mission Specialist