The Horn of Africa

Six weeks have blown by and you probably know little of what’s happened. I ended my last blog by telling you that our team was off to Ethiopia.

It was not what I expected and I blame World Vision for this, as they always portray the Horn of Africa as dry, dusty, mud huts and bloated bellied children. Although I am sure this exists, we were met with a very different Ethiopia, forest, green rolling hills and beautiful people. Yes the poverty and pain was still there but there wasn’t much than that!

Our first week we dove into a time of spiritual awakening, getting back to intimacy with God. A man named Andy Bird came and the Lord used his teaching to bring refreshing to us as a team. Worship, intercession, fellowship, prayer and hanging out with Jesus, it was all there.

Moving on to our second week, we had a wonderful couple from South Africa come and teach on African worldview and photojournalism. It was a fantastic week in beginning to understand the African culture, a beautiful and vibrant people! They have a word in Africa, “Ubuntu” which means; well it’s hard to put one definition to it. Its family, care, togetherness, selflessness, love, community, unity and it’s Christ like. I want more of Ubuntu in my life and culture.

Our last week in Ethiopia, we incorporated our teaching in African worldview and photography to create a photography story on an issue or topic existing in Ethiopia. I planned to work with street children but was faced with many different issues throughout the week, including vomiting my guts out the day before I flew to Amsterdam. During the week I had the opportunity to speak with men at the bar, feed seven hundred homeless at the feeding centre, interview women from the villages and talk with teens living on the street. Here are two of the stories that really touched me.

On one of our first days in the outreach week I met some women coming down the hills with large bundles of wood on their backs. They told me that they have to walk up to twenty five kilometers, from their homes to the city, and back to the village for night fall. After carrying these heavy loads all day and risking their lives coming down the mountain roads, they only get 10 Birr, which is the equivalent to about one dollar a day. One women has been doing this job for thirty years and is now sixty, another was fifteen. The saying that most of the world lives on a dollar a day is very true for these women.

On another day me and a student were walking to the feeding centre and were asked for money by a teen. We stopped and chatted with him for a bit and got to visit his friends and home. His home was actually a grassy medium shared by about ten others, including a teen family with a child. We interviewed several of them and got their photos. One boy named Kiflom, left his mothers house because she is very sick and doesn’t have money to support the family, his father already died. He came to Addis to make money but is now living on the streets with others in similar situations. He can longer go to school because he needs money for school supplies and a uniform. All the money that he gets is spent on food for himself and his friends. I asked one boy why one of the girls couldn’t get a job to make money to go to school, these are his words, “She is not pure, she is living on the streets”.

In this time I really questioned how I could help these people. Will money fix their problems? I believe it will help some of their problems but not fix them. What they need more than this, and is a common hunger in all of Africa, is Christ. We were taught during our week in African worldview that more than a trillion dollars has been poured into Africa over the last one hundred years (that’s $1,000,000,000). How much has changed? Africa is still the poorest continent on this planet.

Ethiopia was an incredible time for our team. We learned a lot, experienced a lot, did a lot. Like every nation I have been to, I hope to return. I am currently in Amsterdam after a week break in Ireland and continuing on with the Humanities and Science course, looking at European worldview. If you are interested in supporting my finacially you can click on the Paypal link, sign up for a Paypal account (quick and easy) and donate using credit card.

Thanks again for reading and viewing.

Aaron Harcourt

Ethiopia

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON

Mango












Coffee


























Feeding Centre













Markato (Market)









































Village













Women Carrying Wood
25 Kilometres/Day
10 Birr = 1 Dollar
15 yrs. old
























Thirty Years of Labor
Sixty Years Old

Kiflom
Living on the streets of Addis Ababa
Father Died, Mother Ill
No Job, No Money, No School
17 yrs. old






There will always be hope!

Egypt 2

PLEASE DO NOT COPY/PASTE/SAVE PHOTOGRAPHS! THEY ARE FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT BUT NOT TO KEEP. THANKS, AARON


Sufi Dancing















































City Life













Mosque