The work of our team today reflects the array of service that the Project in Addis Ababa carries out for the sake of Christ. The staff and interns have laid a deep foundation that allows a short-term team like ours to share in the privilege of serving others.

We began the morning by dividing into four teams who then went on home visits to beneficiaries of the Project. What is a “beneficiary”? A beneficiary is a person with HIV/AIDS who is being cared for by the Project in a holistic way: medical care is provided, housing is subsidized, children are provided with food and clothing, instruction is given on how to get and remain healthy. Each beneficiary is also provided with the opportunity to be in a support group of other beneficiaries. These groups are the locus for a variety of activities: Bible study, pastoral counseling, connection to local churches, mutual encouragement, in addition to opportunities for work: the support groups often come together to produce coffee, popcorn, local trinkets and other popular Ethiopian souvenirs that are sold to help provide income for the group. It is essential to note that without the Project, most, if not all, of the beneficiaries would be in an almost unimaginably dire situation: most of the beneficiaries are women, many of whom are widows. It is not uncommon that their families have largely abandoned them. To say that without the Project many of these people would be without hope is sadly true.

So: One of the tasks of a short-term medical missions team is to visit the homes of these beneficiaries. A typical team consists of 1 or 2 medical professionals, a pastor or counselor, a translator, and an “expert patient”—a former beneficiary of the Project who has since graduated to the role of working at the Project. The purpose of a home visit is to check in with the beneficiary, find out how they are doing and assess any needs they may have. Part of the privilege the teams have in these home visits is the simple act of getting to know the beneficiaries and enjoying their hospitality. During these visits we let the beneficiaries know of our love and care for them, tell them we are praying for them in our churches in the United States, and to ask that they pray for us. It is a joy to know that as brothers and sisters in Christ, we can together call on our heavenly Father to provide us with all we need.

Another purpose of the home visit is to remind beneficiaries of any upcoming clinics, and this afternoon a clinic was held at the Project. This is a time when doctors, nurses, physical therapists and other medical personnel provide beneficiaries with diagnosis and care. Beneficiaries (and their children) receive everything from important medicine to multivitamins to hygiene products. The scene at a clinic is hectic and happy, difficult and discouraging: old friends are seen and treated, new friends are met and provided with a quality of care they have never experienced —but the realities of disease and poverty are always present. It is difficult not be overwhelmed by the scope of suffering of people who are residing in the deepest depths of sickness, hunger, loneliness and need.

During the clinic, one of the support groups met at the Project. These meeting always begin with Bible study, and one of the pastors from the team was able to lead them. The beneficiaries vary in religious practice and belief: Muslims, nominal Orthodox Christians and Protestants can all be found at a typical meeting. The Project joyfully serves anyone no matter what their faith may be, but they just as joyfully proclaim that the Lord Jesus Christ is the center of all they do, and that his Good News is the power of salvation for all who believe.

Tomorrow it will be more of the same. This is a good thing and a bad thing: it is good because this work is rewarding in ways that are impossible to describe. The old cliché that the one who serves receives more than the one who is served rings true here, as we get to see God’s grace, human sin and the need for the Kingdom of God to come in new light. But it is bad, of course, because again tomorrow there will be more people made in God’s image who will be in need, who will be suffering, who will have very little hope to cling to. We pray that God will give us the strength to serve Him so that those people will come to know the hope of Christ which is for today, and for the life to come.

Please note: Today’s update was written by Vito Aiuto, pastor of Resurrection Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn, NY.

Leave a Reply