Dukem is your passport to Ethiopia

I had lunch while in Ethiopia with Ambassador Kassa. Am. Kassa was the Ethiopian ambassador to the Soviet Union for over 40 years. He was just returning from meetings in Moscow with the President of Russia. He is now the Minister of Human Rights and has great influence within the Ethiopian Government. He has set up meetings between Source of Light and the President of Ethiopia as well as with the Minister of Health. During our conversations over lunch he made this comment: "Dukem is your passport to Ethiopia." In case you are not aware, Source of Light Ethiopia has a 9-acre piece of property in Dukem, Ethiopia where we are building among other things a free clinic for the town (population 60,000) as well as a Christian school where at least half the students will attend free or significantly reduced tuition. I am not sure how SOL connected with the ambassador but I think it has something to do with our director, Halie. He is one of those guys who as the Bible would say has "favor with God and man." I am not even sure if the ambassador is a Christian. What I do know is that he sees the interest SOL has in the people of Dukem and is willing to use his great influence to help us not only in Dukem, but literally all over the country. It is fair to see that without Am. Kassa, we would not be in Dukem nor would we be where we are in Ethiopia today. I don't know why, but I am always amazed at the people God uses to carry out his plans.

On a lighter note, I have really enjoyed Ethiopian food. They have this coffee called makiato and I don't know what's in it, but I can drink it by the gallon. Unfortunately, when you order it, it comes in little tiny cups. One thing strange about Ethiopians is they do not like to use silverware. They prefer to eat with their hands. They have this stuff called engira they eat with. The best way to describe engira is it's looks and has the texture of thick prewrap (you athletes will know what I am talking about). It comes in rolls and you break off a small piece and kind of scoop up your food in it. It's actually not all that bad.