A project update from my team leader

Missionary: Andy &Beverly Warren
Mission Board: MTW
Location: Ethiopia

November 7, 2006

Dear Friends,

When Bev and I started working with AIDS patients one of our
principles was that we would always do everything we could for the
people God brought to us. If someone needed food, we provided it.
If they needed medicine or medical care, we found a way to get it for
them. If their children needed school fees or a uniform, we provided.

Sometimes people thought they needed things and we disagreed and we
reserved the right to refuse. Selam, one of the children on
treatment, thought a television was a necessity, but we decided she
could survive without one.

Over the last four years what people need has changed. At the start
we spent a lot of our budget on funerals. Now we spend more on wrist
watches because people taking AIDS drugs need to take their medicines
on time and a watch with an alarm is a big help.

Besides changes in how we work and spend money we have changed in
other ways. One of the biggest changes has been in the number of
people in the project. We have grown to 220 AIDS-affected families,
which means we work with about 600 people.

We started work in one small part of Addis Ababa called Lideta and
this month we expanded into a new community. Bole (pronounced bo
lay) is usually thought of as the "rich" part of Addis Ababa, but as
we explored where the greatest needs are we kept being directed to
Bole. We found extreme poverty and need and found that these people
were being passed over by all the other organizations helping people
with AIDS because they lived in the wrong place.

After visiting with national, city and local officials, and after
visiting several slum areas and doing household surveys we selected
one community in Bole to begin a second project. A very generous
donor has funded the first year of this work, and we have started
screening and registering new beneficiaries.

We are looking for a small office in the community and hope to be up
and running by December. We have asked the local government office
to help us find a good place for an office and they will take us to
see several places later this week.

Some things we need prayer about.

As we begin taking in new beneficiaries pray that they will see and
hear the Gospel and respond.
Covering two areas is stretching the project staff. Pray for Danny,
Mekedes and Darci as they visit potential beneficiaries and begin
their screenings, and pray that God will bring us new staff members
with hearts to serve.
Pray that we will find an office in Bole that beneficiaries can
easily walk to and that will have enough space for project activities
and offices.
Pray for our current beneficiaries. Many are on treatment and doing
well, but others struggle with depression, difficult family
situations and frequent illness.
Pray for new beneficiaries. Many are sick, malnourished and
homeless. Pray for wisdom in caring for them.