Ethiopian Jewelry

At the Entoto Community Center, men and women are earning a living creating beautiful jewelry. 105 people are now being trained in this job creation program. Many of the residents of Entoto Mountain, outside of Addis Ababa, live with HIV/AIDS. They have no real way to meet their daily needs, no access to clean water, no adequate shelter, no quality health care and little means of sustaining themselves and their families. But they do have the will to create and to build on opportunities presented to them.

Beza International, WOGA's Ethiopia partner, began this jewelry-making program just a year ago and is currently working on finding both international and national markets for this creative and unique jewelry.

WOGA: LA's team to Ethiopia spent a day and a half at the Entoto Community Center and got to meet and spend time with these gifted men and women and their children.

If you are interested in the jewelry, some of which is made using coffee beans, contact Cheryl Lovejoy at lovejoyrc@aol.com

Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony

After returning from Ethiopia, the WOGA: LA team wanted to share the joy with their friends and family. What better way to do this than to hold a traditional Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony. Holding this ceremony is a way to communicate friendship and respect - both of which we feel towards all of those who supported and encouraged us in our trip.

And God did more than we imagined! We did our best to pull together all of the needed items for the ceremony. As we set up what we had brought, who should enter the room but Brandon, one of our team member's friends. Brandon, as it happens, is a barrista at Starbucks and has a passion for. . . the Ethiopian Coffee Ceremony! So he came with all of the elements needed for the ceremony - beautiful pitcher, coffee cups and incense included! Not only did he set this all up for us, but he agreed to start off our meeting by sharing a few words on the meaning of the ceremony. Turns out he had just given a presentation on the ceremony to a group of Starbucks executives.

God also provided for a wonderful conclusion to our ceremony. When we attended an Ethiopian church service in preparation for our time in Ethiopia, we met a woman named Alem. She came to our gathering and asked if she could share a few words once we'd finished the meeting. She beautifully wrapped up our meeting by her personal sharing of all that we'd seen and experienced in Ethiopia.

Thank you, Brandon and Alem, for adding so much to our time together. We make our plans, but God always seems to have something even bigger in mind! And God is doing some BIG things in Ethiopia and we were so grateful to have seen and experienced His people at work in this nation.