Koepke June 2024

This newsletter is coming to you from Ethiopia. We were asked to cover for a missionary couple who is out of the country for several months, so we will be travelling a bit more than usual.

Here in Ethiopia, God orchestrated the perfect time of our arrival. One of the girls had a traumatic asthma attack the night after we arrived, which necessitated all of the missionaries going to that cottage to attend her medical needs and calm everyone else down. One of the boys had surgery for a detached retina, but he is recovering well. Lots of other children have been peppering Carolyn for medical advice.

Like teenagers everywhere, most of the kids are trying their best to meet high academic standards. National exams are critical for advancement into tertiary education, so there is a lot of effort going into making sure exam results are the best they can be. The first batch of students to graduate from twelveth grade here will walk across the stage soon, but the date has not been set yet.

A few of the resident boys are having difficulty with behavior in school. No surprise—teenagers are the same wherever you go! They are doing some extracurricular hard work to help them appreciate the comfort of a classroom.

Last weekend, one of the cows raised on-site was butchered. All hands on deck! This is a pretty big job, but by lunch time all of the meat was in freezers. A couple of the remaining cows have volunteered to plow a 1-acre plot for a vegetable garden. The grounds-keeping staff is fairly skilled in plowing with cattle, and the children follow up with planting, cultivating, and harvesting aspects of farming.

When we arrived, one of the generators and the cold room were not working. The generator has been repaired, but an A/C specialist has been contacted to procure some of the harder-to-find refrigeration parts. Window screens are being replaced to keep those hungry mosquitoes outside, and a second grease trap is being built for the kitchen.

One of the challenges at the Rafiki Village Ethiopia is dealing with expansive soil. The soil has so much clay in it that when rain comes, the soil expands and puts pressure on building foundations. This results in cracking of the building’s walls. When dry season occurs, the soil contracts again and causes more cracks. A set of treatments is underway to rectify cracking in the house that has been affected the worst. If these are successful, the same approach can be applied to the other buildings onsite.

In Nigeria, the senior high students are finishing up their national exams and preparations are under way for the graduation ceremony that will be held in August. We are praying for God’s direction regarding their futures.

Our Nigeria resident students who graduated last year from high school have all finally begun university studies. There are about sixty former residents in tertiary education at this time. As you might imagine, they require constant monitoring and are required to maintain weekly communication with specified adults to keep them on the straight and narrow.

The Nigeria rainy season has begun, and farming has started in earnest at Rafiki and in the surrounding communities. Most of the building renovations have been completed at Rafiki Nigeria Village, but of those remaining, the commercial laundry room is being downsized. The balance of that room is being incorporated into the kitchen as additional food storage area.

These are some of normal things that most Rafiki Villages experience! If you have been considering a mission trip (or a change in career!), just think of the enormous impact you would make in God’s Kingdom. One thing is certain, you would not regret investing time and effort in God’s children, wherever they may be. The fields are white, and workers are few. We would love to have you by our side!

Praises

• God’s timing is best! We arrived just in time to help with a medical emergency.
• Our boy’s eye surgery has been successful, and he is healing well.
• National and expat staff are working together well

Prayer Requests

• Clear direction for the next set of graduates.
• Success in overcoming cracking in Ethiopia’s buildings.
• Wisdom in dealing with discipline issues.

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