An Amazing Story – Progress in Maji!
Back when I was a kid in Maji, we had a pile of sand on our veranda. That sounds like a lot of fun, doesn’t it? But no. We were not allowed to play in the sand under threat of being sent to Siberia (my dad’s favorite exaggerated warning of punishment). Why???
Well, Maji is 8000 feet high, on the last of Ethiopian mountains before the land drops off to the plains of Kenya and the savannahs of South Sudan. There was plenty of mud—clay mud—but no sand. For building with cement (we had a cement floor in our tin-roofed house) Dad had to drive a trailer down several thousand feet to a lowland stream and “dredge” it with shovels to get sand. The sand on our veranda might as well have been a pile of gold dust!
The situation is still the same, of course. No sand in Maji.
To build the Maji Women’s Development Center, rebar, cement, plywood and hand tools have been trucked in from the capital. Now we need the sand. Ato Samson, supervisor and coordinator, had hoped the truck bringing building materials would then go to the lowlands and haul sand back up the steep, gravel road to Maji. He wasn’t able to find anyone to do that.
One reason is that folks from the city are very nervous about their safety in far-flung corners of the country. And Maji is about as far-flung as it gets. The sandy lowlands to the south and west are even more so! In fact, Sudanese refugee camps, prone to unrest, lie in one direction. In another are the gold fields. Yes, you read that right. Maji gold is a thing, and the gold fields are truly the wild west! So we were stuck without sand.
The building materials arrived in Maji, but the driver refused to go to the lowlands to haul sand back up for us.
Ato Markos went to the district administrators for help. There are road-building crews down on the lower areas, building roads to planned sugar cane plantations—maybe their truck could bring a load of sand up? But like anywhere, there are bureaucratic silos, and getting a federally funded road crew to help a private nonprofit . . . The district officials went up to the zone level for help on our behalf. Ato Markos reported they said, “This building is important for our women. Otherwise they have nothing.”
I am so touched to hear how deeply and truly these men have embraced the vision. The administrative officials swung fully behind us. In a matter of weeks (also amazing!), they negotiated a memorandum of understanding with the officials in charge of the road crew. Not only that, they proposed to us that they would cover 50% of the cost.
“This building is important for our women. Otherwise they have nothing.”
I can hardly convey to you how shocked I was to hear that! We negotiated cost-sharing agreements with the local health department to solarize the hospital. We negotiated cost-sharing with the local water department for our safe water initiatives. In every case, we initiated those demands.
Originally, we got a lot of push-back, because there’s a perception in Ethiopia that non-profit organizations have deep pockets and should scatter money “like leaves”. But there are no other nonprofits out in Maji, so far from the city and the paved roads. And that gave MDC the leverage needed to insist on public-private collaboration. Besides allowing us to do bigger projects, this policy has given us the best chance of truly turning over the ongoing operation of the projects to local support, making them sustainable.
Still, I never expected them to suggest collaborating! I was walking on air all day after my phone call with Ato Markos!
The building plans have passed all the permitting requirements. The contractor and his crew of skilled workers have arrived in Maji. The other buildings that had been built over the lines into our new property have been pulled down, and now the foundation of the Maji women’s center is being laid out.
The “short rains” have meanwhile begun in Maji. As in Camelot, it has only been raining at night, and the work is going forward during the day. Thanks to your generosity during our preparation period, we have the funds to get started. We’ve stepped out in faith. We are confident that the resources to finish well will be there! Onward, together!
