perjantai 24. lokakuuta 2014

Maelan kylätapaamisessa päätettiin luopua FGM-traditiosta

Elizabethin lähettämissä kuvissa näkyy valtavan paljon ihmisiä. On Maelan kylän kokoontuminen ja Elizabeth & co saivat kutsun tulemaan opettamaan. Mahtavaa, että ihmiset kokoontuvat tällaisissa määrin kuuntelemaan! Ihmiset olivat Elizabethin viestin perusteella hyvin iloisia opetuksesta ja lupasivat muuttaa kulttuuriaan. Hienoa, että Elizabeth & co alkavat saada kutsuja näihin kylätapahtumiin! Elizabethilla ei ole enää rahaa, mutta he vakuuttavat, että työ jatkuu joka tapauksessa. Avustustilillä on nyt 600e ja laitan ne maanantaina maksuun. Hienoa, jos pystyt olemaan mukana!

 
Hi dear how are you? Me are good doing well. The work is going on well. These pictures I send to you are from Maela village. We attended a meeting where the councellor of the area invited us. The chief of area attended the meeting and the govornor of the whole county. All the leaders who were there were very happy about our teachings. All my workers was there also. The people of the area promised us to change and stop the culture. They also invited us once more to that village.  ...


Kysyin Elizabethilta oliko tuo kylätapahtuma jokin markkina tms, vai mikä sai ihmiset kokoontumaan näin suurissa määrin. Elizabeth vastasi, että hän oli jutellut kylän johtajalle n. viikkoa aikaisemmin ja johtaja oli kutsunut koko kylän koolle vain ja ainoastaan kuulemaan Elizabethin opetusta! Wow!!! Katsokaa mikä määrä porukkaa on tullut kuuntelemaan!

There was no other activity going on, it was only our teaching. Like one week before I talked with the councellor and he decided to make for us that meeting.


torstai 16. lokakuuta 2014

Sankalen kylässä halutaan lopettaa FGM-traditio

Sain lisää viestiä Elizabethilta. Hän oli saanut kutsun puhumaan Sankalen kylän isoon tapahtumaan. Kuvissa näkyy paljon kuulijoita, sekä miehiä että naisia ja lapsia. Se on hieno juttu, sillä FGM-ongelma ja sen ratkaiseminen koskee koko yhteisöä, ei vain tyttöjä. Aihe vaikuttaa olevan sen verran tabu, että ihmiset keskenään tai kylien johtajatkaan eivät siitä oikein kunnolla puhu. Siksi onkin hienoa, että Elizabeth ja kumppanit saavat kutsuja tulla puhumaan asiasta avoimesti.





Hi dear how are you? I am good doing well. The work is going on well. These pictures are from Sankale village where the chief of the area made a meeting with the people. He invited us (me and my workers) to teach the people because as you know we are heading to December when many girls are being circumcised and forced to get married. The chief of the area was there and some church pastors and also the councellor of the area was there. All are happy about our teachings. We also promise them to visit them again and they welcome us so much. They also promised us to stop the bad tradition.



We taught them disadvantages of FGM like bleeding so much which may lead to death. We give them example of that young girl who died at Kajiado village. We also teach them that circumsiced girls will have problem giving birth because expansion of the vigana will not take place because when they are circumcised a wound will be left there. Also AIDS can be transmitted to them when using same knife during circumcision and one of the girls have the virus. We also teach them about problems with early marriage.



We asked average listener what they did think. They said we are doing a good work to save life of girls and they promised us to stop the bad culture. Also the fathers who decide about FGM for their children wanted to change but not all of them. That is why we usually visit those villages several times. We are running short of money nowdays so we go by legs to those villages. With the little money that we had left our grandmotherworker used them to enter into the vehicle and other workers go by feet.
During December we plan to hold a week long seminar together with some pastors in a church in Oloolorten village. December is circumsicing time becauseof school vacation. We wait girls and women but also I know some men will attend.

tiistai 14. lokakuuta 2014

Ympärileikkauksessa menehtyneen tytön hautajaisissa

Elizabethilla on ollut vähän rajumpi keikka. Hän matkusti 1000km päähän osallistumaan erään 16-vuotiaan tytön hautajaisiin. Tyttö menehtyi ympärileikkauksessa. Tilaisuudessa hän piti myös puheen ympärileikkausta vastaan ja yhteisö ymmärsi opetukset enemmän kuin hyvin. Keniassa, kuten Etiopiassakin, ympärileikkaus on laitonta ja siitä seuraa rangaistuksia. Elizabeth myöskin ilmoitti kyseisen silpojan ja kuolleen tytön vanhemmat hallitukselle (en tiedä onko kyseessä paikallinen poliisilaitos vai minkä tasoinen instanssi). Tässä käymämme fb-keskustelu sekä kännykkäkuvia hautajaisista:

Elizabeth: Hi dear how are you? I am good doing well. I have sended to you pictures of what we have been doing. The pictures that I have send to you is from Kajiado village which is 1000 kilometres from my village. There we attended a funeral of a girl 16years old who was circumcised and bleed alot which led to her death. The chief of the area attend the funeral and the councellor of the area also. I made my speech to the people and they promised me to change and also they welcomed me to visit them soon again to teach all of the people because not all of them were in the funeral. The woman who did the circumsicion disappeared and so the father of the girl too but we are doing our best to have the government to look for them so that they will be arrested.


 



Henrica: Thank you for very good work! I think it was a good situation to do a speech, because people understand very concretely what fgm really causes. I hope they could learn from this and from your speech.

E: They have really understand the disdavantage of fgm and the government are also happy about our teachings.

H: Fantastic! What about the government?

E: The government only arrest the woman who circumsices and the parents of the girl for some months and later they are let to go. But they like our work and the help they can give us is arrest people.

maanantai 13. lokakuuta 2014

Avainhenkilöt sitoutuivat viemään anti-FGM-opetusta eteenpäin Etiopiassa

Etiopia on suurelta osin kristitty maa. Useat etiopialaiset kristilliset yhteisöt ajattelevat yhä, että kristinuskon oppiin kuuluu tyttöjen ympärileikkaus ja toimenpidettä perustellaan Jumalan sanalla. Yhteisöt pitävät traditiota yllä ja avainhenkilöitä tässä ovat kirkkojen työntekijät. Bezunesh ja Tesfaye ovat tällä kertaa käyneet opettamassa kirkon työntekijöiksi opiskelevia kahdessa eri yliopistotason raamattukouluissa, jotta he vuorostaan voisivat viedä anti-FGM-opetusta eteenpäin eri kristillisiin yhteisöihin. Nyt näiden kahden raamattuopiston opiskelijoiden kautta on mahdollista tavoittaa jopa kolmekymmentä yhteisöä! Bezunesh ja Tesfaye ovat myös saaneet kutsuja muihin raamattukouluihin pitämään kursseja samasta aiheesta. Raportin loppupuoli on tuttuun tapaan yhteenveto opetuksen sisällöstä. Itse pidän todella hienona asiana, että he opettavat anti-FGM:n lisäksi yleisemminkin naisen oikeuksista ja tasa-arvoisesta avioliitosta sekä perustelevat nämä asiat Jumalan sanalla – siis samalla millä yhteisöt itse perustelevat ympärileikkauksia!



Work report to Henrica and those who read this in Finland

Topic: What the Bible says about Female Gentle Mutilation?

Texts: Exodus 20:14; Hebrew13:14; Genesis 2:21-25; 26-28

This season we taught in teo different Bible schools from September up to beginning of October in Kambata area. We gave training in both areas for 10 days continuously as a special course. The time has been a fine and joyful.

These two schools were Urulicho Amaharic Diploma level Bible school and the second one is Funto Lamacha amaharic Diploma level Bible school. This time we had the opportunity to teach a different kind of people, married and unmarried and all of them are educated and a key persons in the local churches. With our teaching we did reach more than fifty people both female and male in two schools, which mean through them we could reach to more than 30 churches! All students  present from Mekane Yesus churches, Kale Hiwot and Full Gospel churches. Their interest were very good and they gave response ina  positive way. They promised to teach their people in the church and out of the church everywhere. Also we taught strongly about biblical truth concerning FGM. The following picture shows one of learners groups discussions.


Again we will have a good opportunity to teach in other bible schools too because the one bible school leader invited us to give training for his students about FGM as a special course. So that, just we started our preparation in educated method. That time means from October 22 to Nevember 5 according to Ethiopian calendar.

Dear, our teaching was as following with deeply explanation:

What the Bible says for some specific reasons of FGM

The common reason given for FGM is that it insures the wifes faithfulness to her husband and to preserve girls virginity. According to this view circumcision is a tool to control women’s sexual desire. O’Donovan criticized this view by saying female virginity and faithfulness are considered to be important standard to maintain while it is silently accepted that men will be free to seek additional sexual partners when they desire. But the Bible does not make distinction between adultery and fornication (Ex.20:14; Heb.13:14). This understanding makes wife as a tool of her husband. In the Bible both of woman and man are created for the purpose of faithfulness to rule and subdue creatures (Gen.2:26-28). Also God pays an attention to the entire parts of the human body but not only to some part of our body. We are stewards of God’s creation including our body.

FGM is considered as an issue of acceptance by the adults of a clan. This view is centered on the cultural understanding of marriage. Cultural acceptance by itself is considered as very important. But the Bible teaches about marriage as different from social belief. Marriage is an institution created by God from the very beginning (Gen.2:21-25). Physical harm and abuse may affect the marriage between husband and the wife. Therefore, FGM have to be stopped. Wenham proposed a strategy to abolish FGM. He said that restricting circumcision to men is of a peace with this attitude. We also support his view since FGM isn’t an issue only about women. It is also the issue of the whole community. Therefore, it is impossible to abolish it without the support of men.

The two arguments to abolish FGM are the argument from the silent and the argument from the creation. Argument from the silence is a strong argument which shows that the Bible is silent about the practice of FGM. But the second argument is that God made everything good including those parts of women that are important for child bearing and a healthy relationship within marriage. This argument is weak, because male circumcision is not instituted on the spot of creation. And God didn’t institute male circumcision to modify what is not good but for to make covenant relationship with human being.

The Bible is silent about FGM. In OT we have a brief explanation about male circumcision. The NT shows that we are free from the bondage of the law of circumcision. Circumcision is unnecessary even for male for his salvation and sanctification. We can’t afford spiritual quality by being circumcised. FGM is something which is developed within the human history but not on biblical and theological bases. In Ethiopia the Christian community has been practicing FGM for many years as biblical based practice, but it is not biblical.

The response of our learners was very positive. They want to teach about it in different church and everywhere to save the women lives from the bad practice of FGM. This new year we will continue with this two bible school students. Dear we wait your commit and suggestions.

We wish all the best for those who read this work report in Finland!

This writing work report is from Ethiopia, Bezunesh Lombebo and Tesfaye Alemu.


This picture shows our learners: