IMM at work in Ethiopia

Ethiopia covers an area of 1,100,580 sq km and a population of 56 million people. The Capital City Addis Ababa has a population of 1,912,500 million people. In 1999 a team of five went from the Toddington Baptist Church to provide encouragement and support to various projects in and around Addis. John and Kate Massink, the Church leaders, went to continue fellowship with the Arat Kilo Addis Kidan Baptist Church.
My visit to Addis Ababa, on behalf of the International Miners Mission (IMM), was to assess whether the IMM could work with the Addis Kidan in evanglising mine workers in the remote town of Shakisso near Jima some 500 miles south west of Addis and just above the Kenya border. This was a challenging opportunity for me to see firsthand the conditions under which the people live and work.
The journey from Addis to Shakisso took 50 minutes by plane and we landed at an airstrip about three miles away from the town and the mine. I was met by an English man who drove extremely fast across the bumpy roads as we only had two hours before the plan flew back to Addis and he wanted to show me the town and the mine. We also drove very fast through the town of Shakisso we did not stop as we would have been swamped with many people curious about the white woman. My driver said that even after one year there they viewed him with curiosity. He talked about the prostitution, drinking and un-employment that was evident in the lives of many who lived there. Although the mine used men from the town there was a limit to the number of workers that could be employed.
Next we went to the mine, which was guarded, and although I took a little footage of video film I was advised to be careful because someone had been held up at gunpoint the previous week for filming. I was taken into the mine (open cast) and entertained in the mine offices. The work at the mine should continue for 10 years. It was taken over by Midroc Gold from the Ethiopian Mineral Resources Development Corporation.
As I flew back to Addis Ababa I was sure God had shown me that this was an area of need not only for indigenous miners but also for Europeans.
It was a journey of a lifetime, a visit never to be forgotten. It gave me a new perspective on life and hope for the future for the people of Shakisso. The Christians of Ethiopia have more hope and more faith that their counterparts in the west. We have much to learn from the third world.

Update 2005
A church was established in 2000 by Addis Kidan Church Evanglelist Negussie after which he returned to Addis and two other two evangelist Bekele & Shimelis took his place.