Get that Donkey Aff!

I had another night of broken sleep last night. Sister Fisseha told me that the nightly chanting from the Orthodox Church will go on for the next two weeks! Andy is not feeling great so between us we look like death warmed up. Never mind, we always manage to wind ourselves up for the project when the kids get us fired up.

Some CAFOD visitors have arrived [Bev, Helen and Sophie] in Mekelle to review the work of the Daughters of Charity. We had a nice dinner in the evening where we had lots of time for Andy and I to relate personal experiences.

On Saturday, the Project football team had a match against the national team of 15/16 year olds from the entire Tigray area [which is the size of Scotland]. As a staunch Greenock Morton supporter I’ve heard the expression “get that donkey aff, he’s useless”. Well today that took on a more literal interpretation as during the match animals such as donkeys, cows, goats and sheep had to be ushered back to the other side of the touchline. On another occasion a guy drove his horse and cart straight through the penalty box in front of Daniel our goalkeeper, followed by a guy taking a short cut with his motor bike through the centre of the pitch. The totally amazing thing about the

entire afternoon was the brilliant skills these young boys possess. The passing, tackling and shooting was quite incredible. Our boys got a bit of a thrashing but were up against a top notch team. Although the score line was disappointing, the boys were not disgraced and they are looking forward to improving. Everything they do is all about looking forward and not back to what they have experienced. We could learn a lot from their positive outlook in life. I was well chuffed with everyone in the team.

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After Mass, Sister Fisseha took me out on my first home visit. The family concerned consists of a young mother, daughter of 18 and brother of 15. The mother was not at home and we were told that she left one year ago to go to the countryside to get work. The sister had been looking after the brother at home and today she had been given the chance to work that day, lifting and piling stones all day for 8 birr, about 50p. The house was about 3x2 metres in dimension with a double bed, a table with some rockery, a small stove and a bench to sit on. The walls were made of brick with posters covering some of the wall space. I left feeling very humble, knowing that I was driving

back to my comfortable accommodation. Sister Fisseha told me that it is very difficult to always get the true history of a family as invariably there will be different versions of the family circumstances. It also made me realise just how difficult a job it is for the Sisters. I wish I had their strength of faith and character to carry out this service day after day every week of their lives.

Tommy Dobbin
12th August 2007