At our recent Medical Outreach in Debre Birhan, Ethiopia, Jewish Voice distributed an astounding 12,000 LifeStraws®. Thanks to the partnership of people like you, 12,000 men, women and children will enjoy a year or more of clean water.

That’s one year of freedom from the debilitating water-borne illnesses and possible death they would have endured drinking water from polluted rivers and wells. We can’t overstate the importance of what you, our partners, helped us accomplish. 

But we can still do more. There are much more than 12,000 people in Debre Birhan and our other Outreach areas that could benefit from access to LifeStraws. We hope to eventually bring clean water to them all, just as we hope to reach them all with the Good News of Yeshua (Jesus), the true Living Water.

Please consider giving a LifeStraw today to make a critical difference in the life of a Jewish person or their neighbor.

Each LifeStraw costs just $15, or about the same as three cups of premium coffee. For the same amount as three mornings of caffeination, you can improve someone’s life for 365 mornings – and evenings.

More often, we see stretchers made of goat skins stretched between two branches and covered with blankets like the one below.

Last week in Enfranz, Ethiopia, we also saw several people brought in on homemade planks or bench-like pallets.

Friday, May 31, 2018

On Friday, the last day of the Enfranz Medical Clinic, a woman entered the Clinic balancing a large basket on her head. Our Line Management leader was told that, in the bundle, she carried her dead baby. A hushed moment of somber respect passed among those standing at the gate as they watched the woman steadfastly walk in bare feet toward the Triage Department.

In Triage, the brave woman became a priority for care. She put down the basket and opened the blankets. Inside, to everyone’s joy, was a beautiful, living baby girl. The mother had experienced trouble after delivering her baby and knew two things: that she needed help and our Clinic was there.

She had begun walking to us “when the birds started singing” that morning, she explained. According to the sunrise, that would be about 6:00 a.m. She walked approximately eight miles and reached the Clinic at 8:30 a.m. In the OBGYN Department, mother and daughter received care. There in the Clinic, she gave her baby daughter the name Hannah.

The team of doctors and medical professionals on this Outreach treated 6,000 patients in just two days. It is such a remarkable blessing to impact so many lives in Yeshua’s name!

Some of the people receiving care at the Clinic have told us stories of persecution. Because they are Jewish or Jewish Believers in Yeshua (Jesus), they are rejected, beaten and distrusted. A common superstition is that people believe Jewish people have “the evil eye,” abilities to curse or cause bad things to happen. For this reason, many are considered to be liars and are shunned and disbelieved in whatever they say.

Please pray for the Jewish people in the Enfranz, Ethiopia area as well as those they live among. When Jewish Voice brings no-cost medical care to a location, the entire community benefits and the people see that they have received a blessing because of the Jewish people living among them. In this way, we see anti-Semitism in the region begin to dismantle.

Monday, May 28, 2018

The Line Management teams on JVMI Medical Outreaches work to ensure efficient lines. We had so many people in line on Monday that our team had to create an overflow area, shown below. If you look closely in the photo, you can see many people who found shade among the trees.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

The nursing station was bustling today as they helped a large number patients. One woman was given fluids for dehydration. The nurses were so busy that our photographer couldn’t even find out about the others he saw there. Meanwhile, thousands of people waited outside the gates, eager for their turn to enter the Clinic and receive medical, dental or eye care.

This afternoon was the first rain the team had seen in Enfranz despite a forecast that had predicted rain every day during the Outreach. It was just a sprinkle at the end of the day, but when the team left the Clinic, a massive storm cloud came through behind the campsite.

Our Enfranz, Ethiopia, Medical Outreach is about to begin. There are a number of firsts associated with this trip. It’s our first time in Enfranz; we’ll be camping – which is unusual for our Ethiopia Outreaches; we’ll be housed in two separate campsites.

Creating two campsites will ensure that the needs of our very large group of Outreach staff and partners are met most efficiently. Also at the Enfranz Outreach, we’ll introduce the Zehra Kids Program in Ethiopia for the first time. It’s an exciting new way that we can serve the Jewish community there.

As always, we are aware that it is by God’s grace alone that we can minister effectively in the opportunities He provides. Please join us in prayer for our team, our partners and, most especially, for those we’ll minister to – the Jewish people and their neighbors – in Enfranz, Ethiopia.

Please pray for:

• Safe travel to, from and within Ethiopia
• Protection and ingenuity for those handling logistics
• Good health and the Lord’s watchful love over each person during this Outreach, whether giving or receiving care
• The spiritual ground to be well prepared in the people and region so they will gladly receive the Good News and it will take root and extend throughout the area
• Strength, vigor, courage, and resilience for our team – physically, emotionally and spiritually – as well as wisdom and discernment to overcome every obstacle
• A special outpouring of refreshment and energy for the team members participating in back-to-back trips
• The Lord to set ambushes against His enemies as worship and praise arise daily

Let’s pray: Lord, even though, from our perspective, many of the aspects of our Enfranz, Ethiopia, Medical Outreach fall into the categories of “new” and “big,” nothing is too big or hard for You! We ask that we would see each day filled with miracles, healings and salvations bringing both deliverance to those receiving care and glory to You, the One we serve. In Yeshua’s name we pray, AMEN.

If you would like to pray along day by day, you can find daily prayer points for Enfranz here.

Please help cover the Outreach in prayer and let us know you’re praying! Click here to sign up for a time slot on our Enfranz Outreach prayer calendar.