Dear friends,

On 7th November 2021, after the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis launched a new appeal for Peace in Ethiopia: “I follow with concern the news coming from (…) Ethiopia, shaken by a conflict that has lasted for more than a year and has provoked a grave humanitarian crisis….; I invite everyone to pray for these peoples so sorely tried and renew my appeal for fraternal harmony and the peaceful path of dialogue to prevail”. The Lenten season has begun, perhaps with the worry of widespread conflict related to the war in Ukraine;

Let us continue to do good without respite as the Holy Father exhorts us in his message for this year’s Lent: “Let us not grow weary of praying (…), of eliminating evil from our lives”, (…) of doing good in concrete charity towards our neighbour”, in order “to reap the fruits of Peace, Justice and Reconciliation if we do not lose heart”.

Finishing the building site

“If the Lord does not build… in vain do the builders toil” the Epifania project is finally finished. Let us joyfully summarize the completion of the site work undertaken in mid-October by a new contractor who finished for the Ethiopian Christmas (7 January) in 4 stages:

1. Demolition of the old warehouse and the old fence to build the final 3 m high wall and along the wall the watchmen’s house and the public toilets with a shower for our employees.

2. Burying in the ground the electric cables (to connect the new buildings and the outdoor lighting) and the pipes: water inlets for gardening and toilets (rainwater) and for sinks and showers (city water) and outlets (rainwater, showers and toilets). It was a complicated job with a lot of pipes because at the beginning of the project we had decided to make ecological choices with 3 tankers (rainwater, septic tank and biogas tank);

3. After the construction of a retaining wall and a staircase (about 1.80 meters high) to link the chapel and the priory on the upper part, finishing the pedestrian walkways with cement tiles and the various green spaces with fertile soil.

Ongoing projects

The Brothers of St John were called to Addis Ababa by Cardinal Berhaneyesus in 2009 for an evangelical mission to the youth of the diocese. For the past 12 years, we have been carrying out this service with God’s help, although the cultural, generational and pastoral realities are not always easy. However, it is clear that the Spirit of the Lord confirms us in this specific mission and asks us to be closer to young people by taking an interest in and promoting what is visibly most important to them, namely training and the exchange of experiences, music and sport for example. We also try to help them in the development of their emotional life, the search for a first job and of course to strengthen their spiritual life. The St John’s Centre was built and is developing to offer school children, young students, professionals, families and religious a place for meetings, dialogue and the expression of talents. The vision of the Centre includes 4 small projects which are ongoing but need your support:

• The landscaping project(Trees, Flowers, Fountain, Benches)
• The Media Library project
  (Speaker, Microphone, Video projector, Computer)
• The music room project
  (Guitar, Piano, Drums, Flute, and various music equipment)
• The multi-purpose sports field project (football, volleyball,…) outside above the priory