Cherished Memories

Unduly Worried

Toward the end of August 1966, I received a letter from the principle of the Bible Academy, Ato Shemsudin Abdo, inviting me to teach history. At the time I was living in Addis Ababa where I had just graduated from Addis Ababa University. I accepted the invitation and came to the Bible Academy. However, soon after my arrival at the Bible Academy I began to worry and fret, wondering whether I would be a successful teacher. Scared to death I planned to return to Addis Ababa. I discussed this decision with some friends, they advised me to stay at the Bible Academy and make a go at it. I stayed and experienced the most satisfying experience of my life.

Unforgettable Events

The yearly school outing to the banks of the Awash River still linger fresh in the minds of those who resided at the Bible Academy in the late 60s and early 70s.The excitement of riding on three-quarter military trucks, the fun of trying to catch fish from the Awash River, the adventure of hiking through the woods, the amusement from games played in the open space are the reminiscences deeply lodged in the recesses of our minds. The informative and entertaining educational tours of places such as the HVA Sugar Factory, the Wongi Paper Mill, the Koka Hydro-Electric Power Station, and the National Museum in Addis Ababa are events we will never forget. Other thrilling memories of Bible Academy life include the Progressive Super, the Christmas Banquet, Friday night socials, basketball contests, and soccer games.

April Fool’s Day (1975)

Ephraim Gebre-Hanna was made to lie on a bench in the student center neatly shrouded in white cloth, like a dead person. His friends then went to the on duty guards to tell them that Ephraim was dead and his corpse was lying in the student center. The guards were terribly upset and rushed to the place. They saw what looked like a funeral rite. The guards were greatly saddened and hurried to Ato Negash’s house to report the incident. They woke Negash and told him Ephraim had died and his body was lying in the student center. When confronted with the cool morning air Negash realized that it was April Fool’s Day. Upon entering the student center, Negash pulled off his belt, removed the white cloth Ephraim was wrapped in, and whipped Ephraim real hard. Ephraim jumped up and ran from the room. The guards, who saw this, were upset with the boys for fooling them.

Jack of All Trades, Master of……..

In addition to teaching history, I taught English, music, Bible, and even Amharic typing. I enjoyed teaching all these different subjects. Discussing current affairs at the start of my history classes was inspiring and motivating. These discussions were supposed to last a maximum of ten minutes, but sometimes they took the entire period. Playing the piano during chapel was entertainment for the whole Bible Academy community. Training and directing the Bible Academy Choir and singing together from song books such as Life Songs, the Mennonite Church Hymnal, and Kidus Zimare were of great pleasure to me. Another source of great satisfaction were the songs I taught and sang with most of you, songs such as: Be Yourself, Be Yourself, Up, Up with People, What Color is God’s Skin, My God is Real, O You Don’t Love God if You Don’t Love Your Neighbor.

One of the saddest days of my life was the day when the announcement that the Bible Academy was to be terminated by the Marxist-Leninist Derg Regime, was made in April of 1982. Many of the students gathered in front of our house weeping and wailing. It sounded and looked like a house of mourning. The neighbors on the other side of the fence thought that we had lost a family member or close friend. Soon they found out that the real reason for the mourning was the closing of the school.

In June 1982 the Bible Academy came to an end as a physical entity, but the sense of belonging to a community of faith and the vision have continued to this point and will continue for many years to come. Let’s keep the fire of love burning and the common vision alive.

Family Update

During the past twenty-seven years, we, the family of Ato Alemu Checole and Weyzero Abebech Wache, have seen days of delight and celebration, days of disappointment and sorrow, days of prosperity and adversity. Everything we are and have we owed to God’s bountiful grace. As God’s children we are to give thanks to him in all circumstances, both the good and the bad.

In June 1983, the New Teachers’ Training Institute administration, which took over the Bible Academy, told us we would have seven months only to find a house in town and vacate our current home. We tried as hard as we could to find a house in town to rent. But our efforts were in vain because the Kebele authorities were unwilling to cooperate with us. Every time we found a house to rent, instead of letting us rent it they would offer it to their own comrades. Finally, in February 1983 we were forced out of our house at the Bible Academy and forced to seek refuge in a close friend’s house in Wongi. While living in Wongi we succeeded in finding a two-room house in Nazareth. What a contrast this was from our spacious eight-room house at the Bible Academy. The two room shack had no private toilet, kitchen or tap water. We suffered living in these harsh conditions for fifteen months until some of our Mennonite friends helped us purchase a decent house in a spacious compound in November of 1984.

During this time I was teaching at Atse Gelawdewos Secondary School. Teaching here was a stark contrast to teaching at the Bible Academy. The number of students in each class averaged 85. It was unthinkable to give assignments and quizzes every week as I had done at the Academy. The students discipline was so bad that most teachers found it virtually impossible to control their classrooms. Fortunately, my students had a lot of respect and affection for me and controlled one another during my classes. However, the school authorities watched my teaching activities very closely to make sure that I wasn’t polluting the minds of the students with idealist doctrine as a religious teacher from the Bible Academy.

In July 1989 I was in a dreadful plane accident at Bole Airport. I was preparing to fly to the Philippines for an international convention. It was an old Kenyan Airways passenger jet. The Boeing 707 crashed and as I was jumping off I landed on one leg and shattered my right ankle. I was rushed to Black Lion Hospital where the doctors set the broken bones properly and I was healed in a relatively short time, despite the fact that I was diabetic. (I’ve been a diabetic since 1988 but by the grace of God and a little bit of personal care I’ve been able to stay ahead of the disease.)

In July 1997, at the age of fifty-five, I retired from teaching at Atse Gelawdewos School. However, I have continued to offer my services to different institutions such as Meserete Kristos College, Grace Theological College, Mimosa Pre-school Teacher’s Training Institute, Remember the Poorest Community (a small local NGO), and most recently Betel Children’s Home. In addition, I have had the opportunity of putting together a book entitled: Global Mennonite History, Africa Volume. The book came off the press in 2003.

Finally, a few words about my family. Some of you may remember that I was joined in holy matrimony to my lovely wife, Abebech Wache on April 10, 1977. While we were residing at the Bible Academy we were blessed with the gift of our first three children: Betel, Abigail, and Amanuel. After we left the Bible Academy we were further blessed with three more children: Surafel, Wengel, and Natnael. We have three daughters and three sons. Our second daughter is married and has a son, we are proud grandparents. Abigail is busy looking after her little son and hardworking husband. Betel, Amanuel, and Surafel are getting ready to set up their own small enterprises. Wengel has just completed nursing school and is seeking employment in a medical institution. Natnael is getting ready to begin grade 10.

Let me close this piece of writing with the following words of praise from: "Thirty-One Days of Praise," by Ruth Myers with Warren Myers written in 1994.

Thank you, my gracious and sovereign God, that You have been with me and carried me from the day of my birth until today … that You have known my whole life, from beginning to end, since before I was born… and that You wrote in Your book all the days that You ordained for me before one of them came to be.

Thank you that in Your gracious plan to bless and use me, You’ve allowed me to go through hard times, through trials that many people go through in this fallen world. How glad I am that You’re so good at reaching down and making something beautiful out of even the worst situation! How encouraged I am when I think how You did this for Joseph… how his brothers hated and abused and betrayed him, and how You worked these things out for blessing, both for Joseph and his family and for countless other people.

I praise You that the things that happened in my past, both enjoyable and painful, are raw materials for blessings, both in my life and the lives of others. So I thank You for the specific family (or lack of family) into which I was born and the opportunities You did or did not provide. And thank You for the things in my past that appear to be limitations, hindrances, bad breaks… the wounds of old hurts, the unmet emotional needs, the mistakes or neglect of other people – even their cruelty to me, their abuse.

I’m so grateful that all my past circumstances were permitted by You to make me see my need of You and prepare my heart for Your Word… to draw me to Yourself, and to work out Your good purposes for my life. I rejoice that You are the blessed Controller of all things – You are now, You will be throughout the future, and You always were. All my days had Your touch of love and wisdom, whether or not I can yet fully see it.

--By Alemu Chechol