Mission move to Ethiopia

Webmaster | 25 June 2005

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Mark Bennett had never thought of working at the world renowned Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia.

So when the offer came to be the new CEO of the hospital “It was a surprise and a great piviledge,” said Mark. “One that I gladly accepted.”

After returning from ten years serving as CMS missionaries in Egypt, Mark, Annette and their four children, have packed their bags to leave Australia once again.

The whole family are very excited about the move to Ethiopia. Mark has already left and Annette, Alleytia 12, Lewis 11, Martin 8 and Dylan 5 will follow at the end of school term.

However, with Alleytia having just started senior school some have wondered why the Bennetts have taken this step to serve in Ethiopia when missionaries often see their eldest child’s transition to high school as a time to return home.

For Annette Bennett, the answer is simple.

“We are going now for the same reasons we went originally,” Annette said. “God has blessed us richly with our skills, and we believe this is where they can be best used.”

“When I ask Christian parents in Australia ‘what do you want most for your children?’ often they will answer ‘a good education and a career.’ “ Annette Bennett said.

“What I want most for my children is for them to put Christ first in their lives – and that is much easier for them to learn to do in a developing country.”

Annette believes that the experiences of their time in Cairo have benefited the children enormously.

”It was a fantastic experience. In Australia we live in such a privileged country. In Egypt they got to see what most of the world lives like. As I was working as a midwife the children were able to go on home visits with me, make friends with families who were struggling “

But she said when they have returned to Australia on home leave, these experiences have isolated them from their Australian peers.

“We do sometimes feel like an ‘alien in a foreign land’ as the Exodus verse says,” explained Annette.

For example Lewis had trouble at first making friends. According to Annette, Lewis found it difficult to relate to the constant talk of television programs by his classmates when there was a lot more to the world than that.

It was through God’s providence and the visit of staff from the Archbishop’s Overseas Relief and Aid Fund (ORAF) in November last year that the Bennett’s first heard of the job in Ethiopia.

The ORAF staff, after visiting Refuge Egypt and the Bennetts in Cairo, and learning that they were looking for a new area in which to serve, that they then went on to visit the Fistula Hospital where they learnt a new CEO was being sought. The connection was made and Mark was offered the job early this year.

Mark said, “my first priority will be to win the respect and trust of those at the hospital, so that we can continue to work together to improve what’s already there.”

Annette is planning to concentrate on learning the official language of Amharic.

“I want to be able to share the gospel with the women. This is how Jesus did his ministry, when you look at how Jesus lived, he touched broken people’s lives. It is great evangelistic work, to show how much you care and do something about their physical distress,” she said.

The hospital, which was started by Australian doctors Catherine and Reg Hamlin, has over the last 30 years cured more than 25,000 women suffering terrible childbirth injuries that had left them as outcasts from their society.

ORAF has been actively supporting the work of the hospital from the time it opened and is currently funding a satellite clinic in the north. Tax deductible donations can be made by phoning 1800 653 903.

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