IN 1983 when American Rev. Bill Harding IV got a work permit to help Ethiopia in water development, the only thing he knew about the precious liquid was that it runs downhill.
He was about to go to Liberia to work as a missionary when the communist regime in Ethiopia, desperate for developmental assistance in the wake of a famine and drought, granted him a work permit after seeing on his résumé that he had helped to install sprinklers on a golf course, and a fountain in a ritzy apartment in the United States. It did not matter to the regime that he had done so as summer jobs.
The work permit was not something he could turn a blind eye to as the communist regime had been expelling missionaries in that land when they took power in the 1970s. Bill went to Ethiopia and taught himself much about water management. As he learnt, he ensured that he taught some of the locals. After a while, engineers trained in hydrology started to consult with him on appropriate technology to give clean water to the people.
Bill, 52, along with his father himself a former missionary to Ethiopia, William T. Harding III, 75, are in the island this week as guests of Swallowfield Chapel's annual missions conference. Bill will be addressing the conference tonight beginning at 7 O' clock.
Water is indeed life in Ethiopia as 80 per cent of the diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa is water borne. Just by improving water storage and treatment, says Bill, one can reduce a whole range of health ailments and thereby preserve the lives of many Ethiopians. The water problems of this land, most sacred to the Jamaican Rastafarian community, formed what is often called a "Redemptive Analogy". He was able to present Christ as a fountain that would not run dry and as one who satisfies life's thirsts.
Bill works with the agency, Serving In Mission (SIM) formerly Sudan Interior Mission, which was recently joined by a Jamaican, Marshalee Brown, a graduate of the Jamaica Theological Seminary. She is doing youth ministry among a remote people in Ethiopia. SIM is 75 years old and has 1,500 missionaries on the field serving in 50 countries.
He is encouraging other Jamaicans to consider Ethiopia as a mission field. He points out that the typical Jamaican temperament and jocular nature resonates well with Ethiopians. Furthermore, those skilled in the agricultural sciences and water engineering are particularly well poised to make a meaningful contribution in that land plagued by droughts and famine. Also, Jamaica's love of football mirrors the same passion that Ethiopians have for the game. Thus ministry related to this sport is likely to go a far way in the land of Haile Selassie I.
