I have had the privilege of traveling to many places around the world through my global teaching and training ministry over the years. While I have interacted with many people from the continent of Africa, either online or at global gatherings, I had never actually set foot on African soil until my recent trip to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for a city immersion course and meetings with leaders to explore new partnerships with BGU. My colleagues, Dr. Belete Mebratu and Dr. Bekele Bedada Tulu, greeted me warmly at the airport, and they were so excited to show me around their home city over the course of the next week.
All that I can say is… Wow! I have been to many cities around the world, and I have never seen city transformation efforts scaled at the level of impact that I witnessed in Addis Ababa. We visited with key leaders in business, government, education, NGOs, and church denominations as we traversed through different parts of the city. I have never seen so much widescale construction going on in a city as what is taking place in Addis Ababa. Everything is under construction! Yet, Addis remains an old city steeped in history, going back thousands of years, and local traditions that are deeply engrained in the culture. The African Union is headquartered in Addis Ababa, so what happens at this key city in Ethiopia resonates as a gateway throughout the broader continent.
It was truly a joy for me to see where God is at work in Addis Ababa. Just like any city, it has its fair share of challenges. And just as we do for all BGU city immersion courses, we trained the students who had gathered for the city immersion to look for signs of need, signs of hope, clues to the culture, and things that they didn’t understand. We reflected daily on what we saw and experienced through the eyes of expert local guides. There are good things associated with widescale redevelopment, such as 26,000 people per day being employed to work on one of six development initiatives along a river that weaves throughout the city that is estimated to currently hold about 10 million people (and growing). And there are significant challenges and needs that remain, sometimes even related to trying to achieve so much change at such a rapid pace. The BGU students reflected on all that they saw and heard, and they were all inspired to bring ideas back to their cities and countries that they might be able to implement.
BGU has many current students, graduates, and faculty members who have helped to build a strong foundation for city transformation in Addis Ababa. I am so thankful for the work of those who have preceded us, and I am so hopeful about the bright future for BGU’s impact in Ethiopia and beyond with the establishment of Addis Ababa as a key hub city for our regional ecosystem on the continent of Africa. I was able to sign MOU partnership agreements with new strategic partners while I was there. And we already have several new students who are key leaders in Addis Ababa and who are enrolling in graduate-level and certificate training programs at BGU through connections made during my visit. More details will be coming soon, but BGU leaders in the region are already working on plans for a strategic gathering again next year in Addis Ababa to build on all the momentum.
I would love to support this new initiative, the establishment of Addis Ababa as the hub of a BGU regional ecosystem, with significant resources so that we can continue to scale throughout Ethiopia and the broader continent of Africa. Will you prayerfully consider donating to BGU as part of our fiscal year-end giving campaign so that we can fuel these growth efforts in the coming year? A generous donor has already pledged $10,000 to BGU as a challenge gift to help get some momentum going. It’s easy to give to BGU. Just go to https://bgu.edu/giving
Dr. Bryan McCabe
President