Have you ever been to a conference for your profession where you start the morning with one of the participants leading everyone in worship songs? Our morning began that way, with a senior nurse with 13 years experience, who also leads his local church, standing at the front of the room as everyone sang with him. Then a young nurse with only a few years experience went to the front with his guitar. He proceeded to sing the 23rd Psalm in the language of his people, to a melody he wrote. We saw several in the room wiping tears away as he finished.

Matthew 8:1-4 tells the story of Jesus healing a leper, and our host Rachel Weller drew the parallel of lepers in Jesus' day with those with AIDS today. Before we got into our teaching sessions, we heard an administrative discussion which exposed even more of the problems these workers face. Some clinics have no water except local dirty river water. Insects are difficult to control. They have limited access to disinfectant solutions.

But these troubles paled in comparison to some of the individual stories we heard. The same young man who sang told us of how he and his clinic workers, who are near the border with Sudan and Kenya, are endangered by some of the local tribes (those whose women stretch out their earlobes and lower lips) who attack Christians in the region.

Another, who is from Sudan, told of being imprisoned for almost 10 years solely because he was a Christian. His clinic near the Sudan border has been attacked several times, solely because it is affiliated with the Mekane Yesus evangelical coalition. His two sons have fled back to the Sudan rather than stay with their father; he has not seen them the last two years. His wife too, in fear of her life, has left for another part of Ethiopia. Yet he persists in trying to run his clinic and minister with the love of Christ to the people in his region. We asked him why he doesn't leave and his reply was simple: "Because God told me to do this". `

We did have some good fun with them though, as we ran a "triage game". The youngest 7 of the workers were brought to the front and held a sign representing a patient's problem, such as a broken leg, stab wound to the abdomen, or onset of labor. They were then asked to arrange themselves in the order in which they as patients should be seen in the clinic. There was a lot of laughing as the more senior workers challenged their younger cohorts, in a teaching exercise unfamiliar to the Ethiopian workers. Their exuberance for learning is really making the seminar enjoyable, and their dedication to their work is humbling. And they are already asking if we will come back!