So exciting after several years of hard work a box of books arrived yesterday edited by myself, Sheila Johnson, and compiled by Arthur Champion! What a privilege too to be able to showcase such an amazing work, and at the same time to raise funds for the ongoing charities through the sales of her book.

Dr Jember Teferra: Bible Reflections from a life devoted to the poor.

So, why did Arthur and myself collaborate on a book by this lady, Jember Teferra? Who is she anyway?

An Ethiopian, niece of Emperor Haile Selassie, Jember was born into relative luxury but from an early age she had a desire to help those less fortunate than herself. Then in the 1980’s, under the Communist Regime that took over the country, Jember and her husband, Hailegiorgis, were imprisoned for a number of years, even though they were parents of very young children at the time. The conditions in jail were terrible with 120 women in one cell with one shared toilet. With Jember’s strong Christian faith, she began teaching and helping the other inmates and her desire to help the poorest of the poor in her country grew.

On her release she decided to do something about the conditions she saw around her –

“I cannot put blinkers on and ignore what I see around me – it is not making me comfortable.  I feel that God has not meant human beings to be so degraded living lives worse than that of a stray dog.  These people don’t have access to the most basic human needs.  Many live in simple cardboard shelters which give them no protection against the elements.  A lot of the children don’t have any time for schooling, having to work four to five hours a day.  Young people are often forced into taking up a life of crime on the streets and the old beg.”

The Project was symbolised by a simple triangle –

the three sides of which represent:

• Physical Upgrading e.g. better housing, sanitation, provision of street lighting.
• Community Development e.g. job creation, provision of schools, care for the disabled and elderly.
• Primary Health Care e.g. provision of health clinics, basic medicine, health education.

By implementing these three activities simultaneously, the project has impacted the lives of thousands.  

Her work came to the attention of Bob Geldof following the massive success of the global pop music event ‘Band Aid’.  Bob was trying to raise the profile of the poor through the event and helped to publicise the projects globally. Jember went on to raise funds through Comic Relief and other charities chiefly in the US and the UK. In the UK the projects were supported through my home church in Cheltenham, as Jember had been educated in the UK with the church leader’s wife, Liz. Jember saw our church as her home church.

The book reflects the deep faith of Jember in the Bible passages she has chosen and alongside these, Arthur and I have told her story which gives the context of them and explains the projects.

These projects are now largely self-sustaining with local leaders but continue in child or elderly sponsorship programmes and in an educational institute run by her daughter, Memmenasha, to educate others to replicate and lead in the work Jember began. Profits from the sale of the book go to support these two different causes.