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Missionary trip to Ethiopia—Reported by Emil Hagamu and Brian Clowes, March 2011
 Ethiopia is the oldest independent nation in Africa, originating with the Aksumite Kingdom at about the time of Christ. It is twice the size of Texas and has the eighth-fastest growing population of any country on Earth at 3.2 percent per year. This makes it a primary target of the international population control cartel.
Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, is a bustling city of three million and is the third-highest national capital in the world at nearly 8,000 feet. Outside Addis, small towns are strung along the main highways like jewels on a necklace, giving the impression that the nation is crowded, but nothing could be further from the truth. More than 90 percent of the land area of Ethiopia is basically empty of people. Its population of about 82 million is spread out over more than a million square kilometers of land, for a density less than that of California or Florida.
As of 2005, abortion is legal in Ethiopia for so many exceptions that it is, practically speaking, abortion on demand — rape, incest, fetal defects (eugenics), the physical or mental health of the mother, economic reasons and reasons of age of the mother. According to the pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute, an incredible 60,000 women still suffer serious abortion complications every year, and at least 100 of them die. It seems that the population control groups are satisfied merely with legalizing abortion and are not particularly interested in safeguarding the health of Ethiopian women.
It might seem incredible since it is an African nation, but Ethiopia has one of the most draconian abortion laws on Earth. Doctors who work in government hospitals are not permitted to question why women are seeking abortions and will immediately be jailed if they do not perform them. The government simply ignores Article 27 of the Ethiopian Constitution, which says, “Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. … No one shall be subject to coercion by force or any other means, which would impair his freedom to have or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice.” This is typical of Leftist “tolerance” — “We are in charge, so choose between your faith or your job.”
Article 15 of the same Constitution also guarantees the “right to life of every individual,” but no one but the Catholic Church seems to care. Additionally, all government hospitals are required to perform five abortions a day, regardless of their other activities. This means that, in smaller towns, they have to meet this quota by aggressively advertising and pursuing pregnant women. This is all part of the master plan to break down the morality and the inhibitions of the Ethiopian people.
Emil Hagamu speaks on pro-life issues to 70 students from several area universities.
EMIL HAGAMU
I began this pro-life missionary journey with a full day of training for medical professionals at the Missionaries of Charity Health Center, where 90 percent of the patients are HIV-positive. The Sisters also take care of about 200 HIV-positive orphans. It seems that it is always the Church that cleans up the deadly mess made by senseless and immoral government policies. I also did three full days of training for 50 members of the International Movement of Catholic Students.
The students and the professionals are totally ignorant of the baleful effects of the population control agenda, abortion and contraception. The only people who seem to have a true picture of the situation are Church leaders. Our biggest challenge is how deeply the Culture of Death is entrenched in Ethiopia. Nobody seems to understand that population control groups are determined to destroy the future of their nation and their national identity.
I also spoke to about 70 college students from Awassa University. Fortunately, although most Ethiopians have embraced the population control agenda, it is only because they have not yet heard the scientific evidence from the pro-life/pro-family side. Along with our host, Father Aloysius Mugisha of the Apostles of Jesus, I had plenty of evidence to offer. We gave the students a dozen talks over three days, including presentations on the population control agenda, attacks on Faith and family, abortion myths, the ineffectiveness of condoms, and several movies, including “The Hard Truth” and “The Silent Scream.” To their credit, the students did not stubbornly cling to their beliefs in the face of conclusive evidence to the contrary, as many Westerners do, but largely accepted the truth when they saw it.
As always, our message was that two things and two things only can make you happy — Faith and family. Sex, travel, money, possessions, power and food can amuse you, certainly, but only Faith and family can bring lasting contentment and peace. This is actually scientifically provable; people who have a strong Faith and a strong family are always happier that those who lack these essential elements.
We also stressed that the Ethiopian government is obviously being manipulated and pressured by immensely rich and determined non-governmental organizations such as the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), DKT International, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and at least 20 others, which have spent a combined total of more than $2.2 billion in Ethiopia since 1990.
How much good $2 billion dollars could have done if it was instead put into authentic economic development, such as clean drinking water, rural electrification, basic education and health facilities, and better roads, instead of just making large poor families into small poor families.
Brian Clowes and Father Aloysius speaking to the rector and 19 seminarians at the local diocesan seminary.
Unlike other big cities in the developing world, Addis Ababa is spread out over a large area, so you don’t run into the choking and interminable traffic you will find in other big African cities.
But “family planning” billboards are everywhere. The most obnoxious are World Vision’s, which show a starving and unhappy family of seven people, all looking desperate and dressed in rags, gathered around a small table with just a scrap of food on it. People see this blatantly direct propaganda 100 times and begin to believe its almost subliminal message.
Sensations (“Make Your Life Sensational!”) condom ads and billboards are also everywhere in Addis Ababa. One Muslim-operated pharmacy had a life-sized condom poster right inside its door. Amusingly, someone had wrapped a towel around the head of the rather immodestly dressed young lady featured on the poster as a makeshift hajab. This struck me as rather schizophrenic; go ahead and corrupt the women’s sexuality, but make darn sure their heads are covered. DKT International sponsors annual fashion shows in Addis featuring models wearing dresses made entirely out of condoms. All of this is so wildly out of sync with African customs and culture, we can only conclude that these groups are deliberately and consciously attempting to destroy not only African culture and innocence, but the Africans themselves.
Father Aloysius and I visited a couple of pharmacies, and found that DKT International heavily subsidizes its “Choice” birth control pills, selling them for about 62 cents per cycle. Pharmacists sell them right over the counter with no consultation with a doctor, a practice that would not be tolerated even for a minute in Europe or the USA. USAID and Bayer Pharma have teamed up to sell the “Microgynon” birth control pill for the same price. DKT also sells the “Confidence” abortifacient injection for about 31 cents for three months of sterility, and these are administered by the pharmacist right behind the counter.
Then, of course, there is the most aggressively evil organization on Earth, Marie Stopes International, which makes International Planned Parenthood Federation look like a bunch of blushing virgins. There are a dozen Marie Stopes abortion mills in Addis Ababa, and each is a gigantic abortion factory doing over ten thousand every year. Abortion still carries a huge stigma in Ethiopia, so the women almost always arrive alone. Unlike in the USA, the men usually standing outside the abortion mills are not husbands or boyfriends; they are pimps. They know that these women have questionable morals, and they accost them when they exit the clinic. As a result, prostitution is flourishing in Addis Ababa.
Marie Stopes International has twenty abortion clinics in Ethiopia, about half of them in Addis Ababa. This is one of the signposts leading to one of the clinics.
Most obnoxious of all are the touts that Marie Stopes hires to accost women passing by, asking them if they are in need of abortions. These hawkers even tell men that, if their wives or daughters ever need abortion, they can come visit their abortion mill.
Remember that these are the people who say that we must all respect the customs and cultures of other lands.
Father Aloysius and I spent the final day making connections with influential people in the capital city. First, we stopped at the Apostolic Nunciature (Vatican embassy) and met with the Chancellor, Monsignor Romanus Mbena, who assured us of his support for Human Life International and its work.
In the afternoon, we crossed town to visit the Archbishop of Addis Ababa, Berhaneyesus D. Souraphiel, C.M., and his Auxiliary Bishop, Abune-Lesana Christos. They sat down with us and talked as we enjoyed an excellent cup of Ethiopian tea. The Archbishop had told Emil that “The message of the Gospel of Life is needed now more than ever before because threats to life and family continue to grow in gravity. Given this reality, I totally give my consent to HLI’s life saving mission in Ethiopia. The Catholic Church appreciates what you are doing and will support your efforts.”
END OF THE JOURNEY
At the end of the journey, Father drove me to Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport. I was torn by conflicting emotions — sad to leave, but glad to be getting back to my family. During the 16 hours on the plane, there was plenty of time to reflect on the situation in Africa. The headlong rush of the United Nations and all of the pro-abortion NGOs seems to be directed at “homogenizing” the world so that the people of every nation will think and act just like Europeans or Americans. I have seen this baleful influence hard at work in countries from the Philippines to Papua New Guinea, from Cameroon to Cambodia.
What ever happened to the vaunted “respect for diversity?” Liberals tell us that we must respect “diversity” in terms of bizarre sexual acts and orientations, but what about respect for different cultures? Unique and colorful cultures and customs all over the world are fast disappearing as everyone — from city dweller to villager, from professional to small farmer — is being forced to conform to the same mold. Even the most benign indigenous practices and customs are being forcibly propelled to extinction. Not only is this becoming a very anti-life world, it is becoming boring as well.
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