In 2004 Jack Williams launched into a new phase of his life. He was retired but was at seventy three years of age still doing independent consulting. He had been to Africa several times and knew a little of what he was going to be getting into, but this time he would learn that his assumptions about what to expect would be upset by the realities of what he would find in Ethiopia.
Jack left for Ethiopia in June of 2004 as a member of an expedition of about thirty people that would spending a week in a village in Central Ethiopia. While there he worked on several simple technology projects that were new to him that included simple pit latrines, stoves to replace open fire cooking, drip irrigation for small farms, and water purification systems. That week setting up these model projects in the host village and seeing the possibilities of sustainability of all the things the organization was working on (Health, Education, Orphan Advocacy and Simple Technology) were enough for Jack to have a significant emotional event in his life that would set the stage for his becoming a dedicated full-time Humanitarian Worker for the next six or more years.
After this first experience for a week in Ethiopia, Jack dedicated his full time energies to Humanitarian work returning in six months for a forty-five day visit, and six months later for thirteen months. This account are some of the significant events of his involvement there from 2004 when it all started to July of 2006 when he left Ethiopia to continue his Humanitarian work in Mozambique, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, South Sudan and Haiti.
Jack left for Ethiopia in June of 2004 as a member of an expedition of about thirty people that would spending a week in a village in Central Ethiopia. While there he worked on several simple technology projects that were new to him that included simple pit latrines, stoves to replace open fire cooking, drip irrigation for small farms, and water purification systems. That week setting up these model projects in the host village and seeing the possibilities of sustainability of all the things the organization was working on (Health, Education, Orphan Advocacy and Simple Technology) were enough for Jack to have a significant emotional event in his life that would set the stage for his becoming a dedicated full-time Humanitarian Worker for the next six or more years.
After this first experience for a week in Ethiopia, Jack dedicated his full time energies to Humanitarian work returning in six months for a forty-five day visit, and six months later for thirteen months. This account are some of the significant events of his involvement there from 2004 when it all started to July of 2006 when he left Ethiopia to continue his Humanitarian work in Mozambique, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, South Sudan and Haiti.