don't be scared by the title of this post. t and i are still engaged, we are still getting married in florida, everyone is fine, life is not falling apart, we both have wonderful jobs, and as a side note, i have a puppy now!
however, sometimes bad things do happen. like timone says in the lion king, (on of my personal favorite african movies....) "sometimes bad things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it." well, one of those uncontrollable-except-by-god things just happened. and it happened in the form of the ethiopian government. that's right folks. heard anything new lately about what's going on across the pond? apparently the ethiopian government doesn't like skype. that's right, skype. to restrict the communication flow in and out of the country, or to protect the ethiopian phone service, or to cause much pain and suffering to star-crossed lovers.... i don't know why but according to this:
"Users already face up to 15 years in jail if they use Skype or similar internet call services." http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18461292
and this:
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-skype-ethiopia-15-years-jail-20120615,0,6747631.story
and even this:
"Using VOIP services is now punishable by up to 15 years in prison. This law actually passed last month, but mostly went unnoticed outside of the country. Ethiopian authorities argue that they imposed these bans because of “national security concerns” and to protect the state's telecommunications monopoly. The country only has one ISP, the state-owned Ethio Telecom, and has been filtering its citizens' Internet access for quite some time now to suppress opposition blogs and other news outlets."
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55941:ethiopia-criminalises-voip-use
the use of skype is now illegal. and not just "slap you on the wrist bad boy" illegal, no 15 years in prison illegal. not just the use of skype voice calling or video calling land you in jail for 15 years, but also any other video or voice over the internet service (such as facebook or gmail) will put you in jail for 3 to 8 years as well. (i understand that the above sentence may have sounded a bit jumbled.... but bear with me. i just lost out on phone privileges for the next year with my fiancé)
t and i found out about the law a month after it was in place. so i'm mostly furious, but also relieved that we found out before they carted him off to jail. and 15 years is WAY more than 1 year.
sometimes bad things happen. and there's nothing you can do about it.
good thing we have a big God.
t and i are trusting that God is in this... somehow, this is good. this has to be for our good, and he is either teaching us something incredible from it, or doing something incredible with it, or showing his love in some incredible way. he has to be. because he is God. and he is love. and don't think i say that all light heartedly like, oh well!!! i don't care because God is good and therefore this is awesome!!! cause it's NOT. and i feel sick to my stomach about it, and it's not fair and i wanna break something. but (gritting teeth) God IS present in this stinky situation. because of who he is and who he says we are.
can you guys pray? we..... are gonna need it.
however, sometimes bad things do happen. like timone says in the lion king, (on of my personal favorite african movies....) "sometimes bad things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it." well, one of those uncontrollable-except-by-god things just happened. and it happened in the form of the ethiopian government. that's right folks. heard anything new lately about what's going on across the pond? apparently the ethiopian government doesn't like skype. that's right, skype. to restrict the communication flow in and out of the country, or to protect the ethiopian phone service, or to cause much pain and suffering to star-crossed lovers.... i don't know why but according to this:
"Users already face up to 15 years in jail if they use Skype or similar internet call services." http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18461292
and this:
"If you're heading to Ethiopia sometime soon, I'd like to offer you one small but crucial bit of advice: Don't get on Skype.
The Ethiopian government last month passed a law making it a crime for people to utilize audio or video communication using Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) services, which include Google Voice, Skype and essentially any other video chat service available.
So what's the punishment? Well, the maximum penalty for breaking the law is 15 years in prison. That's right -- a decade and a half."http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-skype-ethiopia-15-years-jail-20120615,0,6747631.story
and even this:
"Using VOIP services is now punishable by up to 15 years in prison. This law actually passed last month, but mostly went unnoticed outside of the country. Ethiopian authorities argue that they imposed these bans because of “national security concerns” and to protect the state's telecommunications monopoly. The country only has one ISP, the state-owned Ethio Telecom, and has been filtering its citizens' Internet access for quite some time now to suppress opposition blogs and other news outlets."
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55941:ethiopia-criminalises-voip-use
the use of skype is now illegal. and not just "slap you on the wrist bad boy" illegal, no 15 years in prison illegal. not just the use of skype voice calling or video calling land you in jail for 15 years, but also any other video or voice over the internet service (such as facebook or gmail) will put you in jail for 3 to 8 years as well. (i understand that the above sentence may have sounded a bit jumbled.... but bear with me. i just lost out on phone privileges for the next year with my fiancé)
t and i found out about the law a month after it was in place. so i'm mostly furious, but also relieved that we found out before they carted him off to jail. and 15 years is WAY more than 1 year.
sometimes bad things happen. and there's nothing you can do about it.
good thing we have a big God.
t and i are trusting that God is in this... somehow, this is good. this has to be for our good, and he is either teaching us something incredible from it, or doing something incredible with it, or showing his love in some incredible way. he has to be. because he is God. and he is love. and don't think i say that all light heartedly like, oh well!!! i don't care because God is good and therefore this is awesome!!! cause it's NOT. and i feel sick to my stomach about it, and it's not fair and i wanna break something. but (gritting teeth) God IS present in this stinky situation. because of who he is and who he says we are.
can you guys pray? we..... are gonna need it.
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