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Skip Ohs Blog

September 22, 2011

The first day of autumn. Well, I'm less than a month away from my journey to Ethiopia and I'm getting excited. I didn't sleep well last night thinking of all the things I want to do to get ready for my trip. I found my water purifiication system today, along with my sleeping pad. Seifu Ibssa says bring a sleeping bag too. I received my visa today in the mail from the Ethiopian Consulate in Los Angeles. I have my shots, ticket and passport so I'm ready to go. Tonight I'm meeting with Seifu and Jim and Lana Reese who will accompany me on the trip. I will make a donation tonight to East African Village Outreach so Lana can buy medicines to donate for our trip. I plan to find out what items I can bring on the trip during our meeting.

I have been communicating with World Vision about the four children I support in Ethiopia. I had to have a background investigation in order to visit them. Unfortunately, they live in different directions out of Addis Ababa. One lives west of Addis, one south, one southwest and one east. They told me it would take six days to visit them, but since we will be traveling through the country I'm asking to know the locations of each of the projects to see if it is possible to stop to see them during our travels. I may not get to see them all this time, but hope to come again to Ethiopia and visit the rest. Next time I hope Adele, my wife will join me.

I've been finding little nuggets of truth reading the scriptures in my daily Quiet Time. Jim says that we maybe called on to give a 5 minute talk in some of the churches, so I hope I can recall some of the lessons God is teaching me. I need to start recording these again in my journal.

October 4, 2011

I started some serious packing today. I will have one duffel bag with children's books to donate and my sleeping mat, and a suitcase with clothes, sleeping bag, medications and toiletries, which will both be checked. Then I'll have a carry on suitcase with more clothes, snack food, medications and a small amount of toiletries for the trip. I will have a day pack with books, iPod, noise canceling headphones, a computer to bring to the high school students, and inflatable pillow, sleeping mask, and camera. Still contemplating what I should bring, it all depends on how much room and how much weight I have once I finishing packing the essentials. When we are in the villages, there won't be many latrines, so it will be similar to backpacking.

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback from friends and acquaintances and have told several people about my blog. I've received some donations which I am giving for medicines we will buy in Ethiopia for the clinics that Lana, our nurse, will be conducting. I have a preliminary design for the foot bridge  for Seifu's village Acheber. We will buy the materials in Addis and have them trucked to the site. We will be helping to construct playground equipment at two schools in two villages.

Checked on my insurance today and was glad to see I have medical coverage while overseas in case I am sick or injured.

I am missing a spell checker.

October 19, 2011

Jim & Lana Turner, Seifu Ibssa and I leave Sacramento on a Delta flight to Atlanta on our way to Ethiopia. They are the board members for the East African Village Outreach.

October 20, 2011

From Atlanta we fly to Washington DC were we meet Art and Lesley Huffaker who are from San Diego. He is a physician, she a former school teacher.

October 21, 2011

Together we fly to Addis Ababa on Ethiopian Airlines a 12 and a half hour flight. I am reading a book my lovely wife Adele gave me called Blue Like Jazz by Don Miller. Two people ask me how I like it. Since I was just starting it I couldn't tell, but they both really liked the book. It is non-religious look at Christian spirituality.

October 22, 2011

We made it through customs and immigration with no problems, though they checked Seifu's baggage for some rechargeable light bulbs, but did not charge him after he convinced them they aren't for resale. We meet his brother's Heilu and Shim, along with Tadessa an employee for the Guennet church and Getu the president of the Guennett church. The church is partnered with the East African Village Outreach to evangelize and help support the outlying people of Ethiopia.

They take us to the St. Michels Socio-Pastoral Training Center, where we are to stay. For 28 days I pay only $214 total, you can pay that per night in the US. They don't have toilet seats on their toilets. At 6 pm the church bells ring. I can hear the choir sing beautifully. Later I hear drums, but I don't know where they are coming from. The city is hazy, and windy.

Getu takes us to lunch. I have fish cutlets with vegetables. Lesley orders fish and rice but has to send it back because the fish has gone bad. That night we go to dinner at the Green View Restaurant over looking the city. Pastor Ashebir from the Guennet church goes with us. Everyone is very friendly. Seifu tells us about his childhood as a Shepard, becoming a Christian, coming to America and meeting his wife Mulu

October 23, 2011

During the night I can hear the Muslim call to prayer sometime around 5 am. At 6 am the church bells start ringing, but by then I am well rested. I thought I was getting a cold, but it seems to be just the affects of the long flight. I did have some swelling in my legs from the long plane flight, but it goes away during the night. After a breakfast of coffee, juice, bread and crepes at 7 am, we depart for Tulu Bolo. We first meet the 12th grade boys and see their dormitory which consists of an 8' by 8' room where three of them live. We then meet the four 12th grade girls.

Next we go to Harbu Chulule to meet the 9th thru 11th graders. We first meet the director Fekade of the student center; of about 85 students there are 18 girls in this group. There are two parents visiting their children from Acheber, one has three in high school. One student named Tallegin Chalala is an athlete who runs 5,000 and 10,000 meter races.

We then leave for Acheber on a gravel road. As we descend into the city we see a valley with a large grazing area. This is common land used by the farmers. They have given Seifu 10,000 square meters to build a school and guest house. We drive thru the village to get a better view of the property Seifu's family owns. Many houses on the hillside are the traditional round building with a thatched roof, houses in town are rectangular with metal roofs. On the way back to the guest house we stop to see Seifu's sister who is walking back from the Sunday open air market. She kisses him repeatedly then kisses us. He is her favorite.

At the guest house, which is new, Seifu has never seen it. It is the traditional round building construction, but has a metal roof. His cousin Teshale has had it built. There is one big room with mats on a dirt floor. We meet many family members and neighbors and buy a lamb for 300 Birr for dinner( less than $18). They prepare it for us and serve it with bread, Ingira and false banana and barley bread. At night we went out and saw more stars than I have every seen. The Milky Way is very clear with no moon up, I've never seen it brighter. We can't walk to the latrine alone at night because of the Hyenas.

October 24, 2011

We got up and had breakfast of lamb, bread and false banana/barley bread. A school mate of Seifu's comes to visit, Pastor Wami. We go and visit a spring water project that the contractor hasn't finished so it isn't catching all the water. Seifu tells Tadessa from the Guennet church and he will arrange for the contractor to return. We see some of the apple trees that were planted, but they aren't very big, but Pastor Wami says his trees already have four apples. We get to look into a neighbor's house, it is a traditional house. They keep the animals inside at night because of the Hyenas. We visit the school Seifu had built, which is in session. It is a kindergarten. There are older children outside who watch the livestock until they go to school in the afternoon. We then visit a government school and try to arrange tutors for the kids in another school Seifu has built for the older kids. We also visit the clinic we will be working with. Many of the patients have water borne diseases and TB.

When I get home I take a shower and sleep for about 40 minutes before going out to dinner at Getu's house. We have some traditional Ethiopia dishes along with Lasagne and pizza. His wife Amboo prepares coffee in the traditional. I'm so exhausted from our travels, I almost fall asleep so we go home at 9 pm, everyone else is tired and was ready to go too. Getu attended the Azusa Pacific University master's program that Adele and I were suppose to teach in 2006. We weren't able to go because of a problem between the university and the government. Gettu's  wife is an accountant with World Vision; and my wife and I support 4 children through World Vision that live in Ethiopia.

October 25, 2011

I sleep well until 6 am when the church bell rings, and get up shortly thereafter. After breakfast I spent the morning resting and reading. Seifu comes for some planning just before lunch and we then went out with Jim & Lana for lunch. I visited World Vision to arrange my visit with just two of my children. The other two children I support through World Vision live too far from Addis for me to visit on this trip. One is Awasso and the other in Nazareth.

October 26, 2011

We flew to Lalibela today, which means "Honey Eater". I am going to share some of the things the tour guides have told us, but I can't guarantee the accuracy for some of it is folklore. Also, the spelling of some words can vary, i.e. Axum is also spelled as Askum. We stayed at the Roha hotel, which means Place of the saints. We saw 5 churches hewn out of rock from the 16th century. It took 40,000 workers 23 years to finish them. Churches in Ethiopia usually have three rooms: one for prayer and chanting, an assembly room for communion, and a holy of hollies where a replica of the ark of the covenant is kept. Only the priest can go into the holy of hollies. They have tried to replicate many places from the holy land there like the river Jordan where Jesus was baptized, and Mt. Tabor. We had to take off our shoes before entering a church, and we had an attendant who went with us to guard them. The most beautiful is the church of St. George, built in the shape of a cross.

My knees really hurt from walking up and down so many stairs. Art is sick and did not join us. Teshale, Seifu's nephew takes the afternoon off because his eyes are hurting him. Teshale has asked Seifu to take him here by plane for over 5 years, too bad he couldn't be there the whole time.

October 27, 2011

We flew to Axum today to see the Monoliths of the Axum Dynasty of the 6th century A.D. We saw the Ethiopian Rosetta Stone that has three languages on it: Geez, Arabic and Shimlach. In the afternoon we went to the ruined palace of the Queen of Sheba. We learned that Ethiopia means "strong peace" from our anthropologist tour guide. He had to give up his work as an anthropologist because of an accident that broke his leg at a dig in Basel. We went to the church of St. Mary. One of the smaller churches in the compound is suppose to have the original ark of the covenant.

We went to our hotel, but the restaurant was closed for renovation. We changed to the Exodus Hotel. During the night we could hear bugs circling us. All of us got bites on our arms. Art and Teshale again join us for meals and sight seeing. We begin to tire of touring because we have seen 4 days of sites in 2 days.

October 28, 2011

We next fly to Gonder, a previous capital of Ethiopia after Lalibela and Axum. Seems every dynasty changes the capital. The palace of Gonder consists of a main castle built by Faisal and six castles inside the palace grounds built by sons and grandsons. Two of the castles were destroyed by the British during World War II when they bombed the Italians who had occupied it. We also visited the Holy Trinity Church of the Light which has beautiful old paintings on the walls. We learn the Heile Salaise means "Holy Trinity."

We are so tired we elect not to see the baths of the kings.

October 29, 2011

Today we flew back to Addis. I tried to write down some of my impressions. There is poverty everywhere and a population explosion. There is a lot of construction in Addis, and it looks like the population is moving into the cities as they become educated. The economy is changing rapidly as they move to a modern age from an agricultural society, but the government can't keep up. Half the high school kids we met want to be doctors. The people are superstitious, but many are spiritual.

The traffic is wild as drivers try and miss the pot holes, pedestrians, live stock and other vehicles.You can't drive without your horn. It is amazing at how well the drivers and pedestrians mix, they seem to read one another's minds when they look one another in the eye. The markets are a hub of activity, we saw the largest one in Africa on Sunday on the way to church. We smell the roasting of coffee everywhere. There are no Bibles in the hotels, but they have condoms in the night stand.

Went to the Crown Hotel to have an authentic Ethiopian meal along with dancing and singing from the various regions.The food was delicious and the dancing was sensuous with any showing of flesh. I got the impression that most of the music and dancing was for courting.  They do a traditional coffee ceremony, which even the poor seem to do daily.  This is not as structured as the Japanese tea ceremony, but never the less an important event. We had honey wine, the first was non-alcoholic, then second was alcoholic.   We didn't drink much of it.

The air is very dry, my nose is spotting blood.The blankets spark at night when you move them from low humidity.

October 30, 2011

Went to one of the 645 Guennet Churches.They are partnering with Compassion International to support over 5,000 children in Ethiopia. This local church supports 275 children. The Spirit of the Lord is present in the worship. You can see the joy of the Lord on the faces of the people. Art, Seifu, Lesley and I speak briefly to the congregation. Jim is sick so he and Lana stay in the guest house. We have lunch with a delightful couple who preach at another Guennet Church. They are old friends of Seifu, Pastor Seleshi and Alemuesh Kebide and we have wonderful fellowship. They have a son studying at Sacramento City College.

October 31, 2011

Some additional impressions.  When I see the teff growing in the fields it reminds me of the verse in the New Testament about the fields are white for harvest. Teff is used to make ingira, the major bread used to eat.  The evangelical church is seeing a fast growth as they minister to the people.  Flying over Ethiopia looks like flying over dozens of mini Grand Canyons.  Another one of the breads they serve is made from the false banana tree and is sometimes mixed with barley, it is called inset.  Lana reports that a boy of six ate nothing but enset and was not developing properly, he looked about three or four.  When driving to Acheber I saw a lady get off the bus and go to the back of the bus to retrieve a chicken out of the back compartment.  This is a country of contrasts:  women collecting wood and internet cafes: older women in traditional garb and younger women skin tight denims.   Interesting that even with the high altitude it doesn't snow in Ethiopia. The clocks here never seemed to be set correctly until I find out they start the day at 6 am our time instead of midnight.

On our way to the country we stopped to pick up a nurse named Ainee.  We also picked up Yeshi, a sister-in-law of Seifu who is our cook.  She performs magic with the wonderful meals she prepares, it is like backpacking in Acheber.  She prepared fried bread which is one of Jim and Lana's favorites. We went to the market and saw Seifu's sister again.  There were hundreds of people selling vegetables, grain, honey, soap, salt, and animals.  They congregated in sections according to what they were trying to sell.  They hobble the sheep and donkeys by tying their front legs together.

November 1, 2011

We met a sister and brother from Acheber who just passed their nursing exam.  The girl, Sintu wants to become a doctor.  We met her family when we dropped her off in Acheber.  Jim & Lana gave two rag dolls to Seifu's nieces in Acheber.  They also got out a Frisbee and played with some of the local boys.  We had a medical clinic in Acheber, there were hundreds of people waiting when we arrived.  The clinic was done at the Government clinic along with their nurses and Sintu and her brother.  Many of the women have Goiter, which can be solved by giving them iodized salt. There was a dying horse outside the clinic that had a broken leg.  It died the next day and the dogs were eating it when we left.  We looked at putting a new bridge in but since they couldn't get as large beams for the new bridge, we decided to just upgrade the existing one.

November 2, 2011

Walked up to the water project.  On the way stopped by a neighbors house.  They have a small pole in front of the house with a cup on top of it to signify they make beer.  They make it in a hollowed log, it lasts about a week before it spoils.  The original contractor came back with us to complete the water project.  He moved the dam to satisfy the water development board, and then filled in the pool behind it with rocks.  He was planning to concrete over the rocks to on Sunday. 

We see Pastor Seleshi in the hotel, he was meeting with leaders from the Evangelical Church, the Coptic Church and the Catholic Church to coordinate plans for evangelism. The next morning we saw the head of the Ethiopian Coptic Church. That night I was able to watch a little of BBC world news, but the power kept going out so I gave up and went to bed.

November 3, 2011

It rained during the night, which will help keep the dust down. We drove to Endegagn to do a medical clinic. This is the home of the pastor of the Ethiopian Christian Fellowship in Sacramento, Pastor Tamarat. They have an unfinished school their.The children are sent home to get their parents for permission to be seen at the medical clinic. Hundreds show up, it is a problem to control the crowd. We meet with the town elders to work out a plan to finish the school, and give them the funds to do that: put in doors and windows, pour concrete floors missing in two of the four classrooms, purchase desks, supplies and office furniture. We also go down to the stream to see about a water project they requested, but it is impractical due to the elevation they would need to pump the water to the village. Putting in a well is more practical, since water is only 12 meters down. They town has no electricity because they can't afford to buy a transformer, though electric lines go through the village.

Driving along the road you can see the women gathering water and washing clothes, but most of the water is muddy. Erosion is a very big problem here, since it has been heavily deforested. There are donkeys everywhere carrying water back to the homes. Getting water is a major daily task, along with collecting fire wood. We often see donkey and sheep tied to a stake by the side of the road, so they can graze. They hobble the horses that are grazing in pasture by tying a road around their neck and then to a hind leg. We see a lot of Eucalyptus trees cut down by the side of the road. They plant them because they grow so fast. They use them for firewood, construction and scaffolding. Some of the wood scaffolds are many stories high for the hotels and apartments they are constructing, there is a lot of construction going on. Many of the younger children are carrying their younger siblings on their backs. As we drive through the towns, though vehicles slow down they never get down to 30 kph which is the speed limit. On our way back to Addis we see a lot of cattle be driven to market for Sunday is a Muslim holiday and they use them for sacrifices. We drive into the evening to get back to Addis, that is a wild experience dogging the animals and pedestrians in the night.

November 4, 2011

I awoke about 4 am, and around 5 am I could hear the Muslim call to prayer. It is very loud, and makes it hard to sleep. I have a headache, so I took some aspirin and sprayed my noise so I soon felt much better. I was feeling a little oppressed, they culture is very superstitious, though the people mostly appear happy. Sometimes you do get scowls from people.

It rains some today. As you drive by the streams they usually are muddy, from animals using them, people doing their laundry and whatever else. Then you see folks filling their water bottles from the same water. That is why the water projects are so important.

Everywhere I noticed that the clocks seemed to be set wrong, until I found out that their day starts at 6 am instead of midnight. So 7 am is 1 daytime, night time starts a 6 pm. I think I already blogged this.

Goiter seems to be a big problem here since they don't use iodized salt. Seifu is not feeling well. It is funny that the Ethiopian is having more problems with his stomach than the rest of us. Lana is getting bitten by bugs. I have given her my bug spray, but she still gets bites. She and Jim went to buy more drugs from Gettu's poharmacy.

I have been listening to Cutting for Stone, a book that I read before that I highly recommend because it has so many cultural norms about Ethiopia. It has the description of the cup on top of the stick in front of the house to notify the public that they sell liquor and beer. He also explains why the boys have shaved heads, with a tuft of hair in the front. That is so if they die, God can pick them up by the tuft to take them to heaven.

November 5, 2011

Tim and Bill Kesselring arrive from the states. Tim is a landscape contractor from El Dorado Hills, Bill runs a service company for vinters, servicing 22 vineyards in the Avila Beach area. They both have masters degrees in agriculture which proves to be very useful in Acheber. Tim brought seeds to try at Acheber. Tim works with Lakeside from Folsom on projects overseas. They are tired but try and stay us so they can sleep at night. Seifu is feeling better, but not eating much. I am spending a lot of time reading.

The next day we go to the fabric area, I buy two Gabby's, a traditional over garment. They didn't buy anything, but get hassled to buy souvenirs from all the street walkers. They are a head taller than everyone else, and stick out with their cameras with large lenses.

November 6, 2011

Jim and I went to the Beza International Church that is in English. Church was to start at 11 am, it didn't start 11:30 am. While waiting in front of the church we had meat filled samosas and coffee. We met a group from New York who came to attend a wedding of an American woman and an Ethiopian man. They also were planning to build an orphanage.

Tim, Bill, Jim and I walked to the ToTo restaurant. We had some beverages, and JIm and I had dinner. Seifu and Heilu met us there and took Tim and Bill to Getu's for dinner. They also do traditional dances, but we leave before it starts.

November 7, 2011

We got up and had breakfast. Heilu, Yeshi the cook meet us with a friend who was an army Colonel. So we call him "Colonel," he is driving his pickup to Acheber for us. We also get an interpreter, Abrahem to go with them. Seifu arranges for a 12 passenger van, to take the rest of us. We meet in Tulu Bolo, and set up a volleyball net for the students at the student center. EAVO purchased a table tennis set, so we play some ping pong. Abraham is part of the Assembly of God church, and delivers a short sermon at night on Eccl. 2:1-10.

We go see the water project to find it is about 90% complete. The contractor didn't have enough materials to cover the rocks protecting the spring. Teshale, Seifu's cousin, tells us we have to put up a retaining wall according to the Water Department Board. As I watched the workers, there is a protocol that if someone is shoveling dirt or concrete and you are older, you get to take the shovel away from the younger person.

We have to get permission from the local governor to have a medical clinic in the kindergarten. They seen 92 people. The interpreter, Abrahem is a pharmacy tech, so he explains the dosage to the patients, so Lana and Ainee, the nurses can see more patients. I have to be a gate guard to ensure people don't rush to get into the clinic. Bill and Tim supervise the the installation of the merry-go-round, swing set, volleyball net, and soccer goals. During the clinic, pastor Wami talks to the people about Jesus, and two receive Christ.

Seifu calls Heilu, Gashi, which means protector. People in Acheber also call Seifu Gashi.

November 8, 2011

There was a big feast on Tuesday night, we bought two sheep and had about 60 people there, mostly invited elders. There was a big discussion at the end, Seifu challenged them because the village had expected us to pay for the materials, he said they should donate them since it was their children who would be using the bridge, not his. They agreed, and so they spoke up as to what they could donate. We thought they were having an argument until Seifu translated. We did finish the spring, though it rained off and on during the day Wednesday. They are going to Roben Jerriche tomorrow, when I visit my first sponsored child with World Vision. We will be done Wednesday, so we are asking Heilu to see if we can come home earlier.

November 9, 2011

We wake us to rain on the roof. It rains on and off all day long, but we finish the water project. We leave Acheber for this trip, and it looks like we won't repair the bridge this time. They never got the materials. We drive home in the dark, everyone drives in the middle of the road so to not hit the pedestrians and animals on the side of the road. The driver can't find our guest house, so he stops three times to get directions, finally I direct him how to get there from the landmarks I see. It was interesting since he couldn't speak English, but he was very apologetic. Abrahem, our interpreter has met a boy and is adopting him to raise him. He spoke to his parents, and they gave their consent. He will raise the boy as a Christian, and this is a good opportunity for the boy, who has never even been to Addis Ababa.

November 10, 2011

Went to the largest outdoor market in Africa. It was very interesting. I just bought a couple of baskets, but Bill and Tim bought stools, carved plates, scarves, and ceramic coffee pots. Jim and Lana came too, along with Abrahem our interpreter and his cousin. They sell everything there from chickens to re-bar. Some people did not want to be photographed, I found out later it is because they are afraid someone will sell their photo to media. Muslims are especially sensitive. Went to the Hilton see see if I could get an earlier flight since we won't be going back to Acheber, If we can get a flight on Ethiopian Airlines, then we can't get a seat on Delta and vice versa. They checked from November 13 to November 19. We did go on the standby list for November 13. Got my muddy tennis shoes cleaned for 2 Birr, about 12 cents.

November 11, 2011

I was told that there is no middle class in Ethiopia, you are either considered rich or poor. Education is no guarantee that you will get a job, since many graduates have to look for a long time. I found out the Ethiopian word for vegetarian is "fasting." The restaurants don't serve meat on Wednesday and Friday, only chicken and fish.

Left for Nazareth today, which was formally known as Adama; the second largest city in Ethiopia. Our driver is Endale and Project coordinator is Solomon, they take me to the project to see my sponsor child Bete. The rainy season is usually in July when the monsoons come, but it is raining today which is bad for the teff, barley and wheat because it knocks it down. As we drive along we repeatedly see the sign to ask for a ride usually from a bus or a taxi: extend your hand out with palm up, and raise and lower your arm. As we drive along, we often smell coffee roasting, for they like to drink coffee. We are on the road to Djibouti, there are a lot of trucks because that is the port that supports Ethiopia. There is a distribution center in Mojo, known as a dry port. It has containers stacked 3 high in about a 10 by 10 square.

When we arrive at the project I meet the director Tefahun Eyoel. He gives me a briefing on the project. They concentrate on education, security, health, water and sanitation for their sponsorship program. They work with a community of 92,000, and have 3,300 sponsor children in 30 villages in their sponsorship program. We drove to my sponsor child's house, but Bete is very shy. His father and grandfather on his mother's side are not. The family came out to meet us because we had to walk about 300 yards over rocky terrain. His house is much smaller than the huts in Acheber, about half the size. His father and grandfather are farmers raising corn for personal consumption, they don't sell it. I gave them a gift of 1000 Birr, the limit you can give without going through the headquarters, they were very thankful. He plans to buy an ox, because the only livestock they now have is one ox. They need 3000 Birr to buy and ox, so World Vision may encourage them to buy goats, which reproduce twice a year. They can sell them and then buy an ox.

The grandfather on the mother's side is my age, and still working as a farmer, though he has retired from his day job. Bete's father has 4 children, 2 boys and 2 girls. They thought we had a lot in common. I showed them some of the photos of my family on my cell phone. They served my roasted corn and coffee. I stayed about an hour. We went back to the compound by way of a water project they had just completed with a 100 meter deep well. I noticed on the way home that a lot of people were wearing orange clothes. I asked if it was because they are Oromo, but the answer I got was because they are Orthodox. We stopped for lunch at a hotel in Adamo with beautiful flowers. After arriving home I met the driver Geremew and Project Coordinator Atsie for my trip tomorrow to Walisso to visit Dagim.

November 12, 2011

Got up again at my usual time of 6 am when the church bell rings. I had breakfast and tried to find an open bathroom on the ground floor before I left. I went into the employee bathroom and got locked in because there is no door handle on the inside. I had to pound on the door and call out for help until the guard heard me and let me out.

Driving to Walisso on Saturday there was a lot less traffic. Most of the vehicles are diesel and they smoke badly. They class their vehicles by their age. A class 1 is newer than a class 3. On the way out of Addis I took a picture of the hundreds of 5 story apartment buildings being built. I notice a lot of wrecked vehicles on the side of the road, most because they overturned. It is very windy, November is a windy month I'm told. We drive by a flower farm in green houses, literally hundreds of them. Looks like they are growing roses. We pass a lot of the three wheeled taxis called Bajajs, also known as Tuk Tuks.

After a 9 km drive on a gravel road observing lots of animals and people walking to market, we stop at the project office in Walisso, then drive to meet Dagim and his family. Again I gave them a 1000 Birr gift, and they are very grateful. Dagim smiles more than Bete did. As I did yesterday, I give all the children gum, they know what to do with it. They seem to have more money because they are better dressed and housed. They serve me honey which I eat with a spoon. We stopped in town at a beautiful resort, that has houses in the styles of the various regions of Ethiopia: Addis, Tegrey, Oromo, etc. They have monkeys roaming the compound. Again, because it is Saturday the return trip is very fast.

Tonight we went to the restaurant Yod Abysinnia, or house of Ethiopia. Again we saw traditional dancers. Some of the dances went on for 30 minutes. One woman seem to shake her head for 15 minutes. The dancing is quite athletic, they must burn thousands of calories a night. The authentic Ethiopia food was delicious. Unfortunately Tim and Bill are not enjoying it.

November 13, 2011

Today is my 40th wedding anniversary and I'm missing my wife. I tried all day to reach her but couldn't get through, but finally I woke up about 2:30 am and tried and got right through, the line was excellent. We only talked a few minutes but it was good to hear her voice. We've been separated before from her even on our anniversary, but usually could talk daily, here I only talk with her once a week so it was very special.

Today I went to the Beza International Church. They had three special things happening. They first had a baby dedication, a pediatrician and his wife brought their daughter, their second child. Second they honored a couple that had been married on Friday at a civil ceremony. He is from Rwanda she was from Nigeria and they met at the church. They gave them a certificate of marriage to commemorate their wedding. Third, they said good bye to a young man who had come to Ethiopia on a short term mission. He started working with the boys that hung around the office building where the church offices are located. They first fed them once a week, then twice a week and finally they rented a house for some 16 boys. He had quit his job and returned to Ethiopia to live with the boys who are now in school. He had been their since February, but was now going back to the states to graduate school.

Tim and Bill got a flight home, but unfortunately because we were on another airline stateside we couldn't get a seat.

November 14, 2011

Today we visited Seifu's mother-in-law, a very warm person. She prepared lunch for us which several of her children and grandchildren served. We had the best Doro Wat I had ever had, with Ingira and ground meat. Doro Wat is a spicy chicken dish with hard boiled eggs. I finished the audio version of Cutting for Stone; if you want to find out more about the culture of Ethiopia, this is an excellent book.

November 15, 2011

Abrahem (that is how he spells it), our interpreter, and I went to the National Museum of Ethiopia. It was a four story building that had everything from ancient artifacts to art from the last century. Ethiopia has many sites of the remains of ancient civilizations. The was a lot of pottery, metal and tools objects but perhaps the most famous is a skeleton namedLucy. The remains of Lucy is among the oldest ever found. She gets her name from the Beatles song "Lucy in the sky with Diamonds." Not sure the connection there, maybe the anthropologists played the song when they were excavating her.

November 16, 2011

Jim, Lana, Abrehem and I visited the Harmin Fistula Hospital in the outskirts of Addis. On the way there we mistakenly went to the wrong hospital and ended up in a complex that had several clinics including leprosy, prognostics, and more. We got redirected to the correct place. Abrahem had set up our appointment, and the women that gave us the tour was a personal friend from church of Abrahem's. She was delightful, and gave an excllent briefing throughout the tour. The grounds were a real oasis, well suited for the healing process that the women are going through. It was immaculately clean. Fistula is caused by young women getting pregnant as early as 11 years old, though now they treat more women in their early twenties. In the birthing process, their babies are unable to go through the birth canal, and after several days the baby dies. The baby will shrivel up and can be extracted, but meanwhile it has done terrible damage to the bladder,rectum and uterus. The mother begins to drip and there is a terrible smell. As a result her husband often divorces her and her family ostracizes her. This can last for years, the women doesn't move around much because of the smell and stigma, and she can even lose her ability to walk. Suicide can sometimes be the option.

The hospital takes in the women, and without any cost feeds them to strengthen them, and then operates sometimes two or three times to repair the problem. It usually takes several months and up to a year to rehabilitate and they can return to their families. The women that can't walk are given physical therapy and counseling. We saw a few women that appeared to be all skin and bones. Some women aren't fortunate and must eventually use a colostomy bag. Many of these women dedicate their lives to helping women with this problem. Others are sent to communities where the women start businesses or find jobs together.

The is also a maternity ward for women who are having a baby after having Fistula. They also have counseling available and Bible classes for those interested. There is a midwife training program, so they can identify women that may have a problem before it leads to Fistula. The government gave the land to the hospital and does a tremendous effort of educating women especially in the rural areas. The is a book about this wonderful place: Hospital by the River, which I plan to read when I get home.

November 17, 2011

Spent a couple of hours reading email and blogging, it felt good to talk about all the wonderful things going on in Ethiopia. I don't know if I mentioned it but our medical team saw about 850 households at the clinics we held. Thanks for all who contributed to the medications.

In driving through the city at night, it is obvious that pedestrians don't have the right away because they mostly yield to vehicles.

November 18, 2011

Visted a project of the Guennet Church that is partnering with Dorcas International in one of the poorest sections of Addis, Liduet. They are sponsoring 389 children who are very poor, homeless or have HIV/AIDS. The sponsored children have a relationship with their sponsors in the Netherlands. They are provided education, emergency financial assistance, food stuffs, recreation, and library. The food usually feeds their family and consists of 60 kg of wheat and 10 liters of cooking oil per month to feed an average household of 5 people. The government helps identify the neediest children. The director was supported by Compassion International as a child, so he understands their plight. He has a degree in biology and is working on a master's degree in leadership. He helped his mother through school and she is now a social worker for the same project. Eventually this section of the city will be torn down and the residents moved into high rise apartments that are under construction.

In the afternoon and evening we met with the leaders of the Guennet Church who told us about their programs of spiritual development, aid to the impoverished and their work with Muslims. They are working within the Muslim culture and see wonderful results. Because of security reasons I can't say much more. They thanked us for our involvement in the partnership with EAVO and gave us gifts at a farewell dinner.

November 19, 2011

We leave tonight, and we are looking forward to getting home. It has been a long month, especially this last week since we were In Addis and not out working in the rural communities.

Epilogue

The Ethiopians are very poor financially but very rich spiritually. Their life is centered around their relationship with the Lord and they often fast and pray.

Here is my photos with captions on Picassa: https://picasaweb.google.com/skip.ohs/Ethiopia2011.

I am reading Wild at Heart with my men's group. Here is a quote that I can identify with "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that because what the world needs is people who have come alive." I've found what makes me come alive. The response from others has been overwhelming.