Hey everyone! Sorry about the delay in getting this first post online. Whether it was a lack of power, internet, or this site being down we haven’t been able to get this long overdue post up for weeks.
Anyways, 17 days into Africa and things have gone well, if not without the predictable chaos. First, in a place we foresaw no problems, Frankfurt, Germany, our plane aborted it's take off with a screech of breaks just as the nose was lifting off the tarmac. We were hurriedly evacuated from the plane to the not so comforting image of smoking wheel-wells and the entirety of the airport fire brigade. We were shuttled into awaiting buses, the first of which promptly broke down as we entered the tunnel leading into the terminal. We were forced to remain inside the overcrowded and stifling-hot buses for near-to an hour with a crowd already in panic-mode from the experience aboard the plane.
We did finally make it safely to Ethiopia on July 3rd, about 5 hours late. Luckily our host, Dr. Abebe lives near enough to the airport that our late arrival was not an enormous inconvenience. He and his family have been incredibly hospitable, driving us in and out of downtown Addis Ababa and feeding us the delicious local cuisine (a fermented wheat flatbread called ingera)…and beer...and, Jay’s favorite (wink wink), plenty of Johnny Walker.
Our first scheduled visit was to the future site of Christian World Foundation’s Acacia Children’s Village, about an hour outside Addis Ababa. When completed, this impressive undertaking will feature a dormitory for 250 orphans awaiting adoption along with a chapel and health clinic for the children as well as the local community. We were particularly impressed by CWF's inclusion of the local population in a project intended to benefit orphans from all over the country. Our visit culminated with a heart-wrenching visit to CWF’s currently operating children’s home. It was difficult to see so many children who had lost their parents in one place, but it was also encouraging to know that the ones we met were on their way to a new life in the United States. Ethiopia is a country with over five million orphans. These were, in fact, some of the lucky ones.
Our next venture was to the south of Ethiopia, to the city of Awassa. Awassa is a very attractive city set amongst a few sparse hills and overlooking a large lake. Although there were a few “ferengies” (white people) in the restaurants, we were the only two who took to exploring the streets. Most traveled in NGO vehicles from restaurant to hotel to office. The novelty of our wanderings showed as every child we passed would chant the only English words they knew “you you you.” In our time in Awassa we meandered through the town and its large market quite a bit, hiked a local hill that gave a beautiful view of both the rural areas and the lake, chatted with college students, and got a taste for Ethiopian nightlife (which essentially means bars packed with men and everyone heading home by 9).
Our reason for heading south first was to visit Lon Kennard and the Village of Hope. 15 years ago Lon and his wife adopted several children from Ethiopia. When they went to pick up the new additions to their family they were stunned by the poverty they saw and their children’s heart-wrenching stories. They decided to try and make an even greater difference in the lives of even more Ethiopians. The difference we witnessed first hand was nothing short of miraculous. Beyond their home for at-risk children they also have “reinvented” agriculture in the local area and begun to spread new practices and strategies to prevent famine across Ethiopia. They have also expanded their work from the site we visited to the South of the country where they are working to provide education and healthcare to a small rural tribe, a program for street children in Addis Ababa and even a new project in Uganda. We wish Lon, his family and, the Village of Hope the best of luck in their current and future endeavors!
Our trip back North to Addis was, to say the least, an experience. We were able to catch a bus from Shashamene (the land of the Rastafarians) to a town about 2 hours outside of Addis; that was the only indication we had as to the location of this town. That part was relatively easy if not cramped, hot and quite smelly. We arrived in this small town in the dark and were fortunate to find a van to take us to Addis. Jay was pampered in this section of the trip as he got to ride in the front seat. I was given a wooden stool on the floor in the back, and we both got to watch through the windshield as the van darted, near 100 mph, through oncoming trucks and buses as our driver munched incesently on the local narcotic, "chaat." When we did arrive in Addis, six hours after our departure, we decided not to push our luck in the dark bus park and took a cab to a well lit café to meet Abebe. As we pulled away from a traffic light we noticed that both the engine and all electricity in the cab had ceased and we were simply rolling, unlit and un-powered, down Addis’s busiest street. “No problem” the cab driver assured us as cars narrowly avoided us as we coasted our way to the curb. After tinkering with the engine a bit the cab driver got back in and instead of the car firing up again he simply rolled it back into traffic. This time when the car rolled to a stop he exited the car and sprinted away with Jay and I locked in the backseat. Only after climbing through the front and, in the process, ripping off his passenger side door panel, then using a jackknife to pop the trunk to get our bags were we able to get free. As we walked away the driver came screaming back out of an alley demanding payment. We refused and he finally gave up after pummeling Jay's bag a bit.
Our next venture, after a recovery day at Abebe’s, was to Gonder in the north. We caught a bus Addis at 5am (left at 6:15, we still haven’t mastered Africa time) and began what would eventually be a 13 ½ hour bus ride to the far north-westerly city (Gonder is known as "The Camelot of Africa" as it was once an imperial capital and remains home to several castles). The ride north in a private company’s coach was quite comfortable and the scenery was spectacular. We rose out of Addis into high farmlands that could easily be mistaken for Vermont (the pouring rain and 50F temperature also drew a resemblance). Then, in an incredible change of scenery, the highlands dropped away into a massive gorge with the Nile River lying at the bottom of what is about an hour-long descent on cliff-edge singletrack. The charred-wrecks of trucks, and not so encouragingly, buses could be seen strewn across the cliffs for the duration of the descent. Once across the Nile we again rose to a high plateau and then hours later, after again crossing the Nile, into the Simien Mountains. These mountains, as featured on Planet Earth, are incredible. Their high, pointed spires are dotted with tiny farming communities. Jay and I both remarked that they look more like something you would expect in Southeast Asia or the Andes.
We arrived, once again in the rain, at our government-run hotel at dark and were too tired to venture into the city. The site of the hotel is amazing, set atop cliffs that overlook the city. The hotel itself? Not so fantastic. Anyways, we were greeted the next morning by a beautiful sunrise over the mountains. The castles of Gonder below lay in mist creating a most fantasy-like image.
Our first task, before we could enjoy the sites, was to find transport back to Addis for the next day. After some struggle we found the private bus company’s office where we were informed the next available bus was 4 days later. Not a good situation. Fortunately we were able to find a public bus headed for Addis the next day and were able to enjoy the sites of a great city for the rest of the day.
The next day started at 4:00 and not well. Again it was raining, our taxi driver hosed us ($7 for a 5 mile ride? Absurd by Ethiopian standards), and Jay had to battle the guys putting our bags on the roof. They asked for money because, as they said, “it’s a long ways to Addis.” “Ya, but it remains the same distance to the top of the bus” Jay countered. He eventually came out victorious with the help of an onlooker embarrassed by her countrymen's attempt at extorting visitors.
Three hours into the ride and it looked like the public bus may only be a few hours slower than the private but it was certainly not comfortable. Like our trip to Awassa the bus was overcrowded and again, no one opened their windows. A man dying of tuberculosis lay and moaned in the isle next to us. Nevertheless, our spirits were leveled by the fact that we remained ahead of schedule even after pit-stops for an elderly woman who had soiled herself, two flat tires and a 75-cent lunch (Coke included). We passed through the biggest towns of the trip and the Nile Gorge – this time I think we both said a few more Hail Mary’s as the old Fiat bus made the descent – and were still on a good pace. The passing of these landmarks served to alleviate some of our fears of spending the night somewhere along the road. We had been warned of this uncomfortable fate by a student we had met and ate dinner with the night before.
We were just three hours away from Addis when our hopes were sunk. The bus pulled-off the road and into the corrugated steel gate of the aptly-named “Africa Hotel.” We were horded by the hotel's owners into a tiny, dingy room for the night. We had no idea what town we were in, met no one who spoke English (except a few young men who were upset Obama visited Ghana and not Ethiopia), and were not so excited about sleeping in what amounted to an Ethiopian flop-house. In the end, a night sleeping fully clothed on top of the sheets was not as terrible as we had anticipated. Nor was the 4AM departure.
We arrived safely back in Addis and have spent a few relaxing days here at Abebe’s, preparing for the next leg of the trip. Tomorrow morning we will leave Addis on another public bus for the border of Kenya, a town called Moyale. From there we will look for a truck to Nairobi. Our reason for taking a truck is the safety of the convoys in which they travel. Northern Kenya, near to the border of Somalia, is renowned for its dangerous bandits and warring tribes.
As difficult as our trip may sound to this point I could not be happier to be back in Africa and Jay is enjoying his first time here. We are both looking forward to the changing scenery and challenges Kenya will surely present!
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