So, my first blog entry got completely deleted. I don’t know how, but the actual doc is completely empty. I will try to reproduce it in this entry, and include everything that has happened so far.
We arrived late on March 16th, and Brother Moges (pronounced MO-ges) and Brother Alemayehu (pronounced Al-uh- MY-hu) were waiting at the airport to pick us up. They were very excited to see us, and called us Brother from the get go. When I say us, I am including Bill Mara, Matt Huddleston, Harry O’Laughlin, and myself. In fact, everyone here is Brother or Sister. It’s very uplifting that they automatically assume close relationship with us. We walked out to the cars after going through customs (my case got searched, but no questions were asked). At the cars, I saw my first stray dog. It wouldn’t be my last. I saw at least four more dogs on the way to the church of Christ compound in Addis Ababa.
The drive was very interesting, and we seemed to pass from affluence to squalor, depending on the block. The road would be in good condition, then it would be completely torn up, then back to good condition. I saw lots of make-shift construction using poles and beams of various sizes, covered in corrugated tin. LOTS of tin. Fences along the side of the road are made of corrugated tin as well. It was really late, so we saw very few pedestrians. Alemayehu drove a car with Harry and I, Moges drove a pickup with Bill and Matt. The driving in Ethiopia is not the scariest I have ever encountered by far. I think we assume that it is going to be awful whenever we leave the States…it wasn’t. Turn signals are used correctly and there is some courtesy among drivers. I would have no problem driving here.
We arrived at the guest house after a long, long, long trip from Sacramento (the drive wasn’t that long). Where we are staying in Addis is very interesting. Matt put it best when he said, “I feel like I’m staying at my grandmother’s house.” When you walk in the door, there is one main room that functions as a dining room and living room, with a small kitchen at the very front, just to the right of the door. The furniture is an obvious collection of items imported and left by missionaries/workers of the past. There is a very large sofa in the living room, with two chairs on the opposite wall and a coffee table separating them. They are all upholstered to match, including the coffee table. The room itself is defined by a rug and a corner fireplace. There is a dining buffet that is serving as a TV stand, and an assortment of pulp fiction on the coffee table and in the bedrooms.
There are three bedrooms and two baths. Each bedroom has two twin-ish sized beds. The first two nights, Harry and I shared a bedroom, Matt and Bill shared another, and a guy from Seattle, Curt King, had the third one. He is here to oversee the drilling of water wells.
We have a lady, Biretu, that comes in and cooks and cleans for us during the day. The meals in the guest house have been very good. Any errant thought that entered my head about being able to drop a couple of pounds while I was here has left the building.
So, let’s talk about yesterday. What an interesting day March 17th was for me.
Harry and I got started on the computer lab here in Addis Ababa. This is a new structure on the compound. It is a converted shipping container. We met Degu, who was responsible for laying the foundation, cutting and placing the windows, and installing the roof and gutter system. It is impressive, and well-built. The compound itself has several structures, including a fairly large school building with a central play area, a chapel, office spaces, etc. It is placed on a hillside with a pretty good view. Evidently, Degu is responsible for all Church of Christ and deaf school construction throughout all of Ethiopia. This work spans 40 years, so Degu is not a young man anymore. He reminds me of my father-in-law; a hard worker who doesn’t expect much in return.
Anyway, we met the young man that we would be working with on the computer labs in Addis and Awassa. His name is Shimeles (pronounced Shi-MAL-es). He is another hard worker and has done amazing work with the existing lab in Awassa. We started by shuffling some computer systems in order to homogenize the environment as much as we could. Harry did most of that while I started making network cables. I brought 250’ of cable with me, but it wasn’t enough, so we are going to get some more cable today. I had the help of Shimeles and a deaf man (I never got his name) for a while, and was able to teach Shimeles how to make an Ethernet cable. We have made good progress so far, and expect to be finished with the lab today. We will spend Friday on training Shimeles on how to utilize the network. I’m going to spend tonight writing documentation on the network itself, so that it is clear what we are doing and why.
After the work day, there was a Bible study, and I was the teacher for this study. This is where it starts to get interesting, so don’t skip this part. J I chose to teach about the idea of what a Christian leader is like, and I used the 23rd Psalm as my basis for this. I taught through an interpreter, which was a complete first for me. I am accustomed to public speaking, but this was entirely different. Any ideas of how much time you think you have, cut it in half. Also, I had to balance between saying enough to make my point, but not so much that it burdened my translator. It’s a weird balancing act, but the guys said I did a pretty good job. Even with one major distraction. During my teaching, a young woman sitting on the front row to the right of me began breast-feeding her baby. When I say that this is un-American, I mean it in the kindest way possible. But this is DEFINITELY not how it happens in America. I completely honor and respect her, and understand the cultural differences associated with childcare abroad. That doesn’t change the fact that a young woman WAS BREASTFEEDING IN THE FRONT ROW WHILE I WAS TALKING. WITH FULL VISUAL IMPACT. A National Geographic moment. I think I handled the distraction as best I could. I hope I didn’t look or seem weird about it at all.
After the evening study, Moges and Alemayehu took us out to a traditional Ethiopian dinner. This was AMAZING. The typical dinner consists of several small-ish helpings of various cooked meats, veggies, and lentils served on a flat, sponge-like bread called injera. According to the Ethiopian guide book, this injera is supposed to induce, and I quote, “earth-shattering flatulence.” Um. Yeah. So, this is served on a large clay platter, so the injera itself covers the whole platter and the other foods are spooned on top of it. You also get rolls of injera to accompany the food. The injera itself is made with a grain called teff and yeast that is allowed to ferment, then baked on a clay slab; so the bread is very sour and tangy, but not bad. Just different. The meats were in various colored sauces, some fairly spicy, but not flaming hot. There was also goat’s cheese, which we did not eat. No dairy for our American digestive systems, thank you. To eat it, you tear off a piece of injera and use it to scoop up some of the other food. A highly interactive meal, and very tasty. I didn’t eat anything that I didn’t like. During our meal, there was live Ethiopian music and dancing. I got some video of that on my blackberry, and will post it to my facebook account.
So, today we need to get started. This has been a long post, but I hope it captures some of the local flavor. Until next time.
