19/6/2001

Yes, it is the nineteenth day of the sixth month in the year 2001 according to the Ethiopian calendar. I am officially living in the past.
I have spent slightly over a week in Ethiopia, and I am in love. I have transitioned from being a “muzungu” (foreigner in Uganda) to a “forenge” (foreigner in Ethiopia). I was one in a group of twenty, now I am one in a group of three. I was living in a bustling metropolis, now I am living in a compound that is surrounded by villages of mud huts. I was using matatu (public taxis) to get around, now I ride in a peptobismol pink Land Cruiser (the color is by request of the Japanese donor: he wanted it to stand out). I was eating rolex (chipati and egg on the street) and Americanized food cooked by Grace, now I eat spaghetti for breakfast and ngera with sauce for the other two meals, cooked by Banchayo. I used to wake up at 7:30 to eat breakfast and get to class on time. Now I wake up at 6:45, wash my face, and enjoy devotions with the rest of the Sasiga FHI staff for an hour. Breakfast follows at 8:30. I used to sleep on the top bunk, now I sleep on a mattress on the floor. I used to get dirty, now I get covered in red dirt. I used to utilize a larger variety in my wardrobe, now I wish I only had 4 shirts and 2 skirts here with me. I used to write in large font in my journal, now I am writing as small as I can because I have nearly filled it and there is no chance of buying a new one for at least a week.
Oh friends, I wish that you could be here beside me for a moment to experience what I am experiencing. Like Grace Kibuye told us, “Ethiopia is practicum all on its own”. From the moment we got off the plane on Monday, February 16, we knew that. The security guards tried to confiscate Eli’s video camera because it was “professional”. After some convincing, they let him keep it. Aweke Solomon met us at the airport and took us to a fantastic little lodge for the night. Hot showers were a plus!!!
On Tuesday we embarked on what turned out to be an 11 hour trek west from Addis Ababa. We learned one thing about Aweke: He loves coffee. And after spending more time with him here at Sasiga, we learned that he likes mangoes as well. Even though they’re still slightly green because the season is not yet upon us. On Wednesday we took Suzy and Kristen to Belo, where there is an FH compound about 25 kilometers away. We forged through a few large creeks on the way there. We haven’t seen them since, but are hoping to give them a phone call tonight.
Eli, Tessa and I have traveled together for a majority of the past week, visiting farms, water points, and giving health presentations. It has been frustrating to have such a great language barrier, but thankfully we have several good translators. I have given 2 short biology presentations to grade 8 students, an education and adolescence talk to a group of approximately 100 middle school girls, explained the US education system to teachers, instructed a group of community women in nutrition, and made various other “speeches” at goodbye parties and other community functions.
In the past week I have: attended an informal wedding, gone to market, milked a cow, attempted to spin cotton on a drop spindle (which I literally DROPPED on the ground- I felt so sorry that I soiled the dear grandmother’s pristinely white thread), conducted innumerable interviews, learned a few Amharic and Oromo words, read a Karen Kingsbury novel, as well as “Mountains beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder (an incredibly inspiring true story about a doctor who commits everything he has to serving the poor), finished “Mere Christianity”, walked 30 minutes to a farm only to sprain my ankle and ride back to the compound on a dirtbike driven by Desta, eaten countless mangoes and slices of papaya, started to crave ngera, attended a large Christian conference where I was prophesied over, talked for hours with Tessa and Eli, as well as Dawide (the ag officer), Matthews ( the amazing Project Manager), and Mazgebo (the social worker), climbed a small rocky mountain, sucked honey from the comb, conducted several home visits of children who are sponsored through FH, and countless other activities.
Everyday experiences include: enjoying coffee every day after lunch (we wait while the ceremony is performed- consisting of roasting the beans, then grinding them and brewing the thick black drink), gulping burning hot tea at public gatherings so that the cup can be washed and used by someone else, fording streams to get anywhere, walking with the company of twenty to fifty children, blowing my nose and ending up with a tissue full of black dirt, watching clumps of people walk with umbrellas, parking the car under a mango tree, observing children as young as 5 years old herding goats, hearing the rhythmic thumping of donkeys trotting by with a wooden carrier on their back full of water jugs, washing my clothes on a concrete slab, watching out for “friends”- the large black spiders that freak Tessa out, sleeping under my “princess tent” style mosquito net, showering with toads and grasshoppers, and so many other little things that I have forgotten to mention.
Sorry to have so many lists of activities with little explanation, but I have limited time on the computer and I don’t want to bore you with too many details.
I love you all and I am having the experience of a lifetime. Pray that I can continue to connect with the local community despite our language barrier. The pink car got in a little accident today, so we will be confined more closely to this village of Angar Central- perhaps this is for the best. May God continue to work in all of us to mold us more closely to His heart as we learn to love the people whom he has placed beside us.