This photo above captures much of our journey. And a journey it was. Literally and figuratively. In 12 days time, I spent approximately 88 hours, or 3 and 2/3 days, travelling. That's a lot of sitting. The following are some pictures, and maybe some stories mixed in, of our travels in Ethiopia.The above photo was a typical scene: people travelling along side the road, livestock travelling along-side and across the road all while the driver speeds down the center at 80mph. Even though there were lines painted on this road, drivers had no regard for the lines and would even pass on a hill going around a corner. Crazy driving to say the least. So much so that one driver earned the name Speedy because of his crazier than normal driving.
The picture below speaks of travelling to the South for me. I first saw the picture on Bethany Hutchison's blog. Then on our first trip to Ethiopia, this hill stuck out like a sore thumb as we passed it. Of course when we saw it on this trip, I once again asked Ryan to grab the camera. I had no clue we were headed the same route as our trip to Durame until I saw this beautiful landmark.
If you live in my world or better yet, work in my world, this picture grabs your attention on many levels. What I want to point out to you here is the chocolatey-brown river in the center of the photo. Could you imagine your nearby river looking like this? How about if it was your drinking water. Getting drinking water is a daily journey for most Ethiopian's in the rural country-side. They travel for hours, carrying jugs to get dirty water like you see below to use for the day. The next day is a repeat. What I wish I had a picture of was the last day on our way out of town. It had just rained. A lot. Water was running down the side of the road through a ditch. Women were huddled over the draining water scooping it up. In their hands. In their storage jugs. Washing their face. Dirty, parasite filled water. Out of the road ditch. So sad. It makes me sick. But not as sick as it makes them. I wish I had that picture so you could see why we need to help them provide clean water.
The reason I waited to post was so that I could take the time to write detailed, accurate posts. But now that I'm sitting on the couch, I don't dare get my lazy butt up and grab my journal to get the name of this next place. We stopped twice on our drive down to Soddo. Once was at an open air national museum called Melka Kuntere. On a beauitful location we saw soils profiles and information, as well as digs for human bones. The second place we stopped is the next two pictures. It's a site of really, really old burial sites. Ancient would be the word I was looking for. Anyway, these ancient burials were of soldiers. The back side of the stones were carved. The swords indicated how many they'd killed. The circles indicated if they if they were male or female. We even had a tour guide.
PS, when we took our missions leader training in February, one of the important things we learned was to entertain your host when they want to show off their pride and joy places. So, while we struggled with just wanting to get to FOVC and getting work accomplished, we also knew the value of seeing the things our host's wanted to show us.
So this next picture didn't load big enough. Seriously blogger, you're driving this tired, grumpy lady crazy. Anyway, this picture shows how the ground is tilled up. It's old school. But it works. Plowing with this method is quite the journey for the oxen and the man. It takes me hours and steps to get this field prepared for a crop to be planted.
This next picture is one of my favorite. If I could have only stepped into this woman's life a little more, I would have been speechless I'm sure. As we pulled along side the road for a quick break, locals began to gather around us. As I turned my head to the hill side, I watched a middle aged woman rush down the hillside. I wondered what was going through her mind. Did she want to see the ferenge (white people)? Did she think we had something to give her? Never-the-less, she hustled down the hillside and as she got to the bottom, she made sure to wipe the mud off her feet before she greeted us. The least we could do for her was to take her picture. Imagine her surprise, having never seen herself before, when she saw a picture of herself on my camera. I couldn't leave without taking a picture of this sweet woman on a journey, along with about 20 other curious locals.
For the most part I did just fine. We may have drove in style while in Ethiopia but because of my easy car sickness, I made sure I rode in the center, and most uncomfortable seat, so I wouldn't get sick. Though my team offerred to change, I preferred the discomfort of the seat over sickness. On our flight home, after a 4-hour drive from the country-side, I believe God had pity on my hind end (and my husband) by leaving an open seat next to me. Being emotionally and physically wiped out, and a little help from a muscle relaxer, I spread out in those two seats and crashed.
This concludes my first installment of the posts about my trip to Ethiopia with FOVC. More are coming. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not. But I guarantee I have lots more pictures and stories to share!
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