TRIP TO WOLISO AND WENCHI

Look at the hill in the background...we could be mistaken for being in a Norwegian fjord, aidellem?:)

I got tired of running, so I got a ride the last few meters....

Wenchi crater lake

A grumpy little girl....must be sick and tired of having all these strange faranjis coming all the time.....

His hairstyle......means that he is not five years old yet, and if something happens to him, the hair will be God's means of grabbing and saving him before it's too late....I've heard.....

Negash Lodge

Last weekend I went with my colleagues to Woliso, to have sort of a retreat/seminar – just a get-together to get to know each other better and to discuss issues that has to do with us, the local staff. Woliso is about 2 hours drive from Addis, a small rural town, but very charming. We stayed at this amazing lodge, that almost had some kind of colonial style to it, reminding me very much of South Africa. There were different huts that we stayed in, that were specific for the different ethnic groups in Ethiopia. The compound was big, green, and situated close to a little hill with lots of nice trees with monkeys that were a constant nuisance to us. We spent about 3 hours discussing our working environment, which has been dramatically changed, as most of you probably know. It has been very demanding to all of us, in different ways. Two of my colleagues will also have to leave, as we are reducing the number of local staff as well. So we had a lot to talk about, and it was very interesting to share experiences. In the evening the ambassador came to join us, and we spent the evening sitting around the bonfire telling jokes and making fun of each other:)

On the Saturday we went to the market, and then we drove of to Wenchi, which is a crater lake an hours drive from Woliso, on a dirt road. It is only when you get out of Addis that you realize how truly beautiful Ethiopia is. Now, there are a lot of things you can say about this country, but the beauty of it – the landscape and the people – cannot be denied. We drove down some very steep hills to get to the bottom of the crater, and I was clinging to the car seat and making desperate sounds sometimes, I’m terrified of heights. My colleagues found this very amusing of course, and we had a really good time in the car. In fact, when I think about it, we spent most of the time mocking each other, but not to the point where anyone would get sensitive about it, so it was all good. Almost at the end of the road I decided to walk the last part, together with Fikru, the ambassador’s driver. We decided to run, so we raced each other and tried to reach the shores of the lake before the cars. We almost made it. I had to race these local boys who found it infinitely amusing to see this white, strange foreign girl running for life on their dirt roads, but I must admit that I haven’t really exercised that much lately, so running at the altitude of 3000m I could really feel it in my lungs. And the dust also found its way down there…….

At the shores of the lake there were boats, looking like huge tree trunks, really, that took us out to this small island where there was a church, a big ox and a hen. That was basically it. It was a nice little trip across to the island, but I don’t think any of us were sure that we would get back in a dry condition. We all did, though. And I decided to rest for a bit and ride a horse back to the cars, instead of walking. On the way up the steep hills one of the cars got stuck, but fortunately one of my colleagues is a very skilled driver, and he managed to get it back on track without problems. We then continued to Ambo, where we spent the night at a hotel, and drove back to Addis the next morning.

It’s so good to get out of town, and every time I do it I keep thinking that I should do it more often. There is nothing as beautiful as driving through the great Ethiopian landscape – the vast fields of grass and tef, the hills, looking like green waves swirling its way towards the horizon, the clear, blue, almost glassy sky, with white, white clouds, bubbly and perfect – like a drawing from a children’s book. The crisp air filling your lungs, so different from the dusty one that one breathes in every day in Addis. Now, before I get carried away, I’m going to stop this, it’s already a veeeeery long blog post…….so, enjoy the pictures!

LONG TIME AGO.......

Faranjis were also allowed to have candles:)

Look - faranjis!!!!

Thousands of candles....

Parading!

The chronology of this blog is really messed up now, but I’m going to make an honest effort to get back on track. The days are just too busy for me to be able to sit down and write about what’s happening, but now I don’t really have a choice. And it’s probably good for me to sit down and try to sort out what has been happening lately.
So – first thing first.

Meskel- 28th of September.
This day is a religious holiday in Ethiopia, and they are celebrating this by making big bonfires and in Addis people from all the orthodox churches walk in this big parade at Meskel Square, where they also have fireworks to end off the whole seremony with.

Ok, wikipedia does this better than I do, so here it goes:

"Meskel - in the Ethiopian Orthodox and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, is an annual religious holiday commemorating the discovery of the True Cross by Queen Eleni (Saint Helena) in the fourth century. Meskel occurs on 17 Meskerem in the Ethiopian calendar (27 September, Gregorian calendarr, or 28 Septemberr in leap yearss). "Meskel" (or "Meskal" or "Mesqel", there are various ways to transliteratee from Ge'ez to Latin script) is Ge'ezz for "cross".

The festival is known as Feast of the exaltation of the holy cross in other Orthodox, Catholic or Protestant churches. The churches that follow the Gregorian calendar celebrate the feast on 14 September.
The Meskel celebration includes the burning of a large bonfire, or Demera, based on the belief that Queen Eleni had a revelation in a dream. She was told that the she shall make a bonfire and that the smoke would show her where the true cross was buried. So she ordered the people of Jerusalem to bring wood and make a huge pile. After adding frankincense to it the bonfire was lit and the smoke rose high up to the sky and returned to the ground, exactly to the spot where the Cross had been buried."

Ok - so we were there. At Meskel Square, with thousands of other people. Quite a nice experience, and beautiful when they all lit their candles:)

Fashion Show at the Sheraton

Cute???

Former miss Tanzania

Glamour....!!!!

In in order to escape and get some change from the mud and dirt in the midst of my grumpiness last month, I went to the Sheraton to see a fashion show that was hosted there in connection with the Millennium celebrations. It was really amazing, and very professional! The clothes were so nice, and the models were gorgeous! It was really an experience! And quite far from my experience in the previous blog post:)

Whenever I have friends visiting, I use the opportunity to try to get out of Addis and see some other parts of Ethiopia. This time it’s Ann Therese who is my guest at Mekanissa, we were both here last year studying together. At the guest house we were living at, 3 people working for Youth with a Mission used to come and stay now and then, whenever they came to Addis for a visit. They lived in Koffele, a small town in the Arsi region, 5-6 hours drive from Addis. Jorun, one of these 3, came back to stay there for another year, together with 4 other people. They’ve spent approximately two months here in Addis learning Oromo, and this weekend they were moving to Koffele to start working with the project. Ann Therese and I joined Jorun last Friday, and stayed there till Tuesday. It was a rather crazy journey. Here it goes…..:

Part 1: From Addis to Koffale

We left Addis around 10 o’clock on Friday, with a minibus. Jorun knows a driver, having gone back and forth this direction quite a number of times. He took us half the way, and then we had to change bus. It is quite an experience going with these buses. They stuff so many people into it that you can hardly believe it is possible, and on top of that there was also all the luggage that we brought. We survived, but with quite sore backs when we arrived. On the way south there were several roadblocks with police, checking the vehicles coming past. At one of the roadblocks they were quite grumpy because we were too many people in the car. So when we got to the next one, the guy who is collecting the money jumped off about 500 metres before, and started walking. We continued in the bus, only to discover that one of the passengers had taken the money-collector’s place at the door. We were told to tell the police that the luggage was ours, which most of it also was. So the police came to check, we were smiling our cutest smiles, and they let us pass. A hundred metres after the roadblock, we meet the money-guy again, and he jumps into the car. I don’t know what surprised me the most – the stupidity of the police, or the game the minibus people played…..We couldn’t do anything but laughJ When we got to Shashamene, the rastafari town in Ethiopia, we changed to one of the bigger public buses. Lots of people, crowded, smelling of sheep, goats, wool, old milk and whatnot……and of course, everyone staring! At the last minute, this guy comes into the bus and seats himself in the back close to where we were sitting. His whole presence seemed to affect me, in a really bad way. He had the most creepy eyes I have ever seen, and he acted very restlessly, constantly interrupting our conversations, not wanting to speak much English but expecting me to understand Oromo. I was freaked out by that guy and the bad athmosphere that surrounded him. Jorun told us that Koffele is known for having a lot of strange people around, so it seemed like this was just the beginning of a very strange and interesting weekend! We got to Koffele around 6 that evening, and had pizza and hot chocolate in the tiny living room in Jorun’s and the others’ house. It was good to be able to sit down and relax after a relatively long journey.

Part 2: Jorun’s dedication

I’m really amazed by the work YWAM is doing in Koffale. They have a small house, with a living room, a kitchen, and 5 bedrooms, all with brick walls and very cold. There is one shower with mudwalls, which doesn’t always have water, and a toilet at the back of the house, which is basically just a hole in the ground. You have to bring a flashlight if you need to go there after dark, and balance your steps on little stones put out there in the mud. It’s really primitive living, but these people have dedicated 7 months to living and working in this place, where they are going to do several different things. The population in Koffele is 98% muslim, and it’s a rough community, a kind of godforsaken place. The people from YWAM are working together with a local church, and they are there to share the gospel with the people in Koffele. They are teaching at the primary school, running a football team, giving sewing courses and doing other sorts of activities. So after all, God is present in Koffele, although it might not seem like it at first glance.

Jorun was there last year, and has chosen to come back for another year. She has really dedicated a significant share of time to this place and the people. She speaks Ormiffa very well, and also quite a bit of Amharic. A lot of people in Koffele know her, and when we went down the street it took forever, because we always had to stop and greet peopleJ Most people don’t like this place, because of the athmosphere and the cold, raw weather. But it has a special place in Jorun’s heart, and she is really eager and dedicated to be God’s messenger here. She is touching a lot of hearts in this town, and I really admire her for the work that she is doing. I really hope it will be a year of blessing for her and her team mates, and that they will keep healthy in the harsh conditions they are living…….

Muddy roads in Koffele

Part 3: Chala and Emmanual
Ann Therese and I both fell in love during our stay in Koffele. And no, you don’t have to worry, we are not going to marry each our Ethiopian, it’s not that seriousJ But our hearts really melted when we met the two sons of Habib, the pastor in the church that Jorun and her team are working with! They are just gorgeous!!! Emmanuel is 4.5 years old, and Chala is 3 years old. And they came peaking into the compound every morning, wondering what we were up to! So we spent a lot of time playing with them, we just couldn’t let them go home, ‘cause they are so cute!:)

Emmanuel

Chala (not sure about the spelling here, though:)

Part 4: Market day and nightly excursion

The second day in Koffele we were still quite tired, and couldn’t really make ourselves do anything. We ended up taking a walk to the market, which ended up in us being constantly surrounded by crowds of people yelling: You! You! You! You! You! Faranjo! Faranjo! You! You! to the point were our ears were getting all sweaty…..! so we spent the day at home, relaxing, sleeping (! I was so tired after working), and we didn’t really do anything till the evening! Then we decided to go to a local restaurant to have injera, together with Chala, Emmanuel and their parents! Their 6 months’ old brother was at home with Habib’s sister. So we packed ourselves in warm clothes, and starting walking through the muddy roads with flachlights to be able to find our way. It was quite a sight! Two little boys hanging in our arms while we were trying to find our way to a place where they would serve injera! We found one, and we had a very nice meal. Emmanuel fell asleep while eating, and we had to carry him all the way home again. We went to Habib’s place to have coffee, and then we also got to meet little SamuelJ It was a really nice evening, and so very very nice to spend time with this lovely Ethiopian family!:)

Part 5: Church and a walk in the rain

On Sunday we went to church. This church was a room in the school, with wooden benches and nothing else. About 20 people had showed up for service this morning. Habib was preaching, and then there was singing, and praying, and singing again. It lasted for more than 2 hours. But it was so nice to see the people’s dedication in their prayers, and their strong faith. So many of them have so little, yet they have such a sturdy and strong faith. We could learn a lot from them.
After having lunch, we decided to take a walk to the country side to visit one of the gurads working at Jorun’s compound. We started walking, and then the rain started to pour down. We had put our rain jackets on, put they are not really helpful in the African rain. We had walked for 20 minutes, and were already soaking wet. Ann Therese were just wearing sandals, and my sneakers were just completely soaked in muddy water. When we arrived at this guards house, we were so wet and cold and dirty that you wouldn’t believe it! It took us more than one hour to walk there, it was quite far! But it was such a lovely place! Into the forest, passing the greenest fields, with different sorts of crops, and then we entered this little yard with 3 traditional Ethiopian mud houses, smoke coming through the roof from one of them. So idyllic-looking, yet so harsh to live in. Cold, and with only floors and walls made from mud and wood. Ephraim, the guard, was overwhelmed by happiness that we came all the way to visit him, and he was just glowing with gratefulness as he was showing us around his compound. He and his wife has got 10 children, a couple of them, at least, being married with their own children. All of them sharing these 3 houses. Some hens were walking in the yard, and a couple of cows were running around chasing each other. Then Ephraim also had some fields with vegetables, which he proudly showed us. We sat down for a cup of hothot sweet tea, before we walked back to the main road to take a bus back to Koffele. It was such a great experience meeting these people in the very rural area of Ethiopia. I recognize a lot of things from my own childhood, growing up on a farm in rural Norway, but still, the standard of living is so much higher in Norway, despite the rurality. But the beauty of the surroundings of this little farm – just stunning! So green and fertile and magic! It was definitely worth the trip, although we were wet and dirty when we came back. But some hot tea and warm blankets did the trick, and we had a girly cosy evening back in Jorun’s living room

Farmer's working hands:)

Part 6 The road trip to Dodola

The last day we wanted to go to Dodola, a small town about 2 hours drive from Koffale. It’s close to Bale Mountains, and you can go horseback riding there. We had to wait for about an hour for a bus to come, and when it came, we ended up sitting in the front, really close to the wind shield. So we had a magnificent view as we were driving through the green landscape, with alleys of trees and vast fertile fields. At one point we had to stop and get out of the busJust next to us there were sitting two young guys, and one of them was of course very talkative, wanting to practice his English. He was also very eager to tell us about the Oromo culture, and sang songs in Oromo for the whole bus to hear. It was quite amusing. They ended up being of great help to us as we stopped in a desolate, small village to change a bus. As we stepped down to the ground, hundreds of people (maybe not that many, but it felt like that!) were gathering around us, just staring at us, calling you! you! you! Then of course there were also some older guys who wanted to help us and tried to get the people away from us. Even more annoying. But these two young guys were helping us around, and helped us find our way into a bus that was going to Dodola. They even took the bus with us, even thought they were going in another direction! Very grateful for them! This next bus was a crazy one. The driver was driving barefeet and only in his boxershorts, and he offered us to stay at his place if we couldn’t find a bus back from Dodola. We refused, politely. We got to Dodola alive, only to discover that time hadn’t been on our side, so all we could do was really to have macchiato and then leave again. We went to this tourist office to ask for some information, and one of the guys offered to take us to a place where we could get some food. So we sat down for about half an hour, and then the guy helped ud find a bus, that would take us back, to Koffele. No horseback riding this time. Hopefully I’ll get another chance, though. We didn’t really expect it either, but we did the trip just for th fun of it! It was really quite an expereince sitting there in a crowded bus on the bumpy roads. We had a lot of fun, although it didn’t turn out as we wanted.
The next day we went to Shashamene, after first having visited the school and said “ hello, students, how are you students?” to all the 5 classes at the school. Then we said goodbye to Koffele, and took the minibus for 4 hours back to Addis. I must admit that although it was nice seeing the rural Ethiopia, I still prefer Addis. It was nice to come home again:)

The helpful guy in Dodola