Random Addis happenings since I last posted

Well, I’ve tried to post multiple times over the past week, but the internet hasn’t been cooperating.  Now I have a whole list of things I want to post about but I’ll try to keep it sane!

The millennium lunch for the orphans was a fun time!  We ate SO MUCH, as the kids ALL wanted to give us “gorshas”–the cultural expression of familiarity and love while eating (They just feed you . . . a lot!).  Thirteen kids came, and we made it through the torrential rain to a local restaurant.  We took a bunch of photos, and laughed and talked (as we three white people stumbled through our Amharic!).  Afterwards we came back to the project office where we gave each child a gift bag with fruit, pencils, candy, etc in them. 

It was such a sweet time to be able spend with these children.

Last week my coworker Alemu I taught a small group of mothers about safe and adequate food preparation for their babies.  It seems like a little bit of a no-brainer, especially since a couple of these women have older children.

But since formula is so expensive and these babies are 6 months or older (the project provides formula so these moms don’t have to risk transmitting the HIV virus to their babies via breastmilk), it is time help these moms wean their babies off of the formula and onto other foods.  I realized again how Westernized I am because of course I wanted to talk to them about starting with rice cereal, being cautious about allergies, including lots of fruits and veggies, introducing one new food at a time, and not giving the babies cow’s milk until they are a year old.   But those aren’t choices these moms have the option to make—in their socioeconomic group, most women breastfeed until their babies are much older, and they supplement with tea, sugary biscuits, white bread, and injera (the staple grain food).

Babies given such incomplete nutrition at an early age face major development issues throughout the rest of their lives.  So what to do, how can we help?  I struggle against having to choose the “second best” (or third or fourth . . .) option in situations like this—but I have to learn to work with the available resources. In the end the “class” went well, I think.  We talked about weaning, spoons vs bottles, porridge preparation, vitamins/minerals, rotting teeth, and upset stomachs.

Afterwards I got some great photos of these precious women and their beautiful babies!

Remember Tesfaye?  That’s him in the middle!  I’m so amazed at God’s goodness every time I see his chubby face! 

Last night I went to the Meskel celebration.  Today is the Meskel holiday, which is the Ethiopian Orthodox church’s celebration of the finding of the “true cross”.  The celebration drew thousands (50? 100? more?  I couldn’t figure out a good estimate) to the center of Addis, Meskel Square.  We couldn’t get close enough to see the dancing and drumming and dramas going on, but we could at least see the huge big screen in the square.  It was neat to see everyone celebrating with such exuberance!  The end of the celebration was the traditional lighting of a “teepee” of wood–this one was huge and we could see it and the flames.  The crowning end was the awesome fireworks display–I felt transported back to childhood moments in Paris, TX, watching fireworks with my extended family.  Except that I was surrounded by thousands of Ethiopians:-)  I didn’t take my camera, but another blogger in Addis did–check out his photos from the link in his post

And that brings me to today.  It’s been nice to have a day off–I’ve been to the gym, read about HIV and mother to child transmission, written emails, shivered from the cold rain, hung out with friends, and generally enjoyed the day:-)  Tomorrow we are taking a group of teen guys and girls up to Entoto, the highest mountain point around the city.  Hopefully it will be dry and our plans for a picnic, soccer, and egg races will not be soaked out!

For a smile that should get you through a few days, here’s Selamawit.  She’s a precious 5 year old who is so beautiful and healthy this year!  She’s in kindergarten and loving it:-)

EGYPT: The Long Awaited Post!

Yes, friends, I really DID go to Egypt! The internet has been horrible lately, so posting has not been a simple thing. Today, though, I’m with a friend and we’ve splurged on internet at the Sheraton (possibly the swankiest hotel on the continent) to take care of some work stuff, updates, etc.

I went with three friends–two coworkers (Derek and Jim) and another American transplanted to Addis (Corrie) and we managed to squeeze a lot into our 10 days–we saw amazing historical sites and remnants, traveled a good bit, passed through mountains, valleys, deserts and rivers, ate a ridiculous amount of food, and laughed a lot.

We started our trip in Cairo, where we saw the pyramids from camelback, explored the huge Egyptian Museum, saw the ruins (or site of) Memphis, wandered around Islamic Cairo and through a mosque and the shopping district, and, of course, ate. Egyptian food is quite good, but since we were coming from the far-less-developed world we got inordinately excited over things like McDonalds, ice cream, TGI Fridays, and some amazing sushi!

From Cairo we headed south to Luxor via an overnight train. Being mild cheapskates we opted for the “sitting” and not the “sleeping” train. We were told that the seats reclined, but that was a lie. SO, Derek and I didn’t sleep at all, but coffee, sunshine, a swimming pool, and 3000 year old ruins are good antidotes for exhaustion. Luxor was one of our favorite spots–we had a great hotel with a brand-new pool, and we enjoyed just walking around the city. The Luxor Temple was by far one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen! We got there around sunset, and you could almost imagine the original grandeur of this ancient temple. Unfortunately my camera decided to begin dying while we were there, and when I downloaded the photos I realized there must have been spots on my lenses! We spent the next couple of days around Luxor visiting tombs and temples and seeing more hieroglyphics than you can fathom. We took a 2 hour sunset “cruise” on a felucca (sail boat ish), which was incredible.

From Luxor, we took a public bus to another town . . . or tried. We ended up sitting by the side of the road in the Eastern Sahara desert until about 1:30 am . . . which was really not so bad, except that Jim and I were sick by this point! That was only the beginning of our transportation distresses that day, though. We arrived in the town of Hurghada around 3:30 am and spent a couple of hours in the lobby/restaurant of one fine establishment named the “Al-Ehl Bite”. Our whole goal in this ordeal was to make it to the ferry to get across the Red Sea to the Sinai Peninsula; however, when we arrived at the teeming seaside ferry landing, we were told that there were no tickets. By this point all four of us were exhausted and not in the best of moods for dealing with possibly having to change our whole trip plan (the ferry only leaves a few days of the week, so to not get on it would mean losing the rest of the trip itinerary). We proceeded to go to every ferry ticket office, about every 30 minutes, for the next few hours. FINALLY, about 3o minutes before departure time, we got tickets and boarded the ferry along with a couple hundred other people. What followed was the most turbulent ride of my life–the ferry attendants were passing out Dramamine like it was candy! We made it, though, and took a 2 hour minibus ride to our seaside hostel in Dahab.
It was a lovely place (minus the too-friendly Egyptian men!!  My “wedding ring” and male companions helped a little, but it was pretty annoying!), and across the water we could see Saudi Arabia. Again, we ate . . . fresh fish, calamari, shrimp, and amazing coffee shakes. Mmmm. Our motto of “eating our way across Egypt” was not an exaggeration! We spent an afternoon snorkeling–the coral and fish were brilliant and amazing!

From Dahab, we took a late night minibus trip to Sinai. We started our hike up at about 1:30 am. I’m either old or a total wimp, because while the esteemed Lonely Planet said that it was an “easy” hike, I was struggling! I do have a couple of pretty bum knees, though, and the final 350 stone steps up to the peak of Mt Sinai were pretty brutal. It was a beautiful night–moonlight was our guide as we climbed. Even so, it was impossible not to notice how barren the land was. It was probably the most desolate place I have ever seen. It was so surreal being there, and in Egypt in general. I don’t think I will ever read the Old Testament the same way again. Passages kept coming to me–as we saw tiny carved gods, lavish temples, the fertile green Nile Valley, the Red Sea, and finally Mt Sinai. Suddenly, I could understand the children of Israel’s weak hearts and their desire to go back to where it was green. I can’t say I would have done anything different. Grace is an amazing, incomprehensible gift! We arrived at the top around 4am, and huddled under a blanket to wait for sunrise. By the time the sun struck the mountains on the horizen, there were probably a couple hundred people on the mountain and a general cheer of amazement rose up. It was incredible.

The walk down was much easier than the way up, and we spent a little time at St Katherine’s Monastery, built in 527 BC (supposedly on the site of the burning bush). From there it was back to Dahab for a day of lounging and some more good food.

We then traveled back to Cairo and wandered around Coptic Cairo, ate Egyptian food one last time, and went back to the Islamic markets.
The trip was crowned by the discovery of a STARBUCKS in the Cairo Airport as we were leaving–it was Corrie’s birthday, and it was an unexpectedly wonderful present! We were blessed indeed to have seen and experienced Egypt–there’s so much more we could have seen, but that may have to wait for another lifetime:-)

New in the Middle of Old

I’ve woken up to a crisp, sunny day filled with chirping birds and vivid flowers.  It’s New Years Day here—welcome to the year 2000, Ethiopia!  Yes, I’m getting the chance to celebrate the Millennium twice!  Strange, I know, but hey, I’ll get to tell my grandkids that I survived Y2K twice (and then they will be certain that granny Sara is senile!!).  Last night I was safely in the house when the clock chimed, but I could hear the roaring cheers of crowds ¼ mile away.  There’s been a lot of build-up to this long-anticipated day, and many people have hoped for major changes in the country.  The city has been festooned in a merry, random smattering of green, yellow and red (the national colors)—flags, lights, banners, and bows that add bright spots of color everywhere you look.
Yet as soon as I step out the door this morning, I will be confronted with all that is not new and fresh and fair and right in our world.  People will yell “feringe!!” (foreigner) at me; the rusty, jagged roofs of thousands of dilapidated tin shacks will stretch out as far I will be able to see; beggars wrapped in tattered dark green blankets will hold out their hands to me and say, “Sister, money, money!”. Most of the huge events that were planned to celebrate the Millennium have been cancelled.  Cost of living has been sharply driven up over the past few months, so in reality this day that is supposed to be greater than all other New Years Days will be less because few people can now afford to celebrate.  I will think about our two project beneficiaries who are losing the struggle to live, and again I will feel that the problems of our world can never be repaired.
Twice this week I’ve been asked how I handle living here, how I deal with the poverty and disease and need that we face specifically in the project, and how I can keep doing this work.  My answer is usually two-fold: simply put, many times I can’t deal with this.  I want to fix all that is messed up, and I can’t—every day I’m confronted with the depth of my inadequacy.  So sometimes I crumple and want to get on the next plane out of here, I want to go back to a world of comfort and I want to forget all I have seen and smelt and heard and touched.  But the second, overarching answer is simply that it is not ME who does this work: it is the astounding, abiding, persevering work of Jesus, the One I believe can bring redemption to this world.  I don’t know how, and I don’t know when, but my hope is that one day, someday there will be justice and joy—He has promised that, and if I didn’t believe it, there is no way I could do this work.  Jesus is the newness, the life, in my old, dead body—and He is the hope of newness and life for this place.
So today we will press on.  A few coworkers and I are taking the orphans in our main project site out for lunch.  Like most places all over the world, holidays are meant to be shared with family.  These kids, though, no longer have family—we are a poor substitute, but we hope to show them that the project cares for them and we long for their lives to be rich and full.  We won’t have anyone bilingual staying for lunch, so it promises to be a fun time of “What? Huh?  You want to drink what??”  We are looking forward to it and hope the kids are too☺
Maybe this, too, will be a new start of outreach to these often-forgotten ones—may the newness of life crush the oldness of death!

Worth the Living

Ran across this quote yesterday by Dr. James Kennedy, who passed away earlier this week. Oh for grace to live with this perspective!

Now, I know that someday I am going to come to what some people will say is the end of this life. They will probably put me in a box and roll me right down here in front of the church, and some people will gather around, and a few people will cry. But I have told them not to do that because I don’t want them to cry. I want them to begin
the service with the Doxology and end with the Hallelujah chorus, because I am not going to be there, and I am not going to be dead. I will be more alive than I have ever been in my life, and I will be looking down upon you poor people who are still in the land of dying and have not yet joined me in the land of the living. And I will be alive forevermore, in greater health and vitality and joy than ever, ever, I or anyone has known before.

Sunshine

Egypt. Was. Amazing. It was a great trip, full of traipsing around the country seeing incredible historical remains as well as spending time just relaxing and hanging out. I’ll post much more later, but thought I’d say we survived, I’m back, and life in Addis continues:-)