Abomsa, Ethiopia and A Water Project Closing Ceremony

     We were met at the airport by Elder and Sister Campbell and spent the night at their home.
The next day we left for an adventure of a lifetime for Public Affairs Missionaries.  We went to
witness a Water Project hand-over and see into the life of Humanitarian Missionaries.

We enjoyed a lunch along the way of injera and spicy meat and vegetables.   You might notice
 we had an Ethiopian coke as well--no we did not drink the water here.

Grandpa was very concerned about getting sick so he's a little dubious here.  But he ate, and enjoyed, and was fine.  We then drove through the maniac traffic of Ethiopia.
There is one road that goes all the way to Djibouti and the Seaport and it is a mass of huge trucks.

    We then continued on and the road became increasingly rougher and bumpier.  No paved roads from this point on.  A couple of sights along the way:

These young ladies are carrying unique water jugs.  They don't seem too happy about me
taking their picture.

Villagers meeting at the local water point.  They often carry these jugs full of water on their head!
Some of the luckier ones have donkeys to help.

Along the way a little additional excitement.  We stopped for a potty break at the local
non-gas station (commonly known in Ethiopia as the nearest bush) and when we returned
to the truck, it wouldn't start.  We were stranded without a car in sight.  After a heart-felt prayer
for a little help, we saw a bus in the distance.  He kindly stopped and they tried to jump the
truck but that didn't work.  One of the sisters said, "Why don't we try pushing it down the
small hill that was in front of us."  That was, of course, dismissed but eventually they did
resort to that.  And the car started.  No comment.
Fortunately, with the Lord's help, we continued on our way.

       The bus was standing room only and we were so grateful that they would stop and help us. 
       We wondered if we would stop and help a bus if it were stranded.  I would hope so.

Typical mode of farming in Ethiopia.

You cannot find a happier people anywhere. 

This is the Public Affairs component--visiting with the local
leaders.  This lady is the Bureau Head of the Aromio Region
of Women and Children Affairs.  So she was very excited about
the new water source for the community.

And we arrived at Shamo Gado, the village where the handover took place.  Everyone was cheering
and dancing and smiling.  It was evident that they were very excited.

These three gentlemen were the respected religious leaders for
the area.  At the beginning of the ceremony each offered a long
prayer.

Ceremonial Dress

As I was walking back to where Grandpa was, a man suddenly picked me up and started dancing
and half-running through the throng carrying me.  I hung on for dear life hoping he would end up
where I wanted to go.  Well, he did and all was well.  You can barely see my blond head in the
middle of the mass of people. 

The most touching moment came when this grandfather turned and said to me with tears in his eyes,
"Now maybe my grand daughter won't be sick all of the time from drinking the water from the river."

Elder and Sister Campbell--LDS Charities Missionaries in Ethiopia.  They were the ones
to finish this project.  They were presented with gifts from the people there, new
ceremonial clothes and a beaded jug, and lots of hugs and kisses.

      After the speeches were over, we joined with everyone else for a dinner in a large 

          tent area.  They had killed one ox and 2 sheep the night before to feed about 600 people.  

          We had injera, of course, along with the meat.  And yes, we did eat it.

Grandpa making nice with the armed guard.  There were
several police patrolling around, I'm not sure why exactly.

The finished water point.  And they also had a building with showers and toilets.  The people will now bring their buckets and fill them with water to take to their huts.  Everyone lived in round, grass
huts.  One girl was so proud of her bed.  She had a small mattress and some springs! to put the
mattress on.

This home belongs to the young mother in blue.  She took us inside and was so pleased to
show us her bed.  It was a thin mattress but she had springs under the mattress.  Not a common
thing.

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Just a few of the happy faces of those who live in this community.  The children are always very
protective and helpful of the little ones.

What a special treat for us to witness a water turn-over first hand.  There's so much hard work
that must take place before this can be accomplished.

        

Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

    We were advised by many who had done it to take a few days and explore the ancient ruins of Ethiopia.  This is supposedly the site of early Christianity and there are many items they would
like to share if they had a museum.  The Patriarch, Abuna Paulus, who we visited the last time we
were in Ethiopia, wanted the LDS Church to donate money for this cause.  He has since passed
away but his museum is in the process of being built.  So we begin our tour of Ancient Ethiopia.
    Our first sight as we went on a boat ride were the majestic pelican.

This is a typical fisherman on Lake Tana, one of the largest lakes in Africa.  They catch hundreds of fish daily.  Love his boat made of reeds.

We walked onto a large island in the middle of the lake, and
what a surprise.  There was a market for tourists right there!

His paints are made from natural plants in the area and he was
the painter of the products on the table above,

Grandpa is dealing with this young man to buy Frankincense and Myhrr to bring home.

Our first Ethiopian Orthodox Church to view.

The church is filled with Ethiopian Artwork.

An interesting item for their future museum.

 Modes of Transportation:  Walking. . .

All ages carrying things. . .

Riding. . .

Donkey Cart. . .

Buzzards at the local garbage dump.  Kind of looks like a scene from a Harry Potter movie.

And resting in a nearby tree.

The Blue Nile--their main water source.  The Blue Nile and the White Nile merge
together and form the large Nile River in Egypt.

Which ended in a beautiful waterfall.

   

Interesting faces            Working in the field. . .

The face of an intense boat driver . . .

By far the cutest "face" of all if you look very closely!
At least the cutest "cheeks."

The local villagers are coming for water at the river.  If you look closely at the mother's left leg, you
can see that it is very swollen.  This is a medical condition called Podiconiosis and it is caused by
them not wearing shoes.  Small particles of igneous rock, which is full of silicon and is all around the area, will work their way into the blood system and damage the cells.  This will only get worse until the woman can hardly walk.  The solution is to wear shoes.  LDS Charities is trying to pursue a solution to this problem by providing shoes and education.

Gondar, Ethiopia

    The best part of this day was just driving through the country-side.  With the exception that we
were in a 4-wheel drive truck, we felt like we had stepped back in time 2000 years.  The pictures
were taken through the window of a bumpy, moving truck so they are what they are.  What an adventure.

We were told that all of the males carry a stick.  It's purely a
custom and really serves no other purpose today.

The donkeys do so much of the work carrying huge loads.  And
they just seem so patient and accepting.

Everything is done by manual labor.  These men are digging trenches so that the rains that are 
coming soon will not wash out their land.  The trenches will then fill up with sediment and they 
will do it again next year.  They could line the trenches with rock (there is an abundance of rock available) but then what would they do next year for a job I guess.

A small market along the road side.

Interesting rock formation in a very flat land.  Even the small
mountains are relatively even.  This formation is called
"God's Thumb."

Gazara Palace built in the 16th century. 

This product is called Quat (or Chat).  It is a drug similar to
Cocaine and is grown abundantly in this region.  

Here is a roadside market for this product.  You can see the
scales to weigh it out in kilos.

Loved the roots of this tree and they grew down the side of the
cement wall and out onto the ground below.

Typical homes for the people that live in Gondar.  You can see how fast we were traveling if you
look at the bushes in front of the house.

Yes, this is where they actually live.  Can you imagine what life would be like when the rainy
season comes.