Ah yay for rainy season! It has returned full force and as
it pours outside I am totally content to be inside with my cup of tea and
cheery candle. I got back to Goba last Friday after spending a week in the
paradise university campus of Wando Ganet. It is paradise because it is
surrounded by Jurassic Park like mountains, ancient tropical forest, flowers
and monkeys galore. I was there to help with a second summer camp this one
called GROW (Growing and Renewing Our World), focusing on different environment
and agricultural activities. I didn’t teach any sessions but instead was the
finance person, in charge of purchasing all the random supplies needed to build
two composting toilets, make different herbal salves, and feed snacks to fifty
people.
The day before camp started I was feeling really worried
because the grant money still had not been deposited in my account, but later
in the afternoon when I took out 130,000 birr I left like an elephant had been
lifted off my chest. Hallaluha just in the nick of time! It was quite odd to
take out that much money- the bank even ran out of 100’s so gave me 50,000 in
50’s! Talk about bundles of birr! The next few days were actually kind of fun
as I got to drive around with Endale, a great Peace Corps driver, and purchase
all our supplies- including 100 kg of oranges! The fruit vendors were falling
over themselves handing me slices of oranges trying to show that they had the
best fruit. The week went by in a flash
and once again all the kids had a great time and learned a lot. I was able to
bring four kids from Goba and a wonderful woman counterpart named Damanich who
teaches cooking at the technical school. Yay for tiny little positive influences.
The weekend before camp I had fun on Saturday going to an
Orthodox Christian celebration with Gobezie and watching all the people dressed
in their finest traditional clothes- white scarves and embroidered dresses. At
his home later in the afternoon his wife Tigist gave me a traditional cloth
called a gabi that is worn as a blanket. I was very touched at her kindness and
am now bundled up in it enjoying its warmth and the fresh smell is has from
being dried in the sun.
Two day’s later was the Muslim holiday Eid Al Fitr celebrating
the end of their fast from Ramadan. I am truly impressed how for over a month
Muslim’s don’t eat or drink anything from sunrise till sunset, only eating when
it is dark and again at 3am. My friend Elias invited me to attend the main
ceremony where all the Muslim’s gathered at the town’s soccer field to pray. It
was beautiful to see all the men in their white robes and the women in their
brightly colored dresses and head scarves. Seeing hundreds, if not thousands of
people bowing, kneeling and praying in unison really is a precious powerful
thing.
Later in the day I went to my other friend Hasan’s house
were I got to eat the Ethiopian traditional dish Doro wat (a spicy chicken
sauce) which I totally love. Hasan, his wife and their adorable one year old
twin daughters live in a very small simple two room mud home but were very
generous with their food. It was a fun experience to see a different side
culture (Muslim Oromia). His wife’s
father came to visit, and though he was a rural farmer who only spoke Oromifa performed
the universal action of bringing sweets to his granddaughters. Again I wish I
spoke this language beyond hello and thank you but it was neat being a part of
the celebration.
So now that I am finally finished with my summer camps I can
start to focus on doing one more little project – building a portable chicken
coop and simply hanging out and spending time with my Ethiopian friends and
family. As of today I have officially 4 months left!!! And as always I still
miss and think about all my American friends and family- please write if you
can! Warm wishes to all!!!
