A blog, by any other name........

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. ~ Mark Twain.




Day 184, Feb 11th, Fri, 98°F @ 3:00pm,

Just realized something today, last week’s dates were screwed-up, I had miss-typed them by a single day, so I had to go back and correct them all, lol, so today is the real 184th day.



So, this evening I was blessed by being able to hold a prolonged chat via the internet with my family members back home (after I had sent my blog an’ a couple of emails). Just the fact that I was able to connect to facebook was a mini-miracle, as I have not been able to connect to the site for just over a month now. And to think that the connection was strong enough to hold such a lengthy discourse (more than an hour and a half I think) with my siblings was amazing, it seems like I have not talked/chatted directly with any of them for ages.



During our dialogue, my mother also tried calling my newly acquired mobile, but for some reason the number I gave her wasn’t working, so tomorrow I ask Br. Endalkachew what’s up regarding it (although most likely it was just me making a mistake in taking down my phone number…that seems to happen a lot with me, lol, I guess you could say I’m the absent minded volunteer).



Day 185, Feb 12th, Sat, 99.7°F @ 5:03pm,

Br. Legesse returned from Addis this morning, it’s really nice to see him again, and it sounds like he had a good rest in Addis (lol, he was saying that compared to Gambella, Addis is positively chilly).



Later today I discovered that it turns out the Patriarch will not be staying with us. I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed as I was looking forward to meeting the man (how many Americans would be able to say that they met the Patriarch of Ethiopia, lol) but it seems that shaunt be happening, oh well, there was some enjoyable news today, Br. Endalkachew was able to fix the satellite, so now we have TV again (Mwahaha, Japanese channel, how I missed you…although, now that I think about it, I hardly noticed that the TV wasn’t working, so I doubt I’ll be watching it much). Speaking of br. Endalkachew, I asked him again what the phone number was to my mobile, lol, turns out I DID make a mistake…again by one number, so this coming Friday I’ll give my folks the proper number, and hopefully they be able to contact me.



This evening I read some more of “The missionary call” and I have come to the conclusion that perhaps I was a bit “hasty” in my discernment to go on a volunteer trip (which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing). I tend to be a person who, when I feel I need to do something, I need to get to it quickly, otherwise I tend to quickly lose momentum and the idea or wish becomes stagnant and I end up never doing it, after which I then end up regretting not doing it, so I’m definitely not regretting the pace that resulted in my placement here, however, I do feel that I didn’t quite spend enough time in prayer discerning it, everything was a bit of a rush. And although I feel that this volunteer trip is right for me, I really don’t’ want to make such a similar hasty decision concerning my possibly prolonged role in the mission field, as there are much more variables concerning this later discernment. And in this regard I am quite looking forward to the coming Lenten season, and the period of prayerful contemplation that it brings with it. I definitely feel that am some called to certain parts of the mission field, but I am not quite sure in what way and in what capacity. Should it become a lifetime commitment? Or should they be a collective period of many short term projects? Should they be far reaching, as in other countries? Or should I be concerned with local/semi-local activities in my own country? Should I take on an educational role in these venture(s)? Or should they be more spiritually or physically oriented? There are many questions, and I hope I will at least answer some of them before my time here is finished.



Day 186, Feb 13th, Sun, 93.7°F @ 4:00pm,

Today was a real breath of cool air, literally, It was much cooler today, and there was hardly any humidity either, which was a refreshing change from the norm.



Today there was a primary school football game, as well as an abnormally large group of kids present during oratory today, I’m not sure exactly how much there were because I spent the afternoon tidying n’ dusting my room (as well as just relaxin’ outside in a chair, reading my book and enjoying the cool day.



A prayer with an eye to eternity.



My God, it was a wonderful invention of Your love to become man, to redeem us, and to teach us how to live in a manner worthy of our high calling, instead of living as the brutes that perish.

Left to ourselves, what would have become of us? We would have taken pleasure only in what gratifies the body and pleases the senses.

But You have enlightened us, You are the true light, that shines in the darkness of the world; You have taught us the value of our immortal soul by your death upon the cross; You have taught us to detach our hearts from the things of earth, to raise up our thoughts to you, and to journey onward and upward through weariness and toil to our true and lasting country in heaven.

There, You have assured us, if we persevere in in Your service and love we shall find peace after the conflict, rest from our trouble, and perfect happiness.

O God, may my soul become a perpetual sacrifice In Your honor; grant that it may always seek Your greater glory here on earth in order that it may one day come to enjoy the beauty and the glory of Your infinite perfections in heaven. Amen.



Day 187, Feb 14th, Mon, 96.2°F @ 4:38pm,

I had a wonderfully good sleep last night, it was so cool that I feel asleep almost immediately, and I slept soundly all through the night. And to make it even better, I had an awesome dream, in it my family visited and accompanied me through my various tasks for several days, eventually departing back to the U.S. It was so incredibly vivid and realistic that when I woke up, it took me a bit to realize that it all had just been a dream.



Primary school was supposed to start up again today, but the teacher have not shown up, and its kinda hard to run classes if there is no one to teach them, so It’s been put on hold for the moment, until them slackers finally show up, lol.



A package arrived for me today, but I was unable to retrieve it (I called the driver several times to meet me at a specific time, which he agreed to quit amiably, but I ended up waiting for several HOURS, and when he finally did show up, it was too late, the post office was closed, lol) I’ll have to try again tomarrow.



Day 188, Feb 15th, Tue, 99.7°F @ 3:12pm,

Kindergarten class went much MUCH better than the last episode had gone, which I think was mostly thanks to two volunteers who were helping the teachers during the school break, without them present I’m pretty sure the sessions would have descended into chaos. The actual group of children started very small, with only maybe 6-7 kids present, but 30 minutes later about 14 had joined us, so we had a decent, small sized, study group. The first period of the day was focused on the usual English exercises, while during the second period we focused on math assignments, and the third was song recitation (which was really fascinating, as I was able to participat, so I taught them the “itsey-bitsey spider”, as well as the “Macarena”, although the last one was a little difficult without any music to do it too, lol)



In the afternoon I found out that today Is an official holiday, the day of Muhammad I think it was, so the post office was, closed, so I’m going to put of picking the package for yet another day.



Tomorrow Adam “should” be arriving, However, I have heard through the grapevine (Or rather, I think it would be called the “Coffee vine” here in Ethiopia) that He is still in Shire, if that is true than there is no way that he will be arriving tomorrow, I going to see if I can call Addis tomorrow morning to verify whether or not he will be arriving according to schedule.



Day 189, Feb 16th, Wed, 98ish°F @ 3:00pm,

I managed to contact someone in Addis, not sure who it was exactly, Abba somethin’ rather, the phone conversation was somewhat muffled and it was hard to hear some of what he was saying, but I found out that Adam is still in Shire, so I left my mobile number with the Abba and asked if he would be so kind to ask Adam, when he arrived back in Addis, to give me a call and let me know when he is coming, so hopefully that message will make it through to him.



After that I went with Teshome and picked up the parcel from the post office, I turned out to be a collection of school books. There was no letter or name on the address it was shipped from, but I remember my mother mentioning that she had talked to the home school group that my siblings meet with and asked them to send anything that might be helpful. If this package is from them, then I am very thankful, for the contents and subject matter of the books will be VERY helpful and definitely appreciated. The books covered history, science, biology, Latin, theology, and even fiction; I think the students will definitely benefit from these.



Today at 3:30pm, I accompanied Abba Thomas to the Baro-mado prayer group, where, after taking some more pictures for Abbas I.D. cards, I was asked by Abba to give a short talk about prayer. The first thing that came to my mind that I thought they could relate to was prayer as a kind of spiritual food/water, so I rolled with and I thought it went okay. I compared prayer to eating and drinking, when we drink/eat, we gain energy and stamina, when for some reason we stop eating/drinking, we dry up, become thin, and eventually waste away, the same thing can happen when we neglect prayer, we can become spiritually dry and thin, Etc.



After my talk, Abba talked about his own experiences with prayer as he was growing up in India, I guess in his family, they all said morning prayers, evening prayers, as well as a rosary before dinner, together as a family, and even daily mass as much as often, it’s no wonder he became a priest (I was actually talking to him about his discernment later today, and it turns out that he almost became a Franciscan, would it not have for a chance encounter with some Salesian missionaries, and he ended up enrolling in the seminary at the age of 16).



Once Abbas talk was over, we all prayed the rosary together, and then Abba and I departed and returned back to the compound. I know I’ve said it before, but I really do enjoy going to these meetings, and I hope I can go more often.



The rest of the afternoon/evening was somewhat uneventful, The Abba’s and Brother’s had a meeting, that at times seemed almost argumentative, but I was not privy to the conversation and I didn’t ask what their meeting was about so I don’t know what they were discussing, my curiosity had definitely been piqued, but I figure I shouldn’t intrude, as it is most likely none of my business.





Day 190, Feb 17th, Thu, 98.7°F @ 3:30pm,

Not much happened today, just a normal Thursday, typed up most of my blog, did some reading, yada yada. However, I did have a very interesting and deep conversation with Surafle concerning human rights, of which we had a few differing opinions of. Most of them had to do with the right of choice or freewill, but one of the topics, which I happen to be quite passionate about, was the right to life that everyone possesses, which, in my humble opinion, is the pinnacle of all other rights, which can only be superseded by the presentation of a direct threat that seeks to rob a person of said right. It was a very long discourse, and I was presented with some arguments that I had never really thought of before (which, in the end, only served to cement my own convictions), and I’m really glad I had the philosophical exchange.



Well, on to the Haiku of the week, I am particularly fond of this one:



Where the heart is

Apple blossoms sprout,

Robins cry out their music,

Rain sprinkles softly.

~ じょしゅわ



Day 191, Feb 18th, Fri, 101.2°F @ 3:27pm,

I received a message this morning stating that Adam would be arriving today, so I made sure that everything was set up to receive him, and at 12:05pm I left with the driver to go and wait for him at the airport (on the way we stopped at a hotel along the waterfront so Teshome could grab some lunch, I didn’t have anything as I managed to eat an early lunch).



We made good time and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare. I was surprised to see that we wouldn’t be waiting at the usual spot though,it turns out the they had just finished construction on the new airport terminal (which looked really nice), so we were able to wait in style (although whenever I think of the Gambella airport, I believe I shall always think of the old site).



I had another surprise when I arrived at the airport, Sam (The project advisor for the Anglican Church here in Gambella) was literally one car behind us, and I was able to have a bit of a chat while I was waiting for Adam. During our conversation I found out that this would be Sam’s last week here, and that he had arrived at the airport to pick up his replacements. He’s not quite sure what he’ll do when he gets back to Britain (He was saying that he would like to do some more work in this area of the globe, and he was thinking he might apply to become a U.N rep.), but I’m sure whatever he ends up doing he’ll excel at it.



Adam finally arrived just past 1:30pm sporting a crew-cut and sweatin’ like a heretic in the bowels of Hades, lol, and after our initial formalities we made our way to our waiting car and joined the caravan in the race to be the first out of the gate (the reason for the rush is that no one wants to be the last people out of the gates, because that would mean that you are eating dust all the way back to Gambella.



Once we did get back to Gambella, I introduced Adam to Abba Larcher and Abba Thomas (and later Br. Legesse), showed Adam to his quarters, after which I escorted him to the dining room so that he could grab something to eat while we discussed how all the other volunteers were doing. After our swift snack, I took Adam on a tour of the Salesian compound, starting with the office, moving through to the classrooms and workshops, and ending with the Primary school and Oratory. Our tour ended with Abba’s Oratory talk and prayer (in which he also had the children welcome Adam to Gambella), after which we retired to our respective rooms and caught a quick nap before evening prayers. At the end of the evening prayers, Abba Larcher invited Adam to give the goodnight (lol, I think at least three of us warned Adam that Abba would call him to say a bit about the organization as well as a bit about himself) which went very well I thought, Adam talked about how much of a blessing the sits how accept lay volunteers are, and how much the sites themselves change us.



After prayers, I introduced Br. Endalkachew to Adam and then we proceeded to dinner, which was the usual fare (lol, the same thing I have been eating 90% of the time), afterwards I tried to show Adam Jupiter through my telescope, but the sky was too hazy to get a good look at it (it didn’t help that the darn planet kept disappearing behind the trees), although we were able to get a decent look at the moon. After our quick foray into Astronomy, we retired to the rec-room and played some card games with Br. Legesse for a half hour or so before we decided to turn in for good.



I’m not entirely sure what we are going to do tomorrow, but Abba Thomas and Br. Endalkachew mentioned that there was an inauguration of a new chapel tomorrow in Abobo, so maybe we’ll go see that.



Day 192, Feb 19th, Sat, 102.6°F @ 3:48pm,

Managed to wake up bright n’ early and walked to the church with Adam. After the service, we returned to the residence and scarfed down some brekkers before we piled into Br. Endalkachews Toyota and headed out to Abobo. On the way we picked up several members of the choir, so we ended up being crammed together like so many pickled herring in an aluminum can, I really didn’t mind though because I had had brought my iPod as well as a connecter that allowed me to connect and broadcast through the landcruiser’s radio, Mwahahaha!



After about an hour and some minutes of driving, we finally arrived to the outskirts of Abobo where the inauguration celebration was taking place. The building itself was a modest in size, it could fit maybe 60ish people at most, but it had a overhanging tarpaulin that stretched out from the side of the building and provided enough shaded for easily quadruple the number of people.



It was a bit of a wait for the ceremony to start, so we ambled around taking pictures and introducing Adam to people he hadn’t met yet (the sisters, seminarians, as well as Bishop Angelo, were present).



The ceremonial inauguration did eventually start, and was really quite beautiful, although I wish some of it had been in English, lol, as I didn’t really understand a single word of what transpired.



After the ceremony was over, we tarried a bit and watched some dances, as well as a skit, that was put on by the locals to celebrate the inauguration. Once the carousing was over, we were invited to the Salesians compound in the Abobo proper, so it was back to the sardine can for a quick jaunty over to the place, where we all piled out and into the dining hall. The spread that they had set out for us was none too shabby, and I’m not ashamed in saying that I had two heaping portions of mighty fine tasting spaghetti.



After lunch had finished, we crammed ourselves back into the landcruiser and an hour of driving later we were back at our compound. After we disembarked from the vehicle I busied myself with going through all the pictures and video that I had collected and made sure that they were all properly named (I’ll be giving all the media that I have collected thus far to Adam, and he in turn will give it to Shoestring Creative Group, which, in turn, is working with the Salesians mission office, so anything that I’ve shot that they like will be used for whatever purpose they deem best), while I was doing this, Adam decided to take a short nap, and honestly, I don’t hold it against him for wanting to, if I didn’t have to make sure all the media was properly tagged, I would have taken a nap too, standing around in the sun all morning tends to have that effect on people I think.



I finished my project at around 4:00pm, just in time to go with the recently roused Adam to take a tour of the Sisters of Charity’s compound. The tour was quite illuminating, not to mention enjoyable (the Nuer people are a very rhythmic people, all they need is a beat of some kind, Sister demonstrated it to us during the tour, at one point we just started clapping our hands, pretty soon the children and women of the center started joining, clapping at first, and then singing and dancing, I guess you could say that they know how to get jiggy wit it…lol).



After our tour, we got back to our compound just in time to catch the end of the students football game, and after the game Adam and I discussed how the kids would compare if put against other similar aged kids from other countries (It’s our opinion that the kids here are above average when it comes to personal skills, like ball control, etc, but are subpar when it comes to working as a team, so we were thinking that they might be equal to or greater than, when compared to our U.S. kids back home (better teamwork but less ball control), but that they would be hard pressed to defeat our neighbor Hispanic football kids (who have both ball control and teamwork), lol.



Anyways, after the game, we bumped into Abba Thomas, who invited Adam to come and visit the future chapel site in Baro-mado (a district of Gambella, the word literally means “after the river”) and while we were there Adam discovered during conversation with Abba Thomas that Abba had actually served as a substitute parish priest in Adams home town in Indiana, lol, it truly is a small world after all.



Once we had finished our tour of the Baro-Mado site, we headed back to the compound just in time to make it for evening prayers. After prayers, I managed to set up my telescope quickly enough that Adam was able to look through it and see Jupiter for a few seconds before we had to go eat dinner, mission accomplished.



After dinner I exchanged all of my pictures and videos for the pictures that Adam had taken while he was here, which was really nice because I really don’t have many pictures where I am actually in them, since I am usually behind the camera, lol. After the media swap, we stayed up for a bit, talked, watched some T.V., Etc, before Adam decided he would hit the hay, a proposition that I followed a little bit later. It has been a long and enjoyable day.



Day 193, Feb 20th, Sun, 99.7°F @ 4:07pm,

Ah, another bright n’ early day! Left for church right on time, and this time we managed to get through the whole mass before it came time for Adam to get ready to leave, so right after the service we hurried back to the compound so that he could pack. After he was done, there was just enough time to grab a quick breakfast before Abba Angelo came to pick him up (The Bishop was also heading to Addis, so Adam was going to be flying with him), unfortunately there was not enough room in the small pickup that they were driving for me to come along, I made sure to get Abba Angelo to take a picture of Adam and myself together (something I wish I had done when Jayne was here) and then they were on their way.



I feel very lucky that so many people have been able to come and visit me here, from what I understand, visitors are a bit of a rarity here, and that there have been a rather abnormally large number of them this year, thanks be to God.



I was a bit fearful that this Sunday would end up being like when jayne left, but thankfully there was a very big sports event that took place this evening, so I stayed busy. The event in question was the finals for the primary schools boys football team, as well as the finals for the oratory ladies volleyball team, so it was quite an exciting day, Abba Larcher had me running around taking photos and video, and I’m pretty sure I got some good ones.



After the winners were declared, the triumphant teams received prizes, which included nice looking shoes, track suits, as well as backpacks. One thing I was struck by as the players were receiving their winnings was how…unenthusiastic some (many) of them were, and I discussed this with Br. Legesse during our evening leisure time. Apparently Gambella is somewhat unique for this mentality, at most of the other sites, the children are quite happy (grateful) to receive even a pencil, whereas here, it’s almost as if they expect to receive things. I was also told by Legesse, that the competitions here are a great deal easier, for instance, the volleyball and football tournament, here it lasted barely 2 weeks, yet they received prizes that at other sites they would only have given out for competitions that lasted at least a couple months. And it’s not just the children either, from what I hear from the conversations I’m privy to here, there is definitely an expectation in this particular society for the Salesians to give, and it’s actually something they have been struggling for a while. Definitely something I should keep in mind.



Let’s see now, Prayer of the week! I particularly like this prayer, because for some reason it reminds me of the code of the Jedi, lol, so for all you Star Wars fans out there, I present a prayer said to have originated from the great Saint Francis of Assisi, named, appropriately:



Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi



Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love; for it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.



Day 194, Feb 21st, Mon, 99.8°F @ 3:30pm,

This morning I overslept a little bit, and ended up rushing to make sure I had all my materials for the start of class, but when I arrived at the technical institute, it was deserted, so a bit confused, I sought out Bayu and Surafle and inquired as to the whereabouts of the student body, only to discover, to my chagrin, that it wasn’t for another week until classes would commence…confound it all. That leaves me with another week of this mindless boredom (and to make matters worse, the instances of electronic outages have increased a great deal, making it somewhat difficult to fill the abundance of free time by constructive activities, like, oh say, writing up my blog…Blargh).



I did however have a rather interesting conversation with Surafle (although, now that I think about it, most of my discourses with my accountant friend have been of an interesting nature…) which helped ease my burdon of boredom. I wish I had time to go into detail regarding our dialogue, but I have limited power in my laptop today, so it will have to wait for another day, suffice to say for now, the conversation concerned the relationship between science and faith (quite the hefty topic indeed), and it is quite possible to be a man of both.



Day 195, Feb 22nd, Tue, 104°F @ 3:00pm,

There were a few extra volunteers at the sister’s classes today, which made things a lot easier in terms of keeping the peace. We did some writing exercises, and I ended up learning a new technique from one of the volunteers, after the child had written the letter I had specified, he had them turn around and face the class and repeat aloud the letter they had just written as well as the sound it makes, after which he encouraged the class to applaud. I think it’s a very good habit to form, as the applauding tends to give the kids a boost in self confidence, so I think I shall be integrating it into most of my exercises. For the sports class (which has momentarily replaced the third period of normal classes), Sister had the kids do a rope/tree climbing competition, which was quite hilarious because a lot of them ended up just holding the rope and climbing with their legs, which left them nearly inverted, lol (I was one of the safety “nets”, we stood next to the rope and made sure that no one fell, but most of the time I was helping the kids to climb properly, after which I would lift the down from the tree, lol, it was basically like lifting oddly shaped weights for 20 minutes, after which I was exhausted).



After the sisters class, I hurried back to our compound in order to meet Carlos (the Spanish lay volunteer from Abobo) and attempt to solve his computer woes. There was something wrong with his start up trouble shooting program and he wasn’t able even to get into windows proper, I tried everything that I could think of, from running a memory scan, diagnostics, troubleshooting scans, system restores, safe mode access, nothing worked, we even tried to reinstall the OS, but the Laptop wouldn’t recognize the system disk. After working on it for more than 3+ hours we ended up making absolutely no progress, we gave up and I advised him to take his compy along with him on his next visit to Addis, and maybe he might be able to find an expert who is more qualified and may be able to fix it. I feel a bit disappointed in not being able to fix his computer, I can usually end up figuring out how to rectify a problem if I have access to the actual windows program, but I’m stumped when it comes to merely having BIOS and command prompt at my disposal. Hopefully he’ll have more luck when he goes to Addis.



Day 196, Feb 23rd, Wed, 102.5°F @ 4:00pm, 92.7°F @ 10:00pm,

Br. Legesse went to Ziway for another meeting and Br. Endalkachew is still on his item gathering excursion (he left Monday, I believe I had forgotten to mention that in my previous posts), so, alas, tis but Abba Larcher, Abba Thomas, me, myself, and I.



Nothing spectacularly remarkable happened during the day today, but in the evening a storm front moved in and hit us really hard. Man alive, the wind was somethin’ else, and although there was very little precipitation, the sky was chock-a-block full of silent lightning that flashed at least every 7 seconds! As cool as the storm was, there was a very disappointing side effect, the power went out, which might not have been such a bad thing, seeing as how it was time to go to bed anyways and thusly I had no need for light, however, I hadn’t realized till now just how much of a boon the fan in my room was in aiding me in my nighttime departure to the dream world. Without the gentle and cool caresses of fan the room quickly became a stewing, humid and sticky furnace, and it wasn’t long before sweat was rolling out of every pore in my body, turning my bed into an instrument of torture that, I feel, would have rivaled any device of similar ill intent. I think I would have much preferred Chinese Ice torture, at least you get to leave that torment cooler that when you started, lol.



I had a little batteries left in my comp, so I ended up passing some of the time by watching some videos and playing some games. When the batteries had fully died, I ended up reading a bit, until the want of sleep finally eclipsed the temperature of the room, and I was able to slip into a relatively peaceful slumber. I hope that these nighttime power outages that combine with sudden heat waves brought on by swift moving storm fronts are a somewhat rare phenomena.



Day 197, Feb 24th, Thu, 88.6°F @ 6:20am, 101.4°F @ 5:06pm,

Woke up rather sticky with sweat from natures third degree last night (I kept telling them that I couldn’t remember what I was doing at 6:41pm on April 26, 1998, but they didn’t believe me!), but it wasn’t anything a quick shower couldn’t take care of. I did notice that I have a bit of a sniffle this morning, hopefully it’s just an allergic reaction to all the dust that was tossed around last night and not another bout with this bugger of an African cold that seems to be going around.



As the day progressed, I couldn’t help but feel a bit of déjà vu, the day was again uneventful, (with the majority of the day taking place without me meeting my friend, Electricity), and as the evening approached, storm clouds again gathered in the NE, which again assaulted us with a barrage of wind and lightning, but also bringing with it a decent amount of rain (also, the wind was much more savage tonight, sticks and cans and bottles were flying all over the place. Aunty Emm, Aunty Emm!). And, just like last night, the power cut off, leaving me to simmer and stew. Thankfully the storm passed much swifter than last nights, leaving crystal clear skies, so I spent some time gazing up at the heavens with my tele. I really wish that I was able to take a decent picture of the night sky here on a clear night, it really is something else. It’s like those pictures you see of Nevada or Arizona at night, simply spectacular.



The sniffles that I had this morning are quickly progressing into cold like symptoms, so when I did eventually drag my keester inside and attempt to go to sleep, it was that much more uncomfortable, *Sigh*, getting sick sucks, especially when you’re trying to get to sleep in a room that is averaging 92°F, lol.



Enough self piteh! For tis time for Haiku! Another of my personal favorites (Ps. insert green or brown where applies, I simply went with the majority, lol).



Left behind

Waves of amber blow,
Tousled by the playful wind,
Blue eyes shine brightly.

~ じょしゅわ

You cannot know a man until you eat a pound of salt with him. ~Tsez proverb






Day 198, Feb 25th, Fri, 101.7°F @ 3:00pm,



I’ve just realized just how little I have really written regarding my fellow Salesians and employees/volunteers, so I have been think that on Fridays I will be writing a small bio for each of them, however, I need to make sure I get my facts straight, so I think I’ll have to hold mini interviews with them and write down the information so I don’t forget it, so I’ll start that project next week, beginning with Br. Legesse I think.

Didn’t really do much today, I talked a bit with Surafle concerning the mysteries of life, but other than that I just kinda took I easy, read more o’ my book, rested (my cold-ish thing is starting to become quite bothersome.).
Tonight there was power, so getting to sleep was much easier.



Day 199, Feb 26th, Sat, 94.7°F @ 7:45pm,



I now declare myself officially “down with the sickness”; my cold has fully formed its disgustingly mutated and derisive appendages and has taken hostage my sinuses and throat (I guess you could say it’s got me in a choke hold, lol), and so since there wasn’t really much (*cough* anything *cough*) to do today, I ended up napping through most of the day, and I’m pretty sure by now I’ve caught up on all the sleep I had previously missed.
This evening I used some of my precious anti-cold meds to sooth my fiery nose and sore throat, as well as to help me sleep since there was no power again tonight, blech!




Day 200, Feb 27th, Sun, 102.3°F @ 4:12pm,


I slept surprisingly well and woke up refreshed and ready for the day (It was a miracle that I had even woken up, let alone on time for mass, so it was like a double miracle, lol).

Abba Thomas’s homily today was of a very noteworthy sort, which dealt with a very important topic for the inhabitants here. He was telling us about the time when he was in Nairobi as a parish priest (I’ll touch on that during one of my upcoming mission bio projects), there was an incident where a couple, parishioners, was found murdered in their house. When Abba investigated the cause of their deaths, he discovered that some of his parishioners had had a hand in the matter. Apparently there had been a daughter of another couple who died from a sickness, and that couple had blamed the death on the now deceased couple, citing witchcraft, and had convinced a cousin, or brother (I don’t remember exactly the relationship of the man to the murderous couple, he might have been just a friend of the family) to take revenge and kill the other couple. Abba then stated that he had given a test to many of the Catholics of St. Josephs parish when he had first come to Gambella, and asked them in the test if whether or not they would take their revenge if a member of their family or friends was killed, and a disturbing number of them had said that they would. Abba then went on in his homily on how this is a very unhealthy attitude to have as a Christian, and cited several passages from the bible that stated the opposite of the old “Eye for an Eye” rule, including today’s Gospel reading, where Jesus said to turn the other cheek.


Revenge is definitely a problem that I see a lot of here, especially in the children, when one child slights another, they basically take turns taking revenge on each other, with the violence escalating until it ends with one of them becoming hurt. It’s even present in the adults, they are very quick to point fingers sometimes, saying this and that about someone in the hopes of getting them trouble. Thankfully there is just as many kind hearted souls who are are as gentle as lambs.

After the service, Abba asked me to stick around and take pictures of the ladies of the women’s meeting group for the parish I.D. cards/file that I have been working on for him, so I hung around and listened in on the conversation until it was over (I don’t know if I would call it listening on it, seeing as how not a single word was said in English, however, the woman were making a lot of gestures as well as vocal fluctuations, and judging by how wild many of the gestures were, and how loud and quickly some of them were talking, there was definitely some figure pointing being done, lol.). After the meeting, I tried to take their picture, but for some reason my camera had gone dead (I could have sworn that I had charged it just yesterday!) so I had to postpone the pictures until next week (I’m wondering if perhaps the camera hasn’t charged due to all the power outages?).


Now for the prayer of the week:

A prayer for the reading of the Word of God


May they word, O‘ my God, be always as sweet music to my ears, and as honey to my lips. To whom shall I listen but to You, who has the word of eternal life? The words of men are like chaff scattered by the wind, but Your words endure forever. These are Your words, O’ Lord: “Labor not for the meat that parishes, but for that which endures unto life everlasting.” “The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven.” “I am the Bread of life; they that comes to Me shall not hunger, and they that believe in Me shall not thirst forever.” “ They that eat My Flesh and drink My Blood has everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”



Day 201, Feb 28th, Mon, 103.2°F @ 3:17pm,

I woke up very excited to begin the first day of 2nd semester teaching, and I arrived early enough to catch most of the morning talk before class, but to my disappointment I discovered that only a fraction of the students had showed up to attend classes. After the morning talk, all the students who would be continuing in my class gathered together and there ended up being only four… FOUR! Oh well, I did the best with what I had.


Since it was only the first day (and since so few had come) I decided to hold just a simple feedback session with them. I asked them which parts of the previous semesters class they enjoyed the most (the dictionary vocabulary work), which part they liked the least (the book report debacle… no surprise there, lolz), what kinds of new exercises would they like to see more of this coming semester (possibly an educational video about English…if I can find one) and what they really wanted to walk away with at the end of this semester (surprisingly, it was how to write a report, to which I replied that perhaps we should learn how to write complete paragraphs first and maybe if we progress fast enough we’ll be able to learn that). The session went well, and I received some good information, so now it just depends on whether or not they show up for class.



Day 202, Mar 1st, Tue, 91.7°F @ 1:22am,



I had a bit of a surprise when I arrived at the Sisters compound this morning, well, two actually, the first was that Okello (one of the animators from the oratory that I am friends with) is helping with the classes now, it’s nice to see a familiar face helping the Sisters. The other surprise was that there was another volunteer helping out with the classes who was from the States! Dallas, to be exact, her name was Cion (not sure if that’s how its spelled, It’s pronounced Sigh-on, so I’ll haft to ask her how to spell it next week), and her family is originally from Ethiopia. She is going to be in the Gambella region for about a year, working at a preschool (that I think is run by the Anglican Church, though I’m not 100% sure). It’s unbelievably nice to have all this extra help, the Sisters are spread out so thin all the time, so hopefully all the extra muscle will give them a bit of a respite.

During the sports period, I attempted to get a group of kids together and play a game of kickball, but it didn’t go quite as planned, for one the kids did not entirely understand the concept of picking up the ball and throwing it (which I guess is expected seeing as how they have only ever played football, still, it was really funny to watch them), another was their inability to follow any of the rules, lol, they would just wiz by the bases at full speed without giving any thought as to actually touching the bases, while the kids in the outfield just gazed blankly as the ball rolled right past them. It’s definitely going to take some work, but I’m sure I can make a decent kickball team out of these kids yet.





Day 203, Mar 2nd, Wed, 109.1°F @ 3:00pm,



Today was a holiday (I believe it had something to do with the Ethiopians resisting the colonization effort of the Italians) and to celebrate, Br. Endalkachew decided that it was about time we had had an outing to the Bonga countryside, and so, after gathering all the materials we needed (which included a live sheep…) and collecting several of my fellow office workers (Bayu, Omod, Surafle, Nabiyat, Habtamu, Teshome Gemachu, mulugeta, as well as a few others and a local cook from the town (I know knew the fate of the sheep).

It took about half an hour’s drive to get to the site, which was nestled comfortably in a thicket of Mango tree and provided a commanding view of the river. The first thing that arrested my attention when we had finished unloading was the Mango trees themselves, they were literally chock-a-block full of ripe and semi-ripe fruit free for the taking, and there was a local who was climbing up the trees with a long pole and hooking the higher fruits from there hiding places, the spryness with which the lad climbed the tree was truly remarkable.

The next topic of interest was the fate of the sheep we had brought with us. As soon as we had stopped the truck I noticed that the cook had started to set up his station, which included several impressively sharp looking knives. After he had prepared his tools, he and bayu dragged the sheep to a small clearing and cut its throat, a rather nasty bit of business (the blood, the BLOOD!) thankfully it was over quickly… somewhat (the darned thing kept writhing), I didn’t much care for the butchering part of the task, but the skinning and cutting of the meat itself I found extremely fascinating, I’ve never prepared anything bigger than a chicken, so to see him reduce such a large animal to usable portions with the speed and precision that came from many years developing the skill was quite a treat.

After I had had my fill of the culinary preparations, I followed some of the others to the bank of the river and observed as one of our fellows attempted to board a dugout canoe that one of the locals was offering to let him ride, his first attempt at climbing in resulted in the small water craft capsizing, but after they had bailed out the water he gave it another go, and this time successfully managed to keep the thing upright, and off they went with surprising agility for an ungainly looking craft.

After our compatriot had departed on his aquatic adventure, the rest of us headed further up the bank to where a group of rock formations jutted out into the river, making for some auspicious photo taking opportunities which I made sure not to waste (While we were scrambling over the rocks, I think I amazed some of them with how nimble I was able to get across the rough terrain, and for that I have my Fathers frequent trips to the mountains to go rock hounding to thank).

Once we had finished our excursion, we headed back and played some games (the balloon popping game that we played at the technical Christmas party, as well as the “eat a cracker and see who can whistle first” game… although in this case the contenders had to eat an entire PACK of crackers, lol), I told some riddles (a few were from the book “The Hobbit” hehe) and I received some riddles as well (I tell you a couple of them and then tell you the answers next week: 1st: 40 soldiers in a box, what am I? 2nd: Why does a dog wag it’s tail?

We finished the games just in time for lunch (while we had been playing our games, the cook had been hard at work, kindling a larg fire and propping a large “Wok” like metal dish, to which he added the sheep, crushed garlic, peppers, onions, oil, and water, and had been stew/frying it), which was absolutely delicious (although I do wish there had been more vegetables, it was mostly meat, lol. I am definitely going to find myself one of those huge woks and make some campfire grub back home).

After our meal we discovered (Omod broke the secret) that today also happened to be Br. Endalkatchew’s birthday, he had been trying to keep it on the down low, but once the beans had been spilled we all wished him a happy birthday.

It was then time to head back, so after cleaning up the site (which included dumping the sheep offal into the river, which attracted several large fish that began fighting over it) we set off.

After we had returned to the compound, I settled in for a quick nap before evening prayers, but before I had even shut my eyes, I was asked by Abba to prepare several Happy birthday signs (which included some very nice quotes from the bible), which took me a bit, but I was eventually able to take a short nap. After I had awoken and just before evening prayers, I went into the dining room and prepared one of the packages of mashed potatoes, I figured this was as good a time as any to splurge, especially with lent coming soon.

After prayers we enjoyed a very delicious meal, and since there was power, I enjoyed the night just as much as I did the day, and was able to get a good night’s sleep. I really feel somewhat refreshed after today’s outing, hopefully it will last for a bit.




Day 204, Mar 3rd, Thu, 102.6°F @ 3:48pm,

This afternoon I started a very important project for Abba Larcher, he has asked me to type the plan of action that he has been writing for the 2011 year. It’s quite the solid bit of work. I ended up spending most of the day either writing up the plan, or finishing up the chronical (which is almost up to date finally), and didn’t have much time for writing of my own, so I’ll have to do some catch up Fri, Sat and possibly Sun as well.

So, now that I’ve basically covered the day’s events… HAIKU!!!


The shores

Foam crested water,
Whipped by wind into a froth,
Beats against the sand.

To blog, or not to blog, that is the question.

Day 170, Jan 28, Fri, 99.1°F @ 2:54pm,

Woke up somewhat refreshed this morning, and headed to the office for my weekly internet update. I didn’t expect the internet to actually be working, and my expectations were verified once I arrived. I didn’t really mind, because I hadn’t quite fully caught up on all my writing, so I busied myself with trying to get all caught up by evening so I wouldn’t have to worry about it, however, to my delight, the internet started working at around 3:30pm, it was slow, but it was working, and I was finally able to check my emails. I really enjoy reading about what is happening with everyone stateside, it gives me something to look forward to during the week, which makes it that much more depressing when I am unable to access the internet. Of particular interest are the emails that I get from my family members describing the various events that are happening, it really helps me to feel not totally left out of the loop.



Day 171, Jan 29, Sat, 91.8°F @ 7:14pm,

Didn’t really sleep much last night, to bloody hot, and so when I dragged myself out of bed for mass this morning, I had to try extra hard not to fall asleep in church, lol. Luckily today was the ordination of Abba Deselagn, and I’ve never been to an ordination before, so not falling asleep wasn’t that challenging (Although there were a few points where I started nodding, the service was more than 3 ½ hours long after all, and all in Amharic, lol). After the mass there were two celebration events, the first was for the general parishioners, which involved much dancing and singing. The second was a luncheon for the newly ordained Abba Deselagn, his family members, friends, and fellow Salesians, I was fortunate enought to be able to attend both. The revelry lasted until around 3:30pm, after which I tried to take a nap, but was unsuccessful, to warm.



The rest of the afternoon and evening was uneventful, except for one startling episode which gave me a real scare. At around 11:00pm, Abba Thomas knocked on my door and bid me to come with him to Abba Larchers room right next door, saying that there was something wrong with him. Abba Larcher was lying quite still, murmuring to himself in a hushed tone, and when Abba Thomas told me to see how cold Abba’s feet were, they were like ice. Abba Thomas had already sent Br. Endalkachew to fetch a doctor as well as calling Bishop Angelo, but until they got here I had no idea what to do, my mind had gone blank, so I just started reciting rosary after rosary. Thankfully Bishop Angelo arrived in a few minutes, and after conversing with Abba Lacher in Italian, he set about making him as comfortable as possible, he massaged Abbas feat until some warmth returned to them, and then we covered them with a couple towels I had grabbed from the laundry room.



After about 20 minutes, Br. returned, bringing with him a local doctor, and as we waited anxiously he set about checking Abba’s vitals. After what seemed like an eternity (but what was probably no more than 5-10 minutes) the Doctor declared that Abba was okay, but that he would like to take him to the hospital to make sure. Bishop Angelo and Br. helped Abba to his feet and they set of in the cruiser for the hospital while I stayed behind and continued saying my rosaries (I was joined by Makona, an animator from the oratory. Somehow he had heard about Abba’s hospitalization, and he was not taking the news well, he was in a pretty bad state, so I invited him to join me in praying for Abba, which helped calm him down).



Abba and his escorts returned at around 12:30am, and it turns out that Abba is fit as a fiddle. They had thought that it could have been his diabetes, but his blood came back fine, so there thinking it was a stress induced panic attacked, which actually makes a great deal of sense with all the holiday activities that have been going on, (not to mention the increased heat). After making sure Abba was settled, I finally retired, completely exhausted, it’s been one of those long days.



Day 172, Jan 30, Sun, 93.7°F @ 3:12pm,

I ended up waking up late this morning and missing mass, I think this is the first time I have ever missed a Sunday service due to something that wasn’t sickness, and I was a bit disappointed about that, but I was consoled by the fact that it wasn’t on purpose that I missed it, and that the lack of sleep I experienced was because I stayed up waiting for Abba last night instead of going to sleep. Speaking of Abba, he decided to go to Addis and get checked in with the hospital up there, just to make sure that last night’s episode was only a panic attack (the trip also has a second purpose, it’ll allow him to relax and take it easy for a week and recover), and he caught the 12:15pm plane this afternoon, if everything goes over well, he should be back by this coming Wednesday.



At oratory today I taught some of the kids to play Liars Dice, quite a fun little game, to play each person has five dice (thankfully I had brought a whole bag of dice with me) and game proceeds with all the players rolling their dice (making sure to keep what they have a secret) and then the starting player states how many dice of a particular number are on the “table” (meaning the total added from each player), the next player, in clockwise order, then has the chance to either increase the previous call, state that the previous call was a lie, or state that the previous call was exactly the number stated. When someone is called a liar or if the call was stated as “spot on”, everyone reveals their dice and they are added up, if the total is equal to or higher than the stated number, then the person who called liar must give up a dice, if the total is less than, the person who lied must give up a dice, the same goes for calling spot on, if a player calls a “spot on” on a previous call, and the total ends up being exactly the number, the previous player must give up a die, whereas if the total is higher or lower, the person calling “spot on” must give up a dice.



I will give an example so that those of you who are interest can play. Say there is three players, for convenience sake we shall call them player 1, 2, and 3. All of them role their dice and player 1 starts the call, he has two dice that show 4, one dice that shows a 6, one dice that shows a 2, and one dice that shows 3. Since he has two 4’s, he decided that at least one of the other players has another 4, so he starts by saying that there are three 4’s ON THE ENTIRE TABLE. Now it’s player 2’s turn. He has three 1’s, one 5, and one 4. He has three options at this point, he can call player on a liar, but since he himself has one 4, the odds of there being equal to or higher than that number or high, so he decides not to that. The second thing he could do is call a “Spot On”, in other words he would be saying that he thinks there are exactly three 4’s ON THE ENTIRE TABLE, however, all three players still have all five of their dice, so calling a spot on this early in the game would be a bad idea. The third and final thing he could is Increase on the previous call, by either increasing the number of dice called, or a higher number. For instance, the previous call was three 4’s, player 2 can increase it by adding another dice and calling four 4’s, or he can increase the number, three 5’s, for example. One thing that the player should keep in mind is that they can never call a lesser number, for instance, player 2 couldn’t call two 6’s, because the number of dice is less than the previous call. So, let’s say player 2 decides to increase, and since he has three 1’s, and he guesses that there is probably at least one more 1 somewhere on the table, he calls four 1’s. It’s now player 3’s turn, and she has three 2’s and two 5’s. Since she docent have any ones she decides to call player two a liar. After she has stated that she thinks player 2 is a liar, every player reveals what dice they have, and since there are only three 4’s on the table, player 3 was correct in calling player 2 a liar, and player 2 must give up a die. The game then continues with everyone rolling their dice again, and then the calling/bidding starts again, starting with the player who lost a die in the previous round, so in this case it is player 2. This round player 2 got a lucky hand and rolled four 5’s, so he decided to state that there are five 5’s on the table. Now it’s player 3’s turn, she has one 1, one 3, one 6, one 2 and one 4. She decides to call player 2 a liar, so everyone reveals their dice, apart from player 2’s four 5’s, player 1 also has two 5’s, for a total of six 5’s, so player 2 is correct and player 3 must give up a dice for falsely accusing player 2. The game continues in this manner until all but one persons dice is gone, at which point they are declared the winner. One other thing I should mention, the “spot on” call isn’t really used much in the first round (unless there is only two players, at which point it becomes a viable option) due to the unlikelihood of the call being exactly right, however, as the rounds progress and the amount of dice that players have left dwindles, it becomes a very powerful strategy.



The best thing about this game is how you have to change your playing style as the rounds progress, because the calls you would make if you have five players with a total of twenty five dice, is very different from how you will need to play when there is just two of you left with only four dice on the table. How well you know how a person plays can also heavily affect the outcome, for instance, if you know that when player 2 only has two dice left, he tends to tell the truth when he calls, whereas when player 3 gets down to two dice, she tends to lie more, that can be game changing information.



Well, I hope I have explained it efficiently and simply enough that some o’ you readers will become players, and I’ll leave you with today’s prayer (which is a very handy one for youths n’ young adults who don’t quite know where their place in the world is, like me, lol):



Prayer for Direction

Lord God,

It is not clear to me how I should spend my life.

It is not clear to me the way I should go.

I am often confused.

So many attractive things hold out empty promises for happiness.

Help me, through the prayers of Saint John Bosco, who was a friend to any young person in need.

Help me to know Your will for me, and give me the courage to follow.

May I know the true joys that are only found in giving my life for others.


A young child looks through a great stained glass window, watching the people go by. Everyone seems to be wearing a red coat; his mother sees jackets in white. Now he can’t understand, why does she see it this way? Freedom is sometimes just simply another perspective away. ~Kutless




Day 173, Jan 31, Mon, 101.8°F @ 12:03pm, Feast of St. John Bosco,

Finally got a good night’s sleep last night, and I woke up right on time for mass. Since today was the feast of St. John Bosco, as well as the last day of “School” before “winter” break, there were a couple events. The primary school had games and prizes as well as a breakfast biscuit; while at the technical institute we watched a video about the formation of the Salesians which resulted from St. John Bosco’s work (I think many of them were somewhat surprised to see oratory’s that were in other countries) as well as a documentary about Martin King his contribution to the equality of race in America (Watching the documentary with the students was really interesting, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more proud (because we did overcome it), but at the same time so ashamed (because it never should have happened in the first place), to be an American. To all those people out there who think America is the greatest thing since sliced bread and can’t do no wrong, go to a third world country {*cough* Africa *Cough*} and watch a film that touches on how your country treated the people from said country, I’ll tell ya what, it’s humbling, to say the least). After the film, we (the technical facility) did some games (one was a word/action game, were Br. Endalkachew repeated two words, one word meant to point your fingers up, the other meant to point the our fingers down, but while he said the words he would also point his own fingers up or down, sometimes the opposite way according to the word he said, which fooled many people in pointing the wrong way. I taught them the other game, it’s called Ninja, and you play by getting a group of people in a circle, have them assume martial arts poses, and then they take turns trying to hit each other’s hands, the catch is that they can only make one strike at a time, and once the make the strike, they have to leave their hand wherever it stopped, it’s great fun), and then had a snack of biscuits and soft drinks. After everyone had finished their food items, everyone was given a Salesian T-shirt and then they were all herded in front of the office building for a photograph.



After lunch we started setting up the residential compound for dinner tonight, which was going to involve about thirty people, from Bishop Angelo and his seminarians, to the Sisters and office workers. After all the tables were set up, Abba Thomas gave me a computer assignment, I was to copy out the evening prayer and print out pamphlets for each guest. I wasted no time in completing the task, and managed to finish it in about an hour and a half, after which I took a quick hour nap before the guests arrived.



At 6:45pm all the guests started to show up, and by 7:10 we were able to start the evening prayer (during the prayer I noticed I had accidently left some spelling mistakes in the prayer pamphlets, oops.). We finished prayers at 7:25pm, and it was on to the feast! Most of the food was the usual Ethiopian fare, however, lucky lucky me, there was pizza (in reality flatbread made with a bisquick dough and topped with tomato Sauce? And Chess?) as well as the spicy wot that I like (which is really quit excellent when combined with the pizza, lol. I actually think the wot would make for an amazing barbecue sauce, I have to remember to get the recipe before I go).



There was much laughing and jesting, and an overall cheerful and happy atmosphere, although the lack of Abba Larchers presence was definitely felt. After dinner was over, I took a photo of everyone (which I don’t think turned out very well, my camera docent take very good night photo’s) and then helped with clean up. After everything was sufficiently tidied up, decided to hit the hay, I had to rest up for tomorrow because even though I didn’t have any technical classes, I am still teaching the kindergarten on Tuesdays.



Day 174, Feb 1, Tue, 97°F @ 3:12pm,

Good Lord I think I flipped my lid today! The sisters are very understaffed at the moment, two of the sister had gone back to Addis, which meant that only three sisters were left to run everything, and on top of that, two of the teachers have stopped showing up for classes, so they are stretched to the limit. As a result of this I ended up teaching the same class for all three periods, WHICH WAS BAD JUJU! The first class was okay, even superb, they behaved themselves, they were doing the exercises, etc, but during the second class order started to break loose, only about half of the second class ended up being productive. The third class was literally HELL! They weren’t listening to a thing I said, they had developed a mob mentality, and they even started fighting over pens! I decided that I would solve the fighting over school supplies problem by gathering up all their supplies and keeping it until the end of class, in theory it sounded like a brilliant idea, and maybe it would have worked if I had but the supplies in a different room (Doh, on my part) but as it was I only gathered everything on a classroom table, big mistake! As soon as I had turned my back, they all literally rushed to grab everything, it was every child for itself, it was chaos, havoc, MADNESS! In particular was one group of about 5 kids, who were literally all grabbing at the same two pens and yelling like beasts. At that point I genuinely became angry and grabbed the pen from them, broke it, and tossed it out the window. I then went around threatening to break the pen of the next person who causes trouble. It didn’t really accomplish much, and in the end the only one who was feeling bad was me, because a couple of the kids had started crying after I broke the pens (most likely the actual owners of said utensil) and it really made me feel cruddy. I am going to bring some pens to class next week and replace the ones I destroyed.



After the class I made sure to talk to sister and discuss what had happened, and in particular I discussed furnishing each kid with their own pen/pencil and notebook (which I would be more than happy to provide) which they were only allowed to use during class, and as soon as class is over, it gets returned to the teacher, thus eliminating these stupid fights. I also suggested that there be some kind of reward/ramification system put in place, because they way that the teachers are teaching them (through fear of corporal punishment) is counterproductive. Not only did sister agree with me, but she had actually been planning to carry out the same adjustments, which made me feel a little better.



I returned from my battle much worse for wear, and would have immediately taken a nap if it weren’t for the fact that the salesians were holding a luncheon for all the staff of the Don Bosco compound, in thanks for all that they had done, so I ended up sticking around and taking some pictures of the event, as well as taking a bite to eat. As soon as it was ended though, I went and took my much needed nap, and woke up feeling quite a bit better.



The afternoon was free, so was able to do some reading, as well as finish a game that I had been slowly playing through. Dinner was a bit special tonight, as we had some of the leftovers from the previous feasts (I’m always somewhat leery of leftovers here though, I don’t know how long that they have been sitting out, lol).



Day 175, Feb 2, Wed, 99.8°F @ 3:32pm,

So, today we had some visitors arrive, there was Abba Sandro, the Economer from Addis, as well as Abba Klement Vaclav (who is from Slovakia), the General councilor of missions (in other words, he’s the head honcho where any Salesian missions are concerned). We had the usual welcome with the primary school students (which I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of), but we also had an unusual even. The Salesian have been building a hostel that will provide student who come from far away a place to stay, so while he was here, the Salesians managed to convince Abba Klement to bless the foundation, which was pretty neat.



This evening our guests went to watch some TV after dinner and discovered that the satellite wasn’t working, and I realized with a start that I had no idea when the satellite could have gone out, as I have not watched TV for several weeks now! Lol, I guess I’ve been too busy reading and writing as well as using my computer to watch the ol’ “couch potato-fyer”, which is a good thing in my book.



And speaking of books, I’ve almost finished “The man who knew too much”, I should be able to finish it sometime early next week. So far it’s been a very fascinating book, the main “Hero” (if you could call him that, I think I’ll call him the main protagonist instead) is a man very much like Sherlock Holmes, in relation to their accumulated knowledge and knowhow, however, that’s where their similarities end, for this protagonist carries with him a profound sense that he really does know too much as well as an almost fatalistic attitude of indifference, lol, an interesting combination to be sure. The book itself seems to me an excuse for its author to experiment with various character themes, viewpoints, and in particular plot twists, for instance, with what seemed to be ending up usually what wasn’t, until you find out that it was, just not in the way you thought it was…lol.



Day 176, Feb 3, Thu, 100.3°F @ 3:28pm,

Abba’s Klement and Sandro visited Pignudo today with Br. Giancarlo, which left the majority of the daily basically free, which was spent in the usual way, typing up teh blog, reading, computering (or is it computing…Hmm), Etc.



When the sojourners returned from their trip to the countryside this evening, we all gathered at the church for evening prayers and adoration (which I was late to because I had left my camera in my room, which meant I had to walk all the way back to retrieve it, argh, lol), and afterwards we had a meal together at the vicariates (bishops) residence. The meal was rather interesting, it was the Ethiopian fare, but there was also spaghetti, complete with marinara, however, the sauce had a strange taste to it, and I spent the first half of the evening trying to figure out what I was tasting, I then realized in a flash of inspiration that the cooks had used ketchup as a base, and that’s what I was tasting. Mmmm, ketchup marinara, lol, actually it wasn’t that bad, which I find somewhat sad as it rather exemplifies the plainness of the majority of the food I usually eat here, lol. After our meal of condiment pasta and after we bid goodnight to our fellow salesians dinner guests, we headed back to our compound, where I spent a little bit catching up on journaling before hitting the sack.



An while I’m on the topic, It’s been kinda hard to keep up with all my writings, especially my journaling, I am very inconsistent when it comes to adding entries, and sometimes I end up having to catch up with several days worth of entries. It docent exactly help that I am basically writing the same thing in both the journal and the blog, so maybe I should differentiate the two by making my journal entries shorter but more spiritual/personal? Something to consider at least.



Anyhow, enough of my chronicling woes, it’s time for a haiku! I have been debating with myself about whether or not to include a short explanation of my Haiku/poems, but I have come to the conclusion that it is much more fun to think about the meaning for yourself (plus the titles tend to be plenty of a description of the contents, I think), just keep in mind that some of the poems could have multiple meanings, last week’s Haiku: “25th”, for instance, it’s one of my favorites.



Empty Promises

Loneliness is here,
“Friends” fall away from my life,
Like leaves in autumn.



Day 178, Feb 4, Fri, 99.8°F @ 3:17pm,

So, today was the last official day of “winter” school for the technical school students (the primry had theirs on Monday), and in celebration of this they held a football which consisted of both teachers and students intermixed into the two teams. It was a very interesting match, if anything else, these Ethiopians take their footballin’ quit seriously, and I managed to take some pretty good pictures and video clips of the best parts.



Frs. Klement and Sandro returned to Addis today at to continue their work, leaving us to continue ours, although that work is somewhat cut due to the lack of school, I guess you could say it’s vacation time, lol, although there is still Oratory to attend, and actually, Oratory is being held every day during this school break, so there’s always that to look forward to.



Day 179, Feb 5, Sat, 100.1°F @ 2:59pm,

Its strange how days filled with nothing can go by so quickly sometimes, particularly when those things are enjoyable, while at other times it can pass so slow, an amazing thing space and time is, theory of relativity and all that.



As you might have guessed by the rambling prologue, nothing of particular curiosity happened this day, although we did hear from Abba Larcher, apparently he received a clean bill of health from the hospital in Addis, and will hopefully be back sometime tomorrow (It turns out he had been prescribed slightly to much medicine for his ailments while he was here in Gambella, which wasn’t causing any harm, but was making him more susceptible to stress, which led to the incident last Saturday, so the doctors in Addis prescribed a slightly lesser dose which should be much more beneficial for him).



Other than Abba’s return tomorrow, there is one other visit that I am really looking forward to, Adam Rudin will be arriving this coming Wednesday, I’m quite excited to have another forengy (what they call foreigners here) to talk to, and I should be able to finally set in concrete my return date to the states, among other things.



Day 180, Feb 6, Sun, 98.9°F @ 4:01pm, ½ a year has passed,

Wow, I can’t believe that it’s already been a hundred and eighty days since I arrived in Ethiopia! Up to this moment it seemed that it would take forever for half a year to pass, but now that it has arrived, it hardly feels like any time has passed at all!



As I look back on the past hundred and eighty day that I’ve spent here, I can’t help but think that they were somewhat insignificant when change is concerned, but I guess that’s expected. We were told during our training that we shouldn’t expect to change much during our volunteer periods, and it’s true, I’m just one dude, from a country literally on the other side of the globe, who is here for a measly year, and have little to contribute, whereas there are people who were born here, have spent all their lives working to change the condition here, and have accomplished much. This raises the question, what is my main purpose here? And I am reminded again about our training (which I am incredibly thankful for, it prepared me for so much), the main purpose of us Lay Mission volunteers is just to be a presence here, to show that there are people in the world who care about people and are willing to live/play/learn with them. And in that regard, I think I have made an impact, although not as big a one as I would have like, so I will have to work harder this next half year to make my presence more felt, in particular with the children, difficult though it may be at times.



Abba Larcher did arrive today, and the youths of the Oratory showed up en’ mass to greet him, I belive there was over a thousand of them present, and the dust that they stirred up with their shuffling feet as the tarried here and there created a veritable cloud that darkened the sun, lol.



The prayer I picked for today is really very proper, considering my resolutions for this coming six months, and I think it can apply to anyone in any situation.



A final prayer after Communion:

What strength have you not imparted to my soul, good Lord, by means of this Holy Communion!

Oh how much I need it!

The road that I have to traverse is so difficult that without you I would fear to venture upon it.

In a short time I shall return to my daily occupations; I shall continue my life of yesterday; I shall be exposed to the same temptations, I shall find myself with my usual faults. But Jesus, You who helped the saints, you have come to me.

Stay, oh stay with me, and do, by Your grace, help me to preserve in all my words actions, modesty, meekness, and humility.

Help me to make Your presence within me visible to all; let other see in me the sweetness of Your charity, generosity, and kindness.

Amen.



Day 181, Feb 7, Mon, 99.6°F @ 12:16pm,

Br. Legesse left for a meeting in Addis today. I’m not quite sure when he will be back; it’s gonna be quieter and a bit lonely around here without him to talk to. It feels kinda weird, not having any English classes in the morning, and with the extra abundance of free time I’m sometimes at a loss as to what to do. There’s always the usual, reading books, whistle (which I confess I havn’t been practicing enough of) writing, etc. Recently I rediscovered a video game on my computer that I used to play a lot when I was younger, that’s been helping to fill up the empty time, and I get quite a nostalgic feeling when I play it, lol. However, the power has been on the fritz again, and so anything electronic of course get affected by this, resulting in only periodic moments of these electronic respites.



Day 182, Feb 8, Tue, 101.4°F @ 3:32pm, Feast of St. Bakhita,

The temperature seems to be getting hotter and hotter as the weeks progress, and the humidity seems to be heightening as well, with a lot of that sticky heat feeling some days. I had started to get used to the heat at night and was beginning to get more sleep than usual, but last night was definitely not the case, I tossed and turned till around 2:30am (I think), and so I ended up sleeping through my alarm and missing the majority of the morning activities, which included the kinder classes, blargh! There is some good news though, I finally received a cell phone, so I spent a good part of the afternoon just going around and collecting numbers to add to it, so now not only will be able to coordinate things a little easier here locally, but also my folks back home will have a more reliable number to reach me by.



This afternoon I was also able to finish my book, “the man who knew too much”, and have started on “The missionary call” a book that my soon to be sister-in-law sent me along with the last “goodies” package. I’m really going to enjoy reading this one; I bet it will have a lot of relevant information regarding my stay here.



Of special note, today is the feast day of St. Bakhita, a Sudanese saint, who happens to also be the patroness of Gambella. I don’t know much about her, but what I have heard seems pretty interesting, so I am going to try and find an English source of knowledge about her (it seems like most is in Italian, lol).



Day 183, Feb 9, Wed, 105.7°F @ 3:21pm,

Last night I got some decent sleep, wasn’t able to fall asleep until around 12:30pm, but I din’t toss or turn any, so I woke up fairly refreshed and ready for the day, and I was very excited in anticipating Adam’s arrival today.



At 11:30am we left for the airport (Teshome and I), and arrived there around 11:52am (no complications at the gate this time, as I remembered my passport, lol), sat down under some shade and read my newly started book as I waited for the airplane. At 12:55pm the plane landed, and a little while later the passengers started to disembark the aircraft. I kept my eyes peeled and searched for Adams familiar features, but to my confusion he was nowhere to be found! I waited until everyone accumulated at the checkpoint and started gathering their luggage and scanned the small crowd, hoping to spot my director, but again, no such luck. It then became quite apparent to me that he had not been on the flight, which left me to think of two reasons why he was not on it, the first was that there had been some kind of complication in Addis and he hadn’t been able to fly today. This reason was possible, but I dismissed it, because I am quite sure that Adam would have called to inform us of this. The second reason was that I had been confused and thought he was coming today when in fact he was coming next week. I thought this last cause was the most likely culprit, and so we headed back to our compound, where I was able to check the schedule, and sure enough, he was coming next week on the 16th, lol. Oh well, I guess one more week it is then.



I learned today that us Salesians will be entertaining a rather uncommon guest in a few days, apparently the Patriarch of the Orthodox church will be paying a visit to Gambella, and has asked specifically if it would be possible to stay with us! This is quite the honor, especially when you consider that our accommodations are, quite frankly, less than ideal, and despite being told this, he was still set on residing here for the few days that he will be spending in town.



Day 184, Feb 10, Thu, 99°F @ 3:02pm,

Wow, it’s Thursday already? I guess time flies when you’re roasting alive, hehe. Anyhow, been reading more of the book “The missionary call”, the beginning primarily deals with the discerning process, and at first I didn’t think it would have much relevancy for me, since I am already on a mission. I was mistaken though, as it ended up being very helpful when I applied it to whether or not I should continue doing missions. I am sure that as I continue reading, many of my questions, and reservations for that matter, shall be put to rest.



One thing I forgot to mention yesterday, was just how hot it got, it was by far the hottest it’s been so far during my stay here, but thankfully the humidity was fairly low, so I could stay in the shade with relatively little discomfort whereas venturing into direct sunlight felt like what I imagine an insect underneath the lens of an antagonistic child’s magnifying glass must feel like. I have been trying to get a strait and consistent answer from the locals concerning whether or not the current temperature is normal, higher, or lower then it usually is this time of year, but so far it seems everyone is divided o the subject, some state adamantly that it is hotter, others that it is much cooler, while other just shrug their shoulders and mumble that its normal. While no one can agree as to the temperature in regards to its past inflection, all have no problem in stating that, yes, it is hot right now, which puts me at a little ease, since I am not the only one thinking it, lol.



I spent the afternoon talking to Bayu and Surafle about whatever crossed our minds. One of the topics was the Ark of the covenant, another was the difference between addictions and obsessions, while another was about the pyramids (and whether or not it was the Hebrews or aliens that built them, lolz). One of the topics, which I initiated, was the stranded island quiz (for those of you unfamiliar with it, you ask someone: if they were stranded on an island, and they could bring so many of something, what would they bring), I asked for three movies and surafle said Sherlock Holmes, Van Helsing, and Wrong Turn (lol, I have to say that I never expected those). For books he would bring an encyclopedia, a dictionary, and an Ethiopian novel whose name escapes me. Then there were songs and survival things, for songs all of his choices were Amharic songs, and for the implement of survival he picked matches, a machete, and a pan. The last choices were what three foods to bring, and he said, A hamburger (specifically McDonalds, lol), injara, and butter, whereas Bayu (who had just stumbled in to our conversation) said cabbage, beef, and potatoes (basically the things that I have to eat every day, lol, so at least I know he is happy with the food here). I think it is always fascinating to find out how peoples priorities differ, so I think maybe I’ll try asking the same quiz to various people and see just how much they may or may not be the same.



Anyhowz, here is the haiku of the week, enjoy.



Midday

The sun has reached noon,
Yet shadows still fill the path,
Where to go from here?

One half of knowing what you want is knowing what you must give up before you get it. ~Sidney Howard

Day 155, Jan 13th, Thu, 91.2°F @ 3:02pm,

Keeping myself from lazing about has been particularly hard during this bout with the African flu/cold, it’s mighty tempting to just vegetate in front of the TV or sleep the day away. Lately I’ve been rather un-diligent in my attendance to mass this week, it seems as though every now and then a “sickness” of lethargy will descend (usually accompanying some actual sickness) and I’ll end up feeling despondently sluggish. I have to make sure when I experience these episodes of melancholy, that above all I keep up my prayers and attendance, otherwise I fear sloth might slowly creep in. At dinner there was a rather special item on the menu, mini plums. I never expected that I would come across these delectable fruits in the middle of Ethiopia (let alone Gambella), so can imagine how pleasantly surprised I was.



Day 156, Jan 14, Fri, 93.2°F @ 2:30pm,

I tried to access the internet today so I could post my blog and answer emails, but there was no connection whatsoever! So I basically spent most of the day waiting around to see if the internet would become accessible at some point. I did a couple tasks while I was waiting, assessing the chronicle (I had somewhat neglected it during these past two months), and I also continued the Gambella report, I wasn’t able to finish it in time for the new year, but the Salesian lay missioners will possibly be having a meeting in February, so hopefully I will be able to at least get a proper outline done. I was able to access the internet for about 20 minutes at around 2:30pm, just enough time to check and send a couple emails before the connection went comatose. While I was waiting for the second time for the internet, I chatted with Surafle and Bayu about my hometown o’ Buckley, as well as a little bit of church history. I got so immersed into our conversation that before I knew it 6:20 had rolled around. I was able to barrow the internet CDMA as well as the office computer (for some reason the CDMA docent work with my comp, go figure), and later on this evening was able to connect and upload most of what I wanted (Facebook wasn’t working, and my address book was goin’ on the fritz and I wasn’t able to specifically send emails, only reply to them, lol). There was absolutely no power again tonight (Not even generator power, dinner was by flashlight) so I was a bit strapped for things to do, so once my computer ran out of juice, I read a chapter of my book (“The man who knew too much”) and tried to go to sleep at 10:00pm, with an emphasis on the “tried” because I ended up tossing and turning until around 1:00am, much blarg.



It has just occurred to me that I have not included any Marian prayers, so I shall rectify this travesty immediately with one of my favorites:



A morning and evening dedication to Mary.
(At the + sign, make the sign of the cross over the specific bodily component)



Mary, my Queen and my Mother!
I give myself entirely to you, and to show my devotion to you, I consecrate to you this day my +Mind, my +Eyes, my +Mouth, my +Heart, my +Hands, and my +Whole Body, without reservation. Wherefore, good Mother, as I am yours, keep me and guard me as your property and possession, keep free from all harm, especially that of sin, so that one day I might join the heavenly saints in singing your Sons praises! Amen.



Day 157, Jan 15, Sat, 94.1 @ 3:21pm,

The electricity was spotty at best today, but when there was power I performed a writing task for Abba Larcher, I typed up a welcome speech he had written for the Provincials visit tomorrow, which of course required much traveling back and forth between Abba and the computer as he is very particular about the details. Abba Fillipo returned from Italy today and we invited him to dine with us this evening. He arrived bearing gifts from his vacation, salami and pancetta, still fresh from whichever village he had purchased it at. As I was munching away at a piece of salami sandwiched between two halves of bread and accompanied by a slice of cheese, I couldn’t help but feel somewhat bad about my lack of appreciation towards my meals here. Sure it’s basically the same food Items 90% of the time, and yes it seems as though I somehow seem to get some sort of food related infirmity from it at least once or twice a month. Still, I have been very privileged, as there is always that 10% percent of the time when there are “goodies” and my diet is for the most part far healthier than your average worker of Gambella, so I should really count my blessings. This evening I tried to access the internet again, but with no luck, it seems as though the provider itself is down, drats.



Day 158, Jan 16, Sun, 93°F @ 3:00pm,

After mass I chilled until 3:00pm, which is when the Provincial of the Salesians in Ethiopia, Abba Gennaro, arrived. When I first heard his name I assumed that he was from Italy, but to my surprise he turned out to be from the Philippines. Even more surprising then that though, was the fact that I had actually met with him before, He was in Addis when visited so many months ago. I hadn’t remembered his name, but I recognized his face instantly, which might have to do with the fact that the face belongs to an aging Asian man who works in Africa, which is rather unforgettable. We had an official welcoming party for Abba Gennaro a little later this day after he had settled in, which was attended by the entire student body of the primary school (which is always chaotically exciting when you get that many children in an enclosed place). The ceremony featured several dances and songs, as well as the welcoming speech that I had copied for Abba Larcher, which was read by a student. The Provincial then took some time to speak to the students about responsibility and respecting their teachers and parents, after which the ceremony ended, as always, with the dispensing of biscuits. Again no power today, so after dinner (Which the Provincial joined us for) I stayed up until the batteries in my computer gave out (still no internet, or even a phone line for that matter) and retired, this time I was able to get a good night’s sleep though.



Day 159, Jan 17, Mon, 91.8°F @ 3:12,

Today was one of the best Mondays that I have had here, not because something really spectacular happened, but because nothing entirely out of the ordinary happened. My routine is finally starting to iron out and become efficient (despite power problems). I managed to join the Salesians for morning prayers, something that I’m almost never able to wake up in time for on Mondays. English class went exceptionally well; the students had not been able to finish their book reports (big surprise there) so instead I decided to have them each flip randomly through a dictionary and pick a word, which I would then spend time explaining until the understood the word. We all enjoyed the exercise very much, and I think we will be repeating that particular project. Once the English class was over I started work on the Salesian chronicles, which mostly consisted of sorting the possible photographic candidates for each page, as well as typing up appropriate sub-comments to describe the events that are transpiring in said photos. I was only able to write out a few pages before the power failed, so I went about tiding my room until the power was reconnected, at which point I continued the chronicle until lunchtime. After our noontime repast, I spent some time reading and playin’ a game on my computer until break was over and then continued the chronicle, which had turned into a computer wide restructuring of all my 1000+ pictures and movies, a monumental task to be sure. At 4:30pm the power shut off again, so I packed up for the day and spent the remaining time until evening playing my whistle and harmonica, as well as saying a rosary. At dinner I discovered that tomorrow I would be traveling with Abba Gennaro and Abba Fillip to Nyingnyingnyong (Not sure if that is how it is supposed to be spelt, but phonetically its correct) to visit the Salesian presence there, as well as a few of the towns in the general vicinity. I really feel like today I made good use of time, I went to sleep feeling satisfied, and I am hugely anticipating tomorrow.



Day 160, Jan 18, Tue, 92.7°F @ 12:20pm, Ethiopian Epiphany,

Woke up at 6:10am sharp and attended mass at the chapel, ate a quick breakfast, stocked up on provisions for lunch, and started off on our excursion. After driving towards the outskirts of Gambella, we turned northwards and continued driving. Our journey took us through the dense forest area immediately surrounding Gambella and into the fewer tree inhabited savanna land. As we motored along the bumpy unpaved red dirt road, one could not help but notice the huge plots of scorched ground and the skeletal twisted remains of trees where the grass, small trees and other vegetation had been consumed by fire. When I inquired as to why there was so much charred land, Abba Filipo informed me that the locals set fire to the land every dry season to fertilize the land, as well as to help thin the undergrowth. The deep green and tan of the countryside intermingled with gouges of scorched black and white ash made for an interesting panorama of scenery as it flashed by outside the window of our Landcruiser.

We past several interesting land marks and towns, including a grove of trees that was proliferated with large termite mounds, a rice paddy that is overseen by a group from India, and many small Nuer (As in the Nuer tribe people) villages. We made it to Nyingnyingnyong at around 9:45am and were given a tour of the village.

(Before I go more in detail about the village, I am going to take a little bit of time and explain a little bit about the Neur people. They were a roaming nomadic cattle herding group of people, originally from Sudan, who frequently cross the border in search of grazing grounds as well as foraging opportunities. When the borders of Ethiopia and Sudan were officially drawn, many of these Nuer made their permanent homes near the Sudan border.)

About 5000 people live in the town, and is considered to be the largest of the Nuer villages in the Gambella region, and most of them live in intricately crafted grass huts, usually grouped in twos and threes. As we strode through the main part of town and into the market district, I noticed that all of the shop owners were highlanders (The people most commonly associated with Ethiopia), and I recalled some information that I had learned from Br. Endalkachew concerning it, apparently the greater part of the Nuer people seem to be unable to run businesses, as theirs is a bartering and trading culture (Theirs is also a heavily family oriented culture, and when one member of the family starts a business, the other members basically end up begging said person out of work). We also toured the Salesian compound, which is made up of a single small “cabin” which serves as both the classroom and for the moment a chapel, as well as the half completed church.

The next town on today’s expedition was Mahtar, and so after saying or goodbyes to the locals in Nyingnyingnyong, we forged onwards. The countryside on the way to mahtar was similar to what we had already experienced, what was different though, was the amount of animal life we saw. Baboons, mongoose’s, Herons, cranes (we passed quite a few small rivers, which explains the presence of water fowl) Eagles and vultures. We made it to Mahtar at around 12:00pm, and after a short welcoming ceremony by the teachers and kids (which took place in a small shack of a house that served as a meeting place as well as the chapel) we ate lunch, which was made up of canned tuna, bread, biscuits/granola bars, and wafers.

After lunch we started back towards Gambella, with one more stop on the way, the village of ileah. One the way back we encountered several herds of what I think were Kudu (A kind of Ethiopian antelope), they were all over the place. After about an hour and a half of driving we stopped at a town near to Ileah and picked up a group of choir members who would be joining us, and then continued on our way. We eventually reached a point where we turned off the main road and started on a “path” that was no more than two worn ruts in the ground leading deeper into the bush. After about 15 minutes of extremely rough travel, we finally arrived at the small rural community. Think about some of the national geographic articles that feature tribes of people living in the African jungle and that’s exactly how it looked to me. When we arrived we were welcomed warmly and were givin’ a tour of the village. The kids were literally caked head to toe in dirt and dust, as if they had not taken a bath in months and generally looked uncared for; a few of them had swollen bellies. Most of the inhabitants were dressed in cloths that were little more than rags (those that chose to wear clothes that is), and everybody lived in grass and mud huts that were grouped closely together. Once we had completed our sightseeing about the town, everybody gathered together outside the Salesian meeting shack and sang some songs, we listened to them recite some prayers, and then we gave some speeches. I was really touched by just how faithful these people are, even in the face of the challenges they faced.

Once we had finished our final speeches, we left the Choir to continue their singing with the villagers while we continued on our return trip home. We ended up reaching Gambella at around 4:30pm, and the first thing I did was take a quick shower, as I had become covered in dust from the trip (we were constantly stuck behind large delivery trucks, and the amount of dust they fling into the air is incredible, by the end of the journey my once white t-shirt had turned various shades of reddish brown) and then took a short nap, it was really strange how exhausted I felt, although I guess it does make sense when I consider how bumpy the ride was, lol, by the end of the expedition I felt as if I had gone 7 rounds with Muhammad Ali.

I really had a great time, I was able to see a side of Ethiopia that few people do, and I am hoping that I will be able to join Abba Fillipo at least once a month on his weekly trips.



Day 161, Jan 19, Wed, 91°F @ 3:00, Ethiopian celebration of the Baptism of Jesus,

We had mass like Sunday today, half way through the mass there was baptism of about 26 children, I really wish I had remembered to bring my camera, but luckily there is another baptism after Easter, so I remember to take some pictures then. After mass I bumped into Carlos, the Lay missioner from Spain, He had just returned from his vacation and had come to Gambella for the mass, it was nice to see him again. I also bumped into Barbara, the Salesian docter from Abobo, she was flying to Italy for the funeral of her husband’s father, but at the moment she was stuck in Gambella trying to get a plane ticket. During our conversation the topic computers was brought up, and she requested of me take some time and come to Abobo and look at their Patient list that was being maintained by the clinic there, apparently they are having some trouble keeping the thing updated each year, so I going to see what I can do to fix it probably next week sometime.

Since today was a holiday, there was no school, and as such, contained much free time, which I ended filling with my usual free time pastimes, reading, taking a nap, playing my computer (The power has finally came back today, Hallelujah!). The compound was unusually quiet today, I had expected to run into Br. Legesse a few times but that never happened, I found out later that there was an Oratory event that happened this afternoon, I really wish someone would have told me about it, grrr, although I guess the thought that there would be one should have crossed my mind since most holidays here in Gambella seem to feature one.

In the evening we went with the provincial and said evening prayers at St. Joseph’s church with the rest of the diocesan priests and seminarians, and after we had finished our evening spiritual entreaty we all dined together at the Bishops residence. Ah how much I relish these rare opportunities to feast with the priests, not just because the food is exquisite, but also because the conversations are so fascinating. There is always much joking and jesting, as well as a good deal of practical information that can be incredibly useful in my mission here, in fact, much of the information about Ethiopia that I have garnered has been from festive meetings such as the one that transpired this evening. The informational quality was somewhat interpersonal this evening, with much sharing of experiences, particularly from the Provincial who was the guest of honor, and also a quite outspoken individual, lol.


Day 162, Jan 20, Thu, Lower 90’s F @ 3:00pm,

I wish I was able to stay more on top of my journaling; it seems as though every time I get busy, the amount of days that I have to get caught up on increases. I managed to do some yesterday, and managed to get most of the rest today, so I should be caught up by tomorrow. Recently I have become rather partial to writing haiku’s, for me they are easier to write then full blown poems because I really have to take time to think about the poems, whereas whenever I feel a somewhat strong emotion or feeling for something, I’ll jot it down via Haiku in minutes. I figured that every Thursday I could include one, as it seems like Thursdays are usually my smallest post.

So here’s the first one, I hope you enjoy it.



~Bananas!~
Hear the monkeys howl
Fighting over who gets what
They disturb my sleep.




Day 163, Jan 21, Fri, 92.8°F @ 3:00pm,

Went to the office bright n’ early to see if it was going to be possible to access the internet today, it turned out that the internet was down…still, gargh! So I ended up staying around the office, writing in the chronicle as well as my journal, while I periodically checked to see if the internet would work. Then, to make matters worse, the electricity stopped as well, so now I was waiting with no power for the internet! Lunchtime eventually arrived (still no power I might add) so I trudged somewhat dejectedly back towards our residence. I made it to the compound just in time to bid the Provincial farewell as he was being driven to the airport, so that was a plus. After lunch, I said my midday prayers, which really helped to relieve my anxiety about the whole internet situation here, so when I went back to the office later and tried the internet and it still didn’t work, I was somewhat resigned to this development, and chalked it up as the will of God.

I had just settled down to pass the time until evening prayers when none other than the last person in the world I expected walked into my office, Jayne Feeney! It was in half shock and excitement that I greeted her, and after we stored her bags away I took her on a tour of the compound which ended with the Oratory, where I introduced her to Abba Larcher. We talked for a while about how her trip went (apparently no one showed up at the airport to pick her up, so she had to catch a ride with random strangers!), how long she would be staying (until Sunday), what she thought of Gambella so far (hot, lol), how I was doing here (lol, first thing out of her mouth was that I looked thinner), Etc. At 5:45pm I invited her to come and play some card games with Surafle, Bayu, and Br. Legesse, Bayu and Legesse ended up backing out, but we still had plenty of fun playing poker (With bottle caps for chips) and liars dice with Surafle.

Afterwards we attended evening prayer, where Abba Larcher bid Jayne to give the “goodnight” (I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned the goodnights, after we say the prayers, one of the salesian will give a short talk, which can be about how the day went, how a special event transpired, how they interpreted a gospel reading, etc.) and she talked about how her mission is going in Dilla, as well as what the general mission of the Salesian lay missioners is, I thought she covered some good points. After prayers we ate dinner, which included some special items, there was the kind of beef that I can actually eat (that won’t give me extreme intestinal crampage), Papaya (which is just “okay” in my book, I think they taste to much like squash) and mangoes (Ah, who could refuse the queen of fruits?). After the meal Jayne decided to retire early to rest up for tomorrow, while I tried to access the internet, which I had borrowed from Surafle again, but I unfortunately had no luck, so it was early to bed for me too.



Day 164, Jan 22, Sat, 93.1°F @ 4:18pm,

Woke up at 6:20am and walked to church with Jayne, it was really nice to have somebody to talk to, sometimes the walk can be a bit lonely. After mass (which seemed particularly delightful this morn) Jayne and I had a very deep and interesting 3hr conversation about our collective experiences at our respective sites and how we cope through the difficult times, and from the sounds of it, I am convinced that Gambella is one of the easier sites. Sure it’s very hot and sometimes I’m at a quandary as to what I should be doing, but the other sites have a lot of interpersonal challenges, several of the Salesians at some of the other sites are less than accepting, many of my fellow Lay missioners have been a great deal sicker then I have, and many of them have to deal with responsibilities and harassment that I don’t have to deal with, so I have really come to realize just how blessed I have been. Another topic that I was grateful to talk about was our futures. I am just shy of halfway through my mission here, and at times I can’t help but be fretful as to what the future holds, thankfully a few of my fears were put to rest with our discourse.

After our lengthy tête-à-tête, I decided that should visit Abobo so that Jayne could get a good look at the Gambella countryside, so after obtaining Abba Larchers blessing and gathering a few necessities, we set of with our driver, Teshome. It ended up being a really great excursion, (I am amazed at how quickly Jayne gets on friendly terms with the people here, 20 min into our journey and she is already cracking jokes with Teshome. It probably helps that she understands and speaks Amharic fairly decently) She really enjoyed seeing the rural areas, and were even able to meet with Carlos & Maria-Theresa while we were in Abobo. I wish we could have visited longer with them, but we had to hurry back to Gambella in time to pick up Abba Larcher at 3:00pm from his prison ministry, and there was allot of road construction in between us and there, so after a quick snack for lunch, we started off. We made it back just in time, and were even granted a special privilege, a tour of the prison (which is basically unheard of for foreigners)! It was a very efficient prison, and I wish more of the U.S.A. prisons were more like it; they keep the inmates busy here. They make various handicrafts and decorations, as well as attend school sessions and religious classes, overall top notch! And while we were there, Jayne was able to pick up some beaded bracelets and vases, which Gambella is known all across Ethiopia for making.

We returned to our compound just in time for Oratory activities, which Jayne took to like a fish in water, She was able to connect with the students in minutes what took me months, I stand in awe of her ability. Her very presence seemed to affect the kids, in such a way that even I was accepted more than I usually am. I hope that one day I might be in possession of such compassionate a persona as hers.

After oratory I showed Jayne all the pictures that I have accumulated up to now, explaining as I did the subject in the photo’s, be they place ore object, and by the time we got to the last one we had become so immersed in them that we had nearly forgotten evening prayers. After prayers and dinner we exchanged music, movies and pictures (which took awhile as I exchanged several GB’s of music and pictures, and she exchanged a vice-versa amount of movies, which included the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Booya!) after which we retired for the night, it had been a long and busy day, and I had no problem falling asleep.

Day 165, Jan 23, Sun, low 90’s F @ 3:00pm, but exceptionally muggy,

Jayne accompanied us to mass this morning, and she really enjoyed the service (from what she told me, I guess the mass in Dilla is very different, it’s only in Amharic, and there is a lot less cultural additions). After communion the driver came and told us that if Jayne wanted to make it to the airport for her 1:40pm flight, she would have to leave now to make it in time for check in, so after picking up her belongings at our compound we headed to the tourisms office in Gambella to wait for the Airport “caravan”. The group finally started, and we made it to the airport in no time at all, unfortunately, once we arrived there was a predicament, I had forgotten my passport at our compound, so the guards wouldn’t let me pass the gate, so I had to wait outside while Jayne and the driver proceeded, an incredibly stupid mistake on my part, and as a result I didn’t really get to say goodbye the way I had wanted too. After the driver dropped of fJayne at the airfield, he came back and picked me up and we were on our way back to the compound.

For the rest of the day I was in a bit of a funk, not being able to really bid Jayne farewell really sucked and it wasn’t until after she left that I really found out how much of a gift her presence to me had been. I felt very alone the rest of the evening, I hadn’t really been aware of it before now, but now it seemed as if loneliness had punched me in the face. I really appreciate all she did for me while she was here, and I’m going to try and make sure that I get and adequate email through to here the next time the internet is working.


The prayer of the day is a prayer reminding us where our true home is.


Safely Home
I am home in heaven, dear ones;
Oh, so happy and so bright!
There is perfect joy and beauty
In this everlasting light.

All the pain and grief are over,
Every restless tossing past;
I am now at peace forever,
Safely home in heaven at last.

Did you ever wonder I so calmly
Trod the valley of the shade?
Oh! But Jesus’ love illuminated
Every dark and fearful glade.

And He came Himself to meet me
In that way so hard to tread;
And with Jesus’ arm to lean on,
Could I have one doubt or dread?

Then you must not grieve so sorely,
For I love you dearly still:
Try to look beyond earths shadows,
Pray to trust your Fathers Will.

There is work still waiting for you,
So you must not idly stand;
Do it now while life remaineth-
You shall rest in Jesus’ land.

When that work is all completed,
He will gently call you home;
Oh, the rapture of that meeting,
Oh the joy to see you come!



Day 166, Jan 24, Mon, 97.1°F @ 3:38pm,

I woke up feeling much better today; the loneliness and melancholy of yesterday had passed with the rising of the sun, the forlorn illusion had been chased away with the first rays of the morning light which revealed all the companions that are a part of my life here.

I woke up just in time for the English class, where I held an introduction to book reports, unfortunately not a single person had finished their book assignment, so it was next to impossible to lecture them on how to perform the report, *Sigh containing much exasperation*, so I decided just to do another random dictionary word exercise. It really seems to me as if these students don’t have any initiative of their own. This Wednesday is going to be the last class before “winter” break, so, during the break, I think I am going to try and change my course structure to better suit the dispositions of these students. I need to get a more ordered schedule that is a bit stricter, which would hopefully help teach the students a greater sense of responsibility.
Speaking of responsibility, I think I could use some myself, lol. I’ve been feeling’ really tired of late, and it’s been somewhat hard sometimes to get up enough momentum to do the things I’m supposed to. It might have something to do with the heat, which is starting to get quite hot, but it also probably has to do with my recent acquisition of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, lol.



Day 167, Jan 25, Tue, 97°F @ 4:28pm,

Another hot day, it started relatively cool in the morning though. I woke up late this morning and had to rush to make it to Kindergarten class on time. The classes went exceptionally well today, I was able to get the 2nd and 3rd groups to come up and write words out on the chalkboard. Some of them needed help, which was fine, because all of them responded admirably and during the second break I was even able to teach a group of them the Hokey Pokey, which they all enjoyed immensely and I ended up repeating the dance five times, lol.

I returned from the sisters at around 11:45am, and accidently fell asleep until 1:00pm, when I was woken by Br. Legesse, who had noticed that my plate was still at the table. The rest of the afternoon was spent doing some catch-up work on the chronicle, its rather slow going, the hardest and most time consuming part of it is trying to find an appropriate quote to go with the theme of the particular page I am working on, preferably by Don Bosco or some other relgous figure, which means I have to spend a lot of time pouring through religious books to find one.


Day 168, Jan 26, Wed, 98.7°F @ 3:01pm,

English class really sucked today, literally one person showed up, Dak, my patience is at its wits end! Since there was only Dak today, I decided that it made no sense to do anything terribly elaborate, so I just gave him a noun exercise, checked his work once he was done (Dak is one of the more advanced students, so he passed with flying colors), and then sent him on his way so he could practice for the exams he was going to take Friday.

I had quite a bit of free time this afternoon and evening, so after working on the chronicle some, I finished up the Lord of the Rings movies. I had forgotten how good they are, moreover, I discovered that several of the themes that were covered in the movie, can be directly correlated to my mission trip, and I especially felt that the parting of the fellowship will feel similar to when I must part from my fellow Salesians, lol. I ended up finishing the last of the beef jerky today, and I’m all out of peanuts and other such crunchables, so any future cinematic observations will have to be conducted in a snack free way, lol.


Day 169, Jan 27, Thu, 100.1°F @ 3:23pm,

Holy smokes! It was 100 degrees, in the freaking shade! Hot, hot, hot, and I guess this is supposedly just a taste for what’s to come this coming April/May! Spent the day doin’ my usual, typing my blog into my computer, nothing out of the ordinary today.

It’s been kind of hard to get to sleep lately, with it being this warm, and judging by how long it took me to get used to the temperature when I initially arrived here, it’s gonna take at least a couple weeks of not sleeping well to become adjust, just dandy, lol. Actually, tonight I was somewhat lucky, it started raining at around 8:30pm, bringing with it a nice cool breeze, which really helped with the sleeping part (unfortunately, as a side effect, a large quantity of bugs fled in to my room, which was rather annoying and somewhat hindered my sleep, lol, if it’s not one thing it’s another).



~25th~
Summers sun beats down;
Cracked mud covers the walkway,
Leftovers from spring.