Easter In Ethiopia

April 6, 2010

Another week has gone by and I have decided that maybe I better start my own blog- one I try to keep going once I go home- I'm thinking a blog is a great way to keep a journal & I find adding a few pictures will help with the story too.

Three main events that come to mind since my last entry- more rain, Easter & the first day of planting on the farm

And the rains came pouring down- another night of rain- thunder & lightning too which seems odd in the middle of the night- which wouldn't be bad since the next day proved to be warm & dry. Unfortunately the rains came at a time the when the water truck was low. You know you're in a remote area when a little rain makes the roads impassable. Our bottled water was getting short too so Alyssa & I went to the nearby tarp tents to buy water from the locals- they pointed out that they get water from the tops of their tarps- actually Val had set up a way to save the rainwater too into barrels with a rain gutter system. We bought 4 bottles of water & started conserving- but before the day was out our men had brought us more water. Not to worry though, we have a water filter & clorox too if we need to use the water off our roof.

Easter was different this year- and enjoyable. It was really a quiet weekend here- many of the workers had the weekend off- Good Friday & Easter Sunday is a holiday for Christians while Saturday is a day of worship for the Muslims. It was conference weekend here as well. We listened to conference Saturday & Sunday night- the 10 a.m. session began at 7 p.m. here. All twelve of us Americans shared Easter dinner together- a goat roast pressure cooked until tender, mashed potatoes & gravy (Val welded me a potatoe masher out of rebar), corn, rolls & coconut cream pie. Tasty! Alan & Shelly, Mark & Heidi, Clair, Bracken & of course Alyssa & Wes are all feeling like family here as we work together toward a common cause.

Sunday afternoon found Val & I on a motorbike for an adventure-you get a better sense at how big this farm is that way. About 5 miles away we stopped at a little school & village- a teacher gave me a tour of the place and another teacher took me to her home. I can't wait to go back when school's in session. That evening as we listened to the prophet speak, I couldn't help but feel grateful my many blessings.

Planting wheat officially began yesterday- the pressure is on to get the wheat planted before the rainy season which could commence at any time. This year the hope is to plant 2000 hectres or about 4000 acres of seed wheat- a variety for producing higher yields and drought resistent. Of course nothing is easy around here- the farm is still awaiting better equipment but until then they are patching together any equipment they can get a hold of. Val's skills have been in high demand. He has got equipment going that didn't seem posible to fix. Really I need to have Val blog about the farm side of things- his perspective & experiences are unique as well. Today they planting using old methods - 3 broadcast spreaders & then discing over that. We hope this will work for this planting season. We're praying the sunshines for 10 more days- rain rain go away...come again after the wheat is safely in the ground.