Travel journal - my first time in Ethiopia and then off on an exciting adventure

General schedule: First stop, Ethiopia, to join the Scripture engagement (SE) interns for some SE training, with my former mentor, Bettina. I arrived just as they’d finished a week or so of training with all the other interns. Next stop, Dar es Salaam, including a visit to a Bible college. Finally, Simba Farm, West Kilimanjaro, for the Kili Trails Festival (see separate blog).

Leaving Mbeya

Thursday 29^th January (Tanzania: Mbeya-Dar)

Everything went unusually smoothly. White was on time with the shuttle (3.30pm), we got lucky at the hill (it was the lorries’ turn to wait), arrived at the airport early, internet was working, plane was on time, taxi was ready and waiting for me in Dar, and was welcomed to guest house by the friendly girl on duty who remembers me from previous trips. Stayed in the usual place (Transit Motel), as it’s the most convenient option  (pretty much opposite the airport) and they do a resident’s rate, currently 63,000/- per night (about £18 at today’s exchange rate). With Wi-Fi and breakfast included in the price, I really can’t complain (even if they had forgotten to put a towel and bed sheet)!

Temperature: With the AC on and fan whirring, it’s 27.3C at 9pm, 43% humidity.

Friday 30^th January (Dar-Ethiopia: Addis Ababa)

A slightly unsettled night, due to the warmth, vibrations from loud bass music being played somewhere and an occasional loud horn, but not too bad. Oats and peanut butter were available for breakfast, so I was able to make some porridge (throwing in some chia seeds I’d brought with me), and also had a hardboiled egg and a vitumbua. I’d say that’s a pretty good breakfast; I just missed my usual banana.

Temperature: 29C in the restaurant at about 8am.

Banana problem resolved by asking taxi driver to stop at a duka on the way to the airport to pick up a banana. All the ensuing travel went smoothly. As we began our descent to Addis everything looked very dry and brown in contrast to the lush green I had left in Mbeya in the middle of rainy season. Arrived in Addis on time and the taxi was waiting for me. Overwhelming impression of Addis as we drove was that it has a very different feel to the African towns and cities I am used to, both in Tanzania and the few other African countries I’ve been to. In particular contrast to Tanzania, what stood out was: they drive on the right hand side of the road, loads of high-rise buildings, ladies with umbrellas up as parasols to keep off the sun (you’d never see that in Tanzania unless they are carrying a baby), jacaranda trees were in bloom (they stopped blooming a couple of months ago in Mbeya), cobbled side-streets, lots of things seem to be painted grey – walls, fences, houses. On the plane I was surprised to hear them describe Ethiopia as “The land of oranges” – I didn’t know it was famous for its oranges; as we drove away from the airport, we passed a building proudly proclaiming “The land of origins” – no oranges after all!

Bettina found me at reception and after I’d settled into my room I went to visit her and have a wee chat and get the low down on how things run. Addis is about 2400 metres (7874 feet) above sea level, making it 700 metres or so higher than Mbeya. I could feel it going up the many hotel steps to check out the meeting room on the fifth floor! Temperature: At about 4pm it was 22.7C in my room and only 38% humidity!

Went for a very short walk up a steep cobbled lane that turned into a narrow path between houses before emerging on another tarmac road. I felt uncomfortable not understanding what people were saying and not knowing how to greet people – I’m not used to that! Everywhere I have been in Africa so far, I’ve at least been able to greet people, with English, Swahili or rudimentary French. But none of those languages are much use in Ethiopia, even at the hotel the English ability of the staff was limited. It was a relief to see my Tanzanian colleagues later and be able to use Swahili!

Lovely meal in the garden of the hotel – fleecy blankets were provided to keep us warm. I enjoyed the unique flavour of injera (made from teff) with some tasty chicken (they cooked some especially for me without onion and garlic, but still with some spices), and then a dessert that was totally not what I expected. Also made from teff, and obviously having been through some of the same fermentation process as injera, it was not sweet at all but rather spiced with I-don’t-know-what! It was a kind of peppery flavour, but not black pepper, possibly with a hint of cumin and cardamon; I can’t quite describe it. It was a fascinating sensory experience that I would happily repeat, but it didn’t fit in the ‘dessert’ category in my mind!

Felt weird to be arriving as most of the others (non-SE interns) were preparing to leave. I wish I’d come for the earlier part of the workshop. But it’ll be good to have these next three days with the SE interns and Bettina.

Amazing high pressure hot shower and soft while towel. Bliss.

Saturday 31^st January (Addis: SE intern workshop, Day 1)

Breakfast – they made me a bowl of porridge with yellow raisins. Peanut butter was available, so I put a dollop of that in, and added some of my chia seeds. Perfect. Also had some cheese and a couple of slices of tomato.

8am: Met Bettina at the meeting room, set things up and prayed together. It was a good day, though I think it was hard for the interns to stay engaged after already having had over a week of other training. A good personal challenge to take away from today was the question of how are we bearing God’s image? And as we are descendants of Abraham by faith, how are we being part of the fulfilment of God’s promise that through him all nations would be blessed – how are we being a blessing to the peoples of this earth? And then how through our ministry are we helping local churches to understand these concepts and see their place in God’s story?

Geza joined us – I taught her at iDelta in 2012! Now Bettina is mentoring her towards being a Scripture engagement consultant. So lovely to see her again. She lives 30km away from the hotel on the edges of the city, because she says property is too expensive in town, but she comes to this area for church every Sunday because it’s hard to find churches that faithfully teach the truth, despite there being so many churches around.

Went for walk-jog in the evening. Once I got onto the big main road there was a beautiful wide footpath and even a cycle path (though I didn’t see a single bike)! So much contrast here – one minute young children are running alongside of me grabbing my hand, presumably asking for money (though I couldn’t understand a word they were saying), while all around there is development to make the city look really nice, along the side streets there are slum-type houses made from corrugated iron right between nice houses or apartment blocks, just a few minutes further along there is a bustling street with high-rise buildings (presumably offices, shopping centres and apartments), newly designed gardens and more sprucing-up-the-city activity clearly going on. Apparently, my observation yesterday about the grey houses is because the government is trying to tidy things up, and so everyone has to paint their buildings the same colour – white or grey.

Language continues to be an issue of frustration and hilarity, especially when it comes to ordering food. I finally got what I wanted – a lovely bowl of lettuce, tomatoes and olives, with some injera and my left-over chicken from lunchtime (I was given too much to finish in one sitting). Lovely time chatting with Bettina, Timothy, Napta and Ayuba, as each one waited for, and eventually got, their food. Special people. They love the Lord and are passionate for his name and helping people to know Him through His Word.

It’s 9.18pm, I’m writing my journal, I have my balcony door open and can hear the city traffic outside and the occasional dog barking. Temperature: 21.5C in my room, 48% humidity.

Sunday 1^st February (Addis)

Temperature: At 7am it was15.8C outside on the balcony. Went for a run – lots for the eyes to take in: hills on either side of the road with pines on, people wearing white head scarfs (going to or from Orthodox churches), daladalas (they exist here too, but no motorbikes or bajaj), other roads with uneven paths so that I spent some of the time running on the road, an ornate domed Orthodox church, the hustle and bustle of people going about daily life. Ran about 8km.

Enjoyed a nice chat with Timothy over breakfast. Later we all met for a time of fellowship: singing, Bible study (Romans 8) and prayer, led by the interns. A quick (and very bitter) coffee on the veranda with Bettina. A time of quiet in my room, after rescuing my running leggings that I had hung over my balcony railing to dry but had blown away, down onto the balcony below!

Lunch took them nearly 1.5 hours to serve, and then it didn’t come as ordered. I ended up with some delicious Nile Perch, with injera and a tomato. The challenges of communicating in English, finding food that people like on the menu and waiting for food to arrive certainly provides us with plenty to laugh about, albeit accompanied by frustration and hunger!

Fun and fascinating afternoon at Unity Park with Geza, her husband, their 10-year-old twins (all of whom spoke excellent English, which was a relief) and a relative of theirs. Lots of beautiful flowers, beautiful buildings, interesting history and wonderful wildlife (white lions, African wild dogs, zebra, giraffe, fish, birds and more). Kids were great fun to be with, and it was lovely to hear more about Geza’s family and learn more about Ethiopian political history. High security to enter the park – had to get out of the car as we entered the car park and be patted down, and I wasn’t allowed to take my camera in (which I don’t understand as taking photos was not prohibited); apparently this was all because the park backs on to the prime minister’s palace.

We kept our dinner order a bit simpler – four of us shared a couple of big pizzas and some salad. Delicious. Tired after an afternoon in the sun and lots of people time.

Monday 2^nd February (Addis: SE intern workshop, Day 2)

Just time for a 10-minute leg-stretch in the fresh morning air before heading to the meeting room – made it as far as the British Embassy and back. Saw someone who definitely had the look of a fellow Brit striding ahead of me as I walked, and sure enough, he entered the embassy.

Continued to look at all the different spheres of life and in what ways our communities may know what the Bible says about that sphere of life, what they may not know and what they be misunderstanding.

Had a brief collapse of emotional resilience towards food at lunchtime, as I once again felt I had not and could not clearly communicate my needs, and that everyone else thinks I’m just over-reacting and I shouldn’t be so fussy about my food. I think I shouldn’t be so cautious about my food too, but I don’t know how not to be because get scared of what might happen if I have high-FODMAP foods; IBS symptoms aren’t fun, and I really hate being bloated.

The two-day workshop finished well; amazed at how well the interns remained engaged to the end. Said goodbye to the two Ethiopian interns – apparently it would take them a good hour to get home across the city. Time for a 5k run, though it was dark by the time I got back. Had salad for dinner, to which I added some nuts I had with me, and injera, to which I added peanut butter. A very un-Ethiopian way of eating injera, I’m sure, but it tasted good!

Tuesday 3^rd February (Addis-Tanzania: Dar)

Short walk as sun rose – roads were already busy and paths were full of people. SIL Ethiopia’s Land Cruiser arrived to pick Bettina and me up, plus all the left-over workshop resources, se we could visit the office. Took over an hour to get across town, as we crawled from one traffic jam to another; the complete absence of bajajs feels very strange, and I only noticed one motorbike. SIL office is impressive – big and spacious, several floors high, and they’re building another block to eventually be a source of income by renting out space for accommodation etc. SIL Ethiopia is certainly innovative, and it’s great that a few of the Ethiopian staff, including the director and his wife, are self-supporting (in the same way that I am). Hard not to be slightly jealous over all they seem to have, while in Tanzania we are having to scrimp and save.

Coffee break: barley bread with black cumin in it – unique flavour. I need to do some experimenting when I get home! Director has changed coffee breaks from being white bread to healthier options. Maybe I need to push for change in our office?! Time for a re-run of the healthy-eating course?!

Another long car ride to the airport. Had some left-over injera for lunch and bought a banana and a bottle of water for the usual extortionate airport prices, while Bettina bought some delicious teff tortilla chips. Said goodbye to Bettina – she still has a long journey ahead of her to get back to her home in DRC. Flight went smoothly. Charles was waiting to pick me up to take me to the FPCT guesthouse – even though it’s more expensive to use his taxi than walking out of the airport and taking a bajaj, it is nice to see a familiar face, and it feels safer. Asked if we could go by somewhere that I could pick up some carrots, a cucumber and some bananas, so we swung by a market (after sitting in a traffic jam for a while) on our way – another advantage of using Charles!

Good to be back in a country where I can understand what’s going on around me and make myself understood. Nice to be in the air-conditioned room at FPCT and know that tomorrow I get to just be on my own. Space to recover from the intense people-time over the last few days. I got lucky with Room 2 – much bigger and nicer than the room I had here last time; need to remember that so I can request it again!

Wednesday 4^th February (Dar)

Sun rises earlier here, amazing how being just that bit further east makes a difference. Went for a run, came back dripping! Warm and close – even before 8am my thermometer recorded 28.5C, 75% humidity. Was happy to spend the rest of the day working in my air-conditioned room (about 25C, 50% humidity), except for going to the dining area (32C) for lunch where I sweated over rice, greens and chicken. Dread to think what it is in the direct sun!

Nothing much to write about. Dealt with emails. Worked on checking ‘The big story of the Bible’ book translated into Manda. Went for a stroll in the evening, trying to ignore people saying silly things to me. Bought a couple of oranges en route. Rice cakes, an egg saved from breakfast, nuts, carrot, cucumber, orange, snack bar and chocolate for tea, while puzzling with Puzzler.

Thursday 5^th February (Dar)

A walk. Pray. Breakfast. Pack up. Few emails. Charles drove me to the Salvation Army Training Centre (Bible college). I was supposed to be meeting my colleague, Savera, there early so we could chat face-to-face before meeting with the students, but she was stuck in traffic. Altogether it took her 3 hours to get there! Good time with students (aka ‘cadets’), looking smart in their SA uniforms. Five of the twenty were from the Malila language area, which is one of the areas we have worked in. I’d guessed there’d be quite a few from there, as there are a good number of SA churches in the area. They kindly provided me with an air-conditioned office to use for a while after the session, so I was able to eat lunch there (I had the usual rice cakes etc with me) and get a few things done before getting a Bolt taxi to take me to the airport.

Sat outside in the canopied waiting area, about 31C even in the shade, but at least there was some breeze. Ate at the Bao café – a nice salad, chicken and chips – 20,000/- feels expensive, but I guess a meal for less than £7 at an airport isn’t that bad.

Checked in at 7pm. Let the adventure begin…Kili Trails, here we come!

(See separate blog post for the rest of the story.)