Home Away from Home

One of the unique aspects of this trip was our accommodations.  Typically, we stay in hotels.  We retreat to our rooms at the end of the day, gather again for debrief and dinner, and then retreat once again until morning.  This time, we shared a guest house on the Synod compound with Mesfin.  This provided us with new challenges and blessings.

This house was originally the home of Finnish Lutheran missionaries.  It has 5 bedrooms, two baths, a small kitchen and living/dining area.  I stayed here 5 years ago and found it to be "rustically charming", and, if anything, it has become even a bit more rustic with a few significant plumbing and electrical issues, and no functional cooking equipment except for a hot plate.  At the same time, living together was a wonderful way to build team unity, and made our schedule much easier without needing to schedule meetings times and find Getu to drive us all over town.

Here's a "typical" day.  I'm up at about 5, and go outside to turn on the water pump (not a bad job unless it's pouring rain and you're still in your pj's.)  Then I'd run to the shower on the "ladies" side of the house (the other was not really functional) because all of the plumbing would start leaking because of the high pressure of the pump.  After a quick - and hot - shower, I'd run back out and turn off the pump, and turn on the hot plate to boil water for the morning (a long process at 7,500 ft elevation).  After dressing, I'd settle down for a long quiet time with a cup of (instant) coffee - I had to wait until morning break to get real, wonderful Ethiopian coffee.  Oh, the sacrifice... By 615 or so Judy would stick her head out and ask me to do the pump routine, and I'd have tea ready for her when she was done.  More water on to boil.  Soon everyone would emerge and we would make our breakfast.  We loved shopping for groceries, and you never knew what you might or might not find.  We had the BEST fresh eggs with bright golden yolks, fresh avocados, tomatoes, and the ubiquitous bananas.  The biggest treat was that young boys would bring us a fresh liter of milk every evening - still warm from the cow!  The best milk I've ever tasted!  Even the Middle Eastern twist on Corn Pops tasted good with it.  Judy fixed oatmeal many mornings, and I tried my hand at the eggs a few times.  Ever try to make eggs-to-order without a spatula?  After breakfast we'd have a devotion time around the table, then head off for training around 8.  The housekeeper would clean up after us after we left (we tipped her well, and left her a lot of food as well).

We usually went out to dinner at a local hotel in the evenings (how many times CAN you eat "pepper steak" in 10 days?), but cooked dinner a couple of times as well.  We had our meetings and prepared our materials in our living area, and Mesfin could translate materials as we went, which was a great time saver.

Another advantage of the house was that we became part of the compound community.  Several families live in the former missionary homes, and there were often children outside playing who would call out and run to the road to greet us when we walked by.  These three spoke to us every day.  Here they're dressed up for the seminary graduation which was held during our stay.  Graduates asked us to pose with them either because they thought we were important or, more likely, they knew they'd get a laugh later when they looked at the pictures!

Overall, the blessings far outnumbered any inconveniences.  This team had a wonderful spirit of unity and friendship.  We truly became family during this trip, and I miss them all already!