Written by Lonny (January 17, 2010)
This morning Joseph and I enjoyed a simple breakfast of bananas, oranges, and granola bars before meeting Evan Maxfield in the lobby at 9:00 to drive to Awasa for church. As has been my experience here with the Church meetings, they were simple and very inspiring. A new missionary couple from Texas spoke and did an excellent job. Fitzoum taught the Sunday school class in English and Amharic. We gave Mambrat and the Village of Hope children a ride home after church.
We checked out of the Lilly Valley Hotel and headed to Addis. I drove the whole way, giving Evan some rest, since he had driven all the way out to Robe and back which is about six hours of driving each way. We stopped in Ziway to pick up Dr. Hailu, who is going to help us pick up the CIDR applicator {a hormone application device for cattle) from ATARC {Adami Tulu Agricultural Research Center} for us, so that we can give it to Dr. Tamrat to use at DZARC {Debre Zeyit Agricultural Research Center}. I tried to pay him for going with us, but he wouldn’t accept. He is a generous and impressive man.
The drive was long and eventful, as most drives are through Ethiopia. We dodged many animals, people, cars, trucks, goats, sheep, etc. We passed a load of camels. It is funny to see the camels kneeling down in the back of the truck. Joseph got some good pictures.
We stopped at Dr. Tamrat's home and dropped off the CIDR applicator and his thesis. I had read it on the way down to Shashamene. His thesis was about the involution {shrinking} of goats’ uteri after giving birth. He had done an impressive job with his research and writing.
I was relieved to pull into the office/home driveway after driving for over four hours on the Ethiopian roads. I was physically & mentally exhausted, and I was glad to see a Spanish tortilla still in the fridge, so we heated it up for dinner. I have eaten most of my meals here in the house this trip, which has helped my digestive system to be a lot calmer.