Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for R & R.

-->

Blog

February 24, 2013

Dear Friends,

Greetings from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia!  I am back with electric power 24/7, water running in the pipes of homes and actual grocery store/supermarkets.  This also means I am back where the internet is fast enough to upload my blogging.

I left Malakal, South Sudan this last Wednesday for a time of R & R in Addis Ababa.  I was fortunate to arrive in Juba, South Sudan at about 11:30 a.m. and by 12:00 p.m. I was in the office of Ethiopian Airline buying a ticket for Addis Ababa for the 1:00 p.m. flight.  Rushing back to the Juba airport I was able to catch that 1:00 p.m. flight and to come to Addis the same day that I left Malakal without having to spend a night in Juba.  J

I have made my third move in Malakal.  In January I moved into two rooms in the Mission 21 Guest House on the compound of the Presbyterian Church of South Sudan.  This has been a good move for me as I no longer felt isolated from the community around me as I did in my second home in an area of town where none of my neighbors spoke English. 

When I first moved in it had been two days since the guesthouse had had electricity and there had been no running water for two weeks.  We were without power for many weeks after this but had been connected to the power of the Governor’s (Upper Nile State) house shortly before I left for Juba and Ethiopia.  We still did not have running water in the house.  I am hopeful that this issue will be addressed before I return to Malakal after March 10^th.

I am learning many things from living in Africa.  Life is very time consuming without running water.  Brushing my teeth takes much more time for instance, so does washing hands and dishes.  Thankfully my daughter and son-in-law had given me a solar shower when I was home in the United States last summer.  It is a plastic container that holds water and has a hose and I can use this to shower with when the shower head in the shower room is not functioning because the water tank is not filling up.  I have learned now to wash my hair putting my head forward in a bucket and pouring water from a cup that I fill in a container on the floor.  I’m doing pretty good with this method, taught to me by a missionary friend in Malakal.  Not the kind of thing I can do before I leave for teaching in the morning though.

I am also getting pretty good at using the solar cooker that I purchased in the United States and brought with me to Malakal.  I’ve learned how to cook pasta and quinoa.  I am also doing much better with lentils than I was doing when I was at my first home in Malakal back in 2011. 

The second house, the one from which I moved into the guesthouse, was like a camping experience.  The new house is more like a beach house.  Sometimes I can almost imagine that I am near the water, with the wind blowing through the yard it has that kind of waves sound that comes at the beach sometimes.  The house tends to be noisy as there are, apparently, youth groups that practice music every single night of the week.  One becomes somewhat numb to the sound.  It makes it hard to concentrate on reading for my own studies and on grading or planning for my teaching. 

I practice gratitude for the times of R & R in which my sanity is renewed for another stretch in Malakal.  It is a difficult place to live not only for the ex-pats, mostly missionaries and NGO workers, but also for the local South Sudanese people.  Many of the men both at the school but also in the church and in the town in general have sent their wives and children to live in other countries while they continue to work and live in Malakal.  This way the men have employment and can support their families while their families are able to live safer and more comfortable lives.

I trust that I will be able to blog again soon.

Blessings,

Debbie