Muddy Boots and Buna - Day 4 Ethiopia 2021

Saturday was a morning for us to sleep in and hopefully get a bit more caught up on rest.  We're staying at a lovely hotel/guest house, Neser Hotel.  It is very comfortable with a wonderful staff.  More on the guest house later.  

Early afternoon our friends picked us up to go over to their house for lunch and an afternoon of activities.  We were greeted with warm hugs and quite the lunch spread.  They worked hard to make us feel at home... hamburgers, fried chicken, and watermelon.  

B, M^, and Amanda

Zebene and Dr. Hiwot

It was such a joy to share a meal with them, talk, and just be together.  Afterward, we were able to give gifts to their family from ours.  Then it was time for all of the clinic donations.  Wow!  We were all amazed at the generosity of our friends and our congregation, Redeemer Lutheran Church.  All of these items will help their clinic so very much.  Dr. Hiwot and the rest of her staff and family were thrilled.  They all send their gratitude to everyone who has made these donations possible.

Unfortunately, there is no update on the box and the black suitcase.  We are still waiting for the email with the government documents.  We are hopeful it will come by the end of this week.

Then it was on to a family adventure that Zebene planned for us.  The Ethiopian Prime Minister has a Green Legacy tree planting initiative going on all over Ethiopia.  Millions of trees have been planted in the past year.  They are expecting to plant billions in the coming years.  

https://allafrica.com/stories/202104210513.html

 Dr. Hiwot and Zebene's son, L, had asked the government if he could take responsibility for a small plot of land and make improvements on it.  He is planting trees and other plants as a part of the tree planting initiative.  We were lucky enough to get to help!  The clinic staff, their family, and all of us went out and planted trees for the afternoon.  It was a joyful time with all of the children and adults working together.

Zebene made sure that we had pictures of everyone with the tree that they planted.  That way we could see how much it has grown when we come back to Ethiopia in the future.

We were also very excited to notice the sign for the Fares Medium Clinic!  It provided the perfect photo op for the group.  After all the planting was finished L and F took us to see another plot of land that a person had developed in this same way.  It was full of inspiration for L and we look forward to seeing how he develops his plot of land to increase the beauty and green space of the city.

Of course that afternoon we had to have coffee and a snack, some more delicious watermelon.  The children played ball and talked.  We went to the neighbors who raise pigeons.  The girls got to hold and pet them.  Each bird has a name and special roost.  

We played and talked into the evening.  It was a beautiful day with our friends.  I feel so blessed that all of our family can be here together and enjoy all of this adventure.

Amharic lesson for the day...

Gum
ማስቲካ
[mas-ti-ka]

Doll
አሻንጉሊት
[a-shon-go-lize]

Fork
ሹካ
[shu-ka]

Toilet
ሽንት ቤት
[shin-ti bet]

Coffee
ቡና
[bu-na]