Arrival in Bahir Dar

It was evening as we arrived in Bahir Dar to start our second year of service in Ethiopia. As I turned the key and opened the door of our new home a big lizard dropped on my head. It's a good thing it wasn't Sue opening the door or the whole town would have known we arrived.
We are thankful to John and Phyllis Coleman who have loaned us the use of their Land Cruiser while they are in Canada. It has sure made the move north a lot easier. The trip north from Addis was spectacular at times as we crossed the Blue Nile gorge winding our way down several thousand feet and back up the other side.
Animals and market goers considerably slowed our trip and it took nearly 12 hours to complete the trip. It has been an eye opening experience trying to get settled in Bahir Dar as there is a scarcity of most things and household furnishings of any description are frightfully expensive. We scoured the town in search of a simple wooden chair to buy and came up empty. Sue asked some local help to purchase some simple groceries, thinking they would be more successful than us. Sue had 7 items on the list but the local help came back with only one item, however, we were informed that bananas would be available in the afternoon.
Sarah and Rachel have already been hard at work planting a garden. We also have passion fruit and mango trees on our property that we are looking forward to.
Our house is made of mud but it is not a mud hut. It is simple but adequate and we are starting to get settled. A kind couple from Canada, Brian and Cindy McConnell donated a water purification system for us to take with us to Ethiopia. We have that installed and operational.
We arrived on New Years Day. Ethiopia has their own calendar and it just turned 1998. They have not yet entered the new millennium. For all those who want to celebrate the ushering in of the millennium again you are welcome to join us in Ethiopia in a couple of years. I would not want to be a sheep in Ethiopia around New Year as the roadside was full of people buying sheep for the big New Year's feast.
We are in Bahir Dar to set up an urban ministry among the many street kids, AID's orphan's and women-at-risk. It is an overwhelming task before us as Bahir Dar has the highest HIV rate in Ethiopia and more than half the town seems to be under 20 years of age. Since no project agreements have been formed yet with the government I am teaching part time in order to have a residence permit. Initially I was going to be teaching English but the school has asked me to teach computers instead. This will probably work out better for me plus hopefully give some valuable skills to the Ethiopian kids.
The story of the school I am teaching at is incredible. Fray and her husband (both Ethiopian) are an incredible example of self sacrifice and trusting God to help them turn a hopeless situation into something of triumph. Both are well educated, have lived many years in the States and could have settled for a comfortable life but they have dedicated themselves to doing something for Ethiopia. He became a Doctor and opened a practice in Bahir Dar that saw 35,000 patients last year. He is now opening a medical school. His wife started a quality school that has grown in a few short years to 1300 students and has plans to expand to High School in the next year or so. We are happy to be able to join them this year and do what little we can to help them.

Ethiopia Arrival

On August 17 at 6:30pm we left Toronto for Addis Ababa Ethiopia. The total trip took more than 30 hrs. before our arrival at the school where we will be located for this first year.
After an eight hour stopover in London, we continued our journey and arrived in Addis Ababa at 1:30 in the morning local time. Clearance through customs and immigration was uneventful except Rachel wasn't listed on our entry permit (although it was listed on our copy). After some delay they decided to keep her passport and give a ticket for her to go to the immigration office to obtain a valid entry visa.
Eventually we cleared the airport and were taken by waiting van to the school.

We were taken to a spacious 3 bedroom apartment that will be our home for the next year. We were both delighted and surprised to find that from our residence we have a phone and Internet access (although slow).

It looks like both Sarah and Rachel will be able to go to school this year, although they had to make an exception for Rachel as she isn't old enough for their kindergarten.
We had our first taste of authentic Ethiopian food last night. Sue and I are accustomed to it, however it will take some getting used to for the girls.
Although it has been nearly 40 years since I lived in Ethiopia, with the exception of structural changes, things look pretty much the same. Sarah and Rachel are pleased to see donkeys and sheep walking down the middle of the road. There is still a great deal of poverty and suffering for the average person. The needs can be overwhelming. The girls seem to be adjusting well inspite of the huge changes and have already made some friends.
We are quite impressed with the facilities at the School. It has a good computer setup as well as excellent gym.
We haven't met with the Central Office of SIM yet to discuss the development of the Bahir Dar program that will target ministry with street kids, orphans and women at risk. We are already making plans, however for a trip up to the area around Christmas time.