ADDIS ABABA,

On October 3, 2000 I left Houston for the trip of a lifetime.
The eleven people who were a part of our group soon became close friends as we shared 14 days of experiences together.

We made a quick plane change in Frankfurt, hoping that our luggage would arrive with us at our destination. Seeing the beautiful Mediterraean Sea, the twisting Nile River, and the "Pyramids along the Nile", as the song says, was exciting to me......though my view was from the air.
Then Cairo rose suddenly out of the incredible Sahara Dessert.
My eyes searched hard to take in a lasting impression of this so far and distant land.

As it turned out, we made a round trip to Cairo that afternoon.....
due to hydraulic problems on our Lufthaunsa aircraft.
The extra time visiting in the airplane waiting for repairs gave our group an opportunity to get acquainted. We arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the early morning hour WITH ALL OUR LUGGAGE and a bit weary after 24 hours of travel, but excited about what lay ahead for us in Addis.

Words cannot express and pictures can not show what I experienced in Addis Ababa.....only my heart knows the full story.

Surprisingly, the weather in Addis is perfect year round.
The humidy is low and the temperature never gets above mid 80's.
As a Houstonian, I LOVED IT !!

Our first day in Addis, we had orientation and then went out for a bit of shopping.
The streets were crowded with old VW bugs and minivans, and such vehicles.
But the donkeys, goats, sheep and people definitely had no Yield sign.

In the mornings, the animals were taken to the auction area and by evening many of them ended up on "Bone Hill", a place in the middle of the city where the animals were slaughtered and their bones piled more than 2 stories high.....for vultures to feast on all day.....a sight to behold.

The shops were little more than 6x8 holes in the wall.
They offered leather, baskets, cotton goods and silver or pewter items.

There were many beggars on the street.
The saddest sight was young boys and old men, who were crippled from polio.
They scooted along on skateboards, knarled legs dangling as they struggled to propel themselves along the uneven, potholed streets.

Our first evening we ate at an Ethiopian restaurant....a real experience !
We were seated in individual chairs facing small, round cloth covered tables. They removed the covering to reveal a lovely, colorful basket holding a round, flat bowl with what appeared to be spread with a light brown tea cloth. Then....TO MY HORROR....they began dumping STUFF on the nice cloth....gobs and plops of red and brown meat-kind-of-stuff. (Frankly, it looked as though it had already been eaten !) When our centerpieces were full of STUFF, our host reached over and began tearing the nice (though now dirty) cloth ! He then scooped up some of the food in the cloth and ATE IT !! This, we learned is enjera, the staple of Ethiopians. There were small pieces of chicken, veal, sheep, goats.....and I am not sure what else ! I found the sheep entrails pretty tough, but the tongue is rather tender and good !

Sunday after church, we were treated to lunch (enjera) at one of the minister's homes. We were beginning to get used to it by then and declared it "very good" . Three of the wives prepared the food. Pictured here is the lovely coffee ceremony performed by one of the hostesses. Ethiopian coffee is known to be very good, but for a one cup, instant, decaf drinking person, it was strong enough to put hair on your chest, as my daddy used to say !

Our team had varied responsiblities on this mission.
Two gentlemen met with business men and government officials, sharing with them business and stockmarket information.
Two ladies had meetings, mostly with the Ethiopian ladies, giving information about nutrition, diet, HIV, tuberculosis, etc.
One young man worked on computers for our missionaries and also had the great fun of handing out sports jerseys to young Ethiopians who had participated in soccer camps.
One lady spent time all over the city and in homes, etc. documenting things on film.
Two gentlemen met with lay people and pastors, teaching in their training school.
I was one of three who taught in two English as a Second Language Camps.

Our team went to Addis to help the people in a tangible, practical way, but to also bring the gospel message as opportunity would arise.
As it turned out, we had many opportunities to share Christ and received remarkable response.

The following pages include more pictures and information about this amazing trip.
I hope you will come along and share these experiences with me.