Twister!!!

No I’m not talking about a tornado but the game: Twister. My parents brought it with them to give to the project. We introduced it during the Saturday Program at the office. During the Saturday Program, children come to play and socialize with one another. They play soccer, jump rope, sing, and play other local games. Well, the kids knew that we brought something with us because our plastic bags were bulging—we pumped up new soccer balls & volleyballs then broke out the new game. It was great as no one (including the social workers) had seen a game like this before—in fact manufactured games have almost never been seen. So I explained in my crude Amharic and stretched myself across the dotted playing map. Then we drew a big circle in the dirt around the mat and chose 6 kids to enter the circle and play the first round. It was loud and crazy and nearly impossible to choose children to play. But we did and they played and it was great.

Explaining the new game

We’ve also got some new games at the projects that some previous groups brought. Just last week I had the opportunity to distribute the games with the social workers. We talked about the importance of play for development and socialization then we played each of the new games ourselves. It was fun to have the social workers acting like kids as we played twister, uno, and memory. Now all the games have been divided up between our 5 sites but we still don’t have enough—as we’ve got 5 sites and 2,000 kids in the program.

This is where you come in!!! Please send us more games. My number one request is for Memory—it’s a great game that needs little explanation or supervision but is good for all ages. Here’s the list:

• Memory
• Uno
• Twister
• Cards
• Crayons
• Connect 4

You can send them to:

Kristen Damron

PO Box 470

Ziway, Ethiopia

*you can take memory & twister out of the box & put them in a plastic bag to save on shipping weight.

Thanks…. From the Project Kids!!!

 

Twas A Blurr

Just to fill you in on my silence…. It’s been a while since I’ve written and it’s simply because I’ve been pretty busy. My parents arrived on Friday, April 23 and it has been a whirlwind ever since. We spent Ethiopian Easter in Addis with my parents and my Ethiopian family. It was a great day full of good food and visits to the house by friends of the family. The night before my parents experienced their first round of Ethiopian food at a cultural restaurant that had cultural dancing from various parts of the country. That day we took Mimo & Tito (who you may remember from earlier) with us to visit Wenchi Crater Lake. It was a great day trip and a good introduction for my parents to Ethiopia. They got to experience the crazy roads and the people who seem to be everywhere even when you’re in the middle of nowhere.

Posing in front of Wenchi Crater Lake

After a long weekend in Addis we made the trek down to Zeway and promptly headed off to a lodge at Lake Langano. There we spent a three night retreat among the ancient woods of the area and the monkeys and warthogs of the forest. I thought it was a good idea to take a bit of a retreat from the world of Ethiopia so that my parents could catch their breath and be able to reflect on what they had seen and experienced in the previous days. It was a relaxing time where we were able to play catch up, swim in the lake and hike around.

Taking in the view at Bishangari Lodge at Lake Langano

When our vacation was over we returned to Zeway and really entered my world. Here they experienced the daily grind of getting water, using the shared toilet, constant noise of the streets and the heat of the season. I treated my parents to the chaos of the market where I had to replenish my stock of vegetables.

Shopping for vegetables at the market

Most of the time though was spent at my neighbors’ houses. There we experienced many coffee ceremonies, ate lots of popcorn and were even treated to some great meals of injera with traditional stews (wat).

After three nights in Zeway we returned safe and sound to Addis by public transportation (bus). There we did some shopping, I introduced them to the people at the head office then we said goodbye to my dad. Now my mom and I are back in Zeway for a week and a half—where I’ll catch up on work and she’ll spend some time with the kids who hang around the office compound.

 

Pens

I’m used to being asked for pens by kids on the street, but the other day  a few of my co workers got in on the game.  I was writing some letters home and was using these sparkly jelly roll pens that I found among my stuff.  I somewhat stupidly left the package on my desk as I was writing notes.  Well one of my coworkers came in and unabashedly said give me one. I said no I won’t give you one, because the moment you walk out of my door everyone else here will want one and I will end up with no pens and won’t have enough to share.  He begged me and promised that no one else would ask me for a pen.

Whadda ya know– literally 1 minute later another coworker walked in and asked me for a pen.  By now I had gotten a bit smarter and only kept 2 pens on my desk and hid the rest in a drawer.  But he looked at my two pens and said they’re so pretty- give me one.  I said no i don’t have anymore and I asked him if he had talked to the guy who was in my office just before.  He said said “who and you do have more pens and I want one”.  So UMMMMPPPHHHHH— I gave him one.

When I told my first coworker about how the other guy came in right after him he couldn’t believe it and insisted that we 3 talk about it.  Both pleaded innocent to knowing about the other’s pen.   The moral of the story is that if you are seen to have something- it doesn’t matter what it is it’s fair game for someone to ask you for it- whether it’s eggs or fruit that you just bought or a pretty pen.

 

Something to Think About

I found this in Into the Depths of God, by Calvin Miller. In this chapter, the author was talking about materialism and tried to show what steps it would take for a westerner to truly identify with the developing world. I think it gives some insight into life here:

First take out the furniture: leave a few old blankets, a kitchen table, maybe a wooden chair. You’ve never had a bed remember?

Second, throw out your clothes. Each person in the family may keep the oldest suit or dress, a shirt or blouse. The head of the family has the only pair of shoes.

Third, all kitchen appliances have vanished. Keep a box of matches, a small bag of flour, some sugar and salt, a handful of onions, a dish of dried beans. Rescue the moldy potatoes from the garbage can: those are tonight’s meal.

Fourth, dismantle the bathroom, shut off the running water, take out the wiring and the lights and everything that runs by electricity.

Fifth, take away the house and move the family into the tool shed.

Sixt, no more postman, fireman, government services. The two classroom school is three miles away, but only two of your seven children attend anyway, and they walk.

Seventh, throw out your bankbooks, stock certificates, pension plans, insurance policies. You now have a cash hoard of $5.

Eighth, get out and start cultivating your three acres. Try hard to raise $300 in cash crops because your landlord wants one-third and your money lender 10 percent.

Ninth, find some way for your children to bring in a little extra money so you have something to eat most days. But it won’t be enough to keep bodies healthy- so lop off 25-30 years of life.

This hits a lot right on the nail. Just imagine what life would be like after you’ve taken these things away. I’d like to make a few changes…. You can take away the kitchen table and replace it with a mattress (made of straw or thin foam). Don’t forget to take away your health insurance… it is no more. And lucky you… in Zeway you get to keep your electricity!

 

Rain!!

The thunder rolled and the darkness came.  Still no power so the night was very dark, but softly the drops of rain sounded on my tin roof!  It was great to hear.  More than a brief sprinkling but not a deep downpour, the rain was the beginning to an answer to prayer. This little bit that we received although not enough to quench the thirst of this area or this great land is a good start.  Please pray that the rain will continue across the land.

 

Where’s the Lights??

It’s the season of short rain, but there’s actually been almost no rain (at least in this part of Ethiopia).  So far I have enough to eat and drink, but I know that many do not.  Please join me in praying that the rain will come soon and relieve a parched land.

As a consequence of no rain, the water supply in the lake which gives hydroelectric power to Addis Ababa and many towns (including Zeway) is very low.  They have been making rolling power cuts to decrease electricity consumption.  Right now I’m working off of a computer battery which is slated to go dead in about an hour.  After that… completing tasks becomes rather difficult as we depend so much on computers to do much of our work.

Please pray

 

It Adds Up!

Women of a Savings Group in Adami Tulu

Awoke cutting the special bread

Last week I had the opportunity to participate in a unique celebration. For those of you who get my newsletters a while ago I mentioned the kickoff of our savings groups. Well these groups are now going full force. We have 15 official groups all organized and headed by women whose children are in our program. Each group has its own bylaws and standard of saving from 1 birr a week to 5 birr a week (remember that one US dollar equals 9.5 birr). Things are going well and I was invited along with some of my co-workers to the official opening celebration for one of the groups. Although they started their group back in December, and have been saving since then, they had a big celebration to kick of their “real” beginning. We ate homemade bread and spinach and partook in a coffee ceremony. It was a happy celebration as the 22 women came together to celebrate the 345 birr that they had saved together. Soon they will begin to give small loans to the members of the group, charging small interest rates. Together they will not only save, but watch their money grow.

 

Bulbula Elementary School

One of the half completed classrooms in Bulbula slated to be completed in the comming year. The community began construction and ran out of funds to complete the buildings. There is a 1/2 foot layer of dust on the ground. The school officials have been keeping the doors locked because the children have been using these unfinished classrooms as toilets. Currently there are around 130 children in each class.

This is a latrine which is currently being dug at the school. The old latrine is falling apart and at least 25 years old.

 

Most recent guests

I thought I’d share a few pictures of some visits that we’ve had recently. Morris, has been out to visit our project at least 5 times. This time around he brought a good friend, Rick, and his friend’s two daughters. Much of Morris’s heart is here and he has a great passion for the children in the area- it is beautiful to see. One of our major areas of focus is building up the capacity and quality of the schools in our project sites. Many don’t have latrines, enough desks and have few classrooms, many of which are poorly constructed.

 

My Friends

I don’t think I’ve actually introduced my friends Corrie & Sara.  This picture is actually a bit old as Sara (on the right) has recently returned to the US.  These two gals are/were my dearest friends here in Ethiopia.  Every time I return to Addis Ababa there’s always a small reunion as we reconnect once again.