Day 3 in Africa

Today’s post continues the stories from Africa. Enjoy!

The third day of our trip took us to a town 4 bumpy hours outside Addis. A few members of the team took the bus with our new Ethiopian friend, Dereje, the others roughed it in the van; a vehicle which apparently does not handle rough roads as well as an Ethiopian bus, a discovery we would later make on the trip home.

The reason we decided to make this trip was to get a better idea of what life is like for Dereje. Each Saturday morning he makes the trek back to his home in Debre Berhan to spend the weekend with his family (which consists of his wife he affectionately calls Mimi and 4 children; Yapsala 13 (who is adopted), Shilo 10, Yosef 3 and Rose who is 3 months. Our hope in joining him on his journey was to record his reunion and learn more about what life is like for his family during the week when he is working in Addis.

Debre Berhan is one of the oldest cities in Ethiopia and also one of the first places LIA came when they started programs in Ethiopia. When we arrived the town was bustling; streets filled with rickety horse draw carriages, load bearing donkeys, people selling all sorts of goods and many many automobiles racing down the dirt covered roads.

The sites and fresh smells of this busy town were quite the welcome contrast from the exhaust filled streets of Addis. Like many rural towns verses urban cities, Debre Berhan boasted of open spaces and fresh air for its residents, luxuries Addis could not offer. We began to see why Dereje’s family would want to plant their roots here.

Filming Dereje reuniting with his family was a great experience, and not much unlike seeing a father arrive home to his wife and children after a long business trip. There were hugs and kisses and smiles and rapid talking about how everyone was, and then lunch.

The rest of our day was filled with laughter, eating delicious homemade injera and tibs, participating in the Ethiopian coffee ceremony, filming the family sitting together and talking about their lives and chasing Yosef (Dereje’s high energy 3 year old son).

After a long day of traveling, eating, filming and sharing stories from our lives, we tucked ourselves into our small motel beds and looked forward to what the next day might bring.