When a Family comes our Way

Visitors rarely come to visit. When they do, they tend to be adult men. We have had a few women but very few children. We are just too far off the main road. Yet, our children LOVE visitors....especially children their ages. So, when our friends decided to come and visit, the countdown began.

Not only did this family visit but they took public transport to get here since they don't own a vehicle. This 12 hour journey is challenging even when driving in one's own landcruiser but change that to a bus filled with people speaking a foreign language, only 3 predetermined stops, LOUD Ethiopian music and carsickness and it is not a pleasant experience at all.

Our friends made us proud. They boarded their bus at 5am, travelled until 2pm at which time they were picked up by Rolf at the bus drop off, and travelled 3 more hours on dusty, bumpy hours. They arrived cheerful and without complaint though they were surprised just how far away we actually are. I believe the welcome wagon made it all worthwhile.

Since family visits are so rare, we had a full weekend planned. In between activities, the ping pong table was busily being used by the boys and and the girls were knitting.

HIGHLIGHTS.....(apparently I didn't take many pictures so will update more when I get them from our visitors!)

SOCCER CLUB and VILLAGE VISIT

The boys joined the Gumuz boy's soccer club for several hours of soccer. The girls/ladies watched for awhile and then went to visit a Gumuz village where we were immediately welcomed to sit down for keya and a visit. My friends were so thrilled to see “our people” coming to visit and for the first time I felt “normal” in their eyes. Yes I do belong.... to a people. Yes our children do have friends. Instead of the usual observation of our children interacting as siblings or sitting in church, they saw all the excitement that happens between friends.

HIKE & RIVER

Saturday morning we got up early and took a hike from our mountain top to the next mountain top. The view is worth the 45 minute climb. Of course we brought snacks along to encourage the hikers and gave them the burst of energy needed to descend. Thankful for a safe climb and that the 10foot tall elephant grass had mostly been burned away allowing us to hike more easily.

After lunch, we stuffed the 14 of us into our landcruiser and headed to a river 5km away. Although it is now dry season, the river was still flowing though it was more like a stream. We splashed around, explored and sat in the sun. A beautiful haven during the heat of the day. 

GUMUZ CHICKEN LUNCH

One of our favorite Gumuz meals is roasted chicken. Everyone enjoyed seeing the process of preparing a chicken meal from scratch. (Well not everyone watched the actual slaughter). From live chicken to meat roasted over coals and guts boiled in its' blood. Every single piece is eaten including the bones except for the toe nails and the beak. I think we all voted that our least favorite part of the chicken was the kidneys.

THORNS, STITCHES & HURDLES

One must include the painful highlights as well. Although we brief visitors on the potential dangers: poisonous snakes, scorpions and thorns into barefeet, there are no guaratees that a visitor will go unscathed. I decided early on that wearing shoes outside our house was not a battle I was willing to face. But they are not allowed to complain about thorns and there are some nasty ones. Their soles are tough but not impenetrable. All weekend it seemed we were digging out thorns from kids. Infection sets in quickly. One of the boys had a red streak up his leg by morning since a thorn went unnoticed overnight.

Then came the gift of sorghum cane (like sugar cane). It is rather dangerous stuff and I have cut my hands and mouth on numerous occasions in my attempt to get the sugary pulp from inside. We heard a shrill scream from outside and in rushed our friends' daughter with blood pouring from her thumb. It all seemed dramatic until we observed just how deep and long the gash was. An hour later, Cherie (an experienced vet) had put in 7 stitches and she was back in action. Anyone want to come and visit?

The men put up hurdles from bamboo for the kids to practice on. With Bingham field days a month away, it was time to decide who would sign up for the hurdles race. Great fun to race against each other (peers) instead of just siblings.

CHRISTMAS FUN

Saturday night we played Christmas charades together, enjoyed hot apple cider, Dutch Christmas cake, the children's Christmas drama, cookies and treats. No one was happy this was the last night together.

GESAS SUNDAY

You wouldn't want to leave Gesas without enjoying a Sunday morning service. Drums and dancing to Gumuz Spiritual songs, sermon and a drama and then getting to know the men and women in small groups after church. The women always love to meet our visitors.

Our lunch and coffee, it was time for our visitors to pack up, jump some more hurdles and begin their journey back to Addis.

Rolf and Joel took our visitors to Injebara (3 hours away) where they would be picked up by the bus the following morning.

I imagine it took a few days for our visitors to recover from the weekend but we are sure that they will fondly remember our time together just as we do. Friends bring life to this place and allow us to take a step away from all the stresses of ministry that can so easily consume our life.

No, we are not a vacation spot.  It's hot but we have no beaches or resorts nearby.   The people we live among manage to survive in these harsh mountains but it is not easy.   If you visit, you won't go away feeling refreshed in body.  It might take you a few days to recover.  But I believe that if you were to visit, you would see life just a little differently than before.