Greetings from Gambella!

No power for toast! I’m sitting at the Baro River hotel. It was called the Ethiopian Hotel until someone bought it two years ago. Everyone still calls it that. I’m sitting outside, under the thick foliage listening to the drumming and chanting that will go on all day (it’s Sunday, after all.) There was a very loud African drama coming out of the television in the bar…think Days of Our Lives with the lowest of production values…when the power went out…again. “No power for toast,” the server tells me. “No problem,” says I. So now I have a Coke and some locally made fresh bread with the most watery, yet delicious, orange marmalade, and about 300 new little buzzing fly friends looking to enjoy my repast.

We left Addis at 7:30 yesterday morning. Yigzaw from the International School picked us up at the hotel. We made our way to Bole Airport in record time. Andy and Yigzaw were planning to meet the official who had promised to give us our computers and books from Pearson today. We all paid $1 to visit the International Terminal and pressed through security with the shoving crowd. I bought a Fanta and they went off to get our stuff. I didn’t want to go with them because I was afraid I might just add confusion. “Who is this new guy? What is he doing here?”

We had to be at the domestic terminal by 9:00am to catch our flight to Gambella. I sat outside, leaning on Yigzaw’s truck. About 50 taxi drivers came up to me asking if I need transport. I finally just sat in the truck figuring that would send the right message that I did not, indeed, need a ride. About 45 minutes later, Andy and Yigzaw slowly emerged from the terminal. I gave the thumbs-up sign in question, and Andy gave me the wrong response…thumbs-down. The guy was “on his way” at 8:00, but still hadn’t shown up. We had to go to the domestic terminal to make sure we weren’t pushed off of our flight. Yigzaw promised to come back Monday and get the job done. Shoot.

Turns out they wouldn’t let us in the terminal until 9:30, so we sat and had a coffee and discussed what we would do. We finally got in line and made our way to the check in kiosk. Luggage was fine and put through to Gambella. Our boarding passes printed and we were ready to get on the flight. “Wait,” says the ticket guy. Your tickets have been exchanged. “Yes, we called our travel agent in New Orleans yesterday and changed the return date to a week later, but we’re still flying out today.” “No, your ticket has been exchanged. I need to see your new tickets.” We had done the change over the phone. No ticket. So, we had to buy a NEW ticket and hope for a refund when we got home. We had to let everyone in line (a full plane) go through before he could issue us new tickets. We had been hording money all week (I can get $300/day from the ATM here…whew) and had JUST enough Birr to get us through two weeks of training the 30 students and adults in Gambella. Now, we had to take a quarter of our cash and buy plane tickets. So, (hey Mark and Wendy!), we’ll have to have our colleagues in California wire us money again this week in Gambella. (Hey, the power just came back on! My soap is blaring again.)

My seat belt was broken and kept coming off the pin at the base of the seat. So, I took the wire from the top of the vomit bag and jerry-rigged the seat belt back together. We stopped in Jimma (coffee export capital of Ethiopia) and got off the plane to stand on the tarmac while they refueled the plane.

Andy and I were so excited to look out of the plane and see the Baro River, the compounds of thatched-roof huts, and the farmers stopping their work to watch the plane land. We were met by the Pact driver, Leo. We have Keith from the International School with us. He decided to buy a ticket and come with us after our residency with his students last week. He wants to see how Andy and I bring digital arts to rural areas. We got to the hotel and had a lunch of fried fish and rice with spicy pepper sauce.

Our great friend from Pact and wonderful person, Jody, came to meet us and talk about the next two weeks. We’ll have many students from the Girls’ Empowerment program with us this week…including Chol! We’ll have some adults as well. They’ll learn how to facilitate our program. The plan is to have Yigzaw get the computers and books on Monday and immediately put them on a truck to Jimma. Leo will drive from Gambella to Jimma on Monday as well and meet the driver. They’ll spend the night, then Leo will bring our loot to us. We’re doing our residency at our hotel. We hope the dust and jarring drive don’t damage the equipment.

We showed the team many of the movies from our past several weeks and they were all very enthusiastic. We’ll spend the first few days teaching the students how to use the cameras, how to write a narrative, and how to create original art for their movies. It is all going to work out great…I know it!

Andy, Keith, and I left Jody (she wasn’t feeling well) in Andy’s room watching the DVDs of Sex in the City Andy brought. No, there is no T.V. in the room, but Andy had battery power on his computer (power was out again), so she was in heaven.

It is hot, hot, hot here, so we went to buy water, toilet paper (none in my room), and Coke. We saw our friend Agwa at a small hut/shop. He was with us last year when we came to open the orphanage.

We had a light dinner, then Jody thought she might vomit, so she took off. Jody is one of those people who just lights up a room. She’s the type of person you just LOVE having around…so open-hearted and funny! I hated to see her turning green. She’s been ALL over the world and goes to some extremely rural areas. I know she’ll be fine.

Andy and I went out last night and had a couple of beers in some local haunts. When I was here last year, it was all so new and exotic. I was a bit hesitant to walk down the road because we’d heard of ongoing ethnic strife. The “conflict” is still palpable, but I’ve seen enough of Africa now to know when to feel nervous and when to just enjoy myself. I saw only one other white person all night…had a great time.

I fell asleep under my mosquito net. The hotel is the nicest in Gambella, but still VERY rustic and just the kind of place I love. Mind you, I don’t mind a bit of pampering now and again, but I much prefer how ALIVE this place feels.

At 5:00am today, the “rondo” of sounds began. Sounded like this:

Monkey scream
Monkey scream

Drum, Drum, Drum

Chant oo ahh
Chant oo ahh

Baby scream LOUD

Ceiling fan
Ceiling fan

Drum, Drum, Drum

Monkey scream
Baby scream

Gutteral grunt grunt

I’m so excited about today. We’re off to the technical vocational training school that will house the donated Pearson Foundation media lab and library. Then (can’t wait!) we’re off to Chol’s house for her birthday party! I can’t wait to meet her and tell her that I’ve told all of you about her.

More once our program begins tomorrow. We’re SOOOO happy to be back in Gambella and thrilled to bring technical training these amazing people. I know their movies are going to be incredible.

More tomorrow!

E