Archived Blog
Back to the city.
So I've arrived back in Addis Ababa, from my time down in Langano. I cut my planned 3 week stay short by a week, mainly because Brian and Laura, my friends who I was staying and working with, were driving back up on Sunday and I decided to take the opportunity of an easy lift back to Addis, rather than getting the public transport here.
I had managed to snag a lift with some other people who were travelling down to another project further down country, which was very handy. Brian and Laura live on the edge of Langano lake, quite far from civilisation. The SIM compound that they live on is a large, picturesque area, containing a small clinic, a sports camp and a school, as well as the houses and accommodation of the SIM missionaries and local staff. They have power and internet, but it is very intermittent and they haven't had internet for about the last month. It felt very like being cut off from the outside world. It would be a good vacation spot for anyone wanting to take some time away from it all! Power comes and goes, most of the houses have solar powered backups. Unfortunately mine didn't have such a luxury, which was quite frustrating especially towards the end of my time down there, when I needed to work on my computer.
One of the reasons for me being there was to make a short video about the school, highlighting its work for supporters back in the US. It was interesting to be able to take a closer look at school, and the work going on there. It is a very interesting project, many of the students come from Muslim families and have no other opportunity to hear the gospel. Hearing first hand the heart and vision that the teachers and staff there have for the children of the area is very encouraging. I still have a little editing to do, and then (internet permitting) I'll put it on-line.
Other than time spent filming and editing, I was generally able to be a part of life down in Langano. I had meals with two or three of the full time staff who live and work on the compound. One of the guys in particular had very little english, so any conversation between us had to be in Amharic. From an immersion standpoint, this was absolutely perfect and forced me to constantly be thinking in the language. We enjoyed swapping stories about Brian and his antics, as well as watching TV, usually in English, which I would attempt to translate (usually just a summary) for them. Overall, I feel it was a time when my Amharic ability grew, because of the amount of practise. Being unable to default to English when you don't know a particular word is quite challenging. I would definitely be keen to go back there for some more language practise, Brian said that the clinic also needs a similar video made, which would help them out as well.
I've arrived back to Addis, where the internet in many places is not working. This is fairly frustrating, after a long period down country without internet, the last thing you want to hear is that it's not working in the city either. Returning to language school has been fairly painless, there was a 1 week break which meant that I only missed one week. So I've fitted back into the class, and know the other students quite well.
I would post some pictures of my time in Langano, but as I'm using my phone internet signal which is expensive, every mb counts, so I'll have to wait until internet starts working in SIM HQ again.
Niall
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