Annual Review Meeting

Last week we held our annual review meeting with all of the local stake holders. This means that those from the community & government who are involved with our programs in Zeway came for a 2 day meeting of a review of the years activities and to give input for future growth. We had about 75 people present for the meeting. We received some good critique as well as helpful suggestions for the future.

Santa Claus??

In Zeway I went to a Christmas celebration at my neighbor's child's school. There I saw Santa Claus. Here is he called by his older name Father Christmas. Children sat on his knee and he gave them candy. Take a close look at his face- he's wearing a mask-- rather scary if you ask me.

Since I was the only foreigner there at the celebration I was asked to say something at the end of the program. The program included a fashion show (with girls strutting their stuff), drama, singing, and poetry. I spoke in Amharic, saying how wonderful the event was and I wished everyone a merry Christmas.

Thank You!!

A big thank you to all of you who sent me ornaments to put on my tree! I received gingerbread men, angels, animals, strings of buttons and other homemade creations. It added wonderful Christmas cheer to my house. Neighborhood children's jaws would drop when they saw my pretty tree. They had only seen something like that in pictures or maybe on TV. It was nearly impossible to keep them from touching every little tantalizing thing hanging from the tree. The great thing is that only 2 days ago was the Ethiopian Christmas... so I've been able to keep it up extra long! Thanks for your generosity & love!

A Sri Lankan Christmas

A Few highlights from our trip.... I went with my friends Tracy, Joe and Diane (who all live in Kenya),
The pretty beaches of Sri Lanka. Breathtaking and simply beautiful. We were able to spend about 2 1/2 days here resting and sunbathing. We spent Christmas on the beach and on Christmas Day we watched Joe rescue a man drowning in the ocean.


At Pinnewala (I have no idea how to spell it) there is a big elephant orphanage. Here about 65 elephants big and small live and take trips two times a day down to the river. We got to see them play, roll in the mud and even got to bathe them :).

This is a rock temple. We had to climb up maybe a 1,000 stone stairs in the pouring rain to reach this place. White and beautiful on the outside and beautiful paintings and more Buddah's than I could count inside.
This is an old castle of an king of Sri Lanka. This king LOVED water and he had small ponds, natural bubbling fountians, 4 large pools to watch all of his concubines bathe and up on top of that big rock was an impressive castle (now ruins) and even a swimming pool up there. We climbed rickety metal stairs poking out of the cliffs to get up to the top. The view was breathtaking and we felt like we could see all of Sri Lanka.



An ancient temple. It was a part of another old kingdom & and if I remember right some of it was from BC!! Although I can't exactly remember when this temple was built-- but it has a chamber of treasures in the middle, but no passageway to get to it-- it's solid through!


This is yet another part of the palace that is a part of the kingdom where that temple was. Ancient & beautiful. I had no idea that Sri Lanka had all of these ancient kingdoms and ruins to explore... I felt a bit like Indiana Jones.

For more pictures- click on my photos in the right column of my blog or Click Here.

What an Adventure

Quick overview:

1 miracle with my visa to India
1 miracle getting 4 people onto an overbooked plane from Kenya to India
3 Lost bags in India
3 Nights without baggage
1 Ancient Kingdom visited
1 Cave Temple
Endless rice patty fields
Tsunami torn buildings
Endless beaches
1 man rescued by my friend from the oceans on Christmas Day

.... I'll post pictures when I return to Ethiopia

Incredible!!!

All I can say is wow! I was shaking and laughing with joy as I left the Indian Embassy in Kenya. Despite not having a kenyan re-entry and not giving the consulate sufficient time to process my visa into India, by the Grace of God I have been granted a visa and told to return to the Embassy this afternoon! Which means that I get to go on my vacation. Just a few hours ago, I wasn't quite so sure if it would happen. After my experience with the Indian Embassy in Ethiopia, and the buraucracy and the harsh treatment I recieved for not being a good international traveler, I didn't think I would fare all that better in Kenya. We prayed on our way to the office & found that the assistant who processes applications was in a far better mood than my friends had seen him before. He was even joking and laughing with us. He already knew my story because my friends had seen him multiple times. And I contributed a little bit from my experiences with the Embassy in Ethiopia. He started processing my permit and said we would have to talk to his superior.

We found his office and he sent us out. A few minutes later the assistant came with another man and spoke with t the superior about his case. Then we were told to come in. Immediatly the man tried to send us out again, but the assistant stopped him and quickly said a 20 second version of the story. The superior asked us where we were going and he waved us out of the room. Just like that I was approved for a visa- something that should have taken 72 hours or a week to happen and it was approved with the nod of a head.

They even agreed to have it ready by the end of the day because tommorow is a holiday. Really and truly a miracle!!!

Lessons Learned

I rushed to Addis Thursday afternoon after I recieved an email from my friends in Kenya that I needed a visa for entry to India & that we were on a time limit. I'm leaving for Kenya on Monday and heading to India/Sri Lanka on Wednesday. Sri Lanka's no problem they issue a visa apon arrival but we all forgot that we were going through India. There is confusion about whether or not a visa is needed just to enter the airports of India. I spent all day friday traveling to various embassys and trying to get my plane tickets changed. But none of it worked. I ended up in the same position that I was in before I arrived in Addis.

Please pray that the Indian Embassy in Kenya will be reasonable and helpful. My friends there have been working with them and alerted them of my situation. The outlook seems fairly hopeful, but still a little worriesome given the bureacuracy of the Embassy's system and the time limit we're facing.

I have been nearly giddy these past few weeks about my vacation and can't even imagine not being able to go on it.

You could say this is yet another lesson learned in life.