On The Move.

Monday is moving day for the Gabra! So Kevin and his friend Gollo took the truck (the modern camel) and went to help 2 families move their houses... it turned into 4, but they managed to finish them all in the morning, as well as drink 6 cups of chai.

Normally only the women take down and move the houses, but Kev is always in a hurry...
Cute baby donkey!
Chai is a vital part of any sort of activity!

Kevin gets back from a busy morning of house moving and then the moment he gets back Eddie asks if he wants to do some driving... about 200km away. Eddie was going to help our friend, Mamo, move back to Kalacha after his wedding, which was in Dukana, but he hadn't heard from him. We knew that Mamo could only move on Monday or Thursday (traditions) and for some reason we were told he had to move Monday. So on half hours notice, Kev and I headed out on an adventure. We took lots of water, a pocket knife and a camera and we were off.
We drive forever across the plains -fondly refered to as the 'dead dog plain', because dogs can't cross it, they get too hot and just die- and passed a few more small towns and just past Dukana before we finally reach where we were headed... Mamo's house. We left Kalacha at 12:30pm and got there around 5:30pm.
But once we got there we were told that Mamo CAN'T move on Monday because they hadn't finished some ceremonies, he could only move on Thursday. It's too far to drive all the way back empty handed so we were willing to stay till Thursday. We had a satellite phone to contact Kalacha and we managed to work out a plan where we met up with Abudho, who happend to be in Dukana, and he would stay until Thursday instead of us. It was late when we arrived at Mamo's and driving in the dark is no fun, so we spent the night and left the next morning.
We were well taken care of and it was great to spend a night out there! It is like luxury camping, minus the thermarest!
It was a great trip!
Here are some of the pics...
So Kev, Barako(so that we wouldn't get lost) and I left for Dukana (200km away).
Since it was Monday, which is moving day for the Gabra, we saw many families re-locating.
I love how God makes flowers bloom even in the lonely desert.

We saw a day old camel! SO cute. We got as close as we were able, but mommy wasn't too happy with us.
This man asked to be let off right here, and Kevin asked him why?
"I am going home." was the response.
Kevin was confused and asked where his home was...
"That way." the man says, pointing behind him. We couldn't see his home, but they assured us that it wasn't far.
At the center of 'Dida Golla' (called 'dead dog plain' in english) there is a section covered in little red and white flowers! Beautiful!
This is what Didda Golla looked like back in July when Mom, Dad and I went with Eddie past Dukana... I wouldn't have believed it was the same place if I hadn't seen it!
Green Green Green!

Seeing the packed camels is not common, but on our drive up to Dukana we saw tons of moving families!
It takes 2 or 3 camels to carry one house... mobile homes at a whole new level.
Can you imagine fitting your entire life's belongings onto a few camels?
Kevin found the cute little baby sheep... only a few days old.
The flowers with their variety and their details... God is amazing!
Can't leave cool trees 'un-climbed'.
Barako.
Ware (Wa-ray) is our good friend, and it was her oldest brother, Mamo, who got married. The whole family moves out for the wedding.
We went to look at the 'laga' (seasonal river), and just across the river was the begining of the Ethiopian highlands, we could look right into Ethiopia.

Waking up while the stars are still out, the wind in gentle, and the animals are all shuffling around making soft noises and then watching the sun rise... I won't be able to describe it to you very well, so you should just come and visit!
This is Ware's mom's house, and the goat pen right next to it (so that the hyena's won't get the goats and sheep) and the camels just beyond. Do you see the cow hide on the ground? That was my bed! Lots of 'floor space' if you ever want to sleep over. Sleeping on just a cow hide would take some getting use to, the rocks are quite hard!
We were teaching the kids how to use the camera, so we got lots of goat pics.
Goats and boys.
Kevin and the cute sheep. The white thing around him wrist is called 'meditch', it is a part of the sheeps leg skin that is what is given to you when they slaughter an animal for you. It is to show the people back home that you were well taken care of on your journey.
Gumato and the cute sheep.
After being milked the goats go out for grazing.
Once the adult camels go out to graze the baby camels are let out to graze close to the houses... they are so cute!
We were aiming for an early start... but forgot that they would slaughter a sheep for us and we would be staying for lunch.
This is the sheep's stomach.
Wahsing it out... really well!
All clean. It almost feels like a wash cloth.
Ware preparing our lunch.
Cutting up the stomach before they cook it into tasty yumminess.
These donkeys go down this steep hill of shale in search of water... and then they come back up fully loaded!
Walking up the now dry river bed to a the pools left over from the recent rain. When it rains they say this whole river fills up!!
The water source for the 'Olla' (village).
Big and ugly...
Even though Tuesday is NOT a moving day, we managed to convince them to let us move at least one of the houses since we had to go back and could not wait till Thursday.
To get to the 'Olla' (village) that Ware's family was at, we had to drive for a few km through the bush... by the time we were done there was a road there! We call it Kev's road!

SUPERMAN!!!
Who was then killed by the heat of the desert. Even the towel couldn't save him.
This is where the 'forra' people live, they live out in the middle of a very wide, rocky plain... I was informed that it is not in the middle of 'nowhere', it's always somewhere.