Nagayan Ta (stay in peace)

My time here in Kalacha is almost over. One week left.

One week to say my goodbyes. One week to pack up and clean out my house. One week to try to finish up my travel plans and answer e-mails. Why does time go so quickly!?!

I have had fun keeping up this blog and I hope you have enjoyed it as well. It started out as a photo album for my family, but it grew a bit from there. I hope I have given you a small glimpse of what life is like here with the Gabra people... but really, to have any idea, you will have to come and visit for yourself!

Once we leave Kalacha I will have little or not access to internet, so this may be the last post for some time. I will be spending one month in Lesotho, to observe different ministries there, and then head home to Canada sometime in May.

Waaqi isan ebisini! (God bless you all)

God has set eternity in the hearts of men...

God has set eternity in the hearts of men... we cannot find fulfilment or true peace without Him. The Gabra know that God exists, but they do not know Him. The work that God has been doing here in Kalacha will endure forever, man cannot thwart God's plans.

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

What does the worker gain from his toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

Is this Kalacha!?

Since the rain last Sunday, it has not felt like the Kalacha that we know...
Everything is green and blooming.
Sunrises and sunsets are enhanced because of the many clouds.

We have had random spurts of rain during the night and I felt sorry for little Guchi, so she has spent a few nights inside.
We even had a massive dust storm!!! That was an experience.
Our neighbors had to fix their houses after the gale-force winds ripped through.
Most evenings we have had impressive lightning storms that surround us... of course as soon as I try to take pictures the lightning disappears!

Blessed rain...

I do not believe in coincidences... On our baptism Sunday, God opened up the heavens and we all got drenched! 70mm in one morning, what a blessing!!!
Those who were late to church got DRENCHED!!! I am convinced that God has a great sense of humor!

We were all safe under the tin roof, but the down pour made it impossible to hear anyone talk... but we could sure sing!!! The rain did let up a bit so that we could hear Eddie's sermon on baptism, but then it poured some more.
After the service we all went to the pool for the baptism of 17 believers. Some of these people have been waiting for over 3 years to finish their baptism classes and to have a pastor here in Kalacha who was able to baptise them.
The Gabra fear water- to them rivers or pools often mean death, and for them to get into the pool to be baptised is no small thing. They fully understand the symbolism of dying with Christ!
Our good friend got baptised.
As well as one of our sisters!
After they were baptised we all went to celebrate their first communion together!
This is the normally dry parking lot!!! Rivers show up everywhere! Even walking from church to the pool we had to walk through some calf-deep puddles.

Badda Hurri - The Hills of Mist

Kevin and I sought out cooler climates, in the Hurri Hills.

Our walks were often interrupted by termite mounds and such.

We ran into a band of baboons that the dogs chased and then treed.
These pics are from Kevin's wanderings... he likes to check out the caves, even though they have a lot of signs of hyenas.
Kevin managed to get a pic of an ardwolf on one night drive! I have seen two since being here, but it is rare to see them, let alone get a pic of them!
It is common to see gerenuk, kudu, gazelles or reed bucks... they are so pretty!
Guchi and I enjoying being able to sit in direct sunlight without melting! Not possible in Kalacha!
The elders of our church were so excited about their new songs, straight from scripture, that they wanted to share them. So a group from our church came up the Hurris to teach others their new songs. Kevin and I went to join the singing/camping party. Notice 'dinner' tied to the tree!
After we set up the tents we had to go climb the nearby hill.

Kevin and Barille looking at some 'hidi' (antelope).
Looking down on Olla Guba (the main village in the Hurris), and Chaffa (meaning place of lots of grass), the AIC plot where we camped is the small group of trees on the left side of the pic.

We got down from the hill just in time for chai!
Abudho looking cute.

Turning the goat into dinner.

Kevin, no matter where he goes, seems to make friends with cute kids...
Or find ugly bugs!
Grace is 3, and by herself, without spilling, she can pour hot chai back and forth to cool it down so that she can drink it.
We went to several different Ollas (villages) to sing, and the people loved the new songs!

We sing in a circle, and the life of these new songs is so different compared to the western style ones that are simply translated into their language.
A local fruity thing... Kevin ate it even though there was some dispute about it being poisonous or not.
When there is rain people can plant crops... I would love to learn how to plow with oxen!

Moyale

It was a long road...
we got to see many things...


as well as change a lot of tires!
We went past 'Farole' (a holy mountain for some Gabra) on our way there.
And we got into Moyale despite using ALL of our spare tires! Our party split and stayed at two different guest houses- the two families, Hamptons and Birgens, stayed at one place and us youngins stayed at the Sessi Guest House (I think we picked the better one 'cause we had no mossies and we had a TV!)
Barille, Robe, Barkao and I on the porch of the Sessi Guest House. If you ever go to Moyale, I recomend that guest house, the people are so helpful and welcoming.
This had 'fire hazard' written all over it! So Kev had to get a pic...

We did some shopping... then the guys showed Kevin how to wear his new 'Kalumpa' (the traditional man-skirt).

On Sunday our group split up and went to the two different churches, us young people plus Paul went to the Bori church (1.5 hrs from Moyale). On the way we picked up two students, from the Christian school that Barako will be going to, who came along with us. What an amazing church! The singing touched the deepest parts of the soul... undescribable really.
Barako (in the middle) with the two guys who came with us from the school. We are very excited, as is Barako, that he will be attending this Christian secondary school up in Moyale... it is a great school that has Christian teachers as well as good Christian fellowship (which is hard to find in secondary schools!)
We went to fill up at the petrol station... and this is what we found. Here Barako is getting the syphon going...
And then the lady pumped the petrol in by hand!
Infront of the Moyale church.
Pastor Bonia and his family, he pastors the Moyale church.
Rush hour in Moyale. These donkeys can carry up to 100 leters of water!
One of the lovely longdrops on the trip home... I really hate cockroaches and I have decided that I prefer bushes!
On the way home we drove through 'Dida Galgalu', a very big plains area with a LOT of rocks. This is one of the villages out on the rocks, with no trees or sign of water in sight. Amazing that people can live there. But then, when I describe my home to them they wonder in amazement, "How can you live there? Don't people just die if it is so cold?"
We got to see a hyena!!! And it was still light enough to get a pic of him!