@brittarnhild
I have to be taught the lesson again and again - it takes time to fall in love with a new country.
Before leaving I had been reading Dervla Murphy's In Ethiopiwith a Mule. On the plane I had been reading Dervla Murphy's In Ethiopia with a Mule. After arriving I continued to read Dervla Murphy's In Ethiopia with a Mule. Murphy shares a deep love of the beauty of thie African country in her book, but for some time, especially after a long night on the plane with almost no sleep, all I could see was the dust, the hardship of travelling in an unknown place, the precautions to avaid stomach bug.....well, all the shadows so to say.
I got the stomach bug already the second day, and I got it hard. It was a day of driving and while I laied down in the car I could far away hear the driver and the guide of our group discussing weather to take me to hospital. But, fast as I got it thrown over me, fast it went away, well, at least the more dramatic part of it. I am still struggling with an Africa stomach. But I manage. I manage very well.
The next day though, after a good night's sleep, we had reached the goal of our travel, and we were taken out to visit projects run by the Western Synod of the Mekane Jesus Church in Ethiopia (we are working with food security, the name of our project is "Give us this day our daily bread"), love came as a revelation. It is the end of the rain season, the rain has been quite good this year and Ethiopia is lush and green. The variety of greens hit me like a flood from Eden, I could only marvel and I felt like standing there, in ave, together with Dervla Murphy.
I am no Dervla Murphy. I have none of her stubbornness, none of her availability to endure hardship. On the countrary. I am a girl who loves luxury. I want my daily shower, my every third day hair wash, my bed with clean sheets, pure water.
But like Dervla I know to appreciate beauty.
And believe me. This third day of my visit, I fell in love with Ethiopia.
