Good morning. It is Thursday today, and most of you are sound asleep.  You will awaken in about 6 hours.  Again, we are greeted as we awaken with sunshine peeking through the trees and the sound of Orthodox chanting. That is piped by loudspeakers and continues for a couple of hours, from about 5:45 a.m. to about 8 a.m. It begins again about 5 p.m. and continues until 8 p.m. or so.  About 6 in the evening there is a sermon that is piped out into the neighborhoods. It is funny how this sound becomes part of the fabric of life and, though we don't understand it, it doesn't bother us, but rather is part of the life we know here. That's what Ethiopians tell us, that they hear it and don't hear it at the same time.

We had a wonderful evening last night, and I will post photos of it later today or tomorrow. The Anuak group, the elders of the congregation we have attended twice, prepared a feast for us at the home of another teacher here, Carolyn Weber.  Their staple food is made from corn, and is a sort of thick cream of wheat called Tchon.  Atop that they put various sauces/stews. We had two different ones with beef, one chunks of beef and one ground beef. The spicing was wonderful-noticeable but not choking. Also they served grated cabbage with carrots and rice.  I was worried that I wouldn't like the food but it was wonderful.

 Somehow we have really clicked with these people and they seem to be genuinely happy to have met us as well. Contrary to what we hear from almost everyone we meet, that is, requests for financial help, we have heard none of that from these people, but rather that we remember them, and their land, and their tribe and their church, because they are experiencing difficult times and many are being displaced from their land by the Ethiopian government, which is forceably removing them from their villages to build new housing, and from cattle rustlers and child kidnappers, each bent on stealing from them.  They ask that we remember them and pray for them.  They make beautiful beaded bowls and vessels and jewelry, and presented us with a wonderful carafe with beads around it, and for me a beaded necklace.  These are real treasures for us!

The photos, the first three, are intended to show some of the deference still afforded to Haile Salassie.  I may have already shown the second photo, of his throne. It is about 12 feet tall, much to high for him, because he was only 4 ft. 11 inches. So they had to have steps up to it for him, and I am sure he was almost lost in its size when he sat in it. The first photo is touching. It shows a prayer of the emperor for the people of Ethiopia. Perhaps it shows a bit why the people still revere the emperor.  Of course, his downfall came, when he was 82-83 in the 1970s when there was a huge hunger among the people of the North, the Tigrians, and he tried to hide it rather than take care of them, so somehow that prayer wasn't followed up with direct physical help.  The third photo shows the costume of a Ras, or Lord. Look especially at the sword, which is curved. We are told that such a curved sword can inflict real damage to the organs, because it spreads itself widely!

And the final photo is of a lovely girl I met on the campus while walking home. We had a nice chat in English. She is just beautiful--with a hundred braids in her hair.

The internet is working today!  So I may have a chance later in the day to add more.  Love to all.  Carolyn