ET - Day 1 - Part 2

We left Hannah's Hope just full of excitement.  We got back to the hotel and had lunch with the LeFebers.  They are an awesome couple from Nebraska.  I am so grateful they were there.  They helped put us at ease.

After a delicious meal, we all headed in a taxi with Seesay.  Seesay was a math teacher, and he spoke very good English.  He started driving a taxi, because he could make more money and needed to support his family.  He has 3 children.

All of the cars are very similar to this. (80s Toyotas everywhere)  It was a cozy fit for the 5 of us, but it worked.  One of the funny things was that Seesay had us listening to country music.  I'm not sure if he liked or was doing it just for our benefit.

Entoto Mountain is considered scared, because King Menelik II built his palace there and several churches.  It overlooks Addis Ababa, and it's forest provide the city with the necessary firewood.

On the way up the mountain, you would see people just walking with their livestock.  Several times when children would see that there were white people in the car, they would race along the car shouting money, money, money. 

 

And, you would see women carrying Eucalyptus branches down on their backs - huge bundles.  I'm not sure how they would stand once they reached the bottom of the mountain.  They do this in order to buy "extras" for their family like a candle or salt.

The top of the mountain was beautiful even though it looked like it could pour any minute.

We were met at the top of the mountain by several kids.  I was struck by how young several of them were.  They were just there all by themselves running around.  At first I thought that they were the younger siblings of the older ones, but one of the boys said that they were just friends.

One of the older boys was very proud that he was able to go to school.  He was very articulate and spoke good English.  He told us all about the mountain.  When we got in the car to leave, they asked us for some money.  Seesay had told us earlier that it was against the law to give out money, and that you would have to go along way to pay the fines.  Nathan was in the passenger seat and decided to give them some.  When he pulled out his money, they instantly started grabbing.  After that, we decided that it wasn't a good idea to hand out money on the side of the road.  (Later, we were informed of several organizations that were making a difference, and that if we wanted to help to give to them.)

 Our next stop was the "Art Gallery".

Here you could buy some paintings (they were actually good), or for $1 you could see the other side of the city.  We spent the $1 each and walked over to the ledge to see the city.  There really wasn't too much to see, because the trees were blocking much of the view.  Then, we got a tour of the gardens, which was just some trees growing.  Here we all got the pleasure of African ants.  They bite :) 

Even though, the "tour" was a joke, it was fun to talk to our two teenage tour guides.  They were both in school and using their break (raining season) to make some money to pay for it.  The older one wants to be a tour guide and the younger one (pictured below) wants to be a doctor, so he can help his village.

As soon as we left, the sky openned up, and it poured.  We made it to the church just as they were letting out.  There were people everywhere and most of them were getting soaked and didn't mind.  That's just the way it is. 

 

This Ethiopian Orthox Christian church was built by King Menelik II in the 1800s.  It is still used today.  However, we didn't have a chance to go in.

Beside the church is King Menelik II's palace.  You have to walk through a few little buildings (I think people live there.) in order to get there.

 

The palace is made up mud, sticks and straw.  I can't believe it is still standing, and there didn't seem to be any leaks in the ceiling.  There were several small buildings that made up the palace.  There were what I would call the living quarters, guest house, dining/entertaining area and another building.

You can kinda see how thick the walls are.

Next, we headed to the other church.  Fortunately, we did get to go inside. 

 It was so awesome!  It was circular like the other one, and it had 3 circular rooms - each inside of the other.  The 3 rooms stood for Father, Son and Holy Ghost.  In the center of the 2nd room, there were murals all the way around and from top to bottom.  The murals depicted the New Testament.  I assume this was done, because few folks would have access to a Bible and would be able to read.

 

Jesus's miracles

 

Jesus cruxification

Jesus Ressurection

Judgement Day

Then........

Hell.  This was right below the Judgement Day mural.  It was covered up by a large picture of Jesus. (You can kinda see the top in the previous picture.)  After the priest showed us this picture, he covered it back up with the Jesus picture.  Jesus is the one who protects us from Hell and from being eternally separated from God. 

After we left this church, we went to a rock-hewn church over 700 years old.  Notice the cross on top.

 

It was made up of 3 circular rooms as well.  And, it is still used.  The priest said that over 100+ people will worship there.  It was small, so everyone has to be just wedged together.  The ceiling is black from the candle smoke.

 

There was another one right beside this one, but you had to walk down a flight of stairs, and it was already flooded.

Here are several houses right outside the church. 

After about 5ish hours of touring, we were all ready to go back to the hotel and get some dinner.  As we passed one of the churches going back down the mountain, I noticed that most of the water jugs I had seen earlier were gone.  The folks living on the mountain do not have running water.  They rely on water that is piped up from the city. I can only imagine what it looked like.

 At the beginning of the day, there were many yellow water jugs at the "water site".  People walk to it and pay for their water.  It's hard to imagine what that is like, especially with all the RAIN and the MUD.  It's hard to imagine that in a place where Jesus lives.  These folks believe in Jesus.  They are my brothers and sisters in Christ.

One of the Bible verses that I have always found hard to swallow is...

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.  Luke 12:48