This whole summer I was acting FIFA Co-Director for Camp Langano. I absolutely LOVED my job!!! My general responsibilities were to plan, manage & run all of the futball activities as well as to publicly award campers with outstanding character. I had the pleasure of working very closely with 7 Abesha (Ethiopian) summer staff coaches. Together we taught the campers a variety of technical skills, and ran the Camp Langano FIFA World Cup. Each day I would leave the house a couple minutes after 6:00 am to meet up with the coaches to prepare the field for morning exercises for the campers. Whether it was teaching a drill or taking advantage of a teachable moment, the coaches were awesome at loving on the campers.  It didn’t take long for the guys to start joking around with me. One thing is for certain – regardless of the culture, boys will be boys!!! :)  These guys are my dear friends and they have truly been a blessing to my life, so I figured I would tell you a little bit about each of them.

From left to right:

Buchi – He is Boche’s best friend (0ne of the other summer staff coaches). The pair have been best friends since childhood and are practically inseparable. Buchi was the best futball player at camp and is very blessed athletically. He plays futball professionally in Addis. He is a great coach, and his authority on the futball field was unmatched. At one point this summer with tears streaming down his face he told me, that he was so happy that some of his campers understood the Gospel and made decisions to follow Christ. 

One of our favorite things to eat in Nashville was homemade Spicy Italian bulk sausage. We would buy ~15 lbs of pork shoulder and grind it into the most delicious sausage! The moment we got in country, Bryan started trying to figure out where he could purchase some pork. Sadly, the nearest supermarket (130 miles round trip) does not carry pork because most of the people who live in the city are either Eastern Orthodox or Muslim, thus classified as Non-Pork Eaters. Bryan has been salivating every time we see a warthog on the compound. However, since he does not have a crossbow and he can’t throw a spear very well – the likelihood of him getting warthog for dinner seemed bleak. One night we were walking from our house back to main camp, when we saw a group of guards hovering over something on the porch of the meeting hall. As we got closer we saw streaks of blood on the tile…then we laid eyes on the most beautiful and nasty looking animal. Lying on the porch was a dead warthog. Apparently one of the nearby farmers had speared the warthog and it had wandered onto our compound and died in front of one of the camper cabins. Warthogs are UGLY they are huge, hairy, and all together not so pretty. But as the guards continued to butcher the warthog my opinion began to change. The meat looked so incredibly juicy and tasty. All we could think about was warthog sausage, steaks, and ribs. We sing praises to the Lord for what he has made clean! Without Peter’s vision in Acts 10, we would be missing out on some great meat!

PS – the sausage is AMAZING!!!!  :)

Two nights ago the electricity went out just before dinner. This is a fairly regular occurrence out here at Camp Langano which is why we have a back up generator that can power most of the lights around camp but few, if any, appliances. As I went to start the generator, it proceeded to make a horrible sound and refused to start. Thus, 80 campers enjoyed a romantic candle lit dinner.

Yesterday we were still out of power as I left for town to gather supplies for some of our construction projects. I was able to many of the things on my list (I don’t think I have ever been able to find everything from a list in one trip!) Just before my last stop on the way back to camp, I got a call from our camp manager. He asked me to stop by the electric company office to pick up two technicians. Sure I said, as I realized I had no idea where the office was located. Fortunately the store owner at my last stop was willing to come in the car with me and show me where the office was back off the main road. When I arrived, the technicians tried to explain that they did not have any parts to fix what they assumed the problem was. We went back and forth for a while (in their broken English and my miserable Amharic) before a man in plain clothes came walking down the street and told them to get in the van and go with me. I think he may have been a manager, or maybe they were just scared of the pliers in his back pocket ;)

So we began the long drive back to camp which is made up of a paved “highway” and two, progressively worse, dirt roads. About half way down the dirt roads they motioned for me to stop. After some walking and talking with locals, they realized the problem was not at the transformer on our compound as previously thought. I spent the next 10 minutes trying to get a phone call connected back to our camp manager for him to translate what the technicians are trying to say. We finally connected and he was able to talk with them. His instructions to me … just drive wherever they want, they think the problem is in another area. Back to the paved road we went and another 20+ kilometers in the opposite direction. Once again they motioned for me to stop. This time they wanted their tools from the back (a long pole and tree climbing shoes). Off into a field of corn, they trekked. In the distance I saw their pole extended up to the power line, one piece came down then back up, and again and again. Then they came back to the car and said to take them back to Negali (where I picked them up).

We returned, I paid them a “per diem” for taking time out of their day to come and fix our problem and then I finally headed back home. You see, out here, the electric company does not have many, if any, vehicles. So if you want something fixed, you typically have to go pick them up, take them home and pay them, even if it is their own equipment that is broken. Haha, well at least our power was out for less than 24 hours so we didn’t loose any food and it only took me about 200 km of driving! Now to figure out how to get the generator fixed out here in the middle of nowhere … how many trips will it take to get the parts and technician here for that? :)

My sense of Ethiopian pride has grown exponentially this Olympic season. As camp staff we do have access to a television with satellite cable in the main dining hall.  It may be the most uncomfortable place to watch tv. Wooden benches and tile floors are not exactly ideal for channel surfing :) haha. Anyways, during camp we put the tv away so that both the staff and the campers won’t be distracted.  So the last two weekends we have pulled the tv out to watch the London 2012 Olympics. Can I just say, the Olympics are absolutely amazing. You get to watch the best athletes in the world compete against the underdogs from countries you can’t pronounce and didn’t know existed!

A tv remote rule has been developed:  the channel can be changed unless there is an Ethiopian competing, when an Ethiopian is competing the channel cannot and will not be changed until the athlete has finished the competition. Last Sunday the women’s marathon was on and several Ethiopians were competing. When the lead group of four pulled away from the rest of the pack, it was as if everyone watching was willing the Ethiopian runner to finish strong. The race was close until the last 0.5 km and at that point the Ethiopian runner was a few strides ahead. Everyone in the dining hall started going crazy. People were up on top of benches and tables chanting, dancing, and singing! When she crossed the finish line a cheer of pure joy and excitement rang through the camp. It was so fun to be able to watch an Ethiopian win gold in Ethiopia! :) 

Until we go to language school in November, we have been attempting to learn some Amharic and a tiny bit of Oromo from the staff here on the compound. Thankfully everyone has been very gracious and patient with us as we butcher the language and attempt to use Amhar-glish :) (a combination of English and the little Amharic we know). Amharic is difficult because the language does not use the English alphabet and many of the sounds are brand new to us. It takes a while for our ears to adjust to the new sounds and even longer for our mouths to be able to replicate them. But we are trying and Lord willing we will continue to pick up the language.

Luckily there are a few words that sound similar to English words, but they have completely different meanings. The other day I was laughing at how funny my conversations with Ethiopians must sound to native English speakers. Here are a few Amharic words I use on a daily basis that sound English but have completely different meanings!

As I was folding my laundry today I realized that I have adjusted to a different kind of normal. In Nashville, I was not afraid to get dirty or afraid of bugs – but I did prefer my house to be bug free. Back in Nashville we would periodically have an ant or fly infestation. I distinctly remember several times when I was on the verge of freaking out because the bugs had taken over my kitchen. The one time we had a mouse that kept taking snacks and running across all of our kitchen ware, making sure to leave little footprints all over everything – I thought it was really gross and strongly suggested that Bryan purchase every mouse killer that the store had so that we could get rid of the pest.

Now I live in the middle of rural Ethiopia, far away from all of the comforts of shops and grocery stores. I walk 100 yards to put my laundry on the clothes line that is covered in dust and ants. When I take the laundry off the line I attempt to shake off all of the ants, but it is truly a lost cause because I always find at least 2 ants crawling up my arm or on my shirt 10 minutes after I finish folding the clothes. No matter how many times I attempt to remove the spiders from every corner in the house, they come back the next day. I have become accustom to seeing weird black grasshopper-like bugs sneak in the house every night. Today I kindly asked the cockroach I found on my backpack to seek another place to hang out. Yes, I think I have settled into this new kind of normal.